• The Falcons showed Michael Vick some love on their way to a 34-14 loss to the Saints.
• Falcons owner Arthur Blank hopped in the MNF booth last night and said that as long as Michael Vick doesn’t get too out of shape eating fried chicken and fries in jail, the Falcons may be an option upon his release. Give the man the benefit of the doubt — Blank and Vick were best buddies so we can assume they knew what food each other liked. Let’s not get too carried away on what could be interpreted as racial undertones.
• Ex-Baltimore Oriole, David Segui, admitted to using steroids and will reportedly be in the Mitchell report when released.
• A little Washingtonian excitement for the Nationals signing former Mets and Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca.
• The New York Knicks sexual harassment suit was settled out of court for $11.5 million. Lucky for them, Forbes has the Knicks listed as the most profitable NBA franchise.

• It’s official: Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison and 3 years of probation. He can’t make it back into the league until 2010 at the earliest.
• This weekend, Florida’s Tim Tebow became the first sophomore to be awarded the Heisman Trophy. There were plenty of great candidates this year but I have to give it to Tebow, scoring 51 TDs in the toughest conference in the nation is mighty impressive. His acceptance speech was perfect, too — thanked everyone, by name, including his offensive line and receivers. Now that is how you receive an individual award in a team game.
• The Patriots blew through the Steelers to make it 13-0. There’s no way the Jets, Dolphins or the Giants will be able to stop them now.
• DeShawn Stevenson made Richard Jefferson lose feeling in is face. Probably. Maybe. Ok, just a nice lil’ dunk.

• Denver moves into a tie for the AFC West division lead after a 34-20 win over Tennessee last night.
• Michael Vick checks into jail 3 weeks early, assuming he could knock off a few months early and eye an swift return to the NFL.
• A-Rod walks away with the AL MVP very decidedly.
• 2007 World Series MVP Mike Lowell will return to the Boston Red Sox.
• Mariano Rivera will remain a Yankee.
• Lil’ Romeo signed up to play hoops for the USC Trojans next season.
• The Orlando Magic look kinda legit, one would conclude.

Thank you, Commissioner Goodell, ye kind yet thunderously proud enforcer of player-rules and efficiency-centric leader.

You may have dropped the ball by open-palm slapping Patriots coach Bill Belichick after SpyGate, and you may tend to jump the gun on dropping the hammer on players before they’re prosecuted, but here, today, you’ve done the right thing.

Shortening the NFL Draft was a great decision and as a draft freak, I think I speak for those like me when I say the decision to make changes to the longest, most irrelevant-but-fun event of the NFL off-season (like there really is one anymore) should be applauded. Even for me, 6 hours and 8 minutes is too long. Besides, when you have a drinking game ongoing, 6 hours of drinking every time “upside,” “Mel’s hair,” or “Andre Ware,” is mentioned could make for a very difficult Day Two.

Among the NFL Draft changes:

• The draft will start at 3 p.m. EST instead of noon EST
• The first day will be shortened from 3 rounds to 2 rounds
• During the 1st day, time in between picks will drop to 10 minutes instead of the super-duper-ridiculously long 15 minutes
• During the 2nd day, time in between picks will drop to 7 minutes instead of the relatively-ok-before-but-amazingly-teams-dragged-even-this-out-forever 10 minutes.

I do believe you missed a few, so I will offer a few more just because I know you’re busy, what with hawking down players for parking violations and figuring out how to get those Spygate videos away from Jay Glazer –

• Have Mel Kiper and Todd McShay scheduled as the under-card to arm-wrestle to determine who gets the most Draft-Day face-time on ESPN (that is… if the NFL Network doesn’t steal the draft away from the WWL!).
• Ditto for Keyshaun Johnson and Michael Irv… wait, guess this one worked itself out.
• Limit the number of family members allowed on stage for pictures depending on their draft pick ranking (ex. 1st through 5th picks allowed 20 family members; 6-15 allowed 15; 16-32 allowed 10; second round gets 7) as to bring the photo-op time down.
• In keeping with the idea of family pictures, allow for the section of the green room used to put Brady Quinn on ice last year for unlimited number of family photos. We know they won’t bother the “efficient” draft because, like Quinn to teams in the top-20, we will barely know they’re there.
• Require analysts to go around the table and admit to at least TWO faulty draft predictions. (Ditto goes for those at home!)
• Interview the fans! We need to have people on-camera and quoted when they’re booing McNabb for passing on Ricky Williams! Let the fans in on the bad predictions!
• In with bringing fan interaction, follow the AOL Fanhouse idea and check in on fan blog sites along with the coverage.

If you have additions or better suggestions, let me know. Obviously, the commish is willing to work with us when we want changes. (See: instant replays, Ed Hochuly’s guns‘ camera time, tuck rule…. ok, maybe not that… but you get the drift) I’m looking forward to the changes, as I will get to spend a few more moments not holed up in a room full of other self-proclaimed home-edition NFL Draft experts.

