Michael Vick might get benched for a rookie. “We've given up; come back next year,” the Eagles are saying.

Image by Rob Carr / Getty Images

Only part of the reason for Michael Vick's likely benching by the Philadelphia Eagles has to do with on-field strategy.

Not saying that his play isn't a significant part of the problem. Vick's been bad in 2012 even before you take into account his turnovers, with a sub-60% completion rating and a measly 6.2 yards per attempt. When you throw in the 8 interceptions and 9 fumbles (7 lost), he goes from bad to disaster. Let me put it this way: there are only three teams in the NFL that have more turnovers than Vick does BY HIMSELF.

This is made all the more remarkable by how good Vick was only two years ago. Remember the guy who, in 2010, after spending years out of the league, threw for 25 scores and rushed for 9 more in only 12 games? Who threw only 6 interceptions? Yeah. Last season, his production dipped, but not to the degree it has in 2012.

Clearly, 2010 Vick is not median Vick. The funny thing is, even 2012 Vick is an improvement over pre-jail Vick, a player just as prone to turnovers and even less productive as a passer. If the Eagles didn't think that stretches of frequent turnovers were a likelihood when they signed Vick, they were deluding themselves, and he's actually gotten the interception problem under control: after throwing 6 in the first two games, he's avoided being picked in four out of five. (The fumbling? A different story.)

The bigger issue is that the rest of the Eagles deserve their 3-4 record, which probably should be worse. Their three wins were by a combined four points, and they're on a three-game losing streak, capped off by last week's blowout against the Falcons. All their victories were decided by a field goal or less, meaning that they could just as easily be 0-7 right now as 3-4. Philly, a team with Super Bowl aspirations in the preseason, is searching for someone to put the blame on. Their first stop was Juan Castillo, the team's much-maligned defensive coordinator, who was surprisingly retained in the offseason; the team replaced him with Todd Bowles, then promptly gave up 30 against Atlanta.

Going from Vick to a rookie will only make the situation more unsettled. If you're putting the ball in backup Nick Foles' hands, you're saying that the Eagles can win without relying heavily on their quarterback. About which: look at their defense. At 3-4, Philly isn't out of the playoff race, not yet; they would have to leapfrog the Packers, Vikings, Cardinals, and Seahawks. But considering the talent in Philadelphia, that isn't inconceivable — unless they bench their best quarterback. So by benching Michael Vick, the Eagles are giving up on the 2012 season, sacrificing the immediate future as a signal to their fans and the rest of the league that they understand they need a different plan for the long term. They're announcing that this is Vick's last season in Philly, and they're testing Foles to see if he's a potential 2013 starter or if the team will need to go out and get a guy in the offseason.

Is this the right move? No, firing Andy Reid is the right move. But that's been obvious for a while now.

Imagine you buy a new house. Then a hurricane comes, so you evacuate. You learn that your brand new house is totally underwater. What's the first thing you do? Call a sports talk radio show, obviously.

Dave's house had some serious damage done to it today. So of course he took some time to call New York sports radio staple Mike Francesa to talk about it and something far more important than a completely flooded home.

Yeah I know my house is underwater, but I have more important things to worry about. Like the red zone interceptions and sack fumbles. Obviously.

H/T Tom Ley at Deadspin.

It involves the words “gobble gobble jive turkey.”

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After the 49ers destroyed the Cardinals on Monday Night Football, San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh had some excellent words for anyone criticizing Alex Smith:

LINK: Via SB Nation

And now the Internet is working to unmask him.

This photo was taken during the riots after the San Francisco Giants won the World Series.

That's a $1 million San Francisco Municipal bus that this guy is taking a fence to. He's not the only one who did some serious damage after the Giants' win, but now SFPD is trying to track him down through the Internet.

LINK: Via Red Devil Lounge

Chicken and beer and unibrows.

Source: instagram.com

The story of the time Zach Galifianakis giggled at himself giggling at himself.

Source: twitpic.com

Zach Galifianakis was on Pete Holmes' podcast You Made It Weird last week. And he talked about that time he went to a Knicks game super high. You can hear it here (26:50 mark), but I've transcribed it because I love you.

And thanks to that pot chocolate-altered Zach, we have what may be the best courtside photo of all time.

