Dolphins Sign Josh McCown

ProFootballTalk.com is reporting that the Dolphins have signed Josh McCown to a two year deal worth 6.25 million. They point out that the money is along the lines of a backup QB rather than a starter, which makes the deal sound pretty good.

I said earlier that McCown was mostly backup material and so signing him for a reasonable amount of money is a pretty easy pill to swallow. If he turns out to be a play maker and a reliable starter as some are suggesting, that’s great and the Dolphins can try to re-sign him down the road. The good news is that he has started games in the NFL and has won. The bad news is he throws a few too many interceptions for my tastes, but that could change with the right team. We’ll see.

The next big question is who will the Dolphins draft at the QB position?

The acquisition of Jason Ferguson at DT in all likelihood means Glen Dorsey is out of the running for the number one pick. I’m still thinking Chris Long goes first overall, unless Parcells works out a trade with another team for McFadden or Ryan.

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Have you ever needed to design a document using HTML and didn’t feel like using the bloated Microsoft Word tools or needed something with a little more oomph than a basic text editor? If so, then HTML-Kit is probably for you.

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Dolphins QB Choices

Right now, John Beck is the man in Miami. With Cleo Lemon an unrestricted free agent, the Dolphins currently have only Casey Bramlet and Matt Baker on the depth chart after Beck. These two are practice squad guys and don’t really figure into the equation.

With only one legitimate potential QB on the roster, Miami will need to pick up two others soon. The most likely scenario is to draft another QB and sign a veteran free agent to hold the team over until Beck or this year’s draft pick are ready.

Derek Anderson of the Browns is a restricted free agent with a hefty price tag. A team that signs him will have to give up a first and third round pick in this years draft. With Miami having the number one pick overall, signing Anderson is out of the question. He would be a better fit for a team with a lower first round pick like Minnesota. Edit: ESPN.com and SI.com are reporting that Anderson has signed a long term contract with the Browns, details forthcoming.

Rex Grossman has been re-signed and Todd Collins is close to re-signing.

Mark Brunnell is an UFA and looks to be the best unrestricted guy available. He has experience and has put up decent numbers in his career. Not a franchise quarterback but he certainly could be a stopgap for a year or so until one of the young guns are ready.

David Carr could be had for a pittance and one sportswriter suggested Miami needs to take a chance on him, but the consensus is that he’s a bust for any price.

Daunte Culpepper has the most experience but is still a gamble. I don’t think he’d receive too warm a welcome in Miami either.

Byron Leftwich has potential and could fit the bill nicely. I like Brunnell a little more personally, but Leftwich is close and for similar reasons.

The rest of the QBs are backup material in my book. I didn’t see much in Cleo Lemon this year and doubt he’ll be re-signed. Billy Volek, Josh McNown and Quinn Gray all fit the bill as a backup, but aren’t worth signing as a starter.

The other, remote possibility, is that Miami somehow works out a trade for a QB. Miami has the number one pick to shop around, perhaps they pick up Donovan McNabb from Philly? Trades are pretty rare in the NFL other than swapping draft selections and I don’t see this happening, but it remains a possibility.

Update: Cleo Lemon has signed with Jacksonville. Also, the Dolphins have invited former Oakland QB Josh McCown to visit.

Possible Perjury Charges for Roger Clemens

ESPN.com is reporting that The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is drafting a letter to the Department of Justice recommending a criminal investigation of Roger Clemens to investigate possible perjury.

Clemens was the only one named in the letter and not Brian McNamee. The letter was only a recommendation and may or may not lead to an actual investigation and charges.

In lieu of recent news of a photo existing showing Clemens at the party he denied attending, things could get messy for Roger.

In other news, Roger Clemens’ son said today that he expects his father to be at Houston Astros’ spring training in a week or so. Can you say distraction?

Dolphins QB Draft Possibilities

ESPN.com analysts Todd McShay and Mel Kiper both have former Boston College Quarterback Matt Ryan at the top of their list with the number one pick. McShay gives the caveat that this will be the pick if Parcells isn’t happy with John Beck.

If the Dolphins don’t go with Ryan, most others are looking at DE Chris Long who will fit nicely into a 3-4 scheme or Jake Long, who will create holes for new OC Henning’s power running game.

