There’s nothing worse for Brett Favre than not being the center of attention all the F’ing time. So it’ll be upsetting news to him when he finds out the Vikes have given him a deadline of a week to make up his freaking mind already on whether or not he’s coming back.

[ESPN]

Sean Payton, whose New Orleans Saints were favorites in the NFC last year and managed to miss the playoffs, has written himself a little screenplay. And, to be perfectly honest, it’s worse than his secondary against a Falcons team they were favored by 4 points against last year. The script:

The movie, currently titled “The Xbox Kid,” is about a boy from a poor family in New Orleans who starts controlling the outcome of NFL games through a refurbished Xbox given to him by his grandfather following a devastating hurricane.

Payton said the idea came to him when his son Connor would play upcoming Saints games on his Xbox during the 2006 season.

“I just wrote about four pages, piddling around with it,” said Payton, who later turned the idea over to a professional screen writer to flesh it out.

I don’t doubt this movie will one day be a major motion picture. Movies like Dreamcatcher have slipped through the cracks before. And people have wasted $10 and two hours of their lives on terrible shit like Changing Lanes, starring Ben Affleck and a ton of boredom. So a kid’s Xbox determining the outcome of the games really isn’t all that far fetched.

[Fan IQ]

I’m aware this is all special effects. But it’s still cool. And if it was real, Chris Cooley would get laid whenever he wanted. How many other tight ends can break through two sheets of drywall and catch a ball with little ease?

Every summer, I start to think about NCAA two-zero-fill-in-the-blank, and Madden two-zero-fill-in-the-blank. This year will be NCAA 2010, and Madden 2010, and given that both of my teams should be good (Georgia Tech and the Falcons), I feel a little more excited than most.

[Falcons Message Board]

And by now, he should be used to that. He does have his brother, mom, dad, friends, fiancee — everyone, really — that have used him in the past, so it should come as no shock that the Humane Society is now using the ex-superstar. The surprising thing? They’re admitting it. Just ask Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society.

“We’re using Mike Vick. We’re both using each other,” Pacelle told KNBR radio in San Francisco Wednesday when asked about criticism that the Humane Society is being used.

“We have an agenda to eradicate dogfighting in America. He can be a valuable instrument in that. If he can demonstrate that he’s a changed person, good for him.”

I don’t know if volunteering for something that isn’t really volunteering because he can’t get back into the NFL without it…. I don’t know if that counts as being a changed man. It’s not as if Vick is bursting at the seams to work a $10 an hour construction job and help the same animals that are responsible for sending him to jail.

[AJC]

Since Michael Vick has been out of jail, there hasn’t been much heard from him. Or at least I think not. I’ve been in Cancun for the last week, so really don’t know. That said, over the next couple of months Vick is going to have to show “genuine remorse,” per Roger Goodell, if he intends on playing in the NFL again.

So… do you think he’s learning his lesson? Do you think he’s sorry for what he did? Well, according to Michael Boddie, Vick’s father, the star will “be a better man” because of his 18 month stint in federal prison.

“You have a lot of time to reflect,” he told the newspaper. “Looks like he came through it in one piece. I think he’ll be a better man for it.”

Boddie, 47, and Vick have a strained relationship, but they visited for 10 to 15 minutes last Friday at the Hampton home where Vick is serving two months of home confinement.

“I told him, ‘Son, what don’t kill you will make you stronger,’” Boddie told the newspaper.

Better man? Maybe. Better passer? Unlikely. And given that he’s in about a trillion dollars of debt, better man isn’t going to cut it. Better man who’s a better passer and a better runner and better decision maker and better guy at making fans forget that he killed dogs…. that’s what he needs to be shooting for.

