Chris Johnson should NOT have been penalized, per NFL's VP of Officiating

Chris Johnson is making news for complaining that he was penalized for his religion. He made a "religious display" (kneeling with his hands lifted towards the sky) after an endzone interception (video here). Some are arguing the penalty was anti-religious.

Regardless of your feelings about religion, the penalty was unfair, per the NFL's own rules.

When the penalty happened on Sunday, I thought about this video, where Mike Pereira, the NFL's VP of Officiating, stated that a player should be penalized for a celebration if his knees touch the ground, UNLESS he is doing it to "praise the lord."



Let's save the unsavory religious overtones of Pereira's rule interpretation for another day... if we accept this rule as Pereira explains it, then why was it not applied properly in Chris Johnson's case? (Because the officials have it in for the Raiders!)

Chad Pennington: next year's Comeback Player of the Year

Don't feel too sorry for Chad Pennington, who's out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. This is all part of his master plan. We talked to Chad during last year's Super Bowl and he explicitly outlined his plan to get injured this year so that he can win his third Comeback Player of the Year award in 2010. At 0:40 in the video he says:

"That's kind of the secret to being a comeback player -- you have a good year, you get the award, then you get hurt... and then come back the following year and get the award again."



We honestly wish Chad well in his recovery and subsequent comeback campaign. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and I can only hope he's able to get back in the game after this.

Darren McFadden with his adorable pitbulls

I visited Darren McFadden's house in Oakland recently and met his adorable pitbulls. Why do pitbulls get such a bad rap? These two dogs were just big ole gentle giants. They did knock me down a few times by accident, but then they licked my face when I hit the ground.



P.S. That part when McFadden uses the wet electrical plug? Please do not try that at home. This video could have taken a whole other direction...

Brothers Vernon Davis and Vontae Davis make history

No, not because both brothers were drafted in the first round of the NFL draft... Vontae will tell you that Peyton and Eli Manning also hold that honor. But Vernon and Vontae are now the first pair of brothers to have verified athlete blogs on Yardbarker! Head over to Vontae's new blog and welcome him to the blogosphere.

Pictured here is Vernon convincing Vontae that he needs to blog on Yardbarker (you can see the video on Vernon's blog). Thanks for doing my job for me Vernon!

More dreamy Mark Sanchez... Plus new hair-heartthrob Troy Polamalu

Dewey was in L.A. covering some events for Yardbarker and ran into our old friend Mark Sanchez, he of the dreamy locks of hair. Mark clarifies his response about his hair care and then goes on to discuss the proper way to hit on ladies, in response to Chantelle Anderson's Yardbarker blog post about the issue. Many thanks Dewey for bringing this magic to us:



For those wanting a little more Sanchez, Sports by Brooks also has the pics from his GQ photo shoot...

And then there's Troy Polamalu, who just may give Mark a run for his money in the "dreamy NFL players with hair" category.

Looking for Browns fans who are movie buffs

D'Qwell Jackson of the Cleveland Browns, who led the league in tackles last year, is running a contest on his Yardbarker blog. To win, you have to tell him which movie star he represents. Come up with the most creative answer and you can win the autographed piece of crap described in this video!

Yardbarker asks Mark Sanchez about his beautiful hair

Dewey Hammond, I owe you one. The Dew caught up with dreamy quarterback Mark Sanchez during his press conference today and asked him the question that's been on my mind: how does he keep that hair looking so touchable?



I love his initial reaction: "Who's that question from? A girl?" I had interviewed Mark during Super Bowl and hadn't thought to ask him then. Thank you Dewey, on behalf of ladies everywhere. Thank you.

You can follow all of Dewey's draft coverage from New York on Yardbarker's NFL Draft page. I highly recommend the video of Brian Cushing's press conference, during which Dewey nearly gets in a fight with a photographer.

I think I'm a Jets fan now: Mark Sanchez is dreamy...

Mark Sanchez has grown on my slowly... He's not really my type, but I'm officially on the hunkwagon now.



Follow along with Yardbarker's live blog of the NFL Draft!