Back to the QB situation; John Beck didn’t wow anyone in his first year. At times he was downright horrible, with too many fumbles, botched snaps and even tripping over his own linemen. For the most part, however, you really can’t judge a quarterback on his rookie year. I’m perfectly willing to give him another shot.

The Phins definitely need to draft another QB and sign one in free agency. It’s looking like they will not keep Cleo Lemon and Trent Green has already been released. If the Browns are unable to sign Derek Anderson, he would be #1 on my list for veteran starters. Otherwise, Miami will probably pick up a 2nd tier QB like Byron Leftwich, Daunte Culpepper (shudder), or Todd Collins. If Anderson isn’t available, I like Todd Collins, although Washington might re-sign him soon.

Windows Live Writer WordPress Tags

WordPress.com blog users know that WP supports both categories and tags. Windows Live Writer (a fantastic, free blogging client) also supports both of these but the interface isn’t obvious on first glance.

Categories are handled through the scroll box and entry field at the bottom of the screen (labeled “Set categories”).

Tags are hidden initially. To add tags, click on the upward pointing double arrow in the lower right corner (shown in the picture above)

This brings up a new set of options. The section marked “Keywords” is for WordPress tags. Simply type in the desired tags, separated by commas and that’s it!

It’s a straightforward setup, but isn’t always intuitive at first glance.

Good luck!

Roger Clemens Changes His Story About Party

After the New York Daily News reported that a photograph existed showing Roger Clemens at a party thrown by Jose Canseco, Roger is apparently changing his story.

According to Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin, Roger “may have stopped by the Canseco house”. This isn’t quite the same picture he was painting during his sworn testimony in front of the house committee.

The full story is here - NY Daily News article

You may be asking “what is the point of all this?” and I can empathize. The importance of this latest evidence is that it may provide the grounds for perjury charges against Roger, and provide away for him to suffer the consequences if he did indeed lie in front of a congressional committee when he was under oath.

Some may see it as a waste of taxpayer dollars, but our country lately seems plagued with a number of athletes who give the impression that they are above the law, beyond reproach, and not beholden to anyone, including Congress.

If players are breaking the law and are lying in sworn testimony, then they should be punished. These athletes are role models for our youth (and very well paid ones at that) and should not be allowed to make a mockery out of our government, our legal system, and our love of the game.

Photo Exists of Roger Clemems at Canseco Party

The NY Daily News is reporting that there is a photograph of Roger Clemens taken at the home of Jose Canseco in 1998. The issue of whether or not Roger was at the party was hotly contested during the recent hearing before the House Committee of Oversight and Reform. Former trainer Brian McNamee claimed Roger was present at the event while Clemens denied being at the party.

Apparently the photo was taken by a fan who was in attendance.

There has been no official word about what if any action will be taken in regards to this new information.

Windows Live Writer Just Got Better

WLW is my go to program for composing and publishing blog posts. I’ve written about it a few times and have been using it exclusively for posting to my blogs.

I recently switched from Blogger.com to WordPress.com and Live Writer handled the transition marvelously.

Today, thanks to a blog post over at makeuseof.com, I came across a very important link: a series of extensions for Windows Live Writer. Just visit gallery.live.com and you’ll find a whole host of awesome plugins to make WLW even better.

There are a number of extensions to integrate other web services like Flickr or Picasa into WLW, which I am taking advantage of with this post. The Picasa plugin lets you upload images to Picasa from WLW and link them in your blog post. Very cool.

There is also a “blog this” extension for Firefox that helps you blog a particular web page or article. It’s a pretty simple plugin that helps automate appropriate links when referring to a particular source.

There are currently 80 plugins available, so you’ll have to look for yourself to see them all, but if you’re a WLW user, you’re sure to find something useful.

-Jeff

NFL Lets Churches Show Superbowl

Source: ESPN.com

You might have heard about an NFL policy that prohibited live showings of NFL games on screens bigger than 55 inches, and that a few letters were sent out to various churches threatening legal action for showing the Super Bowl at their church.

The Washington Post is reporting that the NFL has sent a letter to U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch stating that the NFL would no longer object to religious organizations showing NFL games regardless of the size screen used as long as no fee was being charged and it occurred on church premises.

The NFL initially was concerned about copyright issues and basically the idea of someone making money off of them. The churches claimed they were merely providing a wholesome place for members of their community to enjoy the game, rather than having them go to a bar to watch football.

It’s sad that congress has to get involved with an issue like this.