I made it through Yom Kippur this week…barely.  I am known to eat roughly six meals per day, so just imagine how tough it was to fast for twenty-five hours.  The Gators have a bye week, which is perfect timing considering that Tim Tebow left last week’s game with a concussion.  Unfortunately, I know all too well what the aftermath of a head injury entails.  I’ll be celebrating Shabbat tonight and heading to Orlando tomorrow for the day and night.  How about this story…the Dallas Cowboys have a 6′6 315lb DE named Igor Olshansky is a proud Soviet-born Jew and he is quite a mensch.  Here are the other stories I missed throughout the week.

Football

• $750,000 is enough to hold Michael Crabtree over for now [Ornstein: Marketing cash keeps pressure off holdout Crabtree].
• Showing some respect for Alvin Keels and the job he did in negotiating Andre Smith’s rookie deal [Criticism of Keels for Smith deal is over the top].
• Follow the coach’s orders or play by your own rulebook and contact players as early as possible? [The contract conundrum]

Marketing

• Interesting note: Of the top 10 sports advertisers, Sprint had the biggest percent increase in ad spending in the first half of 2009 [Changes made, changes to come].

Baseball

• A buscon up to a lot of no good [Youth baseball trainer tied to drug, weapon bust in Dominican].

Basketball

• Why I really like weight-based incentive clauses. Make the player better at his trade, fill his pocket with some extra dough, and look out for his health [The $500,000 Diet Seems to Work: Glen "Big Baby" Davis shows up to camp in shape].
• I guess no one cares about UConn’s violations of NCAA rules anymore [Calhoun, UConn in talks for new deal].
• Worldwide Wes looks really happy about having his picture taken [William Wesley could be key confidant to help Knicks land LeBron James].