Honor Among Thieves and The Truth Will Set You Free.

Barry Bonds has some company.

Up until now he has been easily the most successful and high profile baseball player linked to the current steroid scandal in baseball. Maybe not so much anymore.

Jason Grimsley, a journeymen right-handed reliever who last played for the Arizona Diamondbacks, has named names after being found in possession of HGH (Human Growth Hormone), steroids and amphetamines. Each name kills the kid in me alittle more.

Grimsley getting busted was a fairly big deal. The people he is talking about now make it a much bigger deal. It also continues the destruction of an entire generation of sports heroes.

He named Roger Clemens among others. Without this scandal, Roger Clemens is one of the best players to ever play, as is Barry Bonds. If this sticks to either of them in the form of hard evidence, and Barry might already, they are frauds, liars and phonies.

Driving home from work, ESPN Gameday on the radio, John Seibel said something about Grimsley I found interesting. Without a direct quote, he claimed that if he was in Grimsley's place he would hope he kept quiet about what other people did. That naming others in his confession was a second wrong.

Why does everyone think they are in Goodfella's? Why is there some kind of expectation of honor for these people. They are in this position because they lied, cheated and broke the law for their own gain.

It is this misguided sense of honorable silence that allows crooked cops and corrupt politicians to get away with it just the same as baseball players. What would make you think that they wouldn't sing like a canary?

Why would their silence be reason for respect.

The little kid in me would like to see something. I think it would be cool if Jason Giambi, maybe the only guy to come close to admitting publicly he used steroids, who then came back to perform at a high level even after having a brain tumor, got in front of the camera, admitted he did it and using his current success as an example, tell the kids playing ball they don't need it.

I thought I needed it and I don't.

Maf54: Cool.

Cool is right, Congressman Mark Foley.

Brett Favre can't hurt you anymore.

It's all over. Nothing more to fear. The worst nemesis in Chicago Sports history is done. Brett Favre shouldn't be feared any longer.

All sports teams need rivals. It happens naturally. One team plays another. You cheer for your team, boo their opponents. Loyalties are based, mainly, on location. If you are from Chicago, or the area, the Bears become your team. If you play a team every year, competing for a Divisional Championship, the rivalry grows.

Sports have been in Chicago a long time. We have two baseball teams, a hockey team, basketball and football. In all that time, none of those teams has had an enemy like Brett Favre.

Isiah and the Pistons were tough, but the Bulls broke them over their legs and went on to much greater heights. We even adopted Dennis Rodman as our own for awhile. Reggis Miller? Maybe, but only for one year, in one series. The Knicks? Please.

The Cubs have the Cards, and previously the Mets, but the Cubs have never been serious contenders for anything. No single team, or man, has ever stood between them and glory. Usually, it's just themselves.

The Sox biggest rival is the Cubs, a team that's not even in their league. Also, divisional realignment has changed their yearly rivalries. The winning of The World Series last year washed away so many bad memories. On their way to the top they didn't have to face anyone or any team that had historically bested them. There is no Yankees to their Red Sox. Go White Sox!

Hockey, well, no one really pays attention to the Blackhawks. If they do, then I assume their public enemy #1 is the owner himself.

The Bears greatest rival is the Packers. We play them twice a year and have been for nearly a hundred years. And, we are a Bears town. Even when the Bulls were collecting championships they had to fight for headlines with Dave Wanndstedt. Kevin Butler of the '85 Superbowl Championship team still does commercials here. You ever hear a Judd Buchler commercial? Nope, it's all about the Bears here.

And the Bears hate the Packers.

Brett Favre is Green Bays quarterback. He has been for 211 straight games.

We hate Brett Favre. Here's some number to illustrate why.

Brett Favre first start was on Sept. 20, 1992. He hasn't missed one since.

Games versus Bears, by season.
'92 1-1 CH W in GB.
'93 0-2
'94 0-2 CH beaten in season series by a total score of, 73-9.
'95 0-2
'96 0-2
'97 0-2
'98 0-2
'99 1-1 CH W in GB by blocked FG. Nov. 1, Payton passes
'00 1-1 CH W in GB.
'01 0-2 CH swept by GB despite going 13-3 and winning division.
'02 0-2
'03 0-2
'04 1-1 CH W in GB.
'05 2-0 CH first season sweep of Packer since '91, the freakin' year I graduated high school.
'06 1-0

Total 32 games played, 9 Bears wins, 22 Bears losses.

