As any self-respecting sports gamer would know, the L.A. Raiders are totally off-limits on Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES… If playing a friend head to head, you’re simply not allowed to use them, because they’re the equivalent of having Jose Canseco inject you in the hindquarters with Bane’s venom serum before a game.

Why?

Bo Jackson, of course:

In real life: A Bosworth-flattening, long ball-hitting, baseball bat-over-the-knee-snapping two-sport marvel, Jackson was the sports world’s closest thing to a video game character incarnate. As a Los Angeles Raiders running back, Bo knew touchdowns; as a Kansas City Royal, he literally ran along walls; as a shoe pitchman, only Michael Jordan was his peer. Jackson was as much myth as man, but still — if you coldly assess his football numbers, he was a part-time player who never cracked 1,000 yards in a season and made only one Pro Bowl appearance.

In the game: Shiva the God of Death. Gaze upon Bo, ye Christian Okoyes, ye Jerry Rices, ye Dan Marinos. And despair.

When it comes to your video game counterpart far exceeding your real-life accomplishments, believe me, Bo Knows better than anybody.

Check out the other 11 overly-dominant digital athletes at ESPN.com.

It seems like every industry has an email newsletter which is a “must have” for those in the biz.   But you can get really great fun stuff via email, too.  In fact, some of the best stuff you can read comes special delivered, direct to your email inbox.  And best of all, its typically free.  We scanned the World Wide Web for these great email newsletters which every man should receive, and after weeks of getting them on a regular basis, here’s our verdict: We should have been reading these beforehand.

Honorable Mentions

12: The Daily Beast. Their core offering is the snarky, Huffington Post-esque political beat, but their newsletter is pretty darn good, too — and will give you the necessary tools so you’re not that guy who thinks Nino Scalia is the lead singer of KISS.  The signup is buried in the bottom right of their homepage but if you register for an account, by default (boo!) they opt you in.  Good thing it’s a good read.

11: Links of the Week.  Best of the web, in link form, in your inbox, once a week.  LotW will make you smarter, more attractive, and bring women to you in droves.  Okay, maybe not.  But it will help you find such web gems as this 2003 Honda ad and will keep you awake enough to avoid this.

10: The Morning Bark.  A product of the Yardbarker sports network, the Morning Bark is a daily link dump of all things sports.  Like Links of the Week, above, there’s no actual content in it — just links — which is why we went with another sports list at #3 (keep scrolling…).  But if links are your thing, the Morning Bark is solid.

9: The Daily Tube. The best videos from the web, the Daily Tube offers a vertically-customizable mailer each day.  It’s not targetted toward men and certainly has its share of chick stuff, but you can avoid it (and should) pretty easily.

8: National Geographic’s Photo and News of the Week. It’s the second one down on that page.  It’s only a weekly and it’s really only worth it for the photos, but the monthly one is not as good and it comes out too rarely.  Ignore the (typically weird in a bad way) news but check out the (typically weird in a good way) photos like this one.

7: Comedy Smack. A best-of-the-web type of deal where all you get is funny, and you get it for noooo money.  (Sorry.)  Their Best of 2008 is worth twice the price.

6: The Toilet Paper.  Taglined “Daily News For the Thinking Man,” this four-times-a-weeker has become a mainstay in our toilet reading.  How else would you know that Fran Tarkenton thinks Brett Favre is a d-bag?

The awesomely! Fab Five

5: Flavorpill.  An events guide for your city, showing the hyper-trendy to just plain cool ways to enjoy the culture and happenings around town.  Focused on New York, LA, San Fran, Chicago, London, and Miami (hello South Beach!), Flavorpill does the deep dive that will make you the guy in your group who knows where the best live music is that weekend, and the endearing mensch who can talk about the hot new museum collection you think your better half will enjoy.  Live outside these cities? Their website will give you all the culture you can handle — but the mailers aren’t going to help much.

4: Tasting Table.  For the man-as-foodie, Tasting Table rules.  It’s not just about food, but where food and culture come into that perfect zen moment which makes dining out the awesome experience it can be.  They also give a great look at wine and beer, and sprinkle in a chef’s recipe or two.  But hey, if your worldview is “Big Mac, large fries, and a Coke,” it’s not for you.  Tasting Table has a New York, LA, Chicago, and a national version, with a San Fran one coming soon.

