The first day of free agency is here and despite what experts were predicting that free agency would start slow, it has shot off like a race car with no breaks.  The biggest players so far in free agency have been 2 teams from the same division.  The Lions have signed WR Nate Burleson to a deal at 5 years worth $25mill and $11mill of that is guaranteed.  Also signed by the Lions was DE Kyle Vanden Bosch to a  four-year deal worth $26 million.  While the Vanden Bosch deal looks like a good signing, some are scratching their heads at the Burleson signing.  Not so much the signing, but the amount of money.  The Lions have a history of bad decisions on WR, mainly in the draft, but it looks like they are not taking it to free agency too.  But the Lions aren’t the biggest players in free agency so far, that honor goes the Mose’s beloved, Chicago Bears.  The Bears so far today have signed TE  Brandon Manumaleuna to a five year deal and RB Chester Taylor to a 4 yr deal worth about 12.5 million.  However, thats not the biggest signing for the Bears, they actually signed the biggest name on the free agent market when they agreed to terms with Julius Peppers.  The deal is said to be 6 years at 12 million a year.  Looks like Coach Lovie Smith knows its win now or look for another job after next year, along with GM Jerry Angelo.  Are the Bears on the right track to making them into super bowl contenders.  Absolutely.  There isnt 1 Bears fan out there that already is wanting to start tailgating and drinking beer on Sundays at Soldier Field.  But the Bears better start looking into some OL free agents quickly or it will still be a long season.

The end has come and the divorce papers are finalized and LT is no longer a Charger.  LT has now been released by the Chargers and will be playing for another team next year.  LT was the NFL MVP in 2006, but since then his production has dropped considerably.  He averaged 113.40 yards a game to 52.10 yards last year.  Injuries have bothered him the last few years and he missed the AFC championship game 2 times during that span due to injury.  Everyone knew this day was coming and some thought it was a year too late.  The Chargers are now looking for a new rb and LT is now looking for a new team.  One team that could sign him is Seattle.  Right now they have Julius Jones and probably will be drafting a qb in the draft to take the place of Hasselback in the next couple of years.  I dont feel that he will be with Seattle because LT wants to play for a championship and Seattle wont be playing for a championship next year.  A team I can see him playing for is the Vikings.  I dont think Taylor will return and LT would be a good backup for AP.  This offseason is shaping up to be a very interesting year for many players and teams.

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone.  And the question I have is who will be the ruler of the Eastern Conference.  2 major players made deals by the deadline in the Cavs getting Antawn Jamison and the Celtics getting Nate Robinson, the Magic and the Atlanta Hawks stayed still and decided to go with what they had.  So who is the ruler of the east now?  After Antawn’s first game with the Cavs, and 0-12 shooting and a loss to the Bobcats should the Cav fans be worried?  I think you shoud and for 2 reasons.  First,  Lebron James will never give up shot attempts to anyone, lets make that clear.  Jamison will require some shots and I’m really not sure  that both of them can play together at the end of the day.  Dont forget that the Cavs have Mo Williams returning to the lineup.  I just feel that the Cavs dont have the leadership needed to guide them the rest of the year.  So here is my prediction for the Eastern Conference.  The Cleveland Cavaliers will not make it to the finals this year.  It will come down to the Celtics and the Hawks.  Thats right, the Atlanta Hawks a the team to be afraid of in the eastern division.  But when the smoke clears and everything is said and done, it will be the Celtics that emerge from the Eastern conference and playing for the NBA championship.  They have been hurt all season and playing with injuries and the trade for Nate Robinson will actually be a big factor in the rest of the season.  Mark my words people the Celtics will be major players in the east this year and Nate could be dunking them to the NBA championship.

As I am sure most of you heard, Tiger Woods apologized to everyone for his behavior.  OK, lets take a realistic look at what Tiger did.  He slept with a variety of beautiful girls and text them and other things he should not have done.  And he admits that he did things he shouldn’t have done.  But, what did he really do that a large majority of men don’t or wouldn’t do?  Now I am not condoning what Tiger did,  lets make that clear, but what did he really do?  He cheated on his wife and got caught, congrats Tiger your human.  Most men get caught, the problem is, their name isn’t Tiger Woods.  Honestly, I don’t care for all the media hype that has come with Tiger and his transgressions, but like the bible says “he who is without sin, cast the first stone.”  Tiger messed up and everyone knows it, especially his wife and she needs to decide, can she forgive and forget or does she have to move on.  And nobody can blame her either way.  But the bottom line is  people Tiger, is human, he just hits a little white ball farther than anyone else I or you know.  He messed up, if you don’t like it, cheer for someone else and move on.

On last nights show, we talked for a little bit about the NBA today compared to when MJ, Magic and Bird were playing.  It was asked if Allen Iverson started the decline of the NBA today.  Kids today love Lebron, Kobe, and watching them dunk on people and have fun watching them.  But for the person who really wants to watch the real game of basketball being played, the NBA is frustrating to watch.  Truth be told, I don’t watch a lot of NBA anymore until the playoffs get here.   For the most part its a bunch of guys in tattoos just trying to get their points and their money.  Players don’t respect the game like they used too.  A guy we all talked about last night is Lebron James of the Cavs.  Here is a guy who has all the talent in the world and is a great basketball player, but the mentality of one of the 7th grade players I coach.  If he was playing in during the Jordan days, could you imagine if he dunked in a game against the Pistons with Rodman, Mahorn, and Laimbeer and then ran down the court dancing or taking fake pictures.  Next time down the court he would have found himself in the 5th row on his butt looking up at the ceiling wondering what the hell just happened.  Now its not just Lebron, but a lot of players now a days in the NBA.  I believe it started with players like Latrell Spreewell who choked his coach during practice because he was getting yelled at and just snowballed into Allen Iverson and one of the worst things that ever happened to basketball period, the AND 1 tapes.  I think the NBA can be saved, but players have to remember that it is a privilege to play in the NBA and there is a  responsibility to the youth today, sorry Mr. Barkley, but they are watching you.  I think Lebron should do the dunk contest with Kobe and Vince.  I think they should do it for the NBA and for the fans.  Its time to give something back to the sport that has made you rich and famous.  And remember, your never bigger than the game itself.  My hope is that the NBA gets back to old school basketball, pick and roll, give and go, tough hard nose defense.  That is my hope.

