NFL 2011 season

[Neil]

If it wasn't the preseason, I'd listen to him.  In the preseason, guys who are fighting to make the team aren't going to ease up for the sake of not making the other guys look bad.

[Ed Anger]

If I was the Raiders equipment manager, I'd lock all the jerseys up at night.

[Ed Anger]

[CountDeMoney]

That's awesome 

Chicken Box?  Motherfu

[Neil]

I don't think I get the 'Chicken Box' reference.  Is it an American thing?

[Ed Anger]

I don't think I get the 'Chicken Box' reference.  Is it an American thing?

From Wiki:

Another popular Baltimore food item is the "chicken box." A chicken box is an inexpensive meal consisting of 4–6 chicken wings, served in a fast food carry out box with some kind of French fries (wedged "western fries," curly fries, or regular fries). Toppings usually consist of salt, pepper, and ketchup, although hot sauce is also popular. The item is chiefly sold at independent fried chicken shops and deli/Chinese carry-outs in the city. Chicken boxes are usually enjoyed with "Half and Half," a drink combining iced tea and lemonade (referred to elsewhere in the U.S. as an "Arnold Palmer"

[Ed Anger]

Holy crap, the bears O-line looks like a Bengals line from 10 years ago.

[Neil]

I don't see how you could apply that to Flacco.

[dps]

I don't see how you could apply that to Flacco.

Yeah, even with Money's description of what a "chicken box" is, I don't see how it applies to Flacco.

It's pretty near the end of the chart, though, and they probably couldn't figure out anything else for Baltimore.  I guess that they could have used crab cakes instead--it's more instantly recognizable as a food item associated with Baltimore--but that really doesn't have anything to do with Flacco, either.  Unless he has crabs, in which case, it's TMI.

[CountDeMoney]

I don't see how you could apply that to Flacco.

Considering last year's ineffectiveness in protecting him, and the last two preseason games, running around like a chicken would work.

[Sophie Scholl]

Good to see The Battle of The Bay mean something again.  Damn hoodlums.  We lost the game, but we won the war!  Haha, idiots.  Also, Pryor?  Really?  Ugh.  Once I saw his 40 time, I knew he'd be a Raider.  I guess I can hope he pans out, as happy feet Campbell is destined for failure.  Now the Raiders are without their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks for the coming draft.  Hooray.  This is probably the most depressed/negative I've been headed into a football season in a while.  The Raiders and the Browns have seemingly taken big steps backward on both sides of the ball.  I say this now, and they'll both manage great years and surprise the hell out of me, but I most assuredly do not hope for much.  A repeat of their records from last year would be a welcome surprise.

[Admiral Yi]

Yeah, even with Money's description of what a "chicken box" is, I don't see how it applies to Flacco.

Skinny and cheap?

[CountDeMoney]

Ravens have signed Mark LeVoir and Bryant McKinnie in the last two days to shore up the RT position.  LeVoir may be a keeper, but McKinnie's batshit crazy.

In related news, I ran into Jah Reid at the Sunoco last night while he was buying a gallon of milk.  Told him not to sweat these veterans and win his position.  He honestly seemed to appreciate that.  Then again, he's young yet.  Big fucking kid.

[CountDeMoney]

Artie Donovan, Living Legend, gets his ring back

Championship ring stolen from Colts great returned
Art Donovan's ring was taken during trip to Hong Kong in 1977

Colts legend Art Donovan never thought he'd get his ring back.

The cherished keepsake of the 1958 NFL championship game — often called "the greatest game ever played" — was stolen from a Hong Kong hotel room in 1977. Donovan assumed it was gone forever.

But 34 years later, the ring has been returned to its rightful owner after it showed up for sale on the Internet. A Howard County police detective followed up on a tip and found the ring, engraved with the defensive tackle's name and jersey number, listed for $25,000 on Craigslist.

"I hoped the one who stole it had fun with it," Donovan, 86, said on Tuesday. "What can you do? Life goes on. People want to ask, 'Did you weep?' There's a lot more things in this world that are more serious than losing a ring."

His wife, Dottie, was more excited about the ring's return. She had put it on a charm bracelet along with the couple's class rings from college, which remain missing. But the championship ring — from the 23-17 sudden-death victory over the New York Giants — is now back home with the Hall of Famer in Towson.

"It's unbelievable," said Donovan's eldest daughter, Debbie Donovan, noting the ring's three-decade-long, 8,000-mile odyssey from Hong Kong to Curtis Bay to Elkridge.

"It's just beautiful," she said, the ring safely back in family hands. "There's not a ding, not a scratch on it."

Police were able to recover the ring when a detective posed as a buyer, offering $20,000 for the keepsake.

Police said that the person who tried to sell the ring, identified in a police report as Charles Ice II, will not be charged with a crime. Ice told detectives that the ring had been purchased years earlier by his wife's now- deceased former husband, and that Ice didn't know it had been stolen.

Ice told police he decided to sell the ring because his Harley Davidson motorcycle shop had gone under and he needed cash. He and his wife Katina sold their jewelry for scrap, but thought the ring might be worth more if sold, according to the report.

Police almost missed their opportunity to get it back. Ice told detectives that someone had offered to buy the ring for $18,000 a week before Detective Wade Zufall put in his bid, but Ice turned down the offer, holding out for more.

The ring went missing while the Donovans vacationed at a Hong Kong hotel staffed by temporary workers during a strike. The ring's whereabouts were a mystery until the late 1980s, when police said a jeweler called Donovan and wanted to "broker a deal for the return of the ring." The player refused.

Police said the ring resurfaced in 1997 or 1998 in a bar in South Baltimore's Curtis Bay. Ice told detectives that his wife's former husband, Harry Edward Wehner III, used winnings from a Las Vegas casino to buy the ring for $15,000.

The ring went to the Ices after Wehner died and was kept in in the couple's safe. It was all but forgotten until the couple hit financial trouble and decided to sell it.

Shortly after the ring appeared on Craigslist, one of Donovan's friends spotted it and called another friend, retired Howard County police officer Peter Wright. He contacted Donovan and then the police, who set up a sting.

The detective, Zufall, bid $20,000 for the ring and set up a meeting with Ice at his closed motorcycle shop in Elkridge. Zufall told Ice the ring had been stolen and was being seized.

For his part, Donovan remains a bit mystified at all the attention.

"The ring is great," he said. "But time marches on."

[dps]

That's a cool story, Seedy.