Once again Thursday has rolled around, which means it's time for more thoughts from the couch. There are plenty of Woodchucks and Fred Lites to go around, and for this week only we have all you can eat pork rinds thanks to the recent outbreak of the swine flu causing a 99% off sale at the Qwik-Stop down the street on all pork products.

Speaking of the swine flu, one story that broke out this week that made me sick was the fact that Brett Favre has asked for (and been granted) his release from the New York Jets' retired list, giving him free agent status and the ability to sign with any team that would be stupid enough to take him.

Just like everyone else here at the Gab, I knew this was going to happen. Brett Favre will always be the guy that just cannot come to grips with the fact that he is too old to play at a competitive level anymore. He says he wants to retire and that he is done with football, but we all know the story. He is done with football until right after the draft so he can get all the attention to shift to him and what he's doing every waking hour. I wouldn't be surprised if ESPN installs a "Favre-Cam" into his home by the weekend to document every blumpy he gets until he signs with the Vikings (because we all know he wants to go to the NFC North to stick it to the Packers, and he can't go to the Lions or Bears).

In other NFL news, the draft is finally over, and we learned the same two universal truths.

1. The #1 pick was grossly over-paid.
2. Al Davis made the worst pick of the first round.

The Lions are going to regret paying Matt Stafford $41M guaranteed money. Why would a franchise invest that much money into one player when they have so many other needs elsewhere? How much good will Stafford do when he is laying on his back more often than Paris Hilton for the first 32 games of his career? Think about this...the Lions are paying him $41M guaranteed. Based on the recent success (or lack thereof) in Detroit, Stafford will make approximately $1.7M for every loss that the Lions suffer through in the next 6 years. (This is assuming they play at the same level they have played at over the previous 6 seasons when they went 26-70)

As a football fan I truly hope that Stafford can turn the Lions around. It would be nice to see another team be in the basement of the league for a little while, and I know that Lions fans have suffered enough in recent years thanks to the stupidity of Matt Millen, and they deserve a team that is worthy of the millions of dollars they play for every Sunday.

And once again Al Davis proves that he has no business running an NFL franchise. Why in the hell would he waste the #7 pick on a player that he could have traded down to the end of the first round to get? He could have added several more draft picks to fill holes in the roster and still picked up Hayward-Bey with the 28th pick (and possibly lower than that). But again, that's now how Al works, and once again the Raiders will be the laughingstock of the AFC thanks to the lack of common sense by the most clueless owner in the league.

The NHL playoffs are heading to the 2nd round, and as the Beeze so graciously pointed out to us in his Wild Card Wednesday post, the Rangers were defeated by the Capitals on Tuesday night 2-1, and the Hurricanes came from behind with 1:30 left to score 2 goals to take their series with the Devils. The Hurricanes have earned an all-expense paid trip to Boston to have their asses handed to them by the Bruins, but at least they made things exciting in the first round. The Capitals will take on the Penguins in what should be a good series. Out west the Red Wings will face off against the Ducks and the Blackhawks will play the Canucks in what should be two great series matchups. My predictions for the Conference Finals are Bruins vs. Penguins in the east and Red Wings vs. Blackhawks in the west. (But what do I know, I'm not exactly a hockey expert -- I will leave that up to Beeze, Sully, and Hotch)

The NBA playoffs are in full swing as well, literally. Rajon Rondo almost beheaded Brad Miller, and Dwight Howard tried to decapitate Sam Dalembert on Tuesday night. (Howard has been suspended for Game 6 against the 76ers)

I normally don't get too involved in the NBA (I cheer for the Hawks but I'm not a "diehard" fan by any means), but the Celtics/Bulls series has really grabbed my attention. The Bulls look like they have a realistic chance of stealing this series from the Celtics (although I don't think it will happen) and have played every game like they believe they can win.

The Hawks/Heat series has been interesting to me as well, but I haven't really paid that much attention to the rest of the playoffs. I'm sure I will watch more games when the teams dwindle down and the NBA has fixed...err...set up...err...coincidentally been blessed with a Lebron/Kobe finals.

Until then, it's the Hawks/Heat and Bulls/Celtics that will have my close attention, and the rest of the games will just serve as filler for those times when there is nothing else on tv.

In baseball, the Red Sox swept away the struggling Yankees this past weekend. (I know this is old news but I have to brag -- I just can't avoid it) The sweep was highlighted by Jacoby Ellsbury's steal of home plate against Andy Pettitte on Sunday night, which is currently the most awesome thing I've seen this season. (And it will take a lot to change that) The Yankees couldn't keep the Red Sox from hitting the ball out of the park due to the windtunnel in right....wait, that's right...the games were at Fenway, not Yankee stadium...so I don't know what the Yankees are using as their excuse for the excess of home runs by the Red Sox hitters.

The YouGabSports-1 fantasy league is running smoothly along, and after letting Frag take a 12-5 victory last week I am now sitting in 5th place in the division. Frag and Harry continue to hold division leads, but that is certain to change before long, especially after I stop letting my competition win for charity purposes. I'm coming for you Frag, and I will be nipping at your heels before you know it.

That's it for this week's thoughts from the couch, feel free to add any thoughts of your own in the comments section below.