Posts by Ryan Wilson at FanHouse

So much for my brilliant plan to save the Bears' season: move Rex Grossman to running back, try Kyle Orton at wideout and make Devin Hester the quarterback. The organization was able to extend the contract of middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, and sign first-round pick Chris Williams, but the most dangerous returner in the league was a no-show for the first day of work.

Apparently, Chicago's primary scoring threat thinks he's worth more than the two years and $2.86 million remaining on his rookie contract. I can't imagine anybody would disagree, particularly the Bears who, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, were in the process of hammering out a new deal:

Holding [Hester] out of camp is an interesting strategy since the Bears set precedent by re-doing Urlacher¹s contract because the player successfully argued he outplayed the value of the deal despite having four years remaining on it. Urlacher was considered a unique situation in the eyes of the franchise because of his status as a potential Hall of Fame talent.

Hester can make the same argument, and in fact, his value to the Bears might be even greater considering his contribution to a team with a moribund offense.

It's hardly surprising that the four highest-paid female athletes are tennis players; with endorsement dollars and tournament purses on the rise, it makes sense. But No. 5 on the list, the first of three golfers, was a little shocking: Michelle Wie.

Yep, the 19-year-old former phenom-turned-Q-School candidate makes more than anybody else on the LPGA Tour, and since she's yet to win a tournament, her earnings come solely mostly from endorsements.

According to Forbes.com, Wie has earned $12 million. Annika Sorenstam, 72-time LPGA Tour winner and 10-time major winner, is at $11 million, and Sorenstam's de facto successor, Lorena Ochoa, comes in at $10 million. Weird.

...Sorenstam, Wie and Ochoa have broken into eight-figure earnings territory, a testament to the LPGA's efforts to globalize. The women's tour not only has top golfers from numerous countries (Sorenstam is from Sweden, Ochoa from Mexico, while Wie is Korean-American, born in Hawaii), but has made a point to broaden its international appeal by holding more events for players in their home markets. ...

As for Wie, there's this:

Despite a weak economy and a good chance the Lions don't sell out Ford Field for the first time since it opened in 2002, there's still reason for optimism, Detroit-area football fans. No, really, team president and local pariah Matt Millen says so:

"I think that our fan base is a pretty knowledgeable fan base, so I think they'll believe their eyes," Millen said.

"And I think this is a great football town. I've said that a million times. So I think the more they can see and the more they get a feel for this group, I think they're going to like what they see. That's my opinion. So they'll make their own decisions."

And, as everybody knows, Millen's opinion carries a lot of weight around the league. Seriously, this is exactly what you'd expect the team president to say, whether he believes it or not. The difference: Millen's been giving this speech for almost a decade now and nothing has changed, on the field or in the front office.

And it's that, perhaps more than the crappy Michigan economy, that explains why ticket sales are down. Luckily, this brilliant marketing campaign should make up the difference. But, hey, maybe this is the year. And to his credit, Millen understands why fans might be skeptical: "...It's never how you start. It's how you finish. Ask New England."

That's right, a guy who has "led" the Lions organization to a whopping 31 wins since 2001 is pointing out the 2007 Patriots' shortcomings. Do you believe now? Even a little bit? No? Moving on...

Brian Urlacher was still looking for a new deal last Friday, and yesterday, it finally happened. No holdout necessary, apparently, even though those empty threats were made (as they often are during contract disputes), and while the Bears Pro Bowl middle linebacker wasn't interested in a one-year extension, the organization made too attractive an offer to turn down.

Specifically, an extra $18 million to play tackle football in Chicago through 2012. But Urlacher also warns against signing long-term, very lucrative contracts because, well, you might just outplay them.

''I would definitely caution anyone signing a deal that long,'' Urlacher said of the nine-year, $56.65 million contract he signed in 2003. ''It's very enticing at the time because it's a lot of guaranteed money up front, and you want to get that security. But at the same time, you don't know how you are going to play, either. You may outplay it.

''I'm glad it's done now. It feels good because they didn't have to do anything. That was a nice deal they offered me, and we ended up getting it worked out.''

Yes, just because somebody offers you $6.3 million a year for nine years, doesn't mean you should just accept it. Of course, there's always a chance you get injured, or don't perform like you once did, but what's the chance that happens?

I'm fine with Urlacher getting as much as he can -- NFL careers are notoriously short and the salary cap favors the owners. That said, it's hard to sympathize for a guy in such a horrible financial situation. Whatever, disaster averted. Until the season starts and we get to see the Bears' offense, anyway.

Even though we've been hearing rumors about Jeremy Shockey relocating south, I really didn't expect it to actually happen because, well, players are forever bellyaching about their current situations, and often, the organizations pay them some lip service through the media, but inevitably, nothing changes.

Everything changed in Shockey's case. The Giants got a second- and fifth-round pick, and the Saints got one of the league's best pass-catching tight ends. They also got a player coming off a broken leg who's sporting a ginormous chip on his shoulder. So, um, WATCH OUT GIANTS FRONT OFFICE! JEREMY'S GUNNING FOR YOU!

Well, sorta. According to Newsday's Tom Rock, even before Shockey was traded -- but after he made it clear that's exactly what he wanted -- he guaranteed retribution. Or some such.

"If the team trades me, I promise you I'm going to make them pay," Shockey told the youngsters during a promotional appearance in Queens in early June. "If I ever get a chance to play against a team that trades me, it's not going to be a pretty sight."

