For NFL Sunday, Week 15, from our very latest, Uncle John’s Fully Loaded 25th Anniversary Bathroom Reader (EBook versions can be found here):

NFL DRAFT FLOPS

Great athletic ability and a good college record will generally push players to the top of the NFL draft…but it’s no guarantee they’re going to be any good when they turn pro… 

JAMARCUS RUSSELL (2007)
Vital Stats: Louisiana State University had a great season in 2006, finishing ranked #4 and winning the Sugar Bowl. A major part of that success: quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who threw for 3,129 yards with 28 touchdowns.
Drafted! As a junior, he decided to skip his senior year to go directly into the NFL, and the Oakland Raiders took him at #1 in the 2007 draft. But he refused to play until he got the contract he wanted. He held out through training camp, the preseason, and into the regular season, when he agreed to $32 million.
Fumble! Top NFL quarterbacks routinely pass for 4,000 yards per season. Russell threw for 4,083 yards in his entire career, which lasted only three years. And when he did throw the ball to somebody who caught it, it was often to the wrong team—he had 31 turnovers and 23 interceptions in just 31 games. In early 2010, the Raiders released him. Later that year, he was arrested for illegal possession of codeine cough syrup, and Russell admitted he was addicted to it. He hasn’t played professional football since.

RYAN LEAF (1998)
Vital Stats: Leaf brought glory to Washington State University. He threw for nearly 4,000 yards and a Pac-10 conference-record 33 touchdowns. Under Leaf, WSU won its first-ever conference title and, its first Rose Bowl since 1931, and achieved a #9 ranking. Leaf finished third in Heisman Trophy voting and looked to have a stellar NFL career for whoever was lucky enough to draft him.
Drafted! The Indianapolis Colts had the #1 pick in the 1998 draft and invited prospects for interviews. Leaf skipped his. The Colts dropped him from consideration and drafted future superstar Peyton Manning. Leaf went #2, to the San Diego Chargers.
Fumble! In three years, he played in just 25 games, threw for 3,666 yards total (less than in his last year at WSU), and was intercepted 36 times. He was traded and played on practice squads for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks, but was finished by 2002. His last job in football was as an unpaid quarterbacks coach at tiny West Texas A&M from 2006 to 2008.

Not Related In Any Way to the Bathroom Reader But Hilarious Anyway Bonus: This.

• NFL logo pic from here.

We’re through the Division Series. Now it’s the League Champmpionship Series, and there are just four teams left:

• Yankees and Tigers on the AL side (first game just started)

• Giants and Cards and on the NL side (they start tomorrow)

Who you for?!!! Let us know!

• Here’s something a lot of people wouldn’t know: The St. Louis Cardinals “have won 11 World Series, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to the New York Yankees with 27.”

• If you’re a baseball freak—or if you’re not and you want some help becomding one—this is one of our favorites of all of our books. It really is. Baseball has so many stories—light, dark, hilarious, profound (even far out, man), that it was just a blast to dig through it all and put together one huge book of it all. If you don’t already have it—we think you’ll like it. (Nothing but 5-star reviews at Amazon…if you’re into that sort of thing.)

From the UJBR Throne Room, the story of “Lucky Lohrke,” from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Takes a Swing at Baseball:

Update: Forgot to say that this story was published before Lohrke’s death in 2009, having lived to the (lucky) old age of 85.

(Hit pic to go to the Amazon age.)