A bench-clearing brawl at Ravens' mini-camp shows that the days of Camp Cupcake are over. Said new coach John Harbaugh "Guys are competing, so tempers flare a little bit."

According to the article, "Nearly all 85 players in camp were involved in a squabble Saturday that began when offensive tackle Oniel Cousins and defensive tackle Amon Gordon threw punches after running back Allen Patrick was taken down hard on a burst up the middle. All the players surged toward the middle of the field, and it was nearly two minutes before peace was restored."

It's good to see some intensity after years of yawning on the sidelines under Billick, but hopefully, everyone will heed Trevor Pryce's advice.

Pryce said, "If we can get all this out of the way now, scrapping and being undisciplined and 80 men jumping in a pile together, fine. So now we've proved I'm tough, you're tough, hooray, we're all tough. Are we a good football team? What's more important, proving you're tough or proving we're a good football team? That's how I look at it."

Why are all the pundits (and most of the fans) resigned to Kyle Boller being the #1 QB to start the season? Most agree that Joe Flacco will eventually be the starter at some point this year, but they also expect that Kyle Boller will start the season as the Ravens' #1 QB. Most fans are worried about throwing Flacco in before he "learns the system." They point to Boller's "experience." They hope that Boller has matured from last year. They say, give Boller a chance with a new set of coaches.

NO! I say no more chances. It is finally time to kick this sorry excuse for an NFL quarterback to the curb. Let him go play in the NFL or CFL. Give him his walking papers. We don't need 'em. I'm tired as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore. Sure, Boller apologists will whine about how he was thrown to the wolves early...how it damaged him...they'll remind me that he has a strong arm and a good attitude. But if he was a better quarterback, we wouldn't need to make the excuses; we'd be making playoff plans.

His quarterback rating last season was a pitiful 75.2. He went 2-6 as a starter and threw 10 picks and lost 4 fumbles. I'm tired of watching the same replay: Boller drops back, dances in the pocket before A) throwing a pick B) dropping the ball C) getting sacked or D) wetting himself while doing either A, B, C.

Other Boller-ites will say that it was Billick or Cavanaugh or Neuheisel or Fassel's lousy play calling and while they might be right about poor playing calling (swing pass on 3rd and long, anyone?). Boller's complete incompetence as a starter has more to do with his decision-making. I mean he dated Tara Reid for Christ's sake. And not the hot Tara Reid in her American Pie glory days. The saggy, botoxed, crack-addled syphilitic Tara Reid. Yuck.

But I digress. Boller is yesterday's news and I'm already bored with trashing him. Let's look to the future. Is Joe it? I honestly don't know, but I am of the mind that we find out sooner rather than later. All the interviews I've seen and read (good one on this site, BTW) with Flacco suggest that he has his head on right. A few losses to start the season won't kill the guy (like they did Boller). Hell, Peyton Manning won three games and threw 28 picks in his rookie season. He bounced back pretty well.

I'm not saying Flacco will be the next Manning (Peyton or Eli), I'm only making the case that not every guy has the fragile psyche of Boller or Ryan Leaf. And, yes, I am equating Boller with Leaf. He's a colossal bust like Leaf, but Baltimore is too nice a town to say it to his face and send him walking. We keep giving the guy another chance hoping he'll turn it around this time. Enough is enough.

Start Flacco, see how he does. If he loses the first four, or eight or all 16, at least we won't have to wait five years before we realize our QB of the future should have been a thing of the past.

The top 11 players from this weekend's Major League Soccer action, as chosen by me, your host, The Yankee Hooligan. Enjoy.

Hiro's got nothing on Haruki. Check out some clips of the former Bearcat, now Raven.

Ravens add a second OL, after picking up Oniel Cousins (Tx-EP) in Round 3 (99), picking up David Hale from Weber State.

Notre Dame FS Tom Zbikowski (or as he will be known from this day forward The Dude) might not get a sniff playing behind Landry and Reed, but his real talent may be on special teams. Check out this clip that features some pretty nifty punt returns. Yamon, you are officially on notice, so catch the ball.

The future of the Ravens. I thought a group of Ravens was called a murder, not a Flacco.

Ravens swap first round picks with jags (26th overall) and get two 3rd rounders and a fourth round. Nice trade since Ryan's off the board. It makes sense for Oz and Co. to maximize picks since we need some help on both sides of the ball. I still think they should take a QB at 26th. Brohm should be available or Flacco. The third round picks are key (we traded them away for McGahee).

It looks like Ryan is headed to ATL. It's disappointing that we couldn't get a deal done. But I hope we don't take Henne. Take Flacco, or Brohm or anyone but Henne. He's simply another Boller.

Ravens might be making a play for their franchise quarterback by dangling Terrell Suggs in front of the Rams, according to Sports Chick Anita Marks.

To draft Ryan or not to draft Ryan, that is the question. It looks like the Ravens will have to give up a lot to Atlanta to secure Ryan. Is he worth it? In a word ... yes.

The Ravens need a quarterback. Most of their problems last year can be traced to QB inconsistency. Cornerback play comes pretty close, but with McNair retiring a bad situation becomes dire. The Ravens need to roll the dice. Our OL is young and talented. We did fine w/o Ogden for most of the year. People forget that even with a young line, McGahee ran well (when he actually got the ball). And there will be corners available Day Two to back up C-Mac and Rolle.

C'mon, Oz. Make it happen! Baltimore wants a franchise QB.

Former Ravens HC Brian Billick told ESPN 1300 in Baltimore that people think that he is "individually responsible for every quarterback we ever brought in [to Baltimore] evidently."

The sarcasm was dripping as he said, "Now obviously I know nothing about quarterbacks because I'm individually responsible for every quarterback we ever brought in evidently."

No, Brian. You're just responsible for the following list: Kyle Boller, Chris Redman, Stoney Case, Elvis Grbac, Scott Mitchell, Tony Banks, Jeff Blake, Trent Dilfer, Anthony Wright, and Steve McNair.