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- The first round of Madden 12 cover voting is up -- only two upsets occurred in the first round, and now we've got a pile of pretty good matchups as the finale comes to a close. Aaron Rodgers vs. Sam Bradford, Hakeem Nicks vs. Danny Woodhead, Maurice Jones-Drew vs. Jamaal Charles, Peyton Hillis vs. Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers vs. Adrian Peterson, Mark Sanchez vs. Drew Brees, Michael Vick vs. Andre Johnson and Patrick Willis vs. Hines Ward. Cruise on over to the Madden Facebook page to vote, fill out brackets and make sure Woodhead ends up on the cover.
- As Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee points out, it's not really necessary for Jim Harbaugh to evaluate Jake Locker any further: he's already seen him play in person plenty of times.
- Andrew Brandt of the National Football Post has another great breakdown of CBA negotiations, this time arguing that it's a "tip of the Cap" that could end up altering negotiations.
- In the magazine edition of the New York Times, Tommy Craggs does a great job of putting David Stern and Roger Goodell in a side-by-side comparison.
- Crazy read from ESPN's Rich Cimini about Jets quarterback Erik Ainge's fight against addiction to well, everything.
- Jeff Saturday appeared on the NFL Network with Rich Eisen to talk about the lockout. (Yes, it's a little weird.) Check the full interview here.
- It appears that Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis could be getting more hosed by this lockout than most people.
- Apparently it's chic to demand that Aqib Talib be run out of Tampa.
- There's a forum for football in Los Angeles set for this Thursday. GO BOO THEM SAN DIEGO!
- So much for that boycott -- Adrian Clayborn's already accepted his invitation to the NFL Draft.




