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You know, it figures that this would be the year that I give up my Bengals season tickets. I suffered through three years of horrid football and decided that I was not going to renew my tickets for financial reasons or as a protest against the team's (mis)management in the past 19 years.

That said, one reason that did not attribute to my giving up the tickets was the NFL's new tailgating rules. In an article Darren Rovell put on Twitter this morning (featured in USAToday), a New York Jets fan says that the tailgating rules (that limit tailgating to 3.5 hours before kickoff) may be the "final nail" that forces him to give up his season tickets. The new tailgating rules are supposed to help "crack down on drunken and disruptive fans" by limiting the time fans can tailgate.

You all know that I love to cover the business of sports, so I was particularly interested when stories about Mangini and Quinn crossed my Twitter feed.

Here is the situation: the Cleveland Browns have benched quarterback Derek Anderson in favor of Brady Quinn for the Browns' upcoming Monday Night tilt against the Baltimore Ravens. Thing is, this is the second quarterback benching new head coach Eric Mangini has made -- he benched Quinn in week three in favor of Anderson. I am not going to discuss the merit of either of the starting quarterbacks (as neither has done well), but I want to take a look at the idea that Brady Quinn may have been benched in week three so the Browns wouldn't have to pay the escalators built in to Quinn's contract.

I promised myself that I wasn't going to give Nike (NKE) the publicity that it wants with its new rivalry uniforms. You see, the company has decided that 10 colleges will wear specially designed uniforms for their big rivalry games this year, assigning the slogan "Prepare for Combat" to the program.

For example, The Ohio State University will wear "retro-inspired" uniforms when it takes the field against that team from up north (Michigan). I was worried when I heard that Nike was designing this uniform; Ohio State doesn't do alternate uniforms -- they never have. Honestly, it isn't all that bad; the jersey leaves a little to be desired, but perhaps that is just me.

An interesting situation developed this week in Florida, where Heir Jordan (Michael's son Marcus) cost the University of Central Florida (UCF) its $3 million sponsorship with Adidas. Marcus felt it necessary to wear Nike (NYSE: NKE) basketball shoes, since they were his father's Nike Air Jordans.

Jordan took to the court in an all-white pair of Nike Air Jordans, which differed from the school's normal black-and-white Adidas basketball shoes. Jordan wore ankle braces with the Adidas logo displayed, but this was a cursory move made to placate Adidas. In fact, the move may have been made so he could say that he was wearing Adidas, just not the shoes. Quite honestly, there is a little soap opera surrounding the situation, so let's take a deeper look.

Forbes reports that Tiger Woods is now the first athlete in history to earn $1 billion over the course of a career.

Not bad for a 33-year old who's still in the prime of his career. According to Forbes, he passed the $1billion mark when he earned $10 million for winning the FedEx Cup last week. It might be a mistake to put too much emphasis on the Forbes calculation since a huge chunk of Woods' earnings come from endorsement deals where financial terms are not disclosed. His career earnings on the PGA Tour are now up to $92,862,539, to be exact.

To Mike Vick or not to Mike Vick, that is the question, and the controversy that is surrounding athletic apparel giant Nike (NYSE: NKE).

Actually it isn't too much of a question, mainly because the company that once used Vick as a celebrity endorser dumped him and his products once he was arrested and charged with running a dog-fighting ring. Vick has spent his time in prison and has since been signed as a back-up quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Well, earlier this week Mike Principe (one of Vick's agents) announced that Vick had recently inked a deal with Nike. This announcement caused quite a bit of Internet backlash toward the Swoosh, but there were many that thought the deal was "bogus." (That quote is from a tweet by CNBC's Darren Rovell.)

I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to cover the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium. Mainly because anyone that watches any of the sports channels or any of the NBC network has seen plenty of Jerry Jones and the Palace in Dallas (as some call it).

This $1.15 billion (yes, with a B) stadium is the definition of opulence, as it boasts a high-end steakhouse, tex-mex food, and something called a Cowboyrito. If you are thirsty, you can drop 12 bucks on a Patron margarita in the club lounge, or you could try a frozen Cowboyrita for 14 bucks (Cowboyrita? Seriously?).

I found it very interesting reading the Bloomberg article covering the stadium, especially when they estimated that it will cost $200 per person to go to a game. Yes, that is an average and it takes the high-end tickets into account, but I would be interested to see how much it costs for other teams. We the fans can't afford to go to these palaces and enjoy a game thanks to the ticket prices. I would love to see a game in Dallas Stadium, the new Yankee Stadium, or Citi Field in New York -- but I have a mortgage to pay.