3: Daily Tailgate.  The new kid on the block is a best-in-class sports e-magazine.  I was lucky enough to be invited to be an alpha tester — it’s awesome.  Daily Tailgate gives a dose of that world of sports, but not just your top stories.  Sure, they have the ESPN nuts-and-bolts, but there’s more.  They bring you the ultimate watercooler fodder through their interviews with athletes and other sports celebs (did you know Linda Cohn was a college hockey goalie?), a shot of trivia and fantasy sports advice, and strange sports (defined loosely) like Sholf.  (Seriously, if you know of a Sholf tournament near New York City, I want in.)

2: Urban Daddy.  Yes, the title sounds like something from Michael Vick’s “Ron Mexico” conquests, but the content rocks.    For example, did you know that there’s something called a beer pager?  You know, which pages your beer?  Yeah, hit a button, and your beer starts beeping, screaming, “I’m here! Drink me!”   You would have if you were an Urban Daddy reader.

1: Thrillist.  The granddaddy of them all, Thrillist and its million of readers — literally — get first-hand news of bundles of awesomeness.  Find out about great new websites, products, bars, live shows, gear… honestly, everything a guy could ever want.  It’s a broad net but they’re masterfisherman, and make us feel more manly just by being subscribers.  Seriously, it’s that good.

With these five tools arriving every day or week in your inbox, you’ll be sure to be the man with the answers.  You’ll know everything you need to about sports, music, gear, events, food, and just plain awesomeness in every facet of life.

In fact, after you subscribe to these five (or 12!) above, you’ll wonder how you made it through your week beforehand.

If you’re a Mets fan — unless you’re one who has been living this season under a rock (for which we’d not begrudge you!) — you know that Mets manager Jerry Manuel does not like former Met outfielder Ryan Church.   Manuel has subtily slandered Church a few times now, but nothing quite tops yesterday’s dump-job.  For those who missed it, here’s your 15-second chronology:

• Last year, as a Met, Church suffered a concussion and returned too quickly, and was not the same player for the rest of the year.
• A few days ago, Met superstar David Wright got beaned in the head by a Matt Cain pitch, suffering a concussion and taking a trip to the DL.
• Church told Wright to take it easy and don’t rush back.
• Wright said he wanted to get back in the game ASAP.
• Manuel called Church a “different animal” than Wright, a/k/a a pussy.

We already know what David Wright thinks about concussions and the value of one’s brain.  How?  Because he told the New York Times that, in regard to new-age helmets: “If it provides more protection, then I’m all for it.  I’m not worried about style or looking good out there. I’m worried about keeping my melon protected.”  And that quote was from before the Cain beanball.

So let’s say you, like Wright, value the use of your brain.  You do not want some doctor manager telling you that not only is it safe to come back quickly after a brain injury, but that if you think otherwise, you’re a weakling undeserving of his respect.  Are you going to play for that guy?

I wouldn’t.

So the Mets now have two options: Send a message that no, they take brain injuries to be the serious problems they are — maybe by firing Manuel for his idiocy, maybe by issuing a statement to that effect (garbage), maybe by shelving Wright for the rest of the year, who knows.    The other option?  Focus on acquiring guys who would rather not use their head and instead, think they can gut it out when their grey matter is put in jeopardy.

Sadly, it looks like they are doing the former.

Have you heard that “Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships?” I hope so, because it is true. You look at all teams and it holds water. This is because offense might not show up because shots sometimes do not go in, but defense does. Defense is always there for you no matter what if you put the hard work in.

Then why is it that casual ballplayers never practice there defense? You always see them practicing their shooting, dribbling, or passing, but never defense.  They probably do not even know how to practice it alone.  Here are six easy ways to do exactly that.

Drills to Build Quickness

1: Lines. Jump back and forth, and side to side over lines with both feet and then one foot at a time. You want quick little jumps.  Time yourself to see how many you can do in 60 seconds.  This not only builds reaction time and better motor coordination, but also endurance if you do multiple sets each workout.

2: Five Dots. Make 5 dots, 1 in the middle and 4 in the shape of a box outside of the middle one, about two feet from the center.   Hop on both feet from the outer dots onto the middle one, and repeat outward to the next dot.  Try and do some jumps backward.  This will increase your spatial awareness as well as your quickness.

3: Bounding.  This drill trains you to explode onto the scene on defense — and not just default by running. Start this drill out on one foot and then jump as far as you can in a random direction. Keep on doing this, but only do it for a short period of time. You are wanting to train your muscles to be explosive so go hard for a short amount of time.

