It's almost as if Thursday night is the Super Bowl.  With two 10-1 teams quarterbacked by Favre and Favre, Jr., ESPN is in media frenzy mode and has planted Ed Werder and Bob Holtzman with both teams to file daily updates.  And shockingly, they’re stretching for stories.  Monday’s feature from Ed Werder was a prime example of producing a story before doing any work to see if the story actually exists. 

According to Ed Werder’s 90 second feature during ESPN’s Monday programming, Tony Romo grew up idolizing Brett Favre, and he’ll be playing against his hero Thursday night.  If we were betting men, we’d wager this story was preordained from the get go, but to prove otherwise, ESPN dropped some sound bites from the players involved:

"I enjoyed watching Brett play.  But it wasn't like that, I mean, in that sense.  I know it's difficult for you guys to understand that." - Tony Romo

"Truth is (Tony Romo) loves him.  He can imitate him.  He does all that stuff." - Jason Witten

"I think Tony is going to go out with the mindset of winning the ballgame.  And if that impresses Brett, so be it." - Terell Owens

"Away from the cameras, Romo explained why he was concealing his reverence for Favre…  He said, "I gotta beat this guy Thursday night." - Ed Werder    

So there you have it, folks.  It’s the perfect story for the perfect sports media outlet, except that it's terribly misleading.  What Werder and ESPN failed to disclose in the 90 seconds of preordained fluff can be found in a newspaper near you.

What Tony Romo Really Said:

”I enjoyed watching Brett play, but it wasn't like that.  I know it's difficult for (the media) to understand that. I know what you guys are trying to get at. I can understand the angle and it's nice and it's fun… But I've got to beat the guy this week.”

What ESPN and Ed Werder Failed to Disclose:

”Tony Romo grew up idolizing Michael Jordan. He rooted for John Elway in Super Bowl XXXII. At Burlington (Wis.) High School in the mid-1990s, when Favre fever was sweeping Wisconsin, he picked No. 16 as his football jersey number in honor of Joe Montana.  His all-time favorite sports moment? No, it's not Favre sprinting around the Superdome. It's not a grieving Favre going off for 399 yards and four touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders one day after his father died.  It's Jack Nicklaus, then 58, contending at the 1998 Masters.

Romo is sorry to burst your bubble, but he barely knows Favre. They chatted for a few minutes at Favre's charity golf tournament in Mississippi a couple years ago. That's it. They don't even exchange text messages.  So when he leads the Dallas Cowboys onto the field Thursday night to face Favre and the Green Bay Packers, Romo won't be trembling in his spikes in the presence of his boyhood idol.”

So, pretty much everything Werder said was misleading to make for a better story.  But you know ESPN's philosophy: if you're trying to push a square peg through a round hole, the best way is to smash it with a hammer until it fits.  Or something like that.

Crap that actually came from somebody's mouth
"Would anyone blame (Greg Anderson) for turning on Bar-roid at this point?" - Roger Lodge, guest host of Jim Rome is Burning

See there kids?  You too can be a guest host of Rome is Burning.  Only requirements are that you become friends with Jim Rome and use freakishly funny nicknames that would make Skippy Bayless jealous. 
____

"Compared to Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, (Drew Bennett's) a lot younger target." - Matt Vasgersian, Fox Sports

If your definition of “a lot younger” than Torry Holt is 2 years, then absolutely; Drew Bennett is the present and the future.  And god knows that when a QB drops back to pass it's not how open a receiver is that he notices, it's how old he is. 
____

"Frank Gore is one (underrated player) that just doesn't get any attention." - Greg Gumbel
"Fantasy guys know about him though; they love him." - Dan Dierdorf

The fact that Gore hadn’t surpassed 90 yards rushing in a single game until Week 12 is one reason he isn't getting any attention this year.  It's also a reason fantasy guys are a bit disappointed in him this year.
____

“Chase (Daniel) was everywhere ... chasing the Big North 12 championship, chasing the Big 12 title, chasing No. 1 in the polls, chasing the national championship, chasing the Heisman… And when Reesing tried to rise one more time, Tigers defensive tackle Lorenzo Williams sacked him for a game-clinching safety.  The pursuit finally was over.  And the MU defense chased Reesing back to Lawrence.” – Bernie Miklasz, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

… And Bernie Miklasz chased down another mention in the Media Circus (*HoozaH*).
____

“(Brett Favre) was the little girl with the curl.” –Chris Berman

It's quotes like this one that makes us think Berman will be sitting next to a bottle of Jurgens on Thursday night.
____

“Barry Larkin won it in 1995. Known as a power-hitting shortstop, Barry hit .319 but played in just 131 games. All his numbers fell far short of Rollins.” – Bill Conlin, Philly.com

It sure seems like playing in 131 games would derail a player's chances of winning the MVP.  Wait, what's that?  The 1995 season was comprised of 144 games because of the previous year's strike?  Wow. 