So, anyone catch the premier of The Ultimate Fighter 10: Heavyweights (TUF) on Wednesday? It appears that many people did, as it is one of the topics creating some buzz in the internet world thereafter. I saw some of the highlights, as I wasn't home when the show was on, and one word describes what I saw: brutal. Let me address that in a minute, I want to first address the big news of the night -- Kimbo is back.

Yes, Dana White (UFC president and promoter extraordinaire) finally convinced internet fighting sensation (and former EliteXC fighter) Kimbo Slice that he would have to work his way into the UFC by competing in TUF. After Wednesday's episode, it sure seems that Slice is going to have to work for his spot in UFC. White has not assembled the group of tomato cans that Kimbo was going to face in EliteXC before his loss and the company's demise. Kimbo is going to have to fight against experienced fighters who actually have ground games (gasp!).

The Washington Redskins football team is hearing it from all sides lately.

Last week they were criticized -- unfairly in my opinion -- for suing season ticket holders who had lost their jobs and could no longer afford their seats.

Now a coalition of tribes -- Cheyenne and Arapaho, Oneida of Wisconsin, Cochiti Pueblo, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, Navajo, Oglala Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux -- is asking the United States Supreme Court to revive a challenge to the team's trademark.

So, a week ago, I decided to tackle the NFL's blackout policy, basically arguing that the current economic situation warrants the lifting of this archaic rule. That said, the topic has been in the collective conscience this week, what with the NFL kicking off on Thursday.

What is interesting is that several teams (including the Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and my Cincinnati Bengals) have been granted a 24-hour extension to get these games sold out. Typically, a team needs to be a couple of thousand tickets away from a sell out in order to get such an extension. I wonder first if this extension may have been made to placate the teams more than to allow the fans another day to get the games sold out.

It appears that the options market is now making its way into sports, thanks to a company called OptionIt. As we head into the National Hockey League (NHL) season, San Jose Sharks fans can reserve an option to buy postseason tickets.

The Sharks will serve as one of the company's key test markets, along with the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, and St. Louis Rams (at least it appears this way according to the company's website) and it hopes to have 10 teams in the fold by the end of the year. With San Jose (a perennial preseason playoff favorite) as a test market, I envision success for OptionIt.

Living in Cincinnati, I have become well acquainted with the National Football League's (NFL) "blackout rule." This rule states that if a game is not sold out by the Thursday before a home game (actually, 72 hours before a game for Monday and Saturday games), the game will not be shown on local television. I don't think the policy is necessarily fair, but I understand the thinking behind the rule --- why show a game on local television if the home team can not sell out the stadium? However, I think there are some extenuating circumstances this year that Commissioner Roger Goodell needs to consider.

First things first. At a meeting on Thursday with NFL writers, Goodell said as much as 20% of the NFL's games could be blacked out this season. Goodell noted that as few as 80% of this season's games will be carried in the home team's market --- a far cry from the 95% of the games that have been carried in the local markets in the past four years. In fact, last year just nine of the 256 regular season NFL games were blacked out for the home team.

We've got the U.S. Open in New York right around the corner -- that's tennis folks -- and one of America's most recognizable stars, James Blake, has announced a collaboration with Fila to develop co-branded apparel. The agreement is being called a "co-branded collaboration" that is "inspired by the ATP world Tour tennis star's life and interests."

The collaboration between the two started back in January, when Blake and privately owned Fila began developing co-branded footwear, apparel, and accessories. The trademark was developed by Blake, and he settled on Thomas Reynolds as the line's name. Thomas Reynolds is the first and middle name of James' father, who Blake notes he was blessed to grow up with because his father taught him values that have been "the key to his success both on and off court." Blake's father passed away in 2004, succumbing to cancer.

Former Toronto Blue Jays ace Todd Stottlemyre is looking to start his own hedge fund.

The New York Post reports that the 44-year old who last pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2002 "just started Desert Shores Capital, which, according to one published report, could be a hedge fund built around fast-paced momentum trading in stocks."

So, how would I fix ESPN? There is a reason I am talking about this topic today. My idea was sparked by an interview conducted by Darren Rovell with ESPN The Magazine's general manager Gary Hoenig. The interview focused on a new promotion that offers the magazine and ESPN.com's pay site (Insider) for a year for $1. The offer is for current subscribers only, requires you to sign up for auto pay on credit card, and is one heck of a deal. This is actually a good move, because the customers should realize how nice both of these subscriptions are (I have had the magazine, and it is decent) and pony up the money for subscriptions when the time comes. I have never used the Insider, but it boasts extra knowledge for subscribers, and the subscription wall has cost me some valuable fantasy football knowledge in the past.