Dallas Cowboys Guarantees from Roy Williams

I caught up with Roy Williams at the Playboy Mansion and he was already talking big about next season -- more catches, #1 receiver, Super Bowl for the Cowboys...


Big ups also to Ken Hamlin for the love and to Terrence Newman for being a good sport about that rollercoaster thing.

Michael Strahan and Rob Riggle grunting on video

With any other personalities this might have been a little heavy-handed, but I actually think this video is pretty funny. It's for the NFL's Monster promotion, where fans compete for the dream job of NFL Director of Fandemonium. I'll always have love for Michael Strahan -- after all, he was the winner of our Yardbarker spelling bee! (Sorry, Marcellus.)

Marcellus Wiley Would Rather Talk to Playboy Women Than to Yardbarker

When last we saw Ryan Sims of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers he was joking about the tasers Playboy gave out to NFL players in their goody bags. Well now he thinks he can be a Yardbarker correspondent, so I gave him a tough first assignment: Marcellus Wiley. Usually Dat Dude loves showing his mug on camera, but not when there are beautiful Playboy women to mack on, apparently.

Playboy Gives TASERS to NFL Players

One of the strangest non-boob-related things about Playboy's Celebrity Golf Scramble was the choice of items for the goody bags... athletes and celebrities were given tasers. Because that's what you need when you're enjoying a weekend of golf, girls, and booze, of course!

Derrick Ward Talks His Way Through Tampa

Yardbarker shot this video with Derrick Ward during Super Bowl week in Tampa. True story, as soon as we walked into the room, the producer from ESPN Tampa jumped on us wanting an interview. I think Derrick impressed the people of Tampa. Congrats to DWard on signing with the Buccs, and enjoy this video. Stay tuned towards the 2:00 mark for a cameo from Darren Sproles' AMAZING arm-candy.

Super Bowl Videos: Diddy, T.O., and Miss America

Still here in Tampa on the scene. You can catch all of our Yardbarker Super Bowl coverage on our Super Bowl page. But here are a few of my favorites from the past day or so...

Diddy waves the Terrible Towel on the red carpet of his party. Why is he a Steelers fan, anyone know? (And stay tuned for more video on Diddy.)



Star athletes make their Super Bowl predictions, including Yardbarker favorite Terrell Owens and a Steelers player who may or may not make a guarantee.



Joe Montana and Miss America share an awkward moment.

How do you spell ROETHLISBERGER?

Here in Tampa we have asked everyone we've seen to spell Big Ben's name... yes, even including Reggie Bush and the lovely Kim Kardashian!

Super Bowl Dirt and Boobs

Live from Tampa, AlanaG brings you Super Bowl dirt and boobs, not together thankfully (unless you're into that). You can check out all of our Yardbarker Super Bowl coverage, but here are my two favorite videos so far. Stay tuned for much more!

Santonio Holmes' Steelers teammates talk sh*t about him (all in good fun):



Body paint girl shows us her boobs are real:



Honorable mention goes to my interview with Matt Cassel, because he had a hilarious story about a prank Matt Light played on a teammate.

Global Warming Is HOT, Son!

I love global warming because 1) it's going to hit 70 degrees in San Francisco today in the middle of January, and 2) it compels people to make hilarious videos like this:


Realistic polar bear noises brought to you by former Chicago Bears tight end Ryan Wetnight.

This Kid Is More BEAST MODE Than Marshawn Lynch

Marshawn Lynch hosted a contest on his Yardbarker blog asking kids to demonstrate their BEAST MODE. There were a lot of cute entries, but my favorite was from Tony, one of the winners Marshawn named today. Fifteen years from now this kid will have his own Nike commercial, mark my words.


Beast Mode brought to you by AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

Can You Beat Ovie Mughelli at Halo?

Ovie Mughelli: Atlanta Falcons fullback, Yardbarker blogger, ladies' heartthrob (check the comments), and world's number one Halo player.


Half-rate editing brought to you by... Alana G!

As my bud MJD said, he might not be able to beat Ovie in Halo, but he can probably type faster than him. Stay tuned to Yardbarker for next week's contest: celebrity athlete typing tests.