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Basketball's back. The season kicks off tonight with Boston and Miami, Los Angeles and Dallas, and Washington and Cleveland. Now let's argue about it.

The God-mode Lakers.

Image by Mark J. Terrill / AP

You may have forgotten about it amidst the news event dominating the nation's airwaves — we're referring to the Cleveland Browns' 7-6 Sunday victory over the San Diego Chargers — but the NBA starts tonight! Here's one way to prime your brain for the season — a discussion-starter survey to fill out and send to your friends, so that you may all be informed and entertained and appalled by the hidden racial biases revealed by each other's answers. Why do you hang out with those guys, anyway? Just because Brian lived with them in college? You need to get out and meet some new people.

Here are the questions, with BuzzFeed Sports' answers filled in.

Eastern Conference Finals matchup: Heat-Celtics
Western Conference Finals matchup: Lakers-Thunder
NBA Finals matchup: Lakers-Heat (we were close to picking the Celtics because the Heat could get real gimpy real quick with Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen playing key roles. But then we thought about a clear-headed LeBron, freed of playoff-choking anxiety, dunking on humanity for the rest of time)
NBA Champs: Lakers (the only person who can combat LeBron James' infinite dunkage is Dwight Howard)
Rank Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and New York in order of how they'll finish in the Eastern Conference:
Brooklyn (their win total will be inflated above their true talent level by home-crowd energy)
New York (their win total will be deflated beneath their true talent level by home-crowd mutiny and murderousness)
Philadelphia (but only because we don't think Andrew Bynum will play that much)

Rank the top 5 players at the NBA's most talented position, point guard (assuming Derrick Rose recovers fully from his knee injury):
1. Derrick Rose
2. Deron Williams (a big, Brooklyn-crowd-driven year will remind everyone how good he is)
3. CP3
4. Russell Westbrook (though wouldn't be surprised if he jumped this year to #1)
5. Rajon Rondo
Honorable mention: Tony Parker, Kyrie Irving, Steve Nash

Rank old folks Steve Nash, Ray Allen, and Jason Terry in order of
how much they'll contribute to their new teams' success:
Steve Nash
Jason Terry
Ray Allen (gimp)

Will Ray Allen average more than ten minutes a game in the Heat's first-round playoff series?
We say no.

Who is most likely to disappoint fans this season?
Michael Jordan who will find a way to trade everyone on his roster until the Bobcats are all former UNC guys.

LeBron has long since ceased needing to use his eyes to make passes.

Image by Andrew Innerarity / Reuters

Place the LA Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, OKC Thunder, LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, and Denver Nuggets in grouped tiers:
Tier 1. (clear title favorites)
LA Lakers, Miami Heat

Tier 2. (could easily win if they get a few breaks)
OKC Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics

Tier 3. (could win if they get about 200 breaks)
LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies

If you were starting a team from scratch for this coming year only, who would you take first — Dwyane Wade or Kobe Bryant?
Kobe Bryant. Because Wade whines too much. Kobe's brand of reprehensibility is easier to watch on TV.

If you were starting a franchise, who would you rather have for the long term — Kevin Love or Blake Griffin?
Love is the the trendy choice here, but Griffin has the athleticism and agility to become a great 1-on-1 player and defender if he keeps hittin' the gym. We'll go with Griffin.

Which owner is most likely to cut someone over skinny jeans?
Mark Cuban

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Josh Sundquist , best-selling author, Paralympic ski racer, and a cancer survivor who lost his leg at age 9, decided to make the most of his assets and create the best Halloween costume ever.

"For Halloween this year, I dressed as the leg lamp from 'A Christmas Story.'"

Source: blog.joshsundquist.com

He even shaved his leg for added effect!

Source: @JoshSundquist

Nailed it.

Well done, sir. Well done.

Via: hookedonhouses.net

There's nothing more obnoxious than a fighter slapping his own face and screaming. Which is why this is awesome.

Source: youtube.com

See this jerk get what's coming to him, over and over again.

H/T Stephen Douglas at The Big Lead.

It's named Sandy, David. Katrina happened in 2005.

David Stern kicked off the NBA season by sticking his foot in his mouth.

(h/t Deadspin)

The Big Ticket knows how to hold a grudge.