We didn't win in Green bay from 10/25/92 till 11/7/99. That streak was broken just days after Walter Payton had passed away. Emotionally, the greatest game I've ever watched.

Brett Favre had a 13 game winning streak in Soldier Field. I went through my twenties never seeing the Bears beat the Packers in Chicago. This guy made it a yearly ritual to come to Chicago and beat our butts in. Virtually every Packers game during my six years in college was misery. Highlighted by a Halloween smack down in '94 that still haunts me.

This past Sunday, the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers, in Green Bay, 26-0. That's right!! 26 to Nothing!

It is the first time Brett Favre has ever been shutout in his NFl career. It is the ONLY time Brett Favre has been shutout in his life. Brett Favre has played in more straight games at the quarterback position then anyone else in the history of the NFL. He had our number like no one ever has. But we beat him in his last home opener, cause this year is it for him.

Yeah, he was a great QB. First ballot Hall-of-Famer. I always thought he was a bit of a frontrunner. Sure, he won a Superbowl, but when he ran into a team that punched back the next year, he blew it. He should have retired two years ago when everyone loved him. Now, everyone is just sick of him. He's proving to be a bad teammate, selfish and unwilling to change. Unwilling to help a bad team move on without him.

Enjoy the next 16 weeks, Brett.

John Effin' Madden Football '07: You gotta Save Your Game.

Dirty's comments in my Maddenday posting got me thinking...

And then I stopped thinking and played the new John Madden Football '07...

Then the kids got up from their nap...

As they were jumping on the bed. Pushing... Shoving... Tackling... I thought I saw into their future.

The things the would accomplish. The friends they would share them with.

Their games of John Madden Football '19 30th Anniversary Edition.

I know I saw my past... Would they remember this moment? Would I?

Patrick the younger came and set his two-year-old hands on my knees. Reaching for the PS2 controller in my lap.

"Hold on Buddy, gotta save my game."

When moments like this come along, you gotta save your game.

I welcome anyone else's Madden Football memories.

John Effin' Madden Football '07: My John Madden Football Career.

Time: 1994

Place: Our college house on Flora Way.

To Much Time On The Clock.

My buddy Brendan and I are playing Madden for maybe the millionth time that year. The game is very high scoring and we each take the lead back and forth. I'm sure we are playing the '93 version. A solid version we would stick with for a number of years, if memory serves.

Brendan often loses. Badly. That he might win this game is a big deal. For him and for me. He scores with about 7 seconds left in the game.

I don't think he said a word.

We never talked much trash in our house. We just thought it was disrespectful to treat your friend that way.

Usually.

We took it waaaay to seriously, plus there was always an Alpha Male when it came to these games. If you were the best at Madden you probably weren't the best at NHL. Unless you wanted to eat it the next time around keep your mouth shut. That's just how we played. (And, to be fair to Brendan, he did once strike me out in slow pitch softball.) We also never punted the ball (pussy move.) Or kicked field goals for the win (cheap pussy ass move.)

We were crazy and, I might add, flunking out of college.

So I have the ball, after returning the kickoff. Maybe 5 seconds left, Brendan up by 4.

"I'm going to score right now and you can't stop me."

I can't remember why I said it. I was probably pissed off about something in my overly dramatic college life. I was flunking out after all.

I was the Niners and I knew I could. Just get the time to let Jerry Rice run by the corner. Easy money. Been doing it all game.

Just to much time on the clock.

I did. I scored.

Brendan silently put his controller down and went up stairs.

I felt like a dick later. I had insulted him for no good reason. I was a jerk.

From then on the phrase, "To much time on the clock", was our "Dead man walking." Just something the player, knowing he was destined to lose, would say, in preparation for the loss.

John Effin' Madden Football '07

Happy Maddenday Everyone!

I've been buying this game every year for the better part of 18 years. I'm pretty sure I skipped purchasing the '95 & '96 versions. I've owned it for Sega Genesis, Play Staion 1 and now PS2. It is the only reason I would purchase an Xbox360. I've competed in 1 Madden Tournement in Santa Monica, CA. '04. I won 1 game then got bounced by some punk kid. Some of my most triumphant moments in life have come from playing this game. Some of the most embarrassing and humiliating as well.

God Bless John Madden and God Bless You.