By Limonc (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

Another week has passed with some ups, some downs, and definitely plenty of drama.  Why waste time on made up day time soaps when you have the real world of sports?  If the non-sports watching women only knew what they were missing!

• The Young Leading Man: Rams first big team workout in St. Louis this week gave us a glimpse into the future of the franchise: Sam Bradford as its leader.

The tall, dark and boyishly handsome Bradford is organizing, facilitating workouts, teaching the new playbook, etc.  He’s taken matters into his $50M hands and the team onto his shoulders.

He’s shown a great amount of maturity for someone just going into his second year in the league.  What’s more impressive is the players have enough trust and faith in Sam to follow his lead.

• The Seasoned Competitor: The “Warrior and work horse” of the team, Steven Jackson, didn’t make an appearance during these voluntary workouts.  He was in town but wasn’t at the practices.  I believe he’s off in Paris now.  Is this SJ’s way of passing the reigns to Sam?

It will be interesting to see if he’ll join the team for the next round of practices to be held the first week of June in Arizona.  And if he does where does SJ fit into the leadership scheme?  I could be wrong but he doesn’t strike me as a good second fiddle.

• The Missing Brother: Another visibly absent Rams player was Mardy Gilyard.  Lots of buzz and concern surrounded him last season as he struggled to grasp the offense and playbook.  He’s got a lot of competition in front of him with all the newly drafted offensive weapons.

So why not take every opportunity to get exposure to McDaniels’ new offense?  I have read rumors he had to attend to some personal matters (a close friend passed away) this week.  But he’s pretty much been M.I.A. most of the off season.  Where are you, Mardy?

• The Reformed Bad Boy: This week Jets WR Braylon Edwards fulfilled his $1M promise to help Cleveland high school students with their college tuition.

He’s had his fair share of run in’s with the law over the years but that didn’t stop him from making good on his word.  Maybe there’s hope for him after all.

• The Natural Disasters: (This is in all seriousness) I’ve lived in the Midwest for a very long time but these past few weeks have been the most devastating in terms of severe weather.  I was very happy to see the Rams as whole making a difference.

Last week Spags and some of the assistant coaches helped in clean up efforts in nearby Ferguson, MO. while players delivered much needed supplies to a very hard hit Joplin, MO. (American Red Cross shelter at Missouri Southern State University.)  And the Rams organization is making a $25,000 donation to be divided between the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

• The Rebel: I’m still trying to grasp what former Rams QB Kurt Warner said during his interview in USA Today.  There’s a lot there to digest and he probably meant it in a way to help his former teammates but it comes off the wrong way and it came out at the wrong time.

I don’t think there’s any question the players have to give back money and we have to realize we’ve had it great for a number of years.

We made a lot of money, and the salaries went crazy. As a player, you have to say, ‘It’s OK for us to pull back a little bit and make less.’

So now where do we subsidize that? Where do we get our benefits in this new agreement?

I’ve tweeted him last night asking if he would have said the same thing if he wasn’t retired from the game but got no response.  I was having a discussion with @Ftblsickness yesterday.  He called Warner’s comments “realism.”  And I agree with him.  But I told him, it’s one thing to think it but a whole different thing to verbalize it in an interview.  This will not go over well.

• The Villian: Roger Goodell and the owners are at it again.  Why do they insist on beating the dead horse?  Goodell keeps insisting that season ticket holders want an 18-game regular season.  Maybe I’m talking to different season ticket holders but the ones I’ve spoken to don’t agree.

@FO_DougFarrar has a nice article on this complete with real fan responses.

In fact, I’ve seen tweets where people have chosen to not even renew their season tickets because they are so turned off and disgusted by the lockout.  I can’t say I blame them.

• The Town Drunk: So was Scottie Pippen drunk or just plain high when he said on Mike and Mike that LeBron James may be better than Michael Jordan?  This is where Deion Sanders would loudly interject with a H.O.P. (Hold On Playa)!  Even their former teammate Horace Grant thinks Pippen’s gone off the deep end.

I guess hypothetically LBJ could reach MJ level someday but to even bring it up this early in LBJ’s career is ridiculous.  Someone call me after he’s gotten his first three-peat under his belt.  Then we’ll begin the conversation – maybe.

• The Village Tramp/Idiot: Thy name is Tiki Barber.  We knew he was no good when he left his then pregnant wife, Ginny Cha, and started playing house with the intern.  But the latest idiocy to spring from his pie hole was unbelievable.  How in God’s green earth do you compare your sad self to Anne Frank?  Since when do the paparazzi equal the Nazi?  It doesn’t take a journalist to realize why NBC let this gem of a man go.

Our resident Aerys Giants writer, Christine, gives us her take.

• The Power Couples: SI comes out with a list of athlete-celebrity power couples each year.  They have our usual favorites Tom Brady & Giselle Bündchen, Mike Fisher (NHL) & Carrie Underwood, Lamar Odom & Khloe Kardashian, Jay Cutler & Kristin Cavallari just to name a few.

One fairly new couple we could add to the mix is NYJ QB Mark Sanchez and actress Hayden Panettiere (from our Aerys Jets writer, Kristine).  Although I’m not so sure it was such a great idea for Jets pretty boy to be dating an actress whose former flame (Wladimir Kitschko) was a heavy weight boxer.  Oops.  Not only does Sanchez need to learn how to slide he’ll have to learn how to duck and run.

And to round out our sports soap opera world with something warm and heart felt:

• The Good Guy: Our Bears writer, Colleen, shares with us the story of their newest rookie, JT Thomas. JT becomes the prom date for a very special young lady.

So for everyone who thought sports was just about sweat, lots of grunting, and testosterone I hope this week’s headlines recap helped you see things in a “guiding light.”