It turns out the Lombardi Trophy was never in much trouble during the boat parade to celebrate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Super Bowl championship. A lot was made of a clearly intoxicated Tom Brady’s devil-may-care attitude in throwing the trophy between boats. The daughter of the man that designed the trophy even demanded an apology from Brady.

Well, no apology necessary it seems. Randy Moss proved on Sunday that even if the trophy had hit the water, it wasn’t going to the bottom.

During a segment of ESPN’s NFL Countdown, the crew wanted to know what would have happened if the trophy had hit the water. Tedy Bruschi, Matt Hasselback, Sam Ponder and Rex Ryan joined Moss outside of ESPN’s New York City studios. As the crew overlooked the East River, both Ryan and Bruschi predicted that the Lombardi would sink.

Bruschi said that he had held several Lombardi Trophies in his career and he knows that it is very top heavy. “This is gonna sink, just like this, straight to the bottom,” he said flipping the trophy upside down.

Moss had the honors of hurling the trophy into the East River where the entire Countdown crew shouted in amazement as it flipped to its side and floated. Moss was jokingly appointed the man to go in and retrieve the trophy.

It was a funny and undeniably memorable bit though. It is worth wondering what the World Wide Leader’s plan was if the Lombardy Trophy did indeed sink to the bottom of the East River as a result of the stunt.

Officially, Drew Brees is no longer part of the NFL franchise in New Orleans. That doesn’t mean the NBC analyst is not still well-connected inside the Saints locker room. That was evident on Friday during his appearance on The Dan Patrick Show.

Patrick asked Brees how often he still speaks with Jameis Winston, who served as his backup last year and is his successor as the team’s starting quarterback this season. Brees responded that the two exchanged texts after the game against the Packers. That prompted Patrick to push a little more.

Eventually, Drew Brees revealed that he stays in regular contact with both Winston and the Saints’ backup and gadget play quarterback, Taysom Hill.

“Are you an unofficial assistant coach?” Dan Patrick asked.

“I will say this,” Brees said laughing. “I did have the game plan for the (Packers) game in my hand prior to the start of the game.”

Drew Brees admitted that the game plan came directly from the New Orleans Saints. That is a nice leg up on his broadcasting competition for being able to break down what he saw on Sunday nights when he is on NBC.

While it may be strange or even surprising for some to hear that Brees still is unofficially in the loop in New Orleans, there is nothing wrong with it. In week 1 at least, Brees’s new job had him nowhere near the Saints. That likely made it very easy for Saints coach Sean Payton to view him as Drew Brees, the former player, and not Drew Brees, NBC broadcaster.

Now, will the practice continue? Currently, it is unknown whether or not Brees had the Saints’ plans for Sunday’s visit to Carolina.

A voice very familiar to Canadian sports fans will not be part of the upcoming NHL season. According to the @yyzsportsmedia Twitter account, Jim Hughson will not be a part of Sportsnet’s Hockey Night in Canada in 2021.

Hughson has been a part of Hockey Night in Canada since 2005. He followed the television package from the CBC to Sportsnet in 2014. He was the secondary play-by-play voice, mostly calling games on the West Coast.

There was less Jim Hughson on Canadian television last season than in the past. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hughson did not travel. His TV work was limited to calling home games for the Vancouver Canucks.

What exactly happened is still a mystery. The @yyzsportsmedia account did not have details regarding Hughson’s exit.

At 64-years-old, it isn’t crazy to wonder if there is another chapter left in the story of Jim Hughson’s broadcasting career. He will certainly be missed. In addition to calling hockey games, he had stints as the TV play-by-play voice of both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos. Jim Hughson also served as the voice of EA Sports’ NHL video game series until 2009.