[thanks, Benstonium]

(Photo: cheezburger.com)

With the early success of the 6-2 Detroit Lions this season, their traditional Thanksgiving Day game (this year coming against their NFC North foe Green Bay Packers) should actually be worth watching for the first time in ages. As such, this year’s Turducken Bowl has taken on added meaning for the franchise and city of Detroit.

Detroit prides itself on being a city known for it’s rich musical history. From Motown to the MC5, Bob Seger to Kid Rock, and Madonna to the White Stripes, the Motor City has spawned some of the most important acts in modern music, earning yet another well-deserved nickname, “Rock City”. So it should come as no surprise that its citizens were none too pleased when they learned which musical performers the Lions had booked to perform at halftime of this year’s Thanksgiving Day game. Of all of the thousands of talented bands out there, including those who hail from Michigan, someone in the Lions’ front office thought it would be a good idea to book Canadian rock band Nickelback to perform.

Needless to say, this isn’t sitting well with many Lions fans, who have taken to the internet and started this petition to replace Nickelback as the halftime entertainment:

This game is nationally televised, do we really want the rest of the US to associate Detroit with Nickelback? Detroit is home to so many great musicians and they chose Nickelback?!?!?! Does anyone even like Nickelback? Is this some sort of ploy to get people to leave their seats during halftime to spend money on alcoholic beverages and concessions? This is completely unfair to those of us who purchased tickets to the game. At least the people watching at home can mute their TVs. The Lions ought to think about their fans before choosing such an awful band to play at halftime.

This is just classic. Nickelback is terrible, and the people of the mitten simply aren’t going to stand idly by while their ears are raped by this particularly crappy brand of corporate rock. We support this petition wholeheartedly.

That includes you too, Estefan (Photo: Zimbio.com)

In a move that may leave it’s viewers woefully unprepared for some football, ESPN and Hank Williams, Jr. have ended their relationship on the heels of the Monday Night Football theme singer’s controversial comments earlier this week. In case you missed it, Williams compared President Obama to Hitler on Fox News Monday Morning (video). From ESPN.com:

In an interview Monday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Williams, unprompted, said of Obama’s outing on the links with House Speaker John Boehner: “It’d be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.”

 Asked to clarify, Williams said, “They’re the enemy,” adding that by “they” he meant Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

This, not surprisingly, didn’t sit well with a lot of people. So after pulling his iconic “Are You Ready For Some Football?” theme song from that night’s broadcast, the network has officially cut ties with Bocephus, his song and his rowdy friends, with both parties taking credit for the decision.

ESPN relased this statement on Thursday:

“We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams, Jr. We appreciate his contributions over the past years. The success of Monday Night Football has always been about the games and that will continue.”

But Williams released his own statement on his website, where he says he’s packing up his song and going home, citing First Amendment infringement:

“After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.” — Hank Williams Jr

Regardless of whose decision it was, this leaves MNF without a theme song, having used Williams’ “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” as the basic for their intros since 1989, with the lyrics changing each week for each specific matchup. And once again, Stephen Colbert is here to put things into perspective:

VIDEO, INCLUDING WILLIAMS’ ORIGINAL COMMENTS AFTER THE JUMP

(Photo: 30FPS via Shutdown Corner)

This picture of Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan has been making the rounds today, specifically because it shows Ryan’s playsheet from Sunday’s game against the 49ers, which includes a photo of actress/model Diora Baird.  No word yet from the Cowboys camp as to the significance of Baird do their game planning, but unless they received a scouting report suggesting she might be suiting up at wide receiver for the Niners, it’s most likely just a piece of eye candy for ol’ Rob to enjoy during his downtime on the sideline.

The original photo of Baird – who had a small role in Wedding Crashers as one of the early targets of Owen Wilson’s character - came from FHM magazine, where you’ll find a fairly spectacular gallery of photos on their site, in case you’d like to “scout” her “work” even further.

(H/T Larry Brown Sports)

(Image via thecoletrain.com)

We just can’t resist a good Anchorman reference, and this one came courtesy of all-pro TE Tony Gonzalez during the player introductions for last night’s Falcons-Eaglesgame. Thanks to Tony for at least keeping things interesting.

Dammit! Who typed a question mark on the teleprompter? For the last time, anything you put on that prompter, Gonzalez will read!

Image via Reddit.com/r/NFL

This one comes to us from Reddit, where at least one astute user noticed the increasing physical resemblance between Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan and the hero of the greatest film of all time, The Big Lebowski - The Dude, as portrayed by Jeff Bridges.  The picture pretty much speaks for itself, but if you needed any more reasons to love the Ryan brothers, here you go.

(Image via FunnyorDie.com)

As much positive spin as there seems to be coming from the NFL labor negotiations of late, we’re still just over two weeks from when training camps are scheduled to begin, and we’re still sitting around waiting for some real news, with no football in site.  So, in our latest installment of “laughing to keep from crying over the whole nightmare”, we bring you this opus from the good folks over at Funny or Die: Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout Edition.

In the trailer for this fake sequel (which is more-than-plausible, and in fact looks better than half of the crap being spewed out in in today’s originality-bereft Hollywood, where bastardizing the best movies of my childhood seems to be the only idea left … ahem. Sorry, minor rant there), Twilight‘s Taylor Lautner appears alongside Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta and Dennis Haysbert, as the man who welcomes the disenfranchised NFL’ers into his cornfield, spurred on by the voices in his head. Ray Lewis, Tony Gonzalez, DeSean Jackson, Antonio Cromartie, Steve Smith (NYG) and a litany of other NFL players (who currently have nothing better to do) come to Iowa rekindle the magic and purity of the game in the National Corn League … at least until the lockout finally ends and the money comes calling, that is:

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

And if you enjoyed watching Lautner get drilled by Ray Lewis as much as we did, you can experience it over and over again – along with some other fun insights – in this behind-the-scenes look at the making of the trailer.

(Image via DirecTV.com)

With the lockout giving NFL athletes even more time than usual to hawk products for huge endorsement deals, it should come as no surprise that two of the game’s most prolific pitchmen – the Manning brothers – are taking things to the next level with their new promotion.  Football Cops is being presented as a new original drama from DirecTV, featuring Peyton and Eli as Mike Tahoe and C.J Hunter, two mustachioed partners who use their rocket arms as crime-fighting weapons.

And despite the fact that DirecTV is playing this up as a real new series, and even has 3 “episodes” listed on the website, its hard to believe that this will actually be a recurring full-length television program. If anything, it’s far more likely to become an unavoidable marketing onslaught of commercials and short-format viral videos that we’ll have to endure over and over (and over) this Fall, until the very sound of the theme music makes our ears bleed.

But before it gets to that point, enjoy the official trailer for Football Cops:

Yeah … as much as we love the Fu Manchu mustache on Eli (let’s face it, anything that helps butch him up a bit is a good thing), and seeing Archie getting into the act as defense attorney Orlando Midnight, we’re going to reserve judgement about this “show”.  There’s a pretty good chance we’ll grow to hate it in time.

Obviously, Tebow was kidding, and throughout the interview he once again comes off as an impossibly nice and genuine guy, riffing with Stewart about everything from the lockout to compensation for college athletes.

And although it may seem a bit narcissistic for a 23-year-old to be writing a memoir, Tebow clearly has a unique perspective to share … and it’s not like he’s got much else to do during the lockout, right?