Never Ending Cycle of Farve and Vick

The NFL season is till three weeks away and already two stories have been covered to the max, even by ESPN’s standards. Michael Vick and Brett Farve need to be cut off the media radar.

Ironically, neither of the two will even be a factor during the 2009 season until at least mid-October. Vick finally signed with a team and is now practicing with the Eagles.

Is it really necessary to have Sal Paolantonio attend every Philly practice, giving us an update on Vick’s wind sprints? The speculations over what team would take the massive P.R. hit and sign him are over.

The man is out of jail and is now just another player in training camp. This does not merit the continued coverage. Talk to me in week six when he is ready to play. I can already predict the Vick stories over the next two months:

Vick looks in shape, Vick gives Eagles a wildcat option, other teams must now worry about the Eagles running the wildcat, McNabb and Vick get along and are friends, McNabb and Vick will be on the field together, the protests, the angry headlines and of course the livid dog owners.

Does any of this have relevance to the first month of the 2009 NFL season? Why can’t this story go on the back burner till Vick can actually make an impact ON the field?

Sports Illustrated football writer Peter King already has a prediction:

“I think I'm setting the over/under on Sal Paolantonio's days spent reporting from Eagle headquarters or Eagle games this season, and I'm doing it right now. There are 139 days between today and the end of the regular season. Over/under: 140.”

I’ll take the over.

Then there is Brett Farve. He just simply will not get away from my T.V. It has been the most painfully slow death of an NFL career since Emmitt Smith went to the Arizona Cardinals.

After two agonizingly dull months of Farve to the Vikings talk, he decided to stay “retired”. I want the collective 24 hours of Farve updates of my life back please. So finally we all thought he would drift off into the sunset. But wait there’s more!

Yesterday some “unidentified” Vikings player was quite convinced Farve was coming when he said, "I'm telling you it's already done. I don't think anyone here doesn't think that."

Today a Mississippi T.V. station reported that Farve had boarder a plane in route to Minnesota. Here we go again… ESPN reports he will sign a $10-12 million deal.

Now we will be subjected to a whole new round of speculation amongst the talking heads. They will rehash the same arguments that have been used since the spring. Once again the focus will not be about X’s and O’s, but on a guy with a gray whiskers who may or may not be too old.

Knowing Farve, he might even change his mind four or five more times in the next month. The Sage Rosenfeld era might end before it even gets started. So much for that impressive first preseason game, he’s getting bumped by a Wrangler jeans wearing 39 year-old diva.

The running game will dictate the Vikings season, not Farve. So why doesn’t ESPN talk about Adrian Peterson everyday? How did Palmer and Brady look in their first games back after major injuries? Which rookies look to have early success? How will Cutler and the Bears compare to Orton and the Broncos? Will the Steelers offensive line hold up for big Ben?

Unfortunately this is all second fiddle to the media empires. We will continue to get bashed over the head with Vick and Farve well into the season. The funny thing is that there is a chance that neither player makes any sort of impact on the field. But clearly that is irrelevant.

You have been warned, be prepared for a loooong couple of months of the same old stories.