Steve Smith, who’s now being linked to anger management issues across the world over the last five years, seems to be fairly apologetic about his scrap — if it can be called that, given how one-sided it was — with cornerback Ken Lucas.

Smith returned to practice on Monday and, unlike many stars who get suspended for two games, appears to be taking complete and full blame.

“I’m completely wrong,” Smith said in a rambling, four-minute meeting with reporters that ended with him declining to answer questions. “It was an asinine decision. And I’ll move forward better than I probably have ever had to. It’s the first time in my life that I really haven’t forgiven myself.”

The bad news about all this is now Smith won’t be in the Panthers first game, where he would have been paired against Antonio Cromartie pretty much the whole game. The good news is that the second game of the year I’m playing the guy who drafted Smith in my fantasy league, and Smith would be set to play the Bears, where he generally gains 600 yards and gets 7 or 8 touchdowns per game.

And if I meet this guy in the playoffs, Steve, maybe you can jack Delhomme for me.

Lucky us, right? As if the last four years of Favre saying, “Well, this is it, I’m probably done” wasn’t enough, now we’ve been treated to this: Brett Favre retiring, then saying he wants to come back, then us being promised he’d be traded and would never play in Green Bay, and now finding out that he’s coming back, he’ll be in Green Bay, and the coaches seem okay with him competing with Aaron Rodgers for the starting job.

Team president Mark Murphy said in a statement Sunday that the team has a specific plan with Favre in camp that it won’t reveal until Monday, but sources told ESPN’s Wendi Nix that coach Mike McCarthy will announce he’s holding an open competition for the starting quarterback position.

Does anyone really anticipate a competition? You’ve got an icon in Green Bay, someone who’s won MVP’s and Super Bowls, someone who’s thrown more touchdowns than any other quarterback in the history of the NFL, and you want to say there’s a competition? With Aaron Rodgers, who’s got about 300 yards he’s thrown in his entire career?

Painful as it’ll be, it appears Favre will be the starter in Green Bay, and we’ll all go through with this exact same talk next February, right around the time Favre decides he wants to “retire” again.

Michael Vick, little by little, is becoming more and more forgotten, but to keep him in the minds of all dog lovers alike, we occasionally get a story from prison. Whether it be that he’s playing football, filing bankruptcy, or tauning the prison K-9’s, there’s always something to keep us entertained.

This month’s edition? Turns out prison isn’t so bad. He’s playing volleyball, running track, playing basketball. . . you name it.

DeAngelo Hall and Alge Crumpler, former teammates in Atlanta, have both gone to visit him, as well as his high school coach. Crumpler says he’s adjusting, D-Hall says he’s training, and his coach says he’s doing well.

From what visitors say, the volleyball and track are going well, but Michael can’t seem to pass the basketball without it being stolen.

The Brett Favre saga continues, and thankfully it looks as if he’s done with Green Bay. Maybe not done with football, but done with Green Bay. According to sources, the Packers are entertaining the possibility of trading Favre to another team.

The Packers have asked multiple teams what they would be willing to offer for their team icon and former NFL MVP, the NFL Network reported — a state of affairs once unthinkable in Green Bay.

While it is not known how many teams the Packers have contacted about Favre, they have not limited their inquiries to AFC teams, according to the report.

Earlier on NFL Live, ESPN reported that “one team from the NFC” had been contacted, but did not know the team (my guess is the Vikings, given earlier reports). This means that Brett Favre might once and for all be done with Green Bay. However, given Coach Mike McCarthy’s comments, saying, “Brett Favre has four to five good years left him,” it looks as if the “Will he retire, will he not retire?” won’t end until about 2013. It may be an annoying next half decade.

The Saints are a team that have a bunch of weapons — you’ve got The Deuce, Reggie Bush, Marques Colston, and Drew Brees — and now they’ve added to that. Say hello to Jeremy Shockey, the new, fast, tatted-up TE that has just been traded from the Giants to the Saints.

In return, the Giants get a 2nd and 5th round pick, and they no longer have to listen to a guy that was upset his team won a Super Bowl because he wasn’t out there at the moment. I’m sure Drew Brees will ejoy having a weapon that screams at him every time he isn’t thrown the ball.

The Redskins got bad news on Sunday, learning they’d lost DE Phillip Daniels, and went out to quickly rectify their subtraction with an addition. Insert: Jason Taylor, who not only dances, but has also grabbed a few sacks here and there.

“We’re fortunate there was a guy that caliber on the market when somebody got hurt,” Washington executive vice president Vinny Cerrato said. “Normally, in most years, there’s not a guy of that caliber on the market.”

It’s good news for the Redskins, who just bolstered an already solid defense. It’s bad news for the Dolphins, who were probably a three win team, and now are a one win team.

It’s the early odds on team’s chances to make the Super Bowl. What are your team’s chances? Just look below. My team, the Falcons, well, they’re pretty much as long a shot as there is, and at 100-1, I think that’s kind of unfair (this one should be somewhere in the thousands or millions). Pats at 7-2? Chargers at 7-1? I like that action. . .