In a column which inherently relied on facts, you'd think Bill Conlin would have either looked it up or disclosed the information (assuming he knew it).   

____

“The problem here is that everyone gives (the Heisman) to Tim Tebow because they recognize Florida more than they do Missouri and that’s an unfair assessment… If I could play against Florida International a couple of times I could probably roll up 20 (rushing) touchdowns on the year.” – Mike Claiborne, Fox Sports Midwest

Uh, if Mike is making he assumption that Tim Tebow played a lessor schedule than Mizzou, he might want to check into some of the numbers.  According to the Sagarin ratings Mizzou has played the 34th toughest schedule.  Florida?  5th.   He's not racking up those rushing TD’s on slug teams. 

Speaking of Chase
Who would have ever thought that America would have so much trouble with a guy whose last name was as simple as “Daniel”? 

Yesterday, we noted a caption on Stltoday.com that called the Missouri QB “Chase McDaniels”. 

Most people leave off the “Mc” and just go with the extra 's'.  Jessie Palmer on ESPN has been an advocate of the extra 's' for a while.  We think Lou Holtz is, but who can be sure of what he's saying. 

As Daniel continues to gain momentum in the Heisman race, we are seeing more and more appearances by his plural alter ego.  Just ask Matt Horkman of Fantasy Football Jungle:

Chase Daniels has quietly found his way into my top 3. He has been under the radar this entire season.

All along we just thought they were mispronouncing the name of Mizzou's quarterback.  Then we saw this…

Turns out these people are just huge fans of Chase Daniels and Western Star, after all he was the 2007 Chicago Music Awards “Country Entertainer of the Year”. 

Let's face it, that’s way more prestigious than the Heisman these days. 

Media Rant: Discovering the New England Blueprint
Not long after the Eagles nearly pulled off a victory in New England, our media friends came out with some new, groundbreaking theories on how to beat the Patriots.  The Sunday Night game couldn’t go off the air without John Madden emphatically stating:

”We now have the blueprint to beat New England.”

Granted New England wasn't actually beat, but John wasn't the only one who cracked the code and discovered the blueprint; he was joined by Media Circus regular Jay Mariotti less than 24 hours later:

“It creates hope.  There's a crack in the armor.  I think a blueprint has been established.”

And Mark Maske of the Washington Post echoed similar sentiments:

”The Eagles gave the rest of the league a blueprint for beating the Patriots.”

We guess we aren't as smart as our media brethren and simply don't recognize the blueprint for beating New England.  Thankfully, the media didn’t leave us hanging and described in full what the recipe entails.    

”You're going to have to score against them.” – JA Adande

Sounds simple enough.  Scoring points is a vital part of any game, especially ones against a team quarterbacked by a dreamy passer.  But we need more… we need some information from a seasoned NFL expert.  Thankfully, Fox's John Czarnecki fills the void quite well.

According to Czarnecki, 

1. Teams must be physical with Randy Moss and the other New England receivers.

Although, the Czar notes:

“While the strategy worked in slowing down Moss, the Patriots flipped over to (Wes) Welker and also hit Donte Stallworth for a 31-yard gain. Once again, the Patriots proved they may have too many athletes on offense to ever be totally shut down.”

We'll call it Rule 1-B: Teams must be physical with Randy Moss and the other New England receivers… so long as Wes Welker doesn't haul in a career high 13 passes for 149 yards.

2. You must vary your blitzes on Tom Brady.
 
3. You must gamble and go deeper with your passing game.

4. You must be able to pass block on the edges.

5. You need a versatile running back.

So in conclusion, in order to beat New England, all you have to do is score against them even though they have the 3rd stiffest defense in yards allowed, be physical with the receivers and even though that may lead to one of them setting a career high in receptions and yardage, pressure Tom Brady through one of the best offensive lines in the league, go deeper in the passing game against the 6th best pass defense, pass block on the edges against a team with 31 sacks, and get yourself a versatile running back on par with Brian Westbrook who happens to lead all running backs in receiving and is 4th in rushing.  Do all of that and you'll beat the New England Patriots – or at least lose by 3 points.

Bob Carpenter Memorial Snappy Line
Around this time of the year, the Bobber really only has one thing on his mind – turkey.  Not only is it the perfect meal for a Carpenter family get together, but it's also a versatile word that his fellow media cohorts love to snappify.  This year he wasn't disappointed thanks to SI.com:

So turkey is tasty and snappy?  Two gravy soaked thumbs up. 

The Media Circus is written by Josh Bacott and Patrick Imig.  They swear this stuff is real, despite what Ed Werder might tell you.  E-mail them at info@joesportsfan.com