My take: Can't wait until Week One, when Brett Favre and the Jets open the season against the Dolphins in Miami.
News item: Aaron Rodgers said Friday that he still has the difficult task of "following Brett's legacy" in his first year as the Green Bay Packers' starting quarterback.
My take: I feel for him, but that's a lot better than following it two years from now.
News item: The Big Ten Conference, faced with a potentially devastating gambling scandal, has concluded an investigation of some allegedly suspicious officiating in two football games last year and announced that there is no evidence that either game was compromised.
My take: What a relief. You had to wonder when a Big Ten official was named in a Yahoo Sports gambling investigation and one of the games in question had so many disputed calls that it resulted in an official complaint to the league from Purdue coach Joe Tiller, but the Big Ten is confident it was all just a coincidence. I was a little concerned at first, but why would conference executives, who overlooked some damning information in the aforementioned official's background check, have any reason to whitewash the situation?
News item: New York mayor Michael Bloomberg officially welcomed Favre to the Big Apple but stopped short of giving him the key to the city. He did, however, give him a key chain from the New York Transit Authority and promised to give him the key if he leads the Jets to the NFL championship.
My take: Good luck with that. Favre's got a better chance of flying to Green Bay and talking the Packers into taking him back.
News item: The San Francisco Giants have invited Barry Bonds to take part in their celebration of the franchise's greatest outfielders.
My take: That's great on two levels. He deserves to be honored in that group, and now he can say he has been contacted by at least one team this year.
News item: Spiritually aware New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady says in a coming Esquire interview that his ability to play quarterback "doesn't matter to God."
My take: I can just see Bill Belichick reading that and saying, "Tom obviously doesn't know who's coaching this team."
peter.schmuck@baltsun.com
Listen to Peter Schmuck on WBAL (1090 AM) at noon on most Saturdays and Sundays.