[AJC]

You’d think that since Jim Mora is going to be taking over the Seahawks, Seattle might be a likely spot for Michael Vick to end up once he does indeed get back into the NFL. Well, not according to Pro Football Talk, who pulled up some quotes from an interview conducted by ESPN with the coach, himself. Here you go, what Mora thinks of Mr. Vick:

“I don’t know that everybody sees him as a quarterback,” Mora said in a pre-taped segment. “I spent three years with the guy, and the most consistent question I got was, ‘Does he have the skill set of an NFL quarterback or is he better suited to play another position?’”

Said ESPN’s Ed Werder in response, “But you always stated your belief that he was a quarterback, and could succeed at the position.”

Replied Mora, followed by a slight ish-eating grin: “Because he was my quarterback.”

I side with Mora. He’s right. That said, Mora is one of the dumbest head coaches I’ve ever seen, and that’s coming from someone who watches 16 Falcons’ games a year, plus the preseason and playoffs. He instilled Greg Knapp, arguably the worst offensive coordinator ever, as his offensive coordinator. He was known for being a guy that was a friend to the players, not a coach. Anyway… I don’t want to get off on too much of a rant. Michael Vick won’t be the QB of the Seahawks. Have fun with Mora, Seattle. You’ll never see a more loosely run team. Trust me.

[Pro Football Talk]

In an effort to repair his incredibly damaged image, Michael Vick is going to team up with the Humane Society in a program aimed at eradicating dog fighting amongst urban teens.

“He indicated that he’s tremendously remorseful about this, and now he wants to be an agent of change, to work to end dogfighting and to specifically get young kids to cease any involvement in these activities,” Pacelle said.

I’m going to assume what everyone’s assuming, and that’s that Mike is only doing this to better his chances at getting back in the NFL. That said, give the guy some credit for swallowing his pride and teaming up in an effort he more than likely couldn’t care less about.

Next thing on everyone’s mind: Where does he sign? The obvious choice is Oakland, because Batshit Crazy Al Davis runs the team, but they’ve got their quarterback (”JaMarcus Russell is a great quarterback — get over it!”). Other teams would be the Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49′ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or, in something I consdier a long shot, the Tennessee Titans. The Falcons still have him under contract, and are currently asking for a 7th round draft pick in the year 2029.

[AJC]

The rumor is that Michael Vick will be released from prison tonight and head to his 3,800 square foot home in Virginia. It should be a lot of room to adjust to, given that he’s spent the last 20 months in a cell that’s no bigger than the bathrooms of most homes.

Now that he’s back, he can get his life in order, but that doesn’t mean he’s focusing on football. Not yet.

The agent for Michael Vick said Tuesday that the quarterback “will place football on the back burner” during his immediate home confinement and that there are no meetings scheduled with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss reinstatement for the 2009 season.

“Michael’s looking forward to reacquainting himself with his family, his fiancée, Kiafa, his children and his mom,” Joel Segal, Vick’s agent, said. “When he gets home, that’s his priority, along with reinserting himself into society and being a positive influence in his community. This is going to be a special time for him, just being around family.”

I completely agree with Vick. He should get reacquainted with his family and settle back in. Besides that, word on the street is that Grand Master Pitbull Brodie is fighting two time champion Zeus, also a purebread. One will win. One will die. It’ll be like old times again.

(On a more serious note, ESPN has a really good piece on Vick and his unravelings that you can get here.)

[ESPN]

James Harrison went from an undrafted player to this year’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He won a Super Bowl. He just got a big contract extension. And now he’s snubbing Barrack Obama’s invitation to the White House. His reason? He would’ve invited the Cardinals had they won.

“I don’t feel the need to go, actually,” Harrison told Pittsburgh station WTAE-TV. “I don’t feel like it’s that big a deal to me.”

Harrison doesn’t believe the invitation is all that special, saying if the Steelers hadn’t beaten the Cardinals 27-23 with a last-minute rally, “He [Obama] would have invited Arizona.”

Problem is, if Obama invited the Cardinals, he’d have to invite everyone. And the market is doing bad enough as is; the last thing we need is for the Lions’ luck to rub off on some of the top financial advisors.

[ESPN]