Countdown to NFL Football

Football season has slowly begun creeping into the consciousness with preseason games where second, third and sometimes fourth strings getting a shot at loosening up the limbs and shaking off the cobwebs.  To do the same in preparation for my football pool I have begun slowly reading sports news sites in order to fill my head with useless information that might allow me some leverage over the others.  Here are my top 5:

1. This video from the Seattle Seahawks is entertaining to anyone that has tried the old snake in a container joke.  I read the accompanying article first so I knew to expect that quarterback Matt Hasselbeck would take matters into this own hand.  As I watched the video play out, in between my giggling, I concluded that this team would either do well this year as a team that jokes together plays well together or that this team wouldn't do well as they weren't concentrating enough on serious issues like how to kill the other team.  After watching the entire video the only thing I believe is that the team cut out the part where Matt Hasselbeck peed his pants and instead took two with the cut that made it into the official vid.
2. The punter for the New York Giants, Jeff Feagles, for some reason has taken it upon himself to accuse former teammate Plaxico Burress of stealing his number 17.  Players coming into the league often want a certain number and when that number is already being used it can be purchased for, apparently something as mundane as paying for a family vacation to Florida, as Feagles received the first time he sold a number.  According to Feagles, he wanted Burress to pay for some construction on his house which Burress agreed to but never followed through with.  Considering that this took place in 2005 and that Burress is no longer in the NFL but in jail serving out a two year sentence for shooting himself in the thigh brandishing an unregistered firearm, this tells me that this team hasn't gotten its shit together yet.  What with Eli Manning getting stitches in the first preseason game and Feagles whining about something that occurred five years ago, not to mention that he's whining about it while the accused can't get to him, I'm putting this team at the bottom of the heap. 
3. I watched Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco on last season's Dancing with the Stars, and I must say that I got a better picture of the man.  While I enjoyed him on DWTS I saw about three minutes of his reality show and quickly disapproved of him once again as all good Steelers fans should do with any Cincinnati player.  Now the overbearing-I-am-this-team Ochocinco has welcomed his fellow reality star friend Terrel Owens (him of the sharpie incident which I secretly enjoyed) to his team.  Apparently the two are getting along like two girls playing Barbie dolls, with Ochocinco referring to the two as "Batman and Robin", with Ochocinco in the role as the sidekick.  While I am a tad suspicious of all this heartwarming love fest, I know that it is still preseason.  I have a feeling that come the first game as soon as one gets more balls we will be seeing a little more I'm-gonna-rip-your-Barbie-doll's-hair-out-of-her-head behavior.  When that happens I expect the team to start slowly unraveling at the seams, but in the meantime I'm keeping my eye on them.
4. The Jets are featured this season on HBO's Hard Knocks and apparently coach Rex Ryan didn't have a problem with the editing done by the producers.  Where other teams got final say in what was broadcast and obviously vetoed a few things the Jets are quite okay with footage of Ryan dropping the Fbomb every 3 seconds or so, earning him a reproach from former coach Tony Dungy.  I have never seen the show, not having premier cable channels, but what I'm hearing is that the Jets have allowed quite a few questionable things to play out on the show.  Again, like the video above, viewers are seeing what the Jets want viewers to see.  The question is are they just plain egotistic idiots or are they messing with the public?  While Ryan had a good run last year and talks a good game this year I'm not so sure this man can stay upright with all the stress and drama.  Does anyone but me think coaches need to look like they could run the length of a football field?
5. Now the NFL wants to add two games to the season and take away two games in the preseason.  Bottom line is that the NFL owners aren't making the bucks.  People don't want to pay the full price to see a bunch of no names play against a bunch of no names.  The owners figure that if they replace those games with two regular season games which fans do want to see then the problem is solved.  Only the players aren't interested in any of it except for dropping two preseason games to limit the chances of them getting hurt before the regular season even starts.  While this doesn't really help in my assessment of the coming season I find it all a colossal waste of time.  The owners are all about making money.  If that weren't the case then preseason game tickets would cost $10 or better yet be free.  The franchise players and most of the first stringers aren't going out to give it their all in the preseason because they know they're playing come day one of the regular season. Shouldn't everybody be working out the whole concussion situation instead of this hoo haw?