Nick This ... And That

Nicknames are all the rage these days. Y'know, those hip-hop handles that just shorten what mom and dad gave you when you popped out.

D-Rose. D-Wade. LBJ (The King, not The Prez). Even A-Rod, or is it A-Roid? Of course, celebs have J-Lo and The Biebs.

Not so much in football. A-Rod is already taken. P-Man? I don't think so. Nor little brother E-Man. T-Bra? Gisele won't like that. And would it be J-Man or J-Foot? How about J-Bench?

Oh for the days of R-Moss, T-Aik and T-Brad (Pittsburgh, not New England). Instead, we have the legacy of The Playmaker, Peanut and if you can remember back far enough, we had Jolly Roger, Fran the Scram and Bambi.

How boring. Well, we'll always have O.J. Whatever that stands for.

***

Reporters who cover football just don't get any love, from the players and coaches, that is.

You've seen it. Jay Cutler dissed every football beat writer when he told Chicago Bears media that they would be negative and wouldn't understand if he explained to them what happened, precisely, on the plays where he threw interceptions in the season opener against Buffalo. It was a loss, by the way, almost directly attributable to the pair of picks.

Sure, Jay, we cover football because we like the insults. And the overt insinuation that we are stupid.

And let's not forget Ryan Leaf practically jumping down a reporter's throat over what he wrote or might write about him. Very mature, Ryan. How are you doing, by the way, since washing out of the game?

Now comes Bill Belichick, and not for the first time, making sure to dis reporters with a snarky laugh at the question over his team's quarterback play in the Patriots' one-sided loss to Kansas City. Maybe he forgot about Spygate and how he shrugged off questions about it to invite inquiries about that week's opponent, about whom nobody in the public or the media could've cared less.

And let's not forget the Oklahoma State football coach who encouraged a reporter to talk to him and not his players because he's "a man." I guess his players aren't. Hey, he recruited them. If that's how a man behaves, then all is not OK in Oklahoma.

Hey, Mike, the reporter offered to go over her story with you line by line for accuracy. You refused.

And now Jim Harbaugh is saying Deion Sanders' report is preposterous, even laughable, that 49ers' players are getting fed up with him and want him out.

Haven't seen too many 49ers players laughing.

Even Kirk Herbstreit said this morning that the public assumption is absurd that he, an Ohio Stater, is gleeful about the situation at Michigan. He's actually sad about what it says about the mindset there and the mindset in the general public.

That might be a product of too many fans drinking too much beer. And Herbstreit being a Buckeye.

 ***

If anyone thinks the NFL is not about bad boys, very bad boys, then think again.

It has never been more clear that the league is all about keeping its best players on the field, no matter who they abused, beat up or hit.

The investigation into what's going on in league offices over the Ray Rice video will likely reveal everything but that.

In other words, that the real bad boys are the billionaires.