Ah, back to sports reality after a brief afternoon trip elsewhere. But you know, a wise man once said that “sometimes to maintain your sanity, you have to lose it for a moment.” (Actually, that’s not true…I just made it up and no wise men ever said it as far as I know.)

A lot of interesting stories have broken this afternoon, but none more interesting than the fallout from Bobby Wade’s contention that Brian Urlacher called Jay Cutler a pussy.  From PFT:

Wade told our pal Paul Allen of KFAN within the hour that, during an offseason trip to Vegas with Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, Urlacher expressed a not-so-flattering opinion of new Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.

Basically, Wade said that Urlacher said that Cutler is a “pussy.”

Predictably, Bears supporters have rallied against Pro Football Talk for even mentioning the Bobby-Wade-said-Brian-Urlacher-called-Jay-Cutler-a-pussy story:

You’d think with ProFootballTalk’s heralded move under the NBC peacock’s plumage that they would up the ante in providing smart, in-depth coverage of the NFL.

Nah.

This then prompted a hilarious retort from Pro Football Talk in discussing Tommie Harris’ tweet about the issue and defending itself for reporting the Bobby-Wade-said-Brian-Urlacher-called-Jay-Cutler-a-pussy story:

Look, all we’re doing is reporting what Wade said on the air. So even if some dude who uses his best contemplative senior picture (he should have stuck with the “ninth grade dorky smile mom plastered down my hair with a handful of spit” pose) at the Chicago Sun-Times thinks that it’s not newsworthy, it was — and it is.

Especially if it’s true.

Final verdict? Who the hell cares if Urlacher said it or not. Wade said that he said it, it’s news, and it’s going to make the first meeting of the two teams pretty damn interesting. (Besides, it’s not like Cutler hasn’t been called derogatory names before.)

And now, onto other links from around the sports world today, beginning with updates on the flurry of trade activity that’s gone down.

MLB Trade Links:

• Cliff Lee officially traded to Philadelphia — (Waiting For Next Year)
• Now that Cliff Lee is gone, is Victor Martinez next? — (MLB Trade Rumors)
• Pirates trade Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to Mariners for some spare parts — (SI.com)
• What’s the latest on Roy Halladay? — (MLB Trade Rumors)
• No surprise: Josh Fields wants out of Chicago — (Sun-Times)

Other Links:

• Cavendish’s WWII Dogfighter Bike with Pin-up — (Gunaxin)
• Alessia Filippi Wins 1500m, Frederica Pelligrini sets Record at the World Championship Look Really Hot Doing IT — (The Angry T)
• Playmate is a huge Mariners fan — (Spewf)
• The Megan Fox one-day media blackout is on — (MoonDog)
• The All Ex-Bulls Team — (Pippen ‘Aint Easy)
• Is Brett Favre the greatest fantasy football player ever? — (Sharapova’s Thigh)
• Big Witness Meets Big Show — (Not Qualified to Comment)
• Brewers slide continues — (i94sports)
• Drew Brees’ mom is crazy and ruthless — (SportsByBrooks)
• Miguel Cabrera’s struggles with RISP is killing the Tigers — (Detroit4Lyfe)
• Congress calls out Shaq while honoring Kobe and the Lakers — (Hugging Harold Reynolds)
• Japanese Lil’ Buddies Falling in Love with Pillows — (Straight Pinkie)

* – Jay Cutler photo credit: Newscom via Every Joe