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What do we imagine various NFL stars have been up to this offseason?

With the NFL lockout now in its third month, it's obvious we're all beginning to have weird football withdrawals. People are so desperate for football talk, Vinny Cerrato co-hosts a radio show in Baltimore. We're gnawing for scraps, people. If this lasts another two months, I'm pretty sure I'm going to start to feel like Ewan McGregor's character in Trainspotting, when he locks himself in his room and tries to kick his addiction to heroin.

Some of my thirst for the NFL is just general curiosity. I'm curious to know what the players have been up to in all these months they've been scattered about the country, forced to live a life lacking structure for the first time in many years. I suppose I could scour 1,500 Twitter accounts and piece together a quilted narrative of the NFLPA's Endless Summer, but that seems like a lot of work. Plus, it's way more fun to speculate. So here's what I assume various NFL players have been up to while the two sides try to figure out a way to divide a $9 billion pie.

 

Joe Flacco -- Spends hours each day at a crosswalk near his house, waiting for an opening in traffic large enough so he can pull the trigger and cross the street, where Anquan Boldin is waiting with diminishing patience. It probably doesn't help matters that Cam Cameron keeps calling Flacco on his Bluetooth every two minutes to blame the bad traffic on Jim Zorn.

Mark Sanchez -- Days are filled by throwing Frisbee passes to his golden retriever that are either way too high or way too low for the canine to catch cleanly. Nights are spent drunk-dialing Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and the entire cast of The Secret Life Of The American Teenager.


Albert Haynesworth -- Typically begins each day by waking up at 3 p.m., complaining that no one called to rouse him from his slumber. Writes a lengthy journal entry on his laptop about how disrespected he feels, but spills gravy on the keyboard and forgets to click save. Is driven to a Chipotle by off-the-books Dan Snyder crony, where he orders a steak burrito with a chicken burrito stuffed inside, and then deep fried in guacamole. Eats five bites and is out of breath, then falls asleep. Throws a tantrum when Chipotle refuses to fully refund his $13 burrito.

Ray Lewis -- Nights are spent dressed up in a purple Batman costume, driving around the streets of Baltimore in a purple and black Hummer, telling overworked and exhausted cops not to worry, that he will keep crime at bay until the NFL returns. When members of the Baltimore Police Department roll their eyes and express concern that Lewis is no longer quick enough to run down criminals who posses significant lateral quickness, Lewis brushes it off by explaining that "bottom line, even a blind cat will find a meal every once in awhile."

Adrian Peterson -- Passes the time by carefully reading Toni Morrison's "Beloved" and Edward P. Jones' "The Known World," in a sincere attempt to figure out why people were so offended by his comparison between the NFL labor situation and slavery. Just kidding! Probably lots of X-Box and push-ups though. 

Jay Cutler -- Has been busy planning his wedding to reality star Kristin Cavallari, and having some of the typical pre-wedding spats most couples endure. Cavallari wants Cutler to grit his teeth and finish his vows if he injures his knee while walking into the church, but Cutler doesn't understand why Caleb Hanie can't step in and read his vows while he rides an exercise bike off to the side so he can get ready for the reception.

Vince Young -- Most days are spent standing in front of a mirror, shirtless, listening to homemade Death Cab For Cutie and Public Enemy mash-ups. Also leaves several tearful voicemails each day for Reggie Bush, wondering when he'll be getting "his" Heisman Trophy.

Rashard Mendenhall -- For the last two months, has been working on a Huffington Post Op-Ed scolding the Americans for celebrating the death of the Emperor -- someone they've never even met! -- at the end of "Return of the Jedi." Near the end, floats the idea that Alderaan might have been an inside job. "I just have a hard time believing a space station could take down a whole planet, demolition style," he says.

Kevin Kolb -- Each day, he drives past Michael Vick's house in his truck, clutching a puppy while listening to the "Rocky" soundtrack. Contemplates dumping puppy in Vick's backyard and calling the Humane Society. Loses his nerve. Drives home to watch "Friday Night Lights" reruns in his Matt Saracen jersey. 

Aaron Rodgers --
Sends Brett Favre daily text/picture messages of himself clutching his manhood while wearing his Super Bowl ring.

Ben Roethlisberger --
Working hard at finally finishing David Foster Wallace's 1,100-page masterpiece, "Infinite Jest." Just kidding! We all know Roethlisberger would be way more into Bret Easton Ellis. If he knew how to read.

Peyton Hillis --
Nights are spent wrestling boars for money, fame. Glory, even. (Glory is forever, people.)

Danny Woodhead --
Summer internship at Grantland

Peyton Manning -- Takes a job teaching summer school kickball at a suburban New Orleans middle school, hoping it will keep him sharp mentally while he recovers from shoulder surgery. Gets a scrappy band of overachievers to work together and put up gaudy statistics, thanks in part to his intensive in-game strategy, which includes studying stills of kickball formations taken by a passing blimp. Under his direction, the team makes it to the conference semifinals of the Louisiana middle school kickball state championship before wilting in the final innings. "We had some kicking problems," Manning will tell the school paper shortly after the loss.

