I was slightly embarrassed last night when doing a regular radio show, the host — whom I have a good rapport with — asked me to comment on Chad Johnson's "race" and I completely froze.

"Uh ... race?" I asked, semi-helplessly.

So it turns out, as I assume more of you know, that Chad will be racing a horse named Restore in a series called "Man vs. Beast" on June 9 at River Downs track. Some of you might think the guy is a ham, but I love Chad Johnson. Sure, he's flaky with the media sometimes, but he's that way with everyone. And darn it, he's got a big heart and he's a heck of a player.

It turns out that the jockey who raced Cris Collinsworth nearly 24 years ago, mounted on Mr Hurry at Turfway Park, Patricia "P.J." Cooksey, is coming out of retirement to compete in the race. My guess is that Collinsworth, who lost by a nose then, might have been a step faster than Johnson now (readers: help me out on this one), but that Cooksey might not be as sharp as she once was.

I say winner, Johnson ... by a nose, of course.

I am a fan of the "Man vs. Beast" series, and this event is for charity, so everyone wins. The first time I saw the series, it was when famed competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi lost to a Kodiak bear in a hot-dog eating contest — his only professional loss. How cool is that? The only other one I saw was when a Sumo wrestler lost in a match of tug of war against an orangutan. That was funny but less cool.

Now I need to get a handicapping of the four-year-old Restore from resident racing expert Mike Wilkening.

Warning: There is limited NFL content in this entry.

A seven-year run is coming to a close. "The Sopranos," one of my favorite TV series in the past 10 years, will finish up its classic run after indelibly making its mark on pop culture. Last night's penultimate episode, "The Blue Comet," was an all-timer, maybe one of the six or seven best in the entire series. Maybe not as memorable as Season Three's "Pine Barrens," where Paulie and Christopher chase the Russians through the woods and nearly freeze to death, or as shocking as Season Four's "Whoever Did This" that featured a decapitated head and a bowling bag. Fun stuff. Still, last night's was up there.

Of course, it's of note here for the cameo appearance of Jets head coach Eric Mangini and his wife, Julie, who are eating at the same restaurant as Tony and Carmela Soprano. Tony, naturally, introduces himself. I wonder if he tells him about betting on the Jets — the wrong way — twice in the previous football season.

Next week's series finally, as if I need to say this, is going to be epic — no matter what happens. An era is over. 

The Dolphins say they'll deal or release Daunte Culpepper soon, likely by this weekend. Bet on him getting released.

There aren't a lot of teams that have immediate needs at QB. We have heard Jacksonville is interested. I would think Baltimore would at least toss the idea around if Culpepper is released, but they drafted Troy Smith and still have Kyle Boller as the backup. And we know that the Falcons are lying through their teeth if they say that (a) they are not worried about Michael Vick's impending legal issues or that (b) they think they are Ok with Joey Harrington and D.J. Shockley as their alternatives.

But why not Green Bay?

Think about it for a second.

The prevailing thought is that Culpepper rushed back from his knee injury and likely needs a year more to get back to full health. The Packers have a starter in Brett Favre who has a year, maybe two left. But find me a Packers executive who at this moment will go on record to say that Aaron Rodgers is the unquestioned successor, and I'll be very surprised.

Look, it's a roll of the dice. The fact that most teams are set at QB and that most will not invest heavily in a guy like Culpepper works in the Packers' favor, if they choose to show some interest. Assuming Favre has a year left and that Rodgers is not the prospect everyone thought two years ago, would it not be a good idea to have a Plan B other than, er, Ingle Martin?

Culpepper is 30. He's a three-time Pro Bowler who has undeniable skills. Maybe he's not a perfect fit in Joe Philbin's offense, assuming it's a derivative of Jeff Jagodzinski's, which is to say a West Coast and zone-rushing attack. But at this point, there are few plum spots open, and Culpepper can't be too picky.

What does work in his favor in Green Bay is that they have two good receivers in Greg Jennings and Donald Driver and a team that could be sneaky good in a couple years. That, to me, seems like a decent fit in that regard.

Maybe Culpepper isn't a cold-weather guy, and I am not even sure Culpepper is a Ted Thompson kind of guy. We know Thompson won't overspend; he'd rather wait a year and draft a QB they can groom. But Culpepper could be a ready-made replacement for Favre, and even if he only sticks for 2-3 years, you could buy yourself some time with a talent that's too good to waste.

One of the big mysteries for this season revolves around the Dallas Cowboys and their quarterback.

Seldom before have we seen such an opening stanza from a QB, especially one who plays for America's Team: five games of glory, five of ambivalence, and one strange playoff game with a bizarre finish.

We are left with some indelible images but few answers. There is talent, but is there mastery? Better, what does Wade Phillips' arrival mean? What about Jason Garrett?

