Back Porch

UPDATE: Apparently, David Clowney's Twitter account has been hacked.



The hacker's response to Clowney's apology (via Clowney's Twitter feed, no less), as well as the original post, after the jump.

It was two years ago that then-Jets head coach Eric Mangini ratted out the Patriots for what would become Spygate. The NFL slapped Bill Belichick with a $500,000 fine, took away one of their first-round picks, and kindly asked us to move on.

Eventually we did, but not before accusing the Patriots of cheating their way to three Super Bowl titles this decade before karma intervened by way of David Tyree.

New England became an afterthought when Tom Brady went down 15 minutes into the 2008 season, football gods and Pats-hating fans finally mollified. But it was only a matter of time before the Dark Lord found new ways to gain an advantage over opponents. And now, after some time off to regroup, Belichick is back, this time with psychological warfare. Or as the liberals would call it: subtle forms of torture.

Read on in mock incredulity:

Hell hath no fury like Goldy Gopher on the football field. The University of Minnesota mascot was criticized last month for mocking Penn State's Jerome Hayes during a pregame prayer. (The school later apologized on his behalf, God's wrath averted.)

Goldy was back in action this weekend, making a special guest appearance with other mascots, to take on a group of kids in an impromptu tackle football game. It was billed as the halftime entertainment for the Seahawks-Vikings get-together. Which it was. At least for Goldy.

Ridiculousness after the jump.

I would argue that Tiger Woods is the most recognizable athlete on the planet. Sure, more people might know the name "Michael Jordan" or "Brett Favre" but I firmly believe that 90 percent of the world's population who get a chance to see Tiger immediately recognize him. (Does that make sense? No? Moving on...)

Anyway, he was introduced at halftime of the Stanford-Cal game Saturday (he's a Stanford alum), when Cal fans decided to boo him. Tiger appeared rattled at first (ostensibly looking around for Mr. Weekley) before recovering and claiming that the Cardinal would take care of business in the second half.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

It was right before the NBA season kicked off that Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman gained national attention. During a game between the New York Knicks and Israel's champion Maccabi Tel Aviv, Pini Gershon, Maccabi's coach, got two technical fouls, refused to leave the floor and that's when Rabbi Grossman stepped in. In this exclusive FanHouse video we talk to the Rabbi about that very moment.

Check out the video after the jump.

In addition to being one of the league's best wide receivers, Chad Ochocinco is also an entrepreneur. The latest proof: during HBO's "Hard Knocks" this summer, he made reference to developing prophylactics. And on Friday he revealed the prototypes via Twitter.

Or, at the very least, the prototype of the box they will be shipped in. Probably goes without saying but just in case: not safe for work image after the jump.

Devin Hester is a pretty fast dude. So it's always surprising when he gets caught while running, even with 11 people chasing him. Even more surprising: when he gets caught with his pants down.

Or, more specifically, when he gets chased down on the football field and gets "de-pants'd." Although, you could make the argument that the only way to stop Hester is by pulling his down his britches. (I would counter that argument by stating that the simplest way to keep Hester from doing anything dangerous is to let Jay Cutler throw to him.)

Naked but safe for work YouTubage after the jump. I think it's SFW, anyway.

The nerds in the nerdery proved that, statistically, Bill Belichick was right to go for it on 4th and 2 against the Colts last week.

Pretty sure there isn't an egghead on the planet who'd support first-year Yale head coach Tom Williams' decision to call a fake punt from his own 25 on 4th and 22 with just over two minutes to go and leading Harvard 10-7. But he did. It didn't work. And a few plays later Harvard scored to make it 14-10. Game over.

Williams explained the decision after the game:

When director James Cameron made the first Terminator movie, he cast an ex-bodybuilder who would later go on to become the governor of California, a guy by the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But if the guy calling the shots at the studio had gotten his way, a very different ex-athlete who would later go on to a very different kind of fame in California would have been The Terminator: O.J. Simpson.

The FanHouse Podcast: Because bloggers are much sexier on the phone.

Hauscast returns this week and Will and Ryan talk about the Browns' perpetual death spiral, the Steelers' record-setting special teams, and how Panthers offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson is actually more detrimental to the team than Jake Delhomme.

The conversation then turns to crazy NFL owners, why ESPN decided to suspend Bill Simmons from Twitter, and the passing of Uga VII.

Talking after the jump.