Uh oh, this wasn't supposed to happen.  Michael Vick might be getting out of jail a bit sooner than expected, and it could put NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in the position of deciding whether to allow him to play, a full year earlier than he was expecting to.

All of this stems from an article posted on Yahoo! Sports yesterday by Charles Robinson and Jason Cole.  The gist is, Vick is attempting to enter into a program called the Residential Drug Abuse Treatment Program, which is only offered at Leavenworth Federal Prison.  Conveniently, that is the same prison that Vick is being transferred to.  By completing this program, Vick would be eligible to knock 12 months off of his 23 month sentence, which would put him up for release in December 2008, rather than the mid-late 2009 release date that was expected.  (check out this mailbag from The Big Lead - fourth e-mail down - it outlines the program better than I can)

The assumption all along has been that Vick would probably face a suspension for the 2010 season, but this obviously moves the schedule up.  Goodell might have to decide whether to suspend him for the 2009 season, meaning that it's possible that we could see Vick on the field after just one more season.

Interestingly, the original ESPN article that outlined his sentence stated that Vick would serve his term at "a still-undetermined federal prison".  This raises a whole lot of questions that need to be answered.  How was it decided that vick would serve his time in Leavenworth?  Was U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson, who delivered the Vick sentence, aware of this program?  Might he have given Vick a longer sentence if he had known this was a possibility?

This is all still developing, but it's a story that bears watching.

(hat tip to Sports by Brooks)

Ok, I'm watching the Michigan/Purdue game this afternoon, and during a timeout I heard the Purdue band playing "Livin' On A Prayer", by Bon Jovi (like I needed to give you the band name, you already hate me for sticking the song in your head).  As an extremely intelligent blogger noted recently, this song is everywhere.  I've heard this in several games this season, most notably the Boston College/Florida State football game, when we found out that the song has become somewhat of a rallying cry for the B.C. fans.  And I guess my question is...

WHEN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!

As the linked post notes, George Mason's band used this song repeatedly during their 2006 final run.  But come on, there had to be something else to spark this trend.  I'm dying to find out what it is.

To give you an example, here's a clip from the Penn State/Notre Dame game in September, where approximately 378,000 Penn State fans are waving white towels and singing along with the song (they even know the words to the bridge before the final chorus, it's frightening):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXWbHwg7V54&NR=1

Don't you want to see the Atlanta Hawks?  Sure you do.  You know Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, and Al Horford, because you watched them in college.  You know that Josh Smith is a stat-sheet stuffer that's even more exciting to watch than his numbers indicate.  And you know that they've got a serious shot at breaking the longest current playoff drought in the NBA.  So you want to see them.

I hope you've got the NBA League Pass package, because otherwise you're screwed.  They're not on ABC once the rest of the season.  Or on ESPN.  Or on TNT.  Or even on NBA TV, which you at least get if you get most sports cable/satellite packages.  Nope, there's no Hawks anywhere on the schedule, nor are there any Philadelphia 76ers or Charlotte Bobcats games (and though they're not playoff bound, Andre Iguadola and Raymond Felton are really worth watching).

But you know what you can see on those networks?  Shaquille O'Neal's fat ass hauling itself up and down the court alongside Dwyane Wade and his bum shoulder for an 8-25 ballclub.  Yep, you can catch the Miami Heat, one of the NBA's five worst teams, 16 more times on network or basic cable TV this season, plus another five on NBA TV. 

How about Ben Wallace's overhyped game?  You get 16 more chances to see him and his Chicago Bulls struggle to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Meanwhile, New Orleans is in great shape to make the playoffs, and boasts young stars like Chris Paul and David West.  You'd better be free this coming Friday night, because that's the only chance you'll get to see them this season (fittingly, playing against Miami). 

Would you like to see Dwight Howard, perhaps the most exciting player in the NBA, and his Orlando Magic, who are way out in front of the Southeast Division?  You get two more chances to see them; don't you feel lucky?  Well you're luckier than the folks who were hoping to see Chris Bosh and his Toronto Raptors, because they played their last game on basic cable last night.

I'm sure that the NBA will say that people want to see superstars, and that's why Miami and Cleveland (who is struggling to get to the .500 mark) are on ABC six times this season.  Maybe they need to realize that these superstars might not get very far in the playoffs, and if they gave themselves the opportunity to swap out games with below .500 teams for ones involving playoff bound teams so fans can get more familiar with them and get them interested in seeing them go deep into the playoffs.

Or they could just keep jamming Shaq, LeBron, and Kobe down our throats.  It could go either way.