I think Romo deserves a new contract. I do. But how much does he get? Shouldn't we see a few more games — namely, a few more of those "first five" games reprised — before he gets the big money? Incentive-laden deals are tricky, and they can fiddle with your salary cap, especially for a team that is up against it with Terry Glenn and Terrell Owens getting roster bonuses to stay and Greg Ellis reportedly wanting a new deal, too.

Romo, like Tom Brady, also has received his fair share of ink this offseason for his love life (on? off? on again? wedding-dress shopping?), but unlike Brady, Romo's career is far from settled. It's a toxic mix at times, balancing life as the QB for (you could argue) the most steeped team in the league and living the life of a swashbuckling, good-looking guy off the field.

Jerry Jones is s smart owner and a good businessman. He knows he has something in Romo, but that this is not yet defined. Jones needs to find a number that he can live with, but one that keeps his guy off the market long enough and at a level that will keep him happy. It's no easy chore.

Meanwhile, we wonder if Romo's head is swimming. Carrie Underwood or not, he has a lot going on. He's playing on a team that has the talent to make a run in the less-than-stacked NFC. The pressure on him is immense, right up there with any other QB, including Donovan McNabb, Trent Green, Eli Manning, Steve McNair or Rex Grossman.

Not once have I said I think an athlete should table his life outside of football for what is happening on the field, unless that life includes gambling, drugs or any flavor of thuggery that might not sit well with authorities. I am talking domestic stuff when I think about Romo. But he might want to cool things off with his young fiancee just a shade until he gets more comfortable in the spotlight. Remember, this was a guy who was on the team for nearly four years before a reporter — much less 50 of them — spent more than 10 minutes talking to him.

One of the more intriguing players in the NFC East this fall will be the Giants’ Mathias Kiwanuka, who is ankle-deep into a transition from weak-side defensive end to strong-side linebacker.

So far, spies say the experiment is going well, even as early as it is. Kiwanuka showed his athleticism last season as a rookie, frequently dropping into coverage on zone blitzes, and he had two interceptions.

He also was known best for two boneheaded plays — the phantom sack of Vince Young in the Titans’ ridiculous comeback from down 21-0, and a fumble against the Cowboys in which the ball just dribbled out of his hands after switching from his right to his left.

That Cowboys game was a great example of how good Kiwanuka can be, and it makes this position switch all the more intriguing. The Giants and new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo want to get their best 11 defenders on the field at the same time, and Kiwanuka definitely is one of them.

Here’s Tom Coughlin this morning to the New York media on the transition:

Q: With Mathias Kiwanuka, the adjustment will continue in camp and preseason when it is live, but now that this first part is over, how has he made the adjustment?

A: I feel good about where he is. He has obviously gone through the initial process of being out of position and not knowing responsibilities and all of that. We are to the point now where he is a presence out there. Even if you just look at — after he makes the zone drop — the width of his arms and trying to get the ball over or around him. And then when he rushes he is obviously a difficult guy to block and also he is a difficult guy to get the ball over when he is rushing. So I feel pretty good about it. We really have gone into some of our different packages and he has been able to show that he is comfortable in moving and comfortable in getting himself aligned properly. We have a ways to go, obviously. But I do think that he is real excited about it and I think, based on what I saw this offseason with him being in the coaches’ office pretty much every day the whole offseason — he will probably do the same thing now for the next few weeks.

Q: What does he still need to do?

A: He has to learn; he has to play it. He has to be put in situations where he has to make split-second decisions. He has to be able to fire from any position and not tip what his intentions are. For example when he is coming, get on top of that quarterback as fast as he can. He will be a difficult guy for the backs to pick up.

Q: It might be a little foreign in this league to take a young guy like Kiwanuka with talent, number one pick, move him outside, and have a veteran making a lot of money, coming off injury, keep him where he is and not try to put a young guy in and get rid of the old guy. What is it about Michael Strahan that makes you feel that he is still going to play at a top level coming off an injury?

A: I think because last year he was playing so well when the injury occurred. It would have made a huge difference right there for us. He didn’t have the numbers that he had the year before but he was in position … It is just the spirit with which — what he brings to the game — how much he loves to play. This guy is very proud, he loves to play. Let’s face it, he is an exceptional athlete. And he has been able to do this for as long as he has done it, I don’t even like to listen to people talking about the number of years because to me he is determined to come back and have another outstanding year and we are all rooting like heck for him.

So Joe Gibbs wanted his team to get closer, a good idea after last year's fractured operation in a 5-11 season.

He told his players to break up by position, go do something as a group. And surely you know by now that the defensive backs went paintballing. Uh, bad idea, it turned out.

Here's what happened, as reported a few other places: First-round pick LaRon Landry, slated to start opposite Sean Taylor at strong safety, stood over a teammate and shot him, execution-style, during a match. The victim, however, turned the tables. He shot back, point blank, at Landry's testicles. Wow. Getting queasy just typing this.