Midway through Ray Allen's first game with the Miami Heat, he shook the hand of some Celtics coaches and even gave Kevin Garnett some dap. Garnett was less than pleased.

Okay Kevin, we don't really understand why you feel betrayed that Ray Allen left a team he played less than a third of his NBA career for, but you're certainly entitled to that position. But at least give Ray a half-hearted fist bump or a slight nod or something.

Hollywood changes people.

Casual Nash.

Slobby, but cool dressed up Nash.

And who can forget frosted Nash?

Image by Glenn James/NBAE/ / Getty Images

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Major League Baseball Advanced Media was a tiny startup inside of a huge organization. Now it's not just on the brink of changing the game, but the rest of television with it.

San Francisco Giants players celebrate after winning Game 4 over the Detroit Tigers to clinch the World Series on October 28.

Image by Mark Blinch / Reuters

While most tech startups battle for any media attention they can get, this company has been around since 2000 and doesn’t seem to care much if the public knows it exists. It doesn't hide from the media, but unlike most companies in its field, it's loathe to self-aggrandize or make big claims about changing the world.

The truth, though, is this company may soon be poised to upend the whole television industry. Even more curious, it’s a company silently owned by traditional American icons known for their hidebound ways: a bunch of baseball teams. This is Major League Baseball Advanced Media, a tech startup company owned equally by the 30 clubs that comprise the MLB.

Glass walls abound in the four sprawling fours of offices, housed in New York City’s Chelsea Market, the site of a former Nabisco factory in Manhattan. Banks of cubicles with an army of twentysomething video editors and game loggers prepare highlights and information for MLB’s Web properties and apps. A huge, unnecessary metal dome sitting in the middle of one floor seems to serve as a conference room. Despite the baseball artwork on the walls and the company softball trophies in the reception area, there’s no mistaking it: This isn’t a sports company. This is a tech company.

Started by MLB in 2000 to, among little else, run the official websites of the 30 teams, MLBAM has since grown tentacles extending control over various businesses around the sport, such as the news media and ticketing, raising plenty of eyebrows along the way. Its technologies have brought change to the game itself, facilitating the sport’s use of video replay and PITCHf/x, the precise computerized strike zone system MLBAM that regularly embarrasses the game’s umpires and appears to have the ability to replace them in the sacred act of calling balls and strikes — that is, if a sport so wrapped up in its own traditions could ever take that power away from its historic arbiters in the interest of getting the calls right.

The most impressive part of MLBAM’s operation, though, is its giant video streaming control room, which keeps expanding to larger spaces. Technicians in two long rows here monitor a giant video wall of several hundred screens, each one showing a different broadcast MLBAM is streaming. This single room could spell doom for cable, satellite, and broadcast television.

During the regular season, in one cluster of screens, you can see the 30 broadcasts of the 30 MLB teams, which MLBAM packages into MLB.tv — viewable by millions in HD online, on TV through connected devices, and on smartphones and iPads. This growing service, around for a decade now, becomes more and more sophisticated than regular cable telecasts each year and comes at a current annual cost to viewers of $85 or $100.

It’s a natural arrangement. Fans who do not live in the broadcast market of their favorite team would like to watch them play, but the regional sports networks (RSN) that broadcast the games do not appear in cable or satellite channel lineups in their area. MLB.tv pays the RSNs for their broadcast feeds and provides them to viewers. Every game across the country is available to watch, as long as it isn’t airing in the viewer’s local market.

Over the past decade, this simple arrangement has necessitated and allowed MLBAM to build itself into a video-streaming powerhouse. Very quietly, it has come to stream more live video than any other company on the planet, its servers dependably handling the load of tens of millions of viewers watching multiple broadcast feeds at the same time. If the entire country suddenly cancelled their cable and satellite service and switched to MLBAM technology for all of their live TV watching, one gets the sense the company is not far off from being able to handle it.

And that, after all, might just be the plan.

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This photo is amazing.

Source: @Jim_ICE

For a long time I bemoaned the fact that Eli Manning won a Super Bowl (let alone two), because it meant that making fun of Eli wasn't nearly as fun. Sure he was still derpy, but he was derpy and a CHAMPION. For the last few years I've been convinced that being a champion outweighed all the derp. This photo proves I was wrong. Eli Manning, casually taking a photo of hurricane damage while wearing sweatpants is perfect. He looks like he's at a party where he doesn't know anyone. So thank you Eli Manning. Thank you for being both one of the best football players in the world, as well as a giant freaking muppet. I really appreciate it.