In finishing, we all know there are a few things that are sure to remain constant in the draft, no matter how more “streamlined and efficient” the process becomes:

• The Minnesota Vikings will forget they have a time-limit to pick and have to pick between 1 and 5 spots later than they were supposed to.
  (*Addendum #1 to the aforementioned ideas section: allow the Vikings to pick in a Day 3, where they can pick using however long they want, just so long as they aren’t wasting viewers’ time.)
• Jon Jansen will be a lead analyst, no matter how unproductive or relevant he is to the Redskins during the prior season.
• Mel Kiper’s hair will be discussed for a minimum of 10% of the broadcast, and all the bald persons on set will threaten to steal it during commercial breaks.
  (*Addendum #2 to aforementioned ideas section: Mel and Todd should go head-to-head and put baldness on the line — whomever is the most off on picks after 3 years must shave their dome. Boomer keeps score and, yes, he does so using the weird voices, sounds and nicknames)
• Every mobile QB will be the next Mike Vick Vince Young.
• Every undersized but record-setting QB will be the next best wide-out.
• Nobody will be compared to John Elway unless they play more than one sport for their college. And even then, everyone will nearly puke at the thought that if there is a God, he would never create another Him.

• Etan Thomas will undergo aortic valve surgery after doctors discovered a leak in a routine physical. Best wishes, E.T.
• Jesus Shuttlesworth, a.k.a. Ray Allen, was lights-out as he stole the spotlight from Keven Garnett and his Minnesota team reunion… showcased in London. Good shooting, ol’ chap.
• A clever idea to sneak in booze to games: use a “barnoculars” flask.
• Le Anne Schreiber, the ESPN ombudswoman, breaks down the WWL in a delicate fashion.
• Baseball championship series begin tonight: who you with?
• The world’s most obnoxious wide-receiver talent, T.O., left a note for reporters, trying to build up this weekend’s undefeated match-up of his ‘boys versus those dominant Patriots. As if they needed added incentive to beat the bricks off the ‘boys this weekend?
• Vick’s high school, Warwick High in Newport News, removed his jersey from their trophy case.

• Kevin Blackistone calls for Isiah’s firing. Al Sharpton may be soon to follow.
• Matt Leinart has been placed on the IR with a broken collarbone so, naturally, the Cardinals sign Tim Rattay, the saviour.
• Brandon Lloyd discusses his doghouse status on the radio.
• Piece about New York Yankee fans and their (finally) rooting for the team that represents them.
• Allen Iverson, all growed up.
• Vick ordered to pay back almost $20 million in bonuses and salary back to the Atlanta Falcons.
• How many guys named Kobe can you fit on one team?

I had reserved, yet high hopes for the town hall meeting on “The Vick Divide,” hosted by ESPN at the World Congress Center. As the most popular sports network in the world, they are not required to hold such and event discussing an issue — Michael Vick’s crimes and the relation of his treatment to race — that transcends sports. They built up the televised event by providing a balanced panel and promise of balanced discussion between the panel and questions from the Atlanta town hall attendees.Somewhere along the way, I forgot that the “E” in ESPN stands for entertainment.

The panel was an array of players and journalists, each with their choice blend to the event –

• Terrence Mathis spoke early and often of God and redemption, receiving plenty of applause from the crowd, as he tried to defend Vick’s right to a second chance.
• Neil Boortz stayed out of the way for the most part, realizing the atmosphere was heavily pro-Vick, but managed to slip-up when he said “you people” as he broke down a point on Vick’s own accountability.
• Terence Moore was booed more often than ARod in New York when he hits only one home run in a night. He maintained very pointedly that Michael Vick is a pure villain, through and through.
• Selena Roberts did a good job of becoming a fan favorite throughout the discussion. She maintained that the Falcons organization enabled Vick from the word “go” and they should have done more to prevent this from happening.
• Chuck Smith threw in a few choice words here and there but for the most part was relatively useless on stage.

The main problem with the town hall meeting was how openly bias the Congress Center was with Vick supporters. The lopsided reactions to the comments by the panel worked as a disadvantage to the (hopefully) intended balance of the event. And at best, Bob Fary looked more like Jerry Springer, needing to intervene early and often to ask enraged audience members to be civil and let the panel speak.

The pro-Vick Atlanta crowd booed any dissent or knock on the former Falcons star and his crime. The most misguided boos came when the deputy director of the Humane Society spoke of the brutality and cruelty involved in dogfighting, adding how, contrary to popular belief (including my own), dogfighting has been a felony in Virginia for years. The newly changed law was on the federal level, and involved the crime of transporting dogs between states in order to fight. The deputy director was trying to speak for the animals who have no voice and the audience wrongly took out their anger on him.

