That handsome devil to the right is Frank Tanori Gonzalez, who used to work for Cox Communications in Tucson, Arizona. He has a mug shot now because he’s been arrested for allegedly being the guy who was responsible for a porn clip being mixed into the 2009 Super Bowl broadcast. If you don’t live in Arizona and have to suffer through Comcast, here’s what happened:

• Kurt Warner threw a bullet to Larry Fitzgerald late in the fourth quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

• Fitzy took off like a bat out of heck for the seemingly victorious touchdown.

• Everybody was going batsh*t crazy because they thought the Arizona Cardinals had won.

• Then Evan Stone whipped his dong out and started slapping it around for some girl whose father wishes he was dead.

• Then Fox showed a replay of Fitzy scoring.

It is believed that Gonzalez pulled the prank as part of some cable provider grudge, because he worked for Cox and the company had to filter the game to its rival Comcast. Then it took authorities two years to catch him because they were blinded by the bleach they poured in their eyes from looking at Evan Stone’s penis.

(Via Gizmodo, which also offers a terribly NSFW reminder. Thanks to anti-Evan Stone Robopanda for the tip.)

Only three seasons ago, Arizona Cardinals QB Derek Anderson had a career season with the Cleveland Browns, passing for over 3,700 yards and 29 touchdowns. He was the belle of the NFL ball, as teams were kicking his tires in trade rumors and it looked like he was poised to be the next breakout surprise. Unfortunately for Anderson, the 2008 season started. Then the 2009 season. It’s pretty much been one giant snowball of suck for the poor guy since then, and it all came to a head last night after the Cardinals suffered a 27-6 beating at the hands of the equally underperforming San Francisco 49ers.

During the postgame press conference, a reporter asked Anderson what appeared to be so funny between him and teammate Deuce Litui as the two were laughing on the sidelines in the 4th quarter as their team was losing by three scores. Anderson’s response went about as expected, as he defended himself and denied laughing. Unfortunately, the camera showed him laughing and the reporter kept going, leading to this heated Anderson response:

“I’m just telling you right now what I do every single week. Every single week, I put my heart and soul into this. I study my ass off. I don’t go out there and laugh. It’s not funny. Nothing’s funny to me. I don’t want to go out there and get embarrassed on Monday Night Football in front of everybody.”

That reminds me of when I asked my parents for Transformers one Christmas and they got me Gobots. Said my father: “We don’t always get what we want.” Video after the jump…

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The Arizona Cardinals cut Matt Leinart today. Leinart, who enjoyed a celebrated college career at Southern Cal under Pete Carroll, never found his footing in the NFL after being drafted by the Denny Green regime in Arizona with the 10th overall pick in 2006.

Leinart made headlines after impregnating his college basketball star ex-girlfriend (and clubbing it up in New York City after winning the Heisman), being spotted with Paris Hilton and being seen in photographs at some hottub party. On the field, however, Leinart didn’t do jack; he played in 29 games in four years with the Cardinals. He was injured in 2007 and recovered while Kurt Warner basically stole the job that was set aside for him. And now, after being outplayed by Derek Anderson in training camp (and then whining about it), the organization seems to realize that Leinart is not their guy.

It’s worth noting that Leinart was projected to go No. 1 in the 2005 draft, but decided to return to school for his senior year, and one gets the feeling that if he could have stayed at USC for another three or four years that he would have done so. Some guys in the NFL have the talent to party professionally and play football as a hobby while simply not apply themselves. Leinart was not one of those guys.

It’ll be curious to see if Leinart–who still had two years left on his 6-year, $51 million draft deal–will get picked up by another team not named the Buffalo Bills. Frankly, Leinart is way too sexy for Buffalo. He probably wouldn’t recognize the feel of natural breasts if he had his head buried in them.

The word coming out of Arizona is that Derek Anderson will start over Matt Leinart in the Cardinals’ third preseason game against the Chicago Bears tomorrow night. Wait, I thought Derek Anderson sucked. That stuff him about competing for the starting job when he signed with the team in May…that was serious?

“I don’t think we performed the way we want to perform on offense this preseason and we’re going to look at a number of different players in different spots,” said coach Ken Whisenhunt who, when asked what he was looking for Saturday, said “first downs.”

Leinart will play in the second quarter and into the second half, and Whisenhunt said Anderson is not necessarily the starter going forward, only that he wanted to see how the team and players responded to the move. –The Huddle/USA Today.

Their numbers have been about even in the preseason (maybe Leinart has a little bit of an edge) but this might speak more to the fact that Leinart is just not into playing football as much as being a football player. Just think if Roethlisberger had Leinart’s good looks; the line to the Milledgeville ladies’ room would be even longer.

The Arizona Cardinals are coping with big changes this preseason, as former first round draft pick Matt Leinart is now the starting quarterback and young receivers like Steve Breaston and Early Doucet are stepping up since Anquan Boldin was traded to the Baltimore Ravens in the offseason. Meanwhile, Kurt Warner is dealing with life as a civilian now that his days as an off-and-on elite NFL QB are over. Yes, life’s much simpler now for the former Ram, Giant and Cardinal, as he’s left to ponder what he and his once-Gozerian wife Brenda will do with their twilight years.

Kurt’s first paying retirement gig has been as a broadcaster for the Iowa Barnstormers Arena Football franchise, as he was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in May. Warner also played for the Barnstormers before becoming a NFL feel-good story and Super Bowl MVP for the St. Louis Rams. And that feel-good story is now the center of so many possibilities for the Warner family, which includes his seven children. Or as Travis Henry calls it – amateur hour.

The next time someone asks if Kurt Warner’s a god, you say yes, Pro Football Talk:

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There reportedly was an outside chance (and I mean Harry Doyle “Juuust a bit outside” chance) that noted Jesus freak Kurt Warner and his three Super Bowl appearances might return to the Arizona Cardinals for a 17th season of pro football. The reasoning behind such a move, admittedly, seemed rather sound on its face.

Some believe Warner assumed he’d automatically get a job covering the NFL on one of the networks. To date, he hasn’t. And, by now, the assignments for 2011 are largely firmed up.

So if Warner won’t have a TV gig in 2010, the thinking is that he could be lured back to the gridiron.

And the Cardinals, who are saddled with Matt Leinart and Derek Anderson, could be interested in bringing him back. –PFT.

But Warner already has quashed (squashed?) that rumor in the bud. Read the rest of this entry »