H/T Jim_Ice on Twitter.

Serge Ibaka sings, Kendrick Perkins mean-mugs.

The Oklahoma City Thunder star in a local car commercial for the ages.

Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge is going to sell a billion cars because of this, even though Kendrick Perkins is a buzzkill who refused to participate.

Perkins looked like he wanted to murder someone.

H/t Brian Phillips at Grantland.

When two goalies fight, everyone wins.

Yesterday, while weathering the after-effects of Hurricane Sandy, I was doing my best to have a normal day. I felt like if I changed my routine too much, it would mean the hurricane had won. So I woke up. I worked. I had a toasted peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch. And then I watched some Swiss National League A Hockey. You know, just typical stuff.

And as is always the case when Genève-Servette HC and HC Lugano get together, it was a testy affair. At the end of the second period things got a little tense when 12(!) players got into a brawl, including (and really, most notable) the two goalies. One of my favorite things in all of sports is two goalies fighting. It's like they want to get involved, but they don't want to get into it with a regular player (whom they've actually been interacting with all game, by the way). So instead they end up fighting their opposite, even though it's almost impossible for them to be farther from each other throughout the game. There's something about it that almost resembles propriety.

Anyway, that's not the only reason this game was nuts. Apparently (OK, maybe I didn't watch it, you caught me), after GSHC won came back with two late goals to win the game, Lugano fans began throwing a weird list of items onto the ice — at least according to San Jose Sharks forward (turned GSHC forward during the lockout) Logan Couture.

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Hurricane Sandy doesn't care how much money you make or if you play for the Knicks.

Source: statigr.am

Amar'e Stoudemire is not having a great week. The Knicks just announced that he's going to miss the first six to eight weeks of the NBA season, due to needing a knee debridement (a procedure often used to treat arthritic patients, so it's good news for Knicks fans that their $100 million man needs it). And on top of that he's going to have to find a new car to drive to those doctor's appointments, after Hurricane Sandy decided that his Range Rover would make a pretty kick-ass submersible.

That said, if this picture is any indication, STAT (Standing Tall And Tender) could host an awesome Discovery Channel wilderness show. The jacket. The point. This guy's a natural. Plus, the only thing more entertaining than a jackass risking his life to film weird shit in the jungle is a giant risking his life to film weird shit in the jungle. Get off your hands, Discovery Channel, and make the call!

Via @Amareisreal on Instagram.

This might be an overreaction, England.

Image by The Associated Press / AP

Every year a crazy group of English people that call themselves the Edenbridge Bonfire Society gather together around the time of Guy Fawkes Night to set off fireworks, burn effigies of famous people and presumably watch "V For Vendetta."

In the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, the former seven-time Tour de France champion was voted by the people to be burned this year. A 30-foot likeness of Armstrong has been erected in Edenbridge (about 35 miles southeast of London), holding a sign that says "FOR SALE: Racing bike / no longer required." Also considered for the honor to be burned (and English bookies took bets on this) were soccer players John Terry (6/1), Luis Suarez (10/1) and Ashley Cole (12/1), as well as George Osborne, a conservative British politician (4/1).

Stay weird, England.

(via The Telegraph)

You know you do.

Lin posted this photo to his Facebook today. It couldn't possibly be better.

Here's an artist's rendering of what Lin's costume looks like this year:

The absolute best NBA ring ceremony story ever.

Image by Ronald Martinez / Getty Images

The Miami Heat received their 2012 championship rings last night in the customary ceremony before the opening game, with each player sharing a short embrace and word with commissioner David Stern before collecting their hardware. Ever wonder what Stern says to each player? We did, so we asked some former NBA champions -- and two-time champion Brent Barry's ring ceremony experience is unparalleled. Not to spoil anything, but it involves Tim Duncan and David Stern's flaky old-man skin. Here's what Barry told BuzzFeed about the first night of the 2005-06 season:

In 2007, Barry shared an awkward handshake with Stern and moved right along.

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