The unyielding Vick support from the audience set the town hall meeting into shambles. The end result wasn’t exactly a fair and balanced judge of how divided of society is about race and their public perception. For future reference ESPN, or any other network attempting a similar venture, should have the same type of panel — a mix of players and journalists who covered the event — but give them a more closed environment without crown noise biased in any way. The one thing the crowd provided was evidence that Vick still has very persistent and loyal support in Atlanta.

Vick’s crimes cannot be defended. He pleaded guilty and apologized for his involvement. We can argue that every person deserves a second chance after paying their debt to society. We can try and figure out a pattern of events that led Vick to committing this crime. We can even argue how serious the crime of dogfighting is. But the argument of whether Vick is guilty or not is settled.

Some varied, more detailed responses of the ESPN “Vick Divide” Town Hall:

• ESPN Reminds You Black And White People Hate Each Other (Fynalcut)
• Vick Town Meeting (Atlanta-Journal Constitution)
• Across The Vick Divide The Chasm Is Larger Than Ever (The Starting Five)

ESPN should be applauded for putting together a town hall meeting to discuss such a highly publicized, highly dividing topic in a public forum.

Although it will look and sound a lot like a trashy talk show at times, the end product will be beneficial to those who haven’t had a chance to (or didn’t want to) listen to varying views on the issue.

Bob Ley from Outside The Lines is moderating the discussion, and his discussion panel consists of Selena Roberts from the New York Times, Terence Moore of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Chuck Smith (ex-Falcons player) and ex-Falcons player and Vick teammate Terrence Mathis. There are a few others but I didn’t catch all of their names and can’t recognize their faces right now, but when I update this again I’ll add them. Also, Jeffri Chadiha is planted blogger-style on the panel stage with his laptop, reading forum comments from the ever-present, ever-resounding netroots community.

Hopefully the discussion will be productive and helpful… ok, maybe not. But let’s hope at the very least we get a balanced discussion of professionals, mixed with a bunch of people in the crowd yelling at Moore. Let me give you this right now: Selena Roberts just upped her readership at NYTimes.com because she’s on point right now. Works out that NYTimes.com just opened up all of Roberts’ pieces to the public.

So on goes the town hall meeting, another hour to go… I’ll try and post more later.

WOW… the white guy on the panel almost said, “you people…” it’s going to be a rowdy hour to go.

Side note: If Michael Vick is probably at home right now watching the town hall meeting he’s either:

• Booing Terence Moore from his couch
• Applauding Selena Roberts and creating “I heart Selena” shirts
• Playing Madden ‘08 and lauding in the last year for a long while he’ll be playing in a NFL stadium without using a cheat code.

Some other links:

• Some ESPN town hall hate from Moore’s Atlanta-Journal Constitution coworker.

• Anyone else tired of reading angry pointing-fingers-at-closest-person-of-authority pieces by angry columnists who don’t hear the inticing story they want to hear? I guess if any story — not just this Lance Briggs one — leaves open the possibility for wrongdoing, unless we hear a juicy story it’s one big cover-up…right?
• Milwaukee finally signed overall 6th pick Yi Jianlian… Michael Redd and Mo Williams, get hyped.
• Big fan of this piece by Sports Media Watch taking apart an article written by MSNBC.com writer Mike Celizic who said the dogfighting was about “keeping it real.” Celizic has been the Cleopatra of getting carried away lately.
• There is no denying David Beckham has at least peaked the interest of “a few” folks… a record-setting number for ESPN, actually.
• Is Tim Couch a juicer? Records may indicate so… but considering he’s not using it to gain any unfair competitive advantage, considering how clean his jersey is game after game (when he’s on a team, anyway)… let’s cut the unemployed guy some slack.

• Yesterday Venus and Serena Williams and the rest of the tennis world celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the late Althea Gibson becoming the first African American woman to win the United States National Championships (The US Open). Venus serve tied a record at 129mph! It was a great celebration, but Bill Dwyre from the LA Times thinks it was, Too Little Too Late.
• James Posey leaves Wade and Shaq to join Pierce, Allen, and KG.
• Rafer Alston is suppose to be hitting people slashing to the basket, not slashing people’s tires! Is he trying to get traded?
• OJ Mayo’s first college basketball practice at USC and how he’s enjoying college life.
• USC is having injury concerns at tailback, too bad Emmanuel Moody decided to leave USC to join the Florida Gators.
• Saban suspends Alabama starters.
• University of South Carolina AD Eric Hyman stands by the old ball coach on the suspension of their starting QB.
• Asante Samuel is back in camp!
• Lance Briggs will not be punished by the Chicago Bears for his misdemeanor and traffic tickets for crashing his $350,000 2007 Lamborghini.

  OK…

  • Michael Vick’s apology.
  • Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon on Michael Vick.