(Image via Youtube.com)

Jimmy Kimmel has gained some internet notoriety recently by challenging his viewers to pull cruel and unusual pranks on their children, video tape the results and post them to YouTube. The resulting “I told my kids I ate all their Halloween candy” and “I gave my kids a terrible present” were hilarious. Downright mean, but hilarious.

Well, for Super Bowl Sunday, Kimmel set his sights on the adults of America, challenging folks to unplug their television set during a crucial moment of the game (preferably at a large viewing party), and record the reaction for our viewing enjoyment. Predictably, the prank was not very well-received … but surprisingly, no severe beatings or hospitalizations were reported:

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I have to admit, as a Giants fan who had my heart in my stomach for much of the afternoon, if someone had pulled this at my Super Bowl party, I probably would have calmly delivered an open-handed chop to the adam’s apple before clotheslining them to the floor. That’s just not funny, dude.

Although, as with everything in comedy, it all comes down to timing. Some of these folks had the nerve to pull the plug during the final hail mary, while others played it safe and just shut the TV off at a less stressful moment during the broadcast. BIG difference. The lady Ryan Fitzpatrick fan going crazy after her boyfriend shut off the TV during Madonna’s halftime show was simply awesome.

This is Part 2 of CiP’s comic book series, from the Giants NFC Championship victory over the 49ers (CLICK TO ENLARGE):

(Artwork: Chris in Philly via BigBlueInteractive.com)

PART 1 FROM THE GREEN BAY DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF GAME AFTER THE JUMP

(Artwork by Chris in Philly via BigBlueInteractive.com)

(Image via ninersnation.com)

As the San Francisco 49ers prepare for their upcoming Divisional Playoff showdown with the New Orleans Saints, head coach Jim Harbaugh is using a rather unusual motivational tactic to get his players ready for battle. It seems that the crazy, nastyass Honey Badger has become the unofficial mascot for the Niners during their 13-3, NFC West championship run.

In addition to being the world’s most fearless animal, the Honey Badger is also the subject of a wildly popular (and hilarious) viral video. Apparently, prior to a recent game, Harbaugh spliced the video together with 2011 49ers highlights and showed it to the team. You see, much like their ferocious weasel-esque inspiration, the San Francisco defense “just takes what it wants”, leading to a league-high 35 takeaways this year. And since then, the “honey badger don’t care” mentality has taken over the locker room.

Check out this report from CSNBayArea:

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We can dig it, but the Niners better hope they do better against the Saints than LSU’s Tyrann Mathieu, who had previously adopted the Honey Badger nickname, and got shut down by Alabama in the national championship game on Monday.

In addition to the more well-known classics, we get surly sound bytes from living legends like Bill Belichick (“Stats are for losers….final scores are for winners.”), Bill Parcells (“So consider yourself sucked”) and Mike Ditka (“We’re not going to be the hittees, we’re going to be the hitters.”). Plus, we also get lesser-known gems from John McKay (“Well we didn’t block … but we made up for it by not tackling.”), Jerry Burns (“We had a f#cking trap play called, and his f#cking shoe comes off.”) and Bill Callahan (“We have got to be the dumbest team in America”). And a lot more.

So click the image below to check out the soundboard, and enjoy prank calling your friends as John Gruden, Mike Singletary and Rex Ryan stuck in an elevator. That’s just good times.

Johnathan Tisch, Steve Tisch and John Mara (L-R) (Photo: NYPost.com)

This week, the folks over at Forbes magazine put together their list of the best and worst owners in professional football. The rankings are  based on each franchise’s change in total value and win percentage over the last five years, with each accounting for half of the overall ranking, plus a bump for post-season success. And while the results probably won’t shock anyone, it’s nonetheless interesting to keep track of which owners consistently keep their clubs at the top of the game.

The top spot goes to New York Giants co-owners, the Mara and Tisch families, who have seen a 33% growth in the team’s value since 2006 (the highest in the league). Close behind in second place is Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, who have increased their value 17% by posting the highest winning percentage of any team in the last five years. Rounding out the top five are Jim Irsay of the Indianapolis Colts, the public stockholders of the Green Bay Packers and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys.

(Photo: DetroitLionsBlog.com)

At the bottom of the barrel we find William Clay Ford Sr. and the Detroit Lions. Although the team is enjoying a resurgence this season, Ford’s team has epitomized futility in professional football for the past ten years. Reaching brand new lows in 2008 with their 0-16 2008, Detroit was the only team to actually lose money last year. While the average NFL team has seen growth of 8% over the last five years, the Lions have seen their overall team value drop by 3% in that same time period.

The late Al Davis claims the second-worst spot for his mis-management of the Oakland Raiders, with Ralph Wilson Jr (Bills), Mike Brown (Bengals), Randy Lerner (Browns), joining him in the bottom five.