Different Game Situations

4. Shuffle. This is good for guarding a man with the ball.  We suggest the “push slide step technique” — push with one leg; slide the other one next to it, and then step. In this technique do not overlap your feet, and you create a human wall which makes it difficult for the player to dribble or pass around.  In practicing, go from one end of the lane to the other. While doing this, you must have one almost touching the ground and one high. The one hand high is to be in the players face in game ready to block/distract shot while the low hand is the pesky hand preventing the crossover. This hand is then dictating to the ball handler which direction he can go.

5.  Crossing Out. Sometimes, you need to get to the shooter, and quickly.  This helps you practice that situation.  Start out of bounds and put a cone at the free throw line. Imagine the cone as an imaginary person. Run at it and then chop step when you get close with your but down and hands up being ready for the shot and drive. Practice like it is a real game, or you will get burned in a real game.

6: Ball Shuffle Drill. Pass the ball along the wall while shuffling your feet parallel to the wall, moving laterally the entire time. Always stay in your defensive stance while doing this.  This will allow you to improve your lateral movement against a ball-handler and will focus your concentration on the ball.  See how quickly you can get from one baseline to the other, and how many Remember that for all the defensive drills and you will get a great workout.

Five guys on the court?  Them’s the rules.  But what if you could make the best team possible — Dream Team style — given today’s NBA talent?  Here’s what I came up with.

5. Dwyane Wade – It was hard to come up with my #5 here. I love Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, I think that Kevin Durant is quickly on the rise, and believe that Kevin Garnett is still elite. But Dwyane Wade had an amazing 2008-2009 campaign, having led the NBA in points per game.

While Wade may turn over the ball more often than most players at his position, Wade really bridges the gap between point guard and shooting guard for the Heat, so this is forgivable. The fact that the Heat went from the joke of the NBA to a decent team in one season speaks volumes about Wade’s presence.

4. Dwight Howard – The big man led his team to the NBA finals last season and seems to be on the way up. His turnovers are on the way down, his free throw situation is (slowly) improving, and he’s a rebounding and blocked shot machine.

Having brought his team to the NBA finals, Howard’s talent speaks volumes. The league’s best rebounder and shot blocker will improve all facets of his game during the next few years. That’s just scary.

3. Chris Paul – Easily the best point guard in the NBA, and will be considered one of the game’s all-time greats by the end of his career. While his team struggled a bit last season, short of David West, there’s probably less talent on that team after these two than there is on any team in the NBA. Paul’s assists, steals, rebounds, and points all speak for themselves. Arguably the best ball handler in the NBA too.

2. Kobe Bryant – Yes, he’s still more clutch than LeBron and a smart enough player to accomplish as much as anyone else on the court, but at 30 years old, Kobe Bryant will gradually begin to decline a bit.

As for the NBA title, his supporting cast (Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom) was more than LeBron had on his side. Give LeBron Pau and Lamar, and he’ll bring home a ring too.

1. LeBron James – No championship in Cleveland yet, but he’ll get his eventually. If you swapped LeBron and Kobe, I can undoubtedly say that the Lakers would still be champions. Probably even more dominant than now, because LeBron’s numbers are pure gold. What he does for an otherwise miserable team in the Cavs is simply remarkable.

The Houston Astros are an interesting breed of baseball team. With some of the oldest active players in major league baseball, a new wave of younger players are beginning to make their presence felt in Houston. The older players have been hit with all kinds of injuries through the course of the season, but none strong enough to effectively end their seasons.

Interestingly enough, the three players on the team most prone to injury really haven’t missed much time, if any at all. Pudge Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada, and Carlos Lee have all been generally healthy through the season. Despite the health of the team’s veterans, my focus has shifted to the youth of the Astros, a core of solid players who look like they could form the foundation of a great team for the next few years.

This all begins with 26-year-old Michael Bourne. A player who’s always had some of the best speed in the majors, it seems like he finally got his batting situation figured out this season, with an average of .289 at the moment. This is over 60 points higher than his 2008 numbers. He’s tops in the majors in SBs and triples, and I believe that he’ll continue to improve.

Hunter Pence made the All-Star team this year, at just 26 years of age, has a bright future ahead of himself. His numbers are slowly improving, and while his power is down a bit this season, I expect it to rise back as he matures some more.

