At a Wisconsin National Guard camp outside Baghdad, detainees have learned the effectiveness of bringing up number 4 in taunting the soldiers. How this wasn't specifically covered in the Geneva Convention, I'll never know.

They know Favre by name," said First Lieutenant Tim Boehnen, who is from New Richmond, Wis.

"One of the big words they know now is shenanigans. They'll constantly talk about 'Favre shenanigans,' 'He's so good for the Vikings,' and 'The Packers have got to really feel bad about that one.' "

"They obviously then started up the conversations, and started talking about Brett Favre. They soon learned about Favre going to the Vikings, and things just started going downhill from there."

Detainees are reportedly also bringing up Ryan Grant's diminishing YPC average, showing soldiers the Aaron Rodgers Sack Tracker, and teasing them about drafting Greg Jennings when Brandon Marshall was still on the board.

Detainees at Camp in Iraq Use Favre To Tease Wisconsin Soldiers [WTMJ]

The Houston Press was following along with Brown's blog as he toured Europe, the Middle East and Africa with other college football coaches. The purpose of the tour was to visit with American troops to cheer them up, thank them for their valuable service, and maybe talk a little football, but a troubling trend started to develop in Mack's dispatches. According to Brown, the rest of the world is hot, dusty, loud, and disease-ridden, jet lag sucks and somebody (I'm looking at you, Tressel) snores.

Just listen to some of the hardships he endured:

May 29 — The upper part of the plane is very hot, while the lower part around your feet (and of course your feet and head if you lay down) could get to 10 degrees or lower. Needless to say sleeping was tough.

Still May 29 — You learn around these folks fighting for our freedom that at war, you can't sleep in on Saturday because you are tired and sore. No weekends off and I'll have to catch up on my rest when I get back from the tour.

May 30 — [The base] probably would look great flying in, but there are no windows in the cargo plane!....it is very hard to keep the time zones and days of the week straight, but it's even harder to keep up with the events in the States, especially sporting events. They have a military television station, but night TV games are on live at 3 or 4 a.m. It's tough to watch the game and go to work early the next morning... I'm worn out and headed to bed.

May 31 — The terrain in Iraq is pure desert, with some breeze, and very thin sand that really burns your eyes. The sun is so hot and so bright the glare makes it hard to be outside without sunglasses...

June 1 — The plane is slow, very loud and hot. You can't hear anything. You must either put ear plugs in or use your iPod....We are tired...Some people have questioned whether I should come on this trip and or why I would....The conditions are very tough. It is very hot and dusty. You feel dirty all the time, and the sand constantly blows in your nose, mouth and eyes. Your eyes start to burn, it is very hard to breathe, and you get a sore throat....We didn't eat at dinnertime because we had a 30-minute practice for the troops....

June 3 — As far as Djibouti is concerned, it was very hot when we got out of bed at 5 a.m. and it was also very smoky because they burn their trash. There were also French planes from next door that flew fighter jets all night. That was very loud and made sleeping difficult.

Mack did learn some things about the rest of the world. He saw a starving family in Djibouti and that made him sad. And on his last day, he finally took back all the mean things he said about the KC-135 cargo planes. (They are actually quite useful!) Yes, it was a rough week for Brown, but he's safely back home in lovely, climate-controlled Texas and will never have to fly commercial again.

UT's Mack Brown Visits The Troops, And Complains Endlessly [Houston Press]
MackBrown-TexasFootball.com [Texas Football]

It's that time of year again: Dallas Cowboys cheerleader tryouts season! Not only do you have to pass a personal interview and present your prom queen tiara, but you also must ace a written test of more than 80 questions ranging from the history of the Cowboys to Pakistani public policy, Proustian memory and the political economy of Papua New Guinea.

Or just memorize some of Iraq's neighbors. Whichever's easier. Some sample questions:

1. Where will the Cowboys play their final home game this season?

2. Where will the Cowboys hold their 2009 summer training camp?

3. Name the Cowboys legend who served as head coach for the team's first 29 years.

4. What year was the Cowboys' first season in the NFL?

(A) 1960
(B) 1962
(C) 1964
(D) 1965

5. How many stars are on the Cowboys Cheerleaders' uniform?

6. Who is commissioner of the National Football League?

7. How many yards are in an NFL end zone?

(A) 10
(B) 20
(C) 30
(D) 50

8. Name one country that borders Iraq.

The answers coming up, right after the break, on this week's episode of "Are You Smarter Than A Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader?" Dare you to get them all right.

Cowboy cheerleaders tryouts require beauty, brains [Dallas Morning News]
Cowboys Looking For Cheerleaders Who Can Name One Country That Borders Iraq [Busted Coverage]
Auditions FAQ [Dallas Cowboys]

Corporal Jason Spakman took first prize in the fishing competition with this beauty, caught in one of Saddam's man-made lakes at the Al Faw Palace Complex, which was formerly used by Baath Party big shots. The building in the background is part of the Victory Over America Palace, which was unfinished due to several pesky U.S. bombs in 2003. From Julie Dermansky's blog:

The man-made lakes around the palace complex are stocked with bass and carp. Soldiers fish at various spots on the base. This year's "Operation Catch Fish" was the second annual fishing competition in Baghdad. Jason recieved a 26 inch flat screen TV as his prize. This year 450 troops participated in the event, up from 250 the first year. The organizers plan to bring another 250 poles next year despite talk of a draw down of troops.

