Danno

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/6935765
Around the league
Joe Horn is a marketing genius, not some crazy fool he's being called. Horn has been one of the best receivers in the league the past four seasons, yet few outside of New Orleans even knew who he was. But one cell-phone stunt as part of a touchdown celebration has made Horn the face of what is supposedly wrong with the NFL. Joe Horn made CNN. That's big publicity. By pulling out a cell phone from underneath the goalpost following a touchdown catch in Sunday's victory over Giants, one of four scores for Horn, the name Joe Horn moved to the top of the topic list around the league. Love it or hate it -- and the feeling here is that it was kind of creative and fun -- Horn is not just some receiver on the Saints anymore. He's that cell-phone guy. The league fined him $30,000, but they wanted to suspend him for two games. It took a call by Saints coach Jim Haslett to the league office, followed by a call by Saints owner Tom Benson to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, to get the league to back off the suspension. The league said he violated the rule they put in place after Terrell Owens pulled a Sharpie from his sock last year. But there are no guidelines in place for violators of that rule, which is why the Saints were able to get it changed to a fine. Even that's a bit much. The only people who should be upset by Horn's act are the Saints, who were slapped with a 15-yard penalty, and the Giants, who were embarrassed. But the Giants did nothing the rest of the game to show their anger, and Horn scored two more touchdowns. The league is hypocritical in fining players for what Horn did. Their NFL-licensed video games feature all kinds of celebrations. If the NFL thinks kids will get the wrong idea from what Horn did, then maybe they should start policing their video games that produce revenue for doing the same thing. Kids spend far more time in their lives playing NFL video games than they do watching the NFL. Here's to you, Joe Horn. Mr. I'll-show-them-Cell-Phone-Guy.
Are you still waiting to see Willis McGahee? All that talk about how he would play this season for the Bills and be a 1,000-yard rusher was nothing but hype by his agent. McGahee has not played a down, and probably shouldn't at this point. McGahee was a bad pick for this current coaching regime since it won't be around. There has been some talk lately that Gregg Williams might keep his job, but word is the Bills have already decided to let Williams go. That could mean Jim Haslett could be going to Buffalo. Haslett played with the Bills and his wife is from that area. Haslett doesn't have an out clause in his contract, but the word is the Saints would let him go if a request was made. Haslett and Bills GM Tom Donahoe are good friends.

BlackandBlue

This is exactly the point I was trying to make earlier in the week.