The Astros see their catcher of the future in Jason Castro, 22, who is hitting over .300 at AA Corpus Christi and is penciled in to arrive in Houston no later than 2011. Should an opening develop in the outfield, Brian Bogusevic, 25, a converted pitcher, could find a home at Minute Maid. He’s batting .279 at AAA Round Rock and is making a crash course of becoming a professional hitter. The infield is lacking in top prospects right now but the franchise is high on 3B Chris Johnson, 24, who has power but is still raw and had trouble staying healthy this year. Jiovanni Mier, 18, is a shortstop who was the Astros’ first-round pick this year.

On the mound, injuries have already forced some young pitchers to make an appearance. Bud Norris, 24, has a 3-0 start to his big league career with an ERA of 3.00. Yorman Bazardo, 24, who is with his fifth organization, was recently called up and credits Round Rock pitching coach Burt Hooton with getting his career back on track. Felipe Paulino, 25, could also have a bright career if he improves his control. Further down on the farm, the Astros are expecting big things from 2008 draft picks Jordan Lyles and Ross Seaton, both 19. They could reach Houston by 2012 or 2013.

In the bullpen, some shrewd moves by General Manager Ed Wade have brought Wesley Wright, 24, Alberto Arias, 25, and Jeff Fulchino, 29, to Houston that have already paid dividends. Sammy Gervacio, 24, is also getting a second chance to impress the Astros this year. Young players are known for their inconsistency and fans will have to endure their ups and downs, showing patience as they learn how to be effective at the major league level. But a nucleus is there to make the Astros competitive while staying affordable. Veterans Wandy Rodriguez, Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman are likely to still be around for a few more years, perhaps joined by Lee and Tejada.

Since the Astros most likely won’t catch the Cardinals or the Cubs, I’d say they should let their youth play some baseball. You never know who might catch on. This is a team with great youth, and it’s time to bring the future stars to the big league.

Denny Hamlin, pegged as a future NASCAR superstar, won the rain delayed Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. The race had originally been scheduled for a day earlier but was pushed back due to rain. The win was Hamlin’s first of the season and broke a 50 race winless streak. His last victory had come in 2008 at Martinsville Raceway.

After the race, an emotional Hamlin dedicated the victory to his grandmother who passed away late last week at the age of 91:

She understands the competition of the sport and she understands how much she means to me. Like today, she’s pretty proud. We definitely had some angels with us today.

Hamlin has always raced well on the unique triangle configuration track at Pocono. He swept both races here as a rookie in 2006 and after the race his boss J.D. Gibbs made note of that fact:

I told him earlier, we’re going to lobby for a few extra races at Pocono

Hamlin is now fifth in the NASCAR championship points standings after the victory. Tony Stewart increased his lead over Jimmie Johnson to 197 points with a 10th place finish.

Juan Pablo Montoya finished second, moving him up to 8th place in the overall points standings. Clint Bowyer finished third and expressed pleasure with the solid performance in his postrace comments:

Things haven’t been going our way all year long so it feels good to have something swing our way.

Former Indy Car driver Sam Hornish, Jr. took fourth. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five.

Points leader Stewart will have a good opportunity to increase his lead this weekend, as NASCAR heads to Watkins Glen, NY to race on the road course there. Stewart is considered not only the best road course driver among current NASCAR competitors, but arguably the best of all time. The following week NASCAR travels to the Michigan International Speedway for the CarFax 400.

You probably remember Mets outfielder Jeff Francoeur from this exceptional defensive play pictured right.  We’ve always known that  Francoeur was a little bit on the un-SMRT side.   In May, as a member of the Atlanta Braves, he told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick that on-base precentage — which stat geeks often look at as a hugely important metric — as garbage:

“If on-base percentage is so important, then why don’t they put it up on the scoreboard?”

But rest assured, Jeff, they do, in fact, put it up on the scoreboard.  FanIQ comes in with this shot of the Braves home marquee, replete with Marcus Giles’ .368 OBP.

Reasonable minds can differ on the value of OBP, of course, so our insistance that Francoeur is dumber than dirt was, back then, an assertion.  No more.

Today, the New York Times has an article up discussing a next-gen batting helmet which can absorb fastballs at the noggin up to a speed of 100 mph, much better than the estimated 70 mph of current helmets.  They quote Mets All-Star David Wright as a proponent for its use:

“If it provides more protection, then I’m all for it,” said Mets third baseman David Wright, who last week dodged a Brad Thompson fastball traveling on a frightening vector toward his head. “I’m not worried about style or looking good out there. I’m worried about keeping my melon protected.”