With the NBA trade deadline coming up on Thursday, one of the many names being talked about is Ray Allen being traded.  His contract is expiring at the end of the season and some teams are trying to open up cap space next year would be interested in Allen and his contract.  However, does it really make any sense for the Celtics to trade Ray?  I believe that the Celtics are one of the contenders for a title this year.  Yeah they haven’t been playing as good as they would like, but lets remember the injury bug has been hard on my beloved Celts.  Garnett has missed games due to his knee, Pierce has missed a few games here and there with some injuries and Ray Allen missed a few games due to a stiff back.  Marquis Daniels missed quite a bit of the season with a thumb injury and Big Baby hurt his hand fighting with a friend.  Unless the Celtics get a young solid shooter like Iguodala from the 76ers or Monte Ellis from the Warriors, trading Ray Allen doesn’t really make any sense.  So please Danny, don’t pull the trigger on a Kirk Hinrich or Antawn  Jamison, I know Kirk is younger but Ray is still better and Antawn isn’t a young player anymore and isn’t an upgrade.

That fading light that was the UCONN Huskies men’s basketball season, all of a sudden has gotten a little bit brighter.  Coach Jim Calhoun’s return may have sparked the Huskies a little more than people anticipated.  The Huskies upset #3 Villanova and now, I believe can still make it into the big dance in March if they can play solid basketball the rest of the year.  Look, they lost to 5 ranked teams, 3 in the top 10 and 2 in the top 20.  They beat #3 Villanova and at the time #1 Texas.  They play Louisville at home and a big game against #8 West Virginia.  If they can pull out wins against those 2 tough teams and go 5-0 the rest of the way, its hard to not put them into the tourney.  If you look at their strength of schedule, they are ranked #1, and with their coach missing games due to illness, I believe the selection committee will take this into effect and UCONN will actually make it into the dance.  And if they can play the way they did against Nova, they could be a sleeper team to look out for.

I cant help but think of the Black Eyed Peas song Tonights going to be a good night.  Thats right tonight is out greatest of all time show and we will be talking NFL of course.  I’ve already given you my QB’s so I figured why not give you my RB’s too, so here we go:

5. Barry Sanders- very well could be higher on the list, but not on mine.  He retired too young and it was a shame.  Lions fans still havent recovered.

4. O.J. Simpson-great running back and some very very bad teams.  He carried a horrible Bills franchise for many years.

3. Walter Payton- I loved watching Walter run and just run guys over.

2. Jim Brown- another rb that retired too young, but he went out on his terms.

1. Emmitt Smith- I know I’m gonna take heat for this one, but I’m gonna stay in the kitchen and take it.  All time leading rusher. enough said.

One of the best moments I can remember in the NFL draft is when Bill Polian went off on Mel Kiper after he ripped the Colts on draft day after a pick.  Polian went on a 2 minute tirade about “who the hell is Mel Kiper Jr”, “what has he ever done in the NFL”,” nobody knows who he is anyway”.  I really respected him for that and not taking crap from a guy who really has no idea what it takes to play in the NFL.  But now I’ve lost all respect for him.  You know the motto, if you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all, well this is a good example of this.  Instead of putting any blame on Peyton Manning who they are trying to resign to an extension, he blamed the special teams and the offensive line.  Its the OL fault for not getting a first down at the end of the half and running out the clock.  Was it Jeff Saturday that dropped an open pass that would have been a first down.  Why not run the ball and make the Saints use a timeout instead.  All I know is the Saints had no Sacks for the game and only 3 qb hits.  Are you kidding me?  I will give you the Special Teams play, because the turning point of the game was the onside kick the Saints recovered.  But to put no blame on Peyton Manning is ridiculous and idiotic.  Manning had plenty of time to throw when he threw that pick and continued to call passing plays when Addai was running the ball great.  13 rushes for 77 yards for a 5.9 average.  Why only 13 rushes.  I think the blame should be put on Peyton, Special Teams, and the Coaching staff.  All three of these were out played.

Well guys, after our show on Tuesday and all the Peyton Manning talk, I got to thinking who would be my pick for the top 5 QB’s of all time.  So after hours of debate between the left side and the right side of my brain and my heart throwing in a thing or two, here who I came up with.

1. Joe Montana-won 4 Super Bowls, was the master of comeback wins.

2. John Elway-5 Super Bowls, 2 wins, was the second master of comeback wins.

3. Johnny Unitas-Revolutionized the QB position

4. Dan Marino-I know I know, no Super Bowls, but he didn’t have a defense or running game either for his career.  Set several NFL passing records.

5. Terry Bradshaw-As much as I hated him, I respected him.  He won 4 Super Bowls and played big in big games.

There you go, Cowboy Chris’s top 5.  We will be going over best of all time in different sports and positions on Thursdays show.  Feel free to call in and give us your picks and lets us know what your thinking.  Hopefully the kitchen doesn’t get to hot for ya.