I’m sure there’s plenty of NFL news and notes to update today, but the majority of games were on Saturday and you’ve probably seen Jerome Simpson landing a flip into the end zone 600 times by now (if you haven’t, it’s here). What you may not have seen nearly enough of are NFL cheerleaders dressed in all of their best holiday attire during the NFL’s Week 15 and 16 action. And I know that most of them are dressed like Santa Claus to honor Christmas, but I say holiday attire because the Indianapolis Colts cheerleaders wore blue and white so they could technically be giving the NFL’s Jewish fans some bigger candles this Hanukkah season.

Among the teams to feature their festive females were the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Colts, Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders, among others. And even the Los Angeles Clippers’ dancers got in on the action, as if to say, “Merry Christmas, NBA fans who stayed up late to watch the newest media bandwagon darling lay a complete thrashing on the Golden State Warriors.” Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, indeed, friends of With Leather.

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On a day when sports news is dominated by child molestation, I’d like to lighten the mood a little by presenting two sports guys who can’t stop calling people names on the Internet.

The first, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Warren Sapp, reacted to yesterday’s release of New England Patriots defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth by calling Albert a turd. Exhibit A:

When Belichick gave Haynesworth a chance this season, Sapp figured he might be the only coach left who could get Haynesworth to increase his level of play after two disastrous years with the Redskins.

“If anybody can, [Belichick] can,” Sapp told NESN.com. “The last thing you want to do is show up and be a turd that Belichick cuts. But that’s what he was.”

Exhibit number 2 (cough):

“So when Bill got him — I love Belichick, I love that defense, I love everything about the man — but you can’t make a turd out of something that he’s not. He’s a turd.

You can read the entire interview with Sapp over at NESN, but that’s the digested meat and potatoes of it. Warren Sapp, a guy who would never let money motivate him to do something like dance alongside Kim Kardashian and Jefferson from ‘Married … With Children’ on a gameshow, calling Albert Haynesworth, a man who would never do something for the wrong reasons (like slide his credit card down a woman’s cleavage), feces.

The second incident of the day comes from Stephon Marbury, a man who identifies himself openly as a PEACE STAR, ripping Michael Jordan in a way not too dissimilar from Tracy Morgan as Harry Belefonte on SNL calling Osama Bin Laden an Uncle Tom:

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The Jacksonville Jaguars are on pace to have their season opener against the Tennessee Titans blacked out. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, despite going 10-6 last season, are still having the same old problems selling tickets, so their games are going to be blacked out this season. And now fans of the Miami Dolphins, after almost 40 years of disappointment and two decades of playing without a quarterback, are staying home, too.

The Dolphins also plan to make it clear to their fans that tickets sales for regular-season games are not going as well as the team would like and that could mean blackouts of several meaningful regular-season games are about to happen.

Several home games on the regular-season schedule — starting with the Week 2 game against Houston — are so far from being sold out that the club is warning fans the only way to see them might be to buy tickets. (Via The Miami Herald)

But wait a second guys, can’t the Dolphins at least come up with some terrible gimmick ideas to try to sell some extra tickets? You know, something that will completely backfire and piss off even their most loyal fans?

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As we climb deeper into this recess that is the 2011 NFL Lockout, I worry for our future. Sure, I worry that I won’t deal with the stress of setting 8 fantasy football lineups, but I also worry that I’m running out of cheerleaders. Thankfully, blessed angels like Bianca LaRussa exist to fill my time and make me wonder why the hell I never knew that St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa has a smoking hot daughter. As a Cardinals fan, I’m generally regarded as wiser and more virile than other baseball fans, so it would seemingly make sense that I would have fresh ink on a restraining order from Bianca by now. I feel so dirty, having wasted my time and effort on Alexa Flutie.

Alas, we live and learn. Bianca has fulfilled her lifelong dream of becoming an Oakland Raiderette and we couldn’t be happier for her. That’s why we’re dedicating this third installment of the NFL’s Bravest Faces to Bianca and her new sorority of Oakland cheerleaders, as well as the newest and brightest spirit from the by-God New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whose cheerleader tryouts appear to have been an homage to the movie The Replacements. Come on, Bucs, you have Mons Venus and 2001 within walking distance of Raymond James. I expect better from you.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back Aqib Talib is on the run from local Texas police. Good to see that the NFL’s players are finding their own special ways to keep busy during the NFL lockout.

Talib is scheduled to turn himself in later this week on a warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His bail will be set at $25,000, police said.

Okolo Talib, turned herself in to police [today].

The investigation began when police were called at 7:30 p.m. March 21 to a disturbance where people were fighting and gun shots had been heard.

–Tampa Bay Online.

Talib sat out the first game of 2010 for allegedly assaulting a cab driver. Expect Roger Goodell to try and suspend Talib and his mother, because that’s just how Goodell rolls.

As we approach Sunday’s Week 3 NFL action, we certainly have a fair share of teams that we never would have imagined would be 2-0 at this point in the season. Jay Cutler is currently the league’s best passer for the 2-0 Chicago Bears, the defense has been strangely great for the 2-0 Miami Dolphins, the Pittsburgh Steelers are rapey-free for two more games and are still 2-0, and 2-0 Kansas City is making the best of being the best of the AFC West worst. Houston’s strong start is arguable and everyone expected New Orleans and Green Bay to be sitting pretty. And then there’s Tampa Bay.

The Buccaneers are tied with the Saints at 2-0 in the NFC South after opening with wins over Cleveland and Carolina. And while those are two pretty awful teams, you’d think that people in Tampa would be able to get behind their Bucs after a very surprising start. Especially when the 2-0 Steelers are being led into town by Chaz Batch. But nope, the Bucs-Steelers game will be Braylon-Edwardsed blacked out in Florida (Ed. – Hooray!) because Tampa fans simply aren’t buying the hype. Somewhere Josh Freeman and… um… I don’t know, someone else who plays for the Bucs are crying.

Paint loser Bucs fans in a shade of orange and cream, USA Today:

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