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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.

Bill Simmons, ESPN's most popular Twitter personality, once shunned the medium but now clocks in at well over 1,000,000 followers. But it looks like he'll be seeing significantly less Twitter action over the next two weeks: he's had his Tweeting privileges yanked by ESPN for some aggressive remarks he made to ESPN-affiliated radio station WEEI in Boston.

Well, kind of -- he's still apparently allowed to tweet about his book tour, which has only one stop remaining in Las Vegas for early December.

Not sure Jeremy Shockey should be the final arbiter of who's fit to play in the NFL and who isn't, but he took to Twitter to explain to all the football simpletons that LeBron James couldn't cut it. Just in case that wasn't obvious from the outset.


The thing is, after James made the comments, and Browns head coach Eric Mangini offered a "come on down," some people figured all that was left to do was sign the contract and get him fitted for a a uniform. Not sure how it got to that point, but thankfully, Shockey, who came out of retirement this season to resume his career (Wait, he was in the league last year? Really?), has set us straight.

Browns cornerback Brandon McDonald had a tough go of it in 2008. He was routinely targeted by opposing offenses, got benched, and eventually found his way back on the field because, well, there wasn't a better option.

His play has been less an issue this season. Not so much because he's improved, but because the organization has somehow managed to out-sideshow themselves through nine weeks, and McDonald's weekly performance is pretty low on the list of things fans are concerned about.

Whatever, McDonald, via his Twitter Machine, is apparently already looking forward to 2010.

Don't tell Andy Roddick that Halloween is for kids.

Or golfer Stewart Cink.

Or even 50-year-old John McEnroe.

They were just a few of the sports figures that donned interesting costumes for Halloween. Luckily, cameras are always on handy to capture the oddities. After the jump, look at some of the best (and worst) Halloween costumes worn by athletes, fans ... and a dog.

Now go fetch your griddle, Andy!

Houston Texan Owen Daniels is currently leading the NFL in yards by a tight end with 497 and is near the top of the league in touchdowns, yards per game and receptions. Apparently, he also leads the league in excellent Halloween costumes.

According to right tackle Eric Winston, the picture to the right is Daniels dressed up as one of the Saturday Night Live D**k in a Box guys. You can see pictures of other Texans players in Halloween costumes on Winston's twitpics page.

If you are not familiar with this costume, here's the censored version of the SNL sketch (things get a little racy after the jump, it may not be for those with delicate sensibilities):

ESPN.com's Bill Simmons is currently on his book tour (more on that here), but on Monday, he and his Beverly Hills mansion were featured on "Mayne Street."

Kenny Mayne has made a career out of his deadpanned quirkiness. That, along with the fact that Simmons doesn't have much of an acting resume, figured to make for an uncomfortable four or five minutes that included me wincing as Simmons stumbled through his lines while Mayne got all the laughs.

Didn't happen. In fact, Simmons stole the episode. Jenn with two n's, the Doug Christie Clippers jersey, Stacy Keibler calling Mayne "Lenny", business associate Scott -- all hilarious. Well, to everybody but Mike Francesa, who was railing about Simmons' performance on his radio show.

(UPDATE: "Mayne Street" segment, Francesa's comments,and Simmons' response all after the jump.)

The Chiefs lost Sunday -- for the sixth time in seven games -- and mercurial running back Larry Johnson took to Twitter to vent his frustrations.

His agent later claimed that Johnson was just trying to honor his father 140 characters at a time, but it was also clear that L.J. used it as an opportunity to take shots at first-year head coach Todd Haley.

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Chiefs running back Larry Johnson had just 16 carries for 49 yards against the Chargers, and the light workload left him with plenty of energy after the game to fire up his Twitter Machine.

Johnson, clearly unhappy with the team's 1-6 start -- and more specifically, his diminishing role in it -- sounded off about it all via Twitter. Insanity after the jump:

Charles Barkley is a former Dream Teamer, an NBA Hall of Famer, a studio analyst for TNT, and the owner of the worst golf swing you'll ever see. He also has thoughts on everything under the sun, which somehow makes him more likable.

Barkley appeared on ESPN Radio Dallas this week to talk about, well, a lot of stuff. Among the topics: the NFL's rules on protecting the quarterback.