Jeremy Shockey, motivational speaker to youths everywhere. Giants guard Rich Seubert hardly seemed affected by the threat of reprisal: "It's the business of football, it's what happens ... You have to move on. We'll be fine without him and best of luck to him wherever he goes." Whatever, Rich. You might be ready to move on, but Shockey's going to make the whole team PAY! You've been warned. Jerks.

Fifty-three-year-old Greg Norman admitted to being nervous on the first tee Saturday, so I can only imagine what was going through his mind a few hours ago when he found himself in the final group on the last day of the British Open with a two-shot lead over defending champion Padraig Harrington.

Whether it was nerves, old age, or unbelievably tough conditions (hi, 35 mph winds!), the two-time Open winner bogeyed his first three holes, and four of his first seven. But Norman parred Nos. 7, 8 and 9 to make the turn as the sole leader at 6-over for the tournament.

Harrington, his closest competitor, seems perfectly suited for par-you-to-death golf, but after doing just that for the first six holes, he carded bogeys on the final three holes on the way out and is now one shot behind Norman.

Currently, Ian Poulter is playing the best golf of the day -- he's currently 8-over through 13, just two shots off the lead -- but this tournament is wide open. Anthony Kim -- the next Tiger Woods (obviously) -- promised to be aggressive during today's round, and through 11 holes he's 2-over for the day (9-over for the week), just three strokes off the lead.

A Norman victory would arguably be more impressive than Woods' Torrey Pines U.S. Open performance, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. In the meantime, join the FanHouse Live Blog for constant updates -- just like CNN or the Weather Channel.

I'm pretty sure we can't blame Bo Wie for this, but that's surely no consolation to his daughter, Michelle. After almost two years of uninspired golf, Wie, now a 19-year-old Stanford student trying to earn her LPGA Tour card, put together two of her best rounds in recent memory. Heading into the weekend, she was in second place at the State Farm Classic. That lasted about two minutes.

For someone trying to avoid Q-School, every tournament takes on added importance, which is why it's generally a bad idea to not sign your scorecard before leaving the scoring area. Especially when only one player stands between you the top of the leaderboard.

"I don't know why or how it happened," said Wie, who had been crying moments earlier. ...

And with that, Wie was gone from a tournament where either the $255,000 winner's purse or the $155,252 second prize would have put her comfortably within the top 80 money winners for the year - and virtually guaranteed her a place on the LPGA Tour next year.

The State Farm only featured two of the top 10 money winners, and the wide-open fairways were well-suited to Wie's long game. And through two rounds, it all seemed to be coming together. But for some inexplicable reason, Wie forgot to sign her scorecard and the 67-65 start were two fabulous efforts now wasted.

I suppose there's an argument that golf's rules are unnecessarily penal, but it's hard to make the case that Wie isn't completely responsible for what happened here. On the upside, Wie is playing well, which is something she hasn't been able to say in some time.

I get what Dave Pelz, Phil Mickelson's short-game coach, is saying, but, you know, it's probably better to keep such sentiments to yourself. Or at the very least, avoid making the comments to a guy who will promptly put it online. No such luck. Via the always reliable Belfast Telegraph, Pelz explains why Tiger Woods was fortunate to win the U.S. Open:

"I give Tiger all the credit in the world but I'm a stats guy," Pelz said at the opening of one of his renowned short-game schools at Killeen Castle in Co Meath. "I look at Mickelson's worst three drives and he made two doubles and a bogey and then I look at Tiger's worst three drives and he made eagle, birdie, par. Tiger's three-under, Phil's five-over. Tiger's drives were worse than Phil's, yet finished in better spots.

"When Phil hit his bad three woods they went in the deep six-inch rough; when Tiger hit his bad ones they went into the next fairway or the trampled-down dry dirt. So if you're going to miss, miss big and have a unique set of circumstances when your knee hurts so bad before the tournament that all you do in the build-up is putt all day, every day and go on to make 75 footers, 50 footers, 40 footers...

Last week, while the Earth stopped orbiting the sun as Brett Favre decided his future, former teammate Mark Chmura offered up his unsolicited opinion on the whole sordid ordeal. According to Chmura, who's apparently relevant somewhere, if you don't think Favre is the most selfish person on the planet, you're fooling yourself. Duly noted, sir.

And today, Chmura defies the odds and goes for more than his allotted 15 minutes of fame: he has more thoughts on the Packers and Favre:

"Well, you know it didn't have to come to this," Chmura said. "You wish the two sides could have sat down and ironed out their differences and come together to talk about the situation. It doesn't look like that is going to happen." ...

"My point is this: The Packers clearly don't want him back. If you don't want him back, don't hold him hostage. Which is what they are doing. Release him or trade him. This is so unfair."

You know, just in case anybody cared what Chmura's thoughts were on the matter. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Don Walker writes that Chmura and Favre, once chummy during their playing days together, have grown apart since Chmura was charged with sexual assault in 2000 (he was acquitted in 2001).

The two haven't talked in years, but former Packers center Frank Winters serves as an intermediary for the two. You know, it's just like a high school romance but exactly different.

Whatever, Chmura thinks the organization is holding Favre hostage, despite his unbelievably selfish nature. Got it? Got it.

Hey, it seems just like last month that we were cranking up the Live Blog Machine to cover the U.S. Open. Well, we're back, and the Open Championship promises to BE EVEN MORE EXCITING! I mean, Vijay and Ernie have already fired rounds of 80, and Phil went out eight strokes over par. Good times.

And with Tiger laid up in Orlando, we'll follow around the likely winner and the tour's biggest whiner, Sergio Garcia! We'll fire this thing up after the jump.