Well the Linkz have been on a bit of a hiatus lately. It's christmas time and, as we all know, if it's not one thing it's another. I'm not going to bore you with my problems, but disease didn't strike the pilgrims this hard in winter. If my house was a game of Oregon trail, my oxen would've died two weeks ago.

Onto the linkz!

1. Merry Christmas Brian Urlacher, Your Son's Mother Is Crazy Insane, Insane Crazy

Let's hope for Brian's sake it's not hereditary as Tyna Robertson, who is all kinds of crazy train, was arrested for contempt of court for failing to make any payment, at all, on the $11 million dollars she owes for making false sexual assault charges against, get this, Riverdance star Michael Flatley.

The cops showed up to arrest her while she was standing in two inches of water in her family room because her pipes had burst 10 minutes before, probably because nothing can handle that amount of crazy being flush down the drain. (courtesy Pro Football Talk)

2. 2008 remembered...

In Deadspin.com cheerleader posts! Cheerleaders are pretty much singlehandedly responsible for the popularity of most sports blogs. I'm not complaining, I'm linking. Enjoy the insanity that cheerleaders can bring, including New England's own Caitlin Davis. Don't worry, Caitlin. If half of the things I've been photographed doing made it to the web, the New England Patriots would ask me to leave their cheerleading team, too.

3. Reporter Picks Worst Time To Make Worst Joke Possible

So, if you were going to come up with a list of the worst times to ask a football coach a stupid joke question about his daughter that didn't involve a funeral, it would pretty much be the press conference after losing their 15th game of the season right? You'd have to be a complete idiot to make a joke about her choice of husband, especially when that husband is your defensive coordinator, right? Enter The Detroit News' Rob Parker.

Here's the trainwreck in action, note his complete lack of joking tone (credit Awful Announcing):

4. The 9th Ward's Field of Dream

Great story from Page 2 here about a Teach for America kid who, placed in New Orleans, began a project to get a community track and football field built, with the NFL's help, for the high schools in the city that had their fields destroyed by Katrina.

I think it's one of those amazing stories that really shows you that people can make a difference if they put in the time and effort and just get a little bit of luck.

5. TMQ Actually Makes a Good Point, Then Writes Another 20,000 Words of Junk

Gregg Easterbrook, the paid-by-the-word, Belichick-hating, Tuesday Morning Quarterback himself, says that the NFL playoffs need to move to a seeded  tournament. And, against all odds....I completely agree. Divisions are great when you have  to charter planes that need  to refuel twice to get you from Boston to California, but they're outdated and they upset the competitive balance in the league. Last year the Patriots benefited by playing the piss-poor Jets, Bills, and Dolphins six times. This year, they might miss the playoffs at 11-5 despite having to play the pretty-decent Jets, Bills, and Dolphins six times.

6. The Drug-Laden Remembrance of Hickory Dickory Dock Ellis

Dock Ellis passed away last week and although he's mostly been forgotten by anybody outside of Pittsburgh and the guy he threw a bat at because the man called him the n-word. Fondly remembered as the only man to pitch a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD, he was also a pretty decent pitcher when not completely high off his ass.

AOL Fanhouse did a pretty funny comic retrospection of Dock Ellis' life and what the conversation would be like between him and the FOX talking baseball in baseball hell.

7. Shaun Ellis Just Wants In On Your Reindeer Games

No, not the awful Ben Afleck movie, but a snowball fight. This is what happens when you throw a snowball at a 6'5'', 285 pound defensive end:

He caught a 10,000 fine for that one, issued about an hour ago by the league. I'd say it's a stupid fine, but he was the one that returned that J.P. Losman fumble for a TD so the Jets could completely undeservedly beat the Bills last week so he got what he deserved.

8. Michael Felger, Shockingly, Gives the Pats Straight As...EVEN MOSS!

There is a bit of an ongoing game at WEEI.com between Felger and readers about how low can Felger rate even brilliant performances by Randy Moss, whom he, for some reason, completely hates. Moss had a great touchdown on Sunday, completely burning everyone despite the snowy conditions to cut out Arizona's heart and only missed some tough, tough throws that maybe one or two guys in the league would've brought in.

Well, after the destruction of the Cardinals on Sunday, even Felger's three-sizes-too-small heart warmed a bit and he gave out straight As. He does take a few jabs at Moss for not making more ridiculous catches, though.

Of course he then ends his column by saying Tony Siragusa, old sausage-hands himself, is the best sideline guy in the business. Maybe he's the best sideline guy in Football on Fox, but he's about 10 spots down on my list for best sideline guy. There are simply infinitely better reporters out there than Siragusa, especially if you're counting other sports, too.

9. The Worst Football Gifts Imaginable

Great column from Simmons, who is really  the only guy who writes stuff like this. It's a bit old, but I'm pretty sure a priest was giving me my last rights the Sunday this would've appeared in a Linkz of the Week, so you get it now. Hooray! Here, in the Christmas spirit, are the worst gifts you can give any football fan, most even from NFL.com's own shop. Just a great list.

10. Link of the Week: A Little of That Brett Favre Magic, Bob Costas, Buddy Ryan, Juice, and Why Aren't Studio Shows Like This?

With the Patriots only making the playoffs if the Jets can finally pull their heads out of their collective backside and beat the Dolphins, I figured I'd post a little Brett Favre magic.

This clip is the confluence of everything I love and hate about sports. I'm not even kidding. Here's a clip from NBC's Postgame show after Brett Favre came off the bench to lead the Packers to a 24-23 win on a last minute touchdown and was interviewed by Ryan, O.J. Simpson, and Bob Costas:

The giant headset? phenomenal. The fact Costas had  to tell everyone how to pronounce his name? even better. What I loved most? The awesome discussion about prevent defense, how the safety saw and played the tight end's route, and Favre's point about why he pump faked.

Notice how nobody made any stupid jokes, there was no fake laughter, they actually talked about football and strategy, and when they interviewed Favre, it was about the game and not how momentous it was for this Mississipi kid to step into the limelight or whatever. I mean, yeah, O.J. killed some people, but why isn't every studio show like this?