Branch offers refused Patriots then are hit with two grievances: Ron Borges of the Boston Globe has the escalation of the Deion Branch saga in excruciating detail:

Although it had been widely speculated that Branch would find no suitors after the Patriots told him he had seven days to negotiate an acceptable contract with another club and then a trade with New England, Branch and agent Jason Chayut came up with two similar offers, from the Jets and Seahawks. Both were six-year deals worth roughly $39 million with $13 million upfront and $23 million spread over the first three years. That is about 30 percent higher than New England's best offer, a five-year, $28 million deal with $11 million guaranteed. The Patriots had also offered a three-year extension with an $8 million signing bonus split evenly over two years and salaries of $1.4 million, $4.3 million, and $4.75 million. Branch would have been forced to play out the final year of his rookie contract at the $1.05 million he was set to earn this season before a daily fine of $14,000 began being assessed against him once training camp opened and he did not report.

As of the end of preseason this weekend, that brings Branch's fines to $518,000, not including a fine for missing the mandatory spring minicamp. In addition, the Patriots might try to go after a fifth of his original signing bonus, which would amount to another $200,000. If they did, that would mean Branch would have already lost more than $700,000. The team cannot continue to fine him once the season begins. It can only withhold his weekly game checks.

The Patriots' decision to allow Branch to shop himself let him confirm what he and Chayut felt all along -- that his value was far in excess of what New England was offering and nearly identical to what receiver Reggie Wayne received from the Colts to forgo free agency this spring. Wayne signed a six-year, $40 million deal, with a $13.5 million signing bonus paid out this year.

Except that it's easy to offer big bucks when you probably won't have to deliver, since nobody seriously believed that either the Jets or the Seahawks would give first-round draft picks to the Patriots for the right to pay Deion that much.

After watching all four exhibition games, this fan can only ask Pats' management, "Well, do you want another Super Bowl title or not?" Brady's favorite receiver is a key piece of that. This Mexican standoff backfired, and now you're going to have to pay him bigtime or lose.

You've got the money. Swallow your pride and give us a great season.

Game day: With the remains of Ernesto drenching us today, one of the better things to do may be to check out the winners of the Jay Is Games casual game design competition:

First Place: Clack
Runners up: Thief and Cyberpunk
Honorable mention: Gateway

All the entries are linked at the bottom of this post.

Hear the call: Cell Phone Reviews at the long-running Steve Punter's Southern Ontario Cell Phone Page. Worth a look if you're looking.

Grass roots: Neighbors form committee on Hillside property at Summit Neighborhood Association: We who live near the onetime nursing home, whose former owners are headed for jail, assembled in an effort to have input into its future. A concerned neighbor went door to door one weekend asking who'd be interested in meeting one night at the Rochambeau branch of the Providence Public Library. The turnout was three times what she expected.

That's how to do it.

Fun: Sask. town holds housewarming for 'red paperclip' man:

What may be the biggest and longest party the town of Kipling, Sask. has ever seen gets underway this weekend when residents welcome Kyle MacDonald — the red paper clip man.

A year ago, the 25-year-old Montrealer got the idea of going on the internet and trading a red paper clip for items of greater value until he got himself a house.

After making more than a dozen trades, he now finds himself the owner of a white, two-storey house in the town of 1,100 about a two-hour drive east of Regina.

Read his own account at one red paperclip:

My name is Kyle MacDonald and I traded one red paperclip for a house. I started with one red paperclip on July 12 2005 and 14 trades later, on July 12, 2006 I will trade with the Town of Kipling Saskatchewan for a house...

BBC has a story and video of the trades, which ended involving both Corbin Bernsen and Alice Cooper, with MacDonald above.