So here's what we have learned. Landry's testicles swelled up so much, they were nearly grapefruit-sized. The coaches kept him out of the final June minicamp practices and tended to the situation. He's expected to be all right, but that's a, uh, sensitive area to say the least.

We think we know the player who shot Landry. We're trying to confirm that now. One source gave us the name, and it's interesting to say the least, but we want to call around a little more to (sorry) firm that up a bit. We'll let you know when we have more. 

You might have heard: LaVar Arrington was in a serious motorcycle accident earlier today. I spoke with a close friend of Arrington's who said that he was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and that he suffered a broken arm and three broken bones in his leg, plus cuts and bruises on his body. Arrington is in stable condition and the injuries are not considered life-threatening. It appears his family is there by his side. He's recovering at Prince George's Hospital Center in D.C.

It appears that this season will be wiped out for Arrington, who was cut by the Giants following a season-ending Achilles injury only one year into a five-year deal worth $35 million. His career certainly could be in jeopardy, too, but we don't know enough about his status to make that rather large call at this point. 

Even though Arrington doesn't have a current employer — and recent rumors were circulating that he was considering retirement — it should be noted that his status remains as "active player" until he files papers that say otherwise with the league.

So in the past two years, the tally of major players getting into major motorcycle accidents is raised to three; Ben Roethlisberger and Kellen Winslow, obviously, are the others.

And it raises the question: Should players even be allowed to ride motorcycles? The teams clearly don't think so. Some players have things written in their contracts prohibiting them from participating in "dangerous activities" that might easily cause an accident.

I have never been a big fan of things such as seatbelt requirements because I think it's the individual's responsibility to take for themselves, but when things like this happen with bikes so often, it makes me think a little harder.

What do you guys think? Should players be — contractually or by league mandate — be prohibited from riding motorcycles? I am very curious to hear your responses.

I am about to head out to the west coast for a week's vacation, so I thought I would empty the cranium of all the garbage that's left inside before I go:

• Pacman Jones is going to have a hard tiem staying out of trouble if this recent strip club fiasco is any indication of the changed man he said he was going to be to Commissioner Goodell.
• The Colts' Super Bowl rings, like most Super Bowl rings, are gaudy as all get back. Why do people think they are so attractive? Because they are jammed with semi-precious stones? Ick.
• Felt bad for LaVar getting into that accident. Strong possibility he'll retire, either way. Great player who never developed the way he should have.
• OK, Tommie Harris wasn't kidding when he said he thought Donovan McNabb would have given the Bears a better chance to win than Rex Grossman, and it's a pretty good cover-up job for both guys to say it's no big deal thereafter. Good damage control for a story that was mostly local, it seems.
• Funniest headline I read this week was in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: Smoot: 'Nothing happened on that boat'
• The Titans' re-signing of Chris Brown is a pretty clear repudiation of LenDale White. First the team drafts Chris Henry in Round Two, then it brings back the guy it benched all of last season and let go in free agency. Now we know why White slipped in the draft a year ago.

See, that wasn't too much. Now I must pack and go. If I can find the time, I will file from California. Leave me some mail for when I get back. 

Drained. Beat up. Broke. Isn't returning from vacation fun?

Why do I always feel like I need a vacation from my vacation? And do you know what happens when I return to work after not writing much? I start writing everything in the form of a question. It's ugly.

Time to catch up a little here. We'll do our best to get on with it in what promises to be the only 100-percent Tank Johnson-free NFL blog out there on the market today ...

So I leave for a week, and it’s more about what people said than what they did that made news.

Vince Young called out Pacman Jones, rightfully too I might add. Trent Green’s wife scoffed at the “scrambled eggs” comment by Jason Taylor. Jon Kitna said the Lions will be a 10-win team.

On that last one, for a minute … I never understood why people get so crazed about players making predictions for their teams. Is it that big a deal to think you are good? To think you are something other than what the masses think? If Tedy Bruschi had predicted a Super Bowl win or even an AFC championship for the Patriots back in August of 2001, we would have laughed or called him out, maybe both. But we never look back at predictions; we never say, “What an idiot” after the fact, months later.

I was glad to see that Kitna was confident about his team’s chances, just as Lions fans should. I think they will take down 2-3 decent teams with that offense, which is going to look more Mike Martz-ish this season and pose some problems for teams that thrive on blitzing and leaving guys in man coverage. In fact, while I was out in San Diego last week, I made a bet with a Chargers fan that Kitna would have more passing yards than Philip Rivers. Pretty confident I'll win that one, all things being equal.

It's fun when athletes make predictions about their teams, but really, it's fairly pointless. Seldom do they ever predict bad news, and when they do, it's really the only time it's worth noting. If they predict success and the editorial "we" don't agree, we'll bash the guy for 24 hours and forget about it. I have never really heard the question asked at season's end: "So, [bold predictor], what's the deal with you guys only winning eight this year? You said 10 back in June."