If you head on over to free agent Nyjer Morgan’s Twitter account, you’ll notice that he’s currently taking suggestions for a new Twitter handle and asking his 85,000+ followers to come join him on his new Twitter account that doesn’t even exist yet. And while I could probably spend the rest of the afternoon suggesting new Twitter handles for him – including @Mr239Average, @MilwaukeesWorst and @WorthlessInOctober, among others – I should probably point out that the reason he needs a new Twitter account is because he was “hacked”.

Of course, by hacked I mean that he had an easy password, entrusted it with his girlfriend and then apparently cheated on her (or at least really pissed her off). That’s why if you’re one of the 85K that he’s begging to Jerry Maguire with him, you may have noticed a little craziness on his Twitter feed last night. You know, because he got “hacked”.

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Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall, while controversial and an all-around enigma to most NFL fans, will always be one of my favorite football players, because I was fortunate enough to cover his college career at the University of Central Florida. He was a goofball then and hardly the headache that he’d later become, so I’ve always been able to laugh off the majority of his antics. You know, as long as they didn’t involve domestic violence charges and whatnot.

Unlike some former UCF players – *cough, Atari Bigby, cough* – B-Marsh still shows plenty of love for his alma mater, where his four-year career culminated in an incredible 2005 Hawaii Bowl performance that earned him MVP honors, despite Matt Prater shanking an extra point to cost UCF the game. That leads us to this morning’s Tweets from Marshall, which included the above picture of a package he received from the UCF athletics department.

After he opened the package, Marshall Tweeted another picture of the new UCF gear that he received. Oh, and there’s totally a naked dude’s ass in the picture, too. NSFW after the jump, if you dare.

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It's grainy because it's so scandalous.

When I saw a bunch of people Tweeting about New York Giants punter Steve Weatherford this morning, my first thought was, “Sloooooooooooow news day.” Or maybe he was abducted by intergalactic talking raccoons, in which case, awesome! And now that I know why people are buzzing about him, I think he’d probably prefer that some spaceships came and scooped him up.

It turns out that Weatherford Tweeted a video of his teammate Jason Pierre-Paul taking part in a little rookie hazing of Prince Amukamara, as he threw him in a tub of ice water after Saturday’s preseason game. And then the angels opened up the fiery gates of Hell and all overreaction broke loose. Yes, my friends, it’s true – NFL players haze rookies. Go ahead and turn off the planet, nothing is sacred anymore.

What do you have to say for yourself, punter?

“I want to apologize to the fans,” Weatherford said on Twitter. “The video I posted was distasteful. Our team is a family, and we love each other. I am sorry to the fans.” (Via The Victory Formation)

I can understand if people are upset about this kind of roughhousing because Amukamara could have been hurt. Otherwise, what’s the big deal? Dudes f*ck with each other. Hell, I’ll give JPP credit for doing something this tame, when we still see teammates in every sport resorting to homophobic tactics like dressing their teammates up as fairies or shaving dicks in their hair. But then, I’m an optimist and I’ll always be the first to say: “Bro, it could be worse.”

Alas, we’re in full damage control mode now.

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We’ve talked a lot at With Leather about the racist things you are and aren’t allowed to say about Jeremy Lin’s unexpected run as the HNIC (or its equivalent) of the New York Knicks. We’ve disagreed a lot, and I probably shouldn’t have tried to quote Lean On Me in the previous sentence, but the one thing upon which we could reach a consensus opinion is “if you’ve got something racially sketchy to say about Jeremy Lin, don’t say it in front of a camera or type it on the Internet”.

Unfortunately, Maryland football signee Stefon Diggs has just discovered Lin and didn’t get the memo, so here he is on his Twitter saying Jeremy Lin’s penis is an egg roll and his balls are dumplings, because “China”. And yeah, getting furious and demanding apologies for it are a stupid waste of time, but it’s worth pointing out and just kinda broadly facepalming about.

Personally, I think Stefon should get back into his transformation chamber, turn back into Steve Diggs and be the lovable nerd we all know and love.

[h/t Jason Kirk @ SBN]

Floyd Mayweather is many things, but he is not Lin-sane.

From his Twitter:

“Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”

Predictably, that didn’t go over well. After a night of Twitter reacting as it does (with blind support, blind hatred and hashtagging of both “fact” and “ignorant”), Mayweather explained his point of view. He’s just supporting black athletes, you guys!

Mayweather, who will fight Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas in May before starting a 90-day jail sentence for domestic abuse, said he was speaking up for other players in the NBA.

“Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine,” the 34-year-old said. “As soon as I support black American athletes, I get criticized.

“I’m speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up.”

I guess I shouldn’t expect a guy who can’t grasp “don’t punch your wife to death in front of your kids” to understand it, but supporting black athletes isn’t what makes you worthy of criticism here.

You know that thing assholes do where they complain that basketball has gotten too “thuggish”, or college coaches say they have “white boys who can shoot”? You know how what they’re saying might have some feasible root in observational truth but is rendered pointless and f**king ridiculous by how stupidly they’re saying it? That’s the problem. That’s what you’re doing here. It’s fairly observant to consider how Lin’s heritage affects the way the public or the media sees him, but a waste of time to make it about you, and an insult to players of every color to suggest that tolerance or decent human thought is “programming”.

If I were to offer you constructive criticism here — and let’s face it, you have more duffel bags filled with money than I’ll ever see, which in today’s world makes you both fulfilled and right — it would be to take a break from getting punched in the face, use some of that jets and dogs money for counseling and calm the f**k down. And delete your Twitter. And stop hitting women.

[via CNN]

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is the kind of guy who’d be a 52-year old multimillionaire and have his Twitter icon be a picture of himself playing guitar, so it shouldn’t be surprising that he’d offer two Super Bowl tickets to whatever random person could predict the new Colts head coach. It would also not be surprising if he propped up a cardboard box with a stick, put Super Bowl tickets under it, then pulled the stick away when you crawled under to grab them.

The contest, via @JimIrsay:

However, like any contest suddenly proposed by a rich person, there are rules:

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