Smart guy, that David Wright.  And we were sure most players would agree, or at least justify their objections by saying something to the effect of “… unless it interferes with my swing.”   But not Jeff Francoeur.  Having no brain, it seems, means that there’s no reason to wear such a helmet:

“No, I am absolutely not wearing that,” Mets right fielder Jeff Francoeur said with a laugh after seeing a prototype, as if he were being asked to put a pumpkin on his head. “I could care less what they say, I’m not wearing it. There’s got to be a way to have a more protective helmet without all that padding. It’s brutal. We’re going to look like a bunch of clowns out there.”

No word on whether Francoeur believes in seat belts or jock straps.

Michael Crabtree has been in the news a lot recently, for his contract holdout against the 49′ers. His reason is simple enough: He should have been a top 5 pick, but was not. Thus, he should be payed like a top 5 pick, regardless of him falling to 10th. His decision to hold out on the 49′ers doesn’t surprise me in the least bit. Why, you ask?

This kid’s ego is bigger than the collection of alts we’ve built on this site. Did you know, that when he was at Tech, if he didn’t like the clubhouse food, he’d make (yes, he would force someone) to go to a restaurant to get him food. He’s the perfect example of what is wrong with athletes. Yes, money is important. But he’s a class-A a-hole……a prima donna, if you will. So what will the effects of his holdout be? Say the 49′ers do not offer him the money he wants, and he DOES sit out the 2009 NFL season….while the 49′ers would be dealt a big blow, Crabtree would take the bigger hit.

Here’s why: Michael Crabtree is not a top five pick next year.

He may not be top 10, for all it matters, because the 2010 Draft Class may be one of the most stacked classes in recent memory. Not many teams are going to want to build around a selfish, egotistical WR who sat out one year. We’ve seen what has happened with TO and Chad Johnson…..no team wants to go through that, regardless of the talent of the receiver. In the 2010 NFL Draft, you’re looking at top-rated prospects such as DT Ndamukong Suh, FS Taylor Mays, QB’s Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow….and possibly even players like Brandon Spikes, Sam Bradford, Jevan Snead, Jahvid Best, Eric Berry, etc. Now I’m not saying that all of these will go top 5, or even top 10, but they’re definitely candidates to be picked high, should all of them enter the draft.

So….this brings to light another question. Should Crabtree re-enter the 2010 NFL Draft….will he even be the top WR? We all know Crabtree put together an AMAZING 2007 Campaign, going for nearly 2000 receiving yards and 22 TD’s. He fell off a bit, yet still put together a great campaign in 2008, going for 1,165 yards and 19 scores. But there may be an even better wide-out coming into the draft next year.

Look at Dez Bryant, for example, who put up better numbers than Crabtree in 2008 and may have a better 2009. Bryant could very well be deemed more valuable than Crabtree should they both be eligible in 2010.

Crabtree was also the beneficiary of Mike Leach’s offense. This is a much more college-friendly offense than NFL-friendly, and Crabtree’s success may not translate to the NFL the way that it did in college.

So Crabtree will sit out a year, and he won’t even be able to get into camp this year…..which makes no sense for him. He’s recovering from an injury, so it’s vital that he gets time in to adapt to the NFL’s basic offensive schemes. Not only that, but he needs to take time to get to know the franchise. Meanwhile, Dez Bryant will have another year of experience under his belt, and will likely get drafted high in the first round, barring some freak injury or terrible season. So while Crabtree does think he’s the most interesting man in the world at this point in time….he’s really turning out to be one of the stupidest players coming out of college. He thinks he has it made.

Well, flip the switch, let the reality check turn on……Crabtree will likely be offered less money next year, than he is being offered right now. But alas, let him hold out…..the NFL does not need any more overinflated ego’s. Remember what happened to Mike Williams? If he sits out, then good for him, and even better for the league. He seems to forget that even if he puts together a Hall of Fame worthy career…..he’s not going to be the best WR the Bay Area has seen.

Andy Kessler, rest in peace.

Or, if ESPN.com’s advertiser’s have their way, in pieces.  Check out  the image below to see what we mean, and pay attention to the ad on the bottom right.

Seriously, ESPN: That’s just tasteless.