Here is an excellent concept from Sports by Brooks: In order to avoid a conflict with agent Bus Cook ESPN is laying off criticizing him in regard to the current firestorm surrounding Denver QB Jay Cutler.   The WWL figures that by laying off Cook, they will have an easier time inking Brett Favre, also a Cook client, as a member of their broadcast team.

This concept isn't as outlandish as you might think.  I once had a General Manager suggest to me that if our station took it easier on the teams and the players, we'd have a better chance at getting the broadcast rights when they came up.  Seriously.  Kids, the broadcast fraternity is run by suits and if those suits think you are being "too mean spirited"  you are, even if the situation justifies it.  If the suits at ESPN think Favre is big ratings, they will go down the hall and tell the editorial and programming staff to not anger Cook.

In the case of Cutler, he's got a contract and just because he got his feelings hurt is no reason to carry on like the idiot he's been.  Certainly, as his agent, Cook has his hands all over this.  We're beginning to see some of the sage advise he's been giving Farve about trying to get the fans and media sympathetic while trying to skip out on a contract.

That should be obvious to ESPN, the nation's top sports network.  But in order to win the big prize, they are willing to back off.  Obviously, they care more about signing Favre then they do their integrity as a news organization. 

Still, the WWL avoids any direct shots at Cook, despite the pattern that has emerged first with Favre and now with Cutler.  At least some of us are willing to admit smoke when we see it.