Hard Knocks, Face Punches, and Favre the Jet: a Football Round-Up!

I thoroughly enjoyed the season premier of Hard Knocks last night. Maybe it's just because I didn't have HBO last year and missed the first season, maybe it's voyeuristic interest in a team I grew up hating... either way, here's what I took away from episode 1:

• Amid all the Adam Jones drama, I failed to realize one of the most compelling points of Cowboys camp: Jones will be covering Terrell Owens in practice. If that much head-casery going 1-on-1 doesn't pique your interest, then you enjoy shitshows way less than I do.
• He can say he's dropped the nickname as much as he wants, but every Cowboys coach refers to him as "Pac" in meetings. Also, Jones hazed a rookie by pouring a bucket of water out of a hotel window on to him. The guy just can't seem to stop making it rain.
  
• Jerry Jones really is as intrusive of an owner as his reputation says. He was sitting in on almost every meeting that involved a coach. Not that his is shocking, but you can expect to see plenty of Jerry's mug if you watch.
• Tank Johnson seems amazingly comfortable in Big-D. For a guy whose home looked like an Iraqi insurgent's base camp two years ago because he was paranoid of people attacking him, he was shockingly relaxed in every appearance he made on-screen and was generally the loudest player leading the team in goofing off and having a good time. It was nice to see, and hopefully he's turned over a new leaf.
• Patrick Crayton can lie to himself all he wants, but the Boys have just about no receiver depth behind T.O.
  
• T.O. is an entrepreneur. He showed up with boxes of t-shirts with slogans based on the premise i(verb), such as "iBlock", "iCatch", "iTackle", "iPlay ... T.O.Win", and of course, "iLove... Me some Me". Not expected on the order form: iDrop, iCry, iWhine, iShare, iLikePorn, iNeedAttention, or iAmCrazy.

Should be a fun season! Other stuff that's going on in camp:

• Steve Smith: Now do you see why I don't listen to fantasy advice given before August? Smith will miss the first two games of the season after being suspended for knocking Ken Lucas the F-out in practice. I was trying to decide whether to hold onto Smith in my keeper league or not... thanks for making that decision easy for me!
• Ryan Grant: Last year's surprise fantasy RB ended his holdout and signed a 4 year deal. Now he's in camp and should be good to go for the start of the season. He probably won't produce like last year, but he should still be a quality #2 RB.
• Jordan Palmer: Apparently Carson Palmer's little brother is his backup. I, did not know that.
  
• Brett Favre: LOL! Seriously, it's never a good sign for the Jets when I get giddy about an acquisition they've made. First it was giving a small rowboat full of cash to Calvin Pace, and now this. I think Favre is going to embarrass himself in East Rutherford this year, so much that he'll make the Patriots secondary look talented (which is not easy to do). There's also now the question of where Chad Pennington will end up. My best guesses are San Fran or Chicago, who both have unsteady young starters and no quality veteran backups. Outside shot at Miami or Oakland getting in the mix as well.