More photos here.

And after a day of fishing, a little golf. Lt. William Thomas from Texas launching a few from the JVB hotel. We all remember the JVB Hotel, right?

Dermansky is a New York photojournalist embedded with various U.S. military units in Iraq. Her next assignment: Prowling the border between Iraq and Iran, which should be a barrel of laughs.

Baghdad's Flintstone Village [Julie Dermanky's Blog]
Julie Dermansky Main Site

So how does a freelance photographer get permission to go to Iraq? How did the trip come about?

I was working on a project with the Louisiana National Guard. They have been patrolling the streets of New Orleans since Katrina, set to pull out at the end of this February. I did a book called Under the Radar, the National Guard in New Orleans. Myself and a cameraman I work with are also putting together a documentary about the Guard's work in New Orleans. He and I asked permission to be embedded with the Guard (meet up with units that had some of the same guys we worked with in NO) in Iraq and were given permission. To be embedded you need a professional organization to sponsor you. We got Fox, a local affiliate in New Olreans and LPB (Louisiana Public Broadcast TV) to be ours. LPB will get first look at the documentary we are collaborating on and we have been feeding Fox 8 dispatches.

When did you first decide you wanted to do this?

The trip started off with me doing a project I wanted to do long before meeting the Guard — which was me shooting Christmas portraits for them as my gift to them. The way I see it — the military are only shown when they are dead or have done something bad. I wanted to show them as individuals.

What surprises you most about being over there?

This is my first trip to Iraq — to any active war zone. What has surprised me the most is seeing first hand the scale of the war machine over here.

How did the Bills cheerleader shoot come about? Did you approach them? How did you meet them?

It was a total coincidence. They were going to perform for the unit we are working with — and we had to leave to get elsewhere so thought we'd miss them. By chance they turned up at the same hotel we were put up at. I asked if they would like pictures shot and they said yes. No press was covering their tour in Iraq.

What was the hotel like? What did the cheerleaders think of hanging out in one of Saddam's meeting places?

The cheerleaders didn't comment so much about the hotel, but instead on how moved they were by their experience of meeting the troops, making them happy meant a lot to them. The luxury is eerie but welcome. It isn't a five star hotel anymore as the stars above the grand entrance way claim. It has bunk beds in the rooms and serves food brought in from the main mess hall, but high ceilings, lush curtains, elegant furniture and marble floors offer unexpected elegance fitting of a five star hotel.

Is that a Ming vase I see in the background in one of those shots? Wow.

I'm not up on my vases so I can't say.

What was the general reaction of Iraqis to seeing the cheerleaders?

The girls told me the Iraqis were pleased to meet them and all begged them to tell Americans not to pull out and keep them safe. They went to 7 different sites. The girls were out and about. Not on streets though — you can't go on streets in Iraq — just on on base! On base it is all military and private contractors. The girls turned some heads among those guys.

I assume that Iraqi kids play soccer. Have you seen any of that? Do they play other sports?

Yes I have seen some soccer playing. I haven't seen anything else sports-wise. Just visited a few schools and seen them in classrooms.

Have you ever done any sports photography?

I shot one game of the Saints in action in 2007, and shot the Manning Family Passing Camp last summer. I like shooting sports but haven't had many assignments so far.

JVB Hotel, Luxury In Baghdad [Julie Dermansky's Blog]

Called the JVB Hotel, it was once one of Saddam Hussein's favorite meeting places, and is just across the street from one of his former palaces, now part of Camp Victory in Baghdad. So naturally, everyone involved was thinking, photo shoot! From Julie's blog, posted on Monday:

It was one of Saddam's favorite places to hold meetings and the place his last interview on network TV was held before he was hung. The chair he sat in for the interview remains and is used by guests. The luxury is eerie but welcome. It isn't a five star hotel anymore as the stars above the grand entranceway claim. It has bunk beds in the rooms and serves food brought in from the main mess hall, but high ceilings, lush curtains, elegant furniture and marble floors offer unexpected elegance fitting of a five star hotel. ... The Buffalo Bills cheerleaders, who are spending a week in Iraq performing, stayed in the room across from me.

More photos on Julie's Flickr page, and over at her blog. The latter is a rather fascinating account of her time in Iraq, and well worth scrolling through.

This is the second straight year that the Bills cheerleaders — actually the Buffalo Jills, sorry — have visited Iraq. And Bills guard Brad Butler just got back from there as well.

JVB Hotel, Luxury In Baghdad [Julie Dermansky's Blog]

The Iraqi team stood on the podium waiting to be awarded their medals. The music swells; the crowd goes nuts. A moment of national pride ... and then they played the Saddam-era Iraqi national anthem.

Some players and members of the Iraqi delegation walked out in protest when the organizers put on Saddam's anthem instead of the country's new one, according to Bassam al-Husseini, a representative of Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who flew with the team. After Saddam's overthrow, new Iraqi authorities selected "Mawtini," a folk tune popular throughout the Arab world, to replace the old anthem which glorified Saddam's Baath party.

They blamed a surely-to-be-fired-soon music technician for playing the wrong song. Those Iraqis, man; can't catch a break. Someone should do something, maybe.

Oops! Iraqi Soccer Team Welcomed By Saddam's Anthem [Lion In Oil]