Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers / Photo: Newscom

Well, as expected, a lot of people watched on Fox—29.8 million viewers, in fact. That made the game the most-watched program on television since the Academy Awards back on February 22 (36.3 million viewers). The Vikings-Packers viewership tops that of the season finales of popular prime time programming including American Idol, CSI, and Dancing with the Stars, as well as all regular-season and championship coverage of other sports. Pretty impressive.

Source: NFL Media

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Vikings, Packers Draw 29.8 Million Viewers

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While you were watching the San Diego Chargers beat the N.Y. Jets on Monday Night Football, former NFLer and “QB Killa” Warren Sapp was Dancing With the Stars. Here’s his debut if you’re the slightest bit interested. I might tune-in just to see Lacey Schwimmer and Kim Kardashian.

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Warren Sapp Dancing With the Stars Debut

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Jason Taylor cleared the air about his status with the Miami Dolphins yesterday during an informal Q&A session from Hollywood, FL. No, he did not demand a trade from the team. Yes, he wants to play one more season before moving on to an acting career. No, he still hasn’t spoken with new Dolphins boss Bill Parcells. Yes, he believes Tony Sparano will be a good coach in Miami. No, he doesn’t regret missing workouts to appear on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” Yes, he desperately wants to leave football a winner:

“Do I want to be here? Yeah, I’d love to be here. I would love to be a Dolphin and win games and have it work out for everybody. But that may not be the case. I want to win in ‘08. That’s what I want to do. And I’ve told the Dolphins from day one that was my intention. My intentions right now are to play one more year. I’ve tried to give the Dolphins the opportunity, if they wanted to do something and move me, I was OK with that. If they can get value for me, then do that. That was the conversation we had behind closed doors a long time ago.”

That’s a nice way of saying “I’d like to be traded” without saying “I’d like to be traded.” Let’s be honest here. The Miami Dolphins weren’t happy that one of — if not their best — player was not with the team during what they felt was an important stage of redevelopment. Nevertheless, they would be a better team with Jason Taylor than without him. But, I think Jason can see the handwriting on the wall here. While the Miami Dolphins have upgraded their talent and are definitely headed in the right direction, there’s a pretty good chance they aren’t going to make the playoffs in ‘08 let alone win a championship. If Jason is going to play one more year and go out a winner, it will most likely have to take place in a city other than Miami.

Source: Associated Press, Photo: Newscom

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Jason Taylor Wants to Play Another Season

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Only one player was missing from the Miami Dolphins’ voluntary OTA yesterday. And that was arguably the team’s best player, defensive end Jason Taylor. Less than 24 hours after finishing second to Kristi Yamaguchi on Dancing With the Stars, it appears Jason’s days in Miami are over. Head coach Tony Sparano said:

“I know that Jason is not going to be in any minicamps, and I know that right now Jason is not going to be at training camp. So that’s what we know. Jason’s a player under contract with the Miami Dolphins. He knows that. Both parties are well aware of the information. That’s all I’m going to say about it. We need to discuss the current players on our team right now that have been busting their butt for nine weeks here.”

Jason Taylor’s been busting his butt — just not with his teammates in Miami. For whatever reason, there has been a rift between Jason and the Dolphins since March. It’s obvious he’s more interested in other pursuits right now and that’s fine. But he’s also under contract with the Dolphins and needs to fulfill that commitment to them or find a way to get traded to another team. He wants to be traded. And the Dolphins are actively trying to deal him to another team, but nothing has developed so far. As we get closer to training camp, I believe the Dolphins will lower their asking price and find a suitable suitor. Or Jason will consider retiring if he doesn’t get the deal he wants. I know he can still play, but does he have the desire to do so? His motivation to play in the National Football League will return if he gets the amount of money he wants — from a team other than the Miami Dolphins.

Source: Miami Herald, Photo: Newscom

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Jason Taylor Finished in Miami?

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Miami Dolphins DE Jason Taylor will make his “Dancing With the Stars” debut tonight on ABC-TV. Personally, I find this very uninteresting. I watched the show in Season 2 when Jerry Rice was on, but I was really tuned-in to see the lovely and talented Stacy Keibler. Oddly, Jason doesn’t even dance. He’s only doing this as a challenge to himself. Plus, there’s got to be some sort of financial incentive. This is taking up way too much of his time and energy to pass as a clever PR stunt. More importantly, Jason squashed rumors that he was retiring or parting ways with the Dolphins. According to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel interview, he said:

“In no way, because I’m doing a TV show in the offseason, have I lost commitment to football … Trust me, there are a lot worse things you could be doing in the offseason than working out six or eight hours a day and doing a TV show that is a family-oriented show.”

I haven’t even seen him dance, but I think he stands a decent shot at winning this competition. Generally speaking, the guys will vote for him because he’s a football player and the gals will vote for him because they think he’s handsome. It’s a nice racket he’s got going on.

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Jason Taylor on ‘Dancing With the Stars’