Drew Brees -- Spends hours admonishing himself for failing to figure out a way to cure cancer.

Philip Rivers -- Spends hours admonishing himself for failing to figure out a way to beat Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Derek Anderson -- Is kicked out of a film studies class at Arizona State when he giggles at the end of a screening of "Schindler's List."

Derelle Revis -- Likes to go to fancy restaurants without a reservation, then hold out for a better table when the maître d’ tries to seat him. When he finally gets the fanciest table in the restaurant, he hurts himself 10 minutes into the meal, forcing himself to sit out several courses.

Steve Johnson -- Blaming God when his Netflix DVDs don't arrive in a timely fashion.

Tim Tebow -- Making it rain. Not in strip clubs with sweaty dollar bills, but literally making it rain, somewhere in Africa. I can only presume he'll also catch the rain water in his cupped hands, boil it to sterilize his instruments, then get back to the business of handing out free circumcisions. Followed by inspirational speeches, of course.

Comments

Hilarious. Well done.

wow these articles are garbage and just "filler." How about actually doing a real story? Isn't that what they pay you for?

Not your best. Virtually Venselesque a challenge, this.

As I read these comments I continue to be amazed at how many people, with the safety of being anonymous, rip on writers here. I don't agree with everything they write either, but I don't criticize because I KNOW I could not do any better. KVV does a consistent, solid job breaking down football. When will people wake up and realize that with the lockout, these guys are being creative in coming up with columns. The real information during this period is minimal at best. But I am sure editors still want some copy to run.

KVV and all the Sun witers: stay the course. I will continue to defend what you do, because I, and the host of others that write in these blogs, could not begin to do what you do.

Kevin, can you give me some insight into why it seems like 90% of the local sports anylists in the Baltimore-Metro area enjoy taking stabs a Ray Lewis? Maybe Ray has downgraded from Juggernaut to top 2 MLB in football (Patrick Willis is pretty good). What's wrong with that?
I realize you have a job to do, and you're a very good Sun columnist. But when the media is continually mocking one of the greatest MLB's to play the game, it gets a little old. Yeah, he's 36 and isn't the specimin MLB of 2000. But when can it stop being beat to death in the media? What's the benefit of making fun of what he says or his abilities? I read the Pittsburgh Post to see what their writers say about their players, and I get the feeling that they provide more positive articles about the Steelers (not counting Rapistburger) than the Sun provides about the Ravens. It'd be nice to see our media take that kind of pride in the Ravens. I don't think any of the Pittsburgh writers would have posted a comment about Jerome Bettis similar to what you posted about Ray.

Crap.

ERac, since you didn't leave your email, I'll answer you here. Ray Lewis is an amazing player, and one of the true gifts of my young career has been to watch him up close. I've written many fawning things about him over the years, but I've also written some (I think) fair critiques of him. That's journalism. I can't speak for how they do things in Pittsburgh, but after listening to talk radio on the way home the day after the Divisional Playoff game, and hearing a Post-Gazette columnist declare LaMarr Woodley a "sure first ballot Hall of Famer" I have a pretty good idea of they way they tend to view their stars -- with zero objectivity.

This is an attempt at humor. Ray may not be the player he once was, and he'll forever be a legend in this town, but that doesn't mean he's above a little playful teasing now and then, especially when everyone else is getting teased in this as well. He is, after all, the guy who said crime would rise without NFL games. And the guy who dismissed Peyton Hillis as "a blind cat finding a meal."

To be honest, 99.5 percent of the things said about Ray Lewis by the local media in this town are overly fawning. No matter how much we may love watching him play -- and I definitely still love watching him play -- he's not the player he once was, but listen to talk radio in this town and you'll hear "he's better than ever!"

Anyway, I hope that gives you some insight. Something like this, it's all in fun. Thanks for the reading the Sun.

I enjoyed the piece, thanks KVV. The parts on Kolb and Rodgers had me chuckling.

Some of these recaptchas are hard to read.

I don't care what anybody says, the part on Ray Ray was hilarious!

KVV,

My point is that there HAS TO BE better articles than this "fluff" you spew. The Baltimore Sun used to be an outstanding news publication and you should not tarnish the great sports writers of the past with this teenager garbage, you're better than that.

Surely you could find time to interview a player, past player, coach. Perhaps you could dust off the great moments in Baltimore sports history. Maybe even breakdown the Indy race contestants. These are just ideas...because lately, I find the Sun struggling to dish out quality articles. Step it up…or I will take my wandering eyes elsewhere.

excelsior! i was starting to forget the narrative on a lot of these players. and nice work by the old guy dropping a "drunk dialing" joke, although it would probably be drunk texting now-a-days. following your passion really does keep you young. GOD I HOPE THEY PLAY.

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