Iraqi militants have resorted to the lowest sort of psychological tactics in an attempt to break down our soldiers: bringing up Brett Favre.

Texas' Mack Brown was one of the D-I coaches bunking up on that gladhanding Middle East tour this week, and he was kind enough to keep an online diary so everyone could know how godawful it is live over there.

Seven coaches — including Mack Brown, Jim Tressel and Rick Neuheisel — are touring the Middle East, and have learned that in Iraq, a glitzy suite is hard to find. Instead of lounging at the Ritz, they're shacking up in one of Saddam's palaces. In bunk beds. [The Zone Blitz]

To be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, you need exquisite dance technique, plenty of enthusiasm and poise, a vibrant personality and the ability to do high kicks and splits. Also, you should "look well-proportioned in dancewear." And you have to identify a country on Iraq's borders.

An Iraqi striker was shot in the head by a spectator just as he was about to score a game-tying goal against a rival. Holy crap. [BBC]

He eluded U.S. forces much longer than Saddam Hussein, but this 13-pound carp was finally brought to justice recently as part of Operation Catch Fish, on the grounds of Camp Slayer in Baghdad.

Julie Dermansky, a freelance photojournalist from New York, is currently embedded with the military in Iraq. She agreed to talk to Deadspin about the experience, which included a photo shoot with the Buffalo Bills Cheerleaders.

Julie Dermansky is a New York photojournalist currently on freelance assignment in Iraq, where her next-door neighbors in the Baghdad hotel in which she's staying happen to be the Buffalo Bills cheerleaders.

CBS golf analyst David Feherty: "I went to both Iraq and Mississippi. And I can tell you this, I'd rather go back to Iraq than Mississippi." [Yahoo Sports]