VIEW THE 10 BEST AND WORST OWNERS AFTER THE JUMP

THE NFL’S BEST OWNERS

1. Mara & Tisch Families – New York Giants
2. Robert Kraft – New England Patriots
3. James Irsay – Indianapolis Colts
4. Public Stockholders – Green Bay Packers
5. Jerry Jones – Dallas Cowboys
6. Woody Johnson – New York Jets
   
7. Alex Spanos – San Diego Chargers
   
8. Tom Benson – New Orleans Saints
   
9. Dan Rooney – Pittsburgh Steelers
   
10. Steve Bisciotti – Baltimore Ravens
    

(Photo: Yahoo.com)

The latest episode of NFL Network’s excellent series, A Football Life, focused on the Chicago Bears’ legendary larger-than-life coach and player, Mike Ditka.

As usual, the program gives an in depth look into the Hall of Famer’s life, both on and off the field. From his upbringing in western Pennsylvania to his time as an All-American two-way end at Pitt and becoming a first round draft choice by the Bears. There, Iron Mike revolutionized the Tight End position and came to define toughness and agression from an offensive player in the NFL.

Of course, Ditka went on to coach the Bears for 11 years, winning Super Bowl XX and creating a much larger legend for his his blustery and temperamental persona. His coaching career ended on a less successful note with a 3-year stint with the Saints, where Da Coach looked so constantly stressed out that you genuinely worried he might have a heart attack at any minute.

With NFL Films at the helm, the show provides a multi-dimensional look at one of the more fascinating characters in NFL history. You can watch a bunch of clips here (the “growing up Ditka“ section is particularly worthwhile), but this segment covers a lot of ground on Ditka’s coaching career, including his, shall we say … colorful relationship with both quarterbacks and the media. It also includes a look at this classic furious, pantsless television interview, and starts with Ditka’s now-ubiquitous “Kick Ass” brand, which he shamelessly slaps on everything from red wine to Italian beef :

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Both Tim Tebow and Ndamukong Suh are now available in cut-out paper doll form, which when fully assembled become full-on 3-D mini-versions of their NFL selves!!! Well, not exactly … I mean, it’s not like the Suh doll is going to start battering your co-workers, or paper Tebow is going to start inspiring everyone around the office (that one’s a maybe). But it ‘s still good, clean fun and brings us all back to our childhood a little bit. So grab your scissors and your color printer, and let’s get ready for arts & crafts time!

First up, the Suh doll from the Detroit Free Press, which you can download as full-size PDF files in both home or away jersey (shown):

(via Freep.com)

VIEW THE TIM TEBOW DESKTOP DOLL AFTER THE JUMP

But apparently, the Free Press was merely picking up the gauntlet thrown down by the Denver Post, who originated the paper doll trend with their 3-D Tebow desktop doll (full-size PDFs also available in Blue or Orange jerseys, with a separate file for his helmet). This one even comes complete with his trademark under-eye stickers w/biblical messaging!:

(via DenverPost.com)

(H/T Sportress of Blogitude)

(Image via NMA.tv)

With the unsettling news that something called “Tebowing” has become the new “planking”, it’s clear that not only are our nation’s youth woefully intellectually under-stimulated, but that the Tim Tebow phenomenon has reached brand new heights worldwide.

So it should come as no surprise that our friends at Taiwan’s NMA.tv have also jumped on the Tebow bandwagon with their latest animated “news” report. In it, they give their usually simplitic overview of Denver’s QB controversy, wondering whether a haloed Tebow is the messiah for the Broncos program or “just another false football prophet”.

Among other fascinating tidbits, we learn that Tebow was actually electrocuted by the Chargers in his Week 5 comeback attempt, but was able to utilize a trident to spear the Dolphins and lead Denver to a win last week. It’s truly amazing that this stuff gets past the American sports media, isn’t it?:

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(Image via ESPN)

This package about 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis aired on ESPN’s E:60 this week, and it’s likely to change the way you look at the NFL’s most tenacious defender.

In it, we learn of Willis’ troubled upbringing in Tennessee, where he and his three younger siblings were abandoned by his mother, and suffered at the hands of an abusive, alcoholic, drug-abusing father. Forced to grow up too early, Patrick became the leader of the household, eventually standing up to his father Ernest at the age of 17 and getting his brothers and sisters into foster care. All four kids were taken in by Patrick’s high school basketball coach (a story in and of itself), where he was finally able to be a kid for the first time, and get his life on track.

Today, the all-pro with a huge new contract still holds out hope for his father’s redemption, despite his abusive upbringing. It’s an amazing display of forgiveness, and you can’t help but respect the way Willis has dealt with all the obstacles in his life, and the grace with which he has carried himself throughout.

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(Photo: NYDailyNews.com)

We’ll be honest, we didn’t really watch last night’s Jets-Dolphins game, and by most accounts it was a major suckfest with the Jets proving to be less sucky, so we don’t feel too bad about that.

But when we heard that ESPN enlisted Jets superfan “Fireman Ed” Anzalone to do the Monday Night intro honors, we knew we had to see what they came up with. In their continuing effort to replace the erstwhile Hank Williams’ Jr., ESPN has switched gears from his rauckus theme song to focus on the host cities with more solemn spoken word tributes.

This week’s effort focused on the passion and loyalty of the Jets fans, with the 52-year old retired New York firefighter doing the honors:

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Not bad, but it doesn’t quite have the impact of Barry Sanders’ intro from last week. ESPN might be better served sticking with former players, who have a real emotional connection with the viewers.