Arizona Cardinals 50 - 1
Atlanta Falcons 100 - 1
Baltimore Ravens 75 - 1
Buffalo Bills 50 - 1
Carolina Panthers 40 - 1
Chicago Bears 35 - 1
Cincinnati Bengals 60 - 1
Cleveland Browns 25 - 1
Dallas Cowboys 6 - 1
Denver Broncos 50 - 1
Detroit Lions 80 - 1
Green Bay Packers 25 - 1
Houston Texans 60 - 1
Indianapolis Colts 7 - 1
Jacksonville Jaguars 12 - 1
Kansas City Chiefs 100 - 1
Miami Dolphins 100 - 1
Minnesota Vikings 18 - 1
New England Patriots 7 - 2
New Orleans Saints 25 - 1
New York Giants 15 - 1
New York Jets 35 - 1
Oakland Raiders 50 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles 20 - 1
Pittsburgh Steelers 15 - 1
Saint Louis Rams 75 - 1
San Diego Chargers 7 - 1
San Francisco 49ers 80 - 1
Seattle Seahawks 25 - 1
Tampa Bay Buccanneers 40 - 1
Tennessee Titans 40 - 1
Washington Redskins 50 - 1

It’s the last post about Favre. Honestly. I don’t like the guy, I think he’s overrated, I feel that he’s one of the more selfish players I’ve seen in the last decade — yes, more selfish than T.O. or Chad Johnson; at least they’re not holding back the players behind them and making a team wait on pins and needles at the end of each year — and I’m tired of giving him the attention. But this is great.

Aaron Rodgers, say goodbye to starting this year. Brett Favre is thinking of showing up to training camp.

“It’s tempting just to, as everyone said, you know, call their bluff or whatever,” Favre said, according to an excerpt provided to The Associated Press. “I think it’s going to be a circus in itself already, whether I go there, whatever.”

You’ve gotta love this: The guy is told that they don’t want him, and he’s so egotistical that he thinks they’re bluffing. And they say athletes have huge heads. These people have never met Mr. Favre, who’s clearly as grounded as they get.

I guess it’s about that time. I’ve tried to stay away from it, but it won’t go away, and this is a sports blog. As much as I don’t want to contribute to the useless stories that are Brett Favre, I suppose I’m going to swallow my pride and do it anyway.

So guess what: The guy wants to come back.

If there’s anyone out there that’s say, “Man, I can’t believe it!” then you clearly haven’t been paying attention to the last decade of what has been Brett Favre’s long awaited, neverending retirement game. I want to quit, I want to come back, I want to quit, I want to come back, I want to quit. . . I’m really gonna quit, no wait, I’m going to come back.

Regardless of where your allegiance is, at some point you’ve got to start feeling sorry for Aaron Rodgers. The guy may be the best QB out there, but no one will ever know because Brett Favre just won’t hang it up.

The word yesterday was that the Packers said Favre can come back, but he’ll have to be a backup. This would be the absolute worst idea in the world, because every time Rodgers threw an incompletion, he’d be booed.

Now, after speaking with Fox, Favre is clearing it up: He wants to play, but not for the Pack.

“I am guilty of retiring early and there is a reason for that,” Favre said, according to an excerpt provided to The Associated Press. “And the major issue is ‘Why did he retire,’ and ‘He asked for a release because he doesn’t want to play in Green Bay.’ That’s not true. And I hope people are hearing this and saying ‘OK, that clears it up.’ ”

“Them moving on does not bother me. It doesn’t. I totally understand that. By me retiring March 3rd I knew that could possibly happen. All I was saying is you know I’m thinking about playing again. The ‘itch’ has been used. That is the word that has been used if you want to say itch, or the fire is coming back, or whatever.

“If I’m going to play it’s going to be 100 percent commitment. … And so if you move on, you tell me one thing, don’t come back and tell the public … just say it. ‘You know, we’ve moved on and we’ll work with Brett on whatever it is.’ Don’t make up a lot of stuff or give half of the truth.”

Brett: Leave the poor city alone. Leave football alone. You were there — you were right on the edge of it, and you’d actually jumped — for retirement. . . stay retired. We don’t need to have the debates every year from this year forward if you’re going to be around anymore. And when you do retire, we don’t need to continue debating if you’ve really retired.

There. I’m done. No more publicity for the guy. It’s what he wants. Brett, I hope you go to a team and throw another pick in the playoffs, ultimately ending your team’s chance at a Super Bowl. Just give it up, man. Just give it up.

It was hard for me to swallow the whole Michael Vick thing — he was pretty much my favorite player ever, and he played for my hometown Falcons — but as time has gone on, I’ve realized that the whole thing is actually quite funny. And what I mean by funny is this: This guy, who once had the city of Atlanta in the palm of his hand, Nike shoes waiting at his feet, endorsements all over the place, and a life most of us could only dream of, is now broke. Flat. Broke.

Imprisoned quarterback Michael Vick filed for bankruptcy protection while serving time for federal dogfighting charges, saying he owes between $10 million and $50 million to creditors.

I understand being rich and taking a loan here and a loan there. You know, sometimes you get drunk or high and become a little careless with your cash. But fifty-damn-million? Either he made a lot of bad investments, or the dogs he bet on performed real, real poorly.