It's Almost Time For the NFL Combine And That Means...Mamula

ESPN dove into the Mamula pool early this year with the annual "Hey, let's get Mike Mamula to talk about how much of a bust he was..."-story that antsy NFL reporters hop on during the post-Pro Bowl dead zone. This year at ESPN, Pat Yasinskas (rhymes with "Dasplinkas" — maybe ) drew the Mamula card, deftly picking through the bones of the former defensive end's "not that bad" career in order to substantiate his theory that just because a guy can bench-press 225 pounds for hours and jump over a mini-van it doesn't mean they'll end up a quality NFL player.

Or, in Mamula's case, Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks, who were the picks the Buccaneers ended up getting after the Eagles traded up to get The Workout Warrior. (Jesus...)

But wait! Yasinskas makes a hard left turn in his dump-on-Mamula story by pointing out to grouchy Eagles fans that Mamula wasn't that much of a bust. But wait! Is Yasinskas just aping Eagles beat writer Reuben Frank's own Mamula story from last year to make this point? But wait...more Mamula! Fox Sports' rat packy Peter Schrager unveils his his own Mamula story which even delves further into Mamulalocity at the NFL combine.

As we get closer to the combine, is the mainstream sports media in jeopardy of falling into, dare I say... a Mamula Overload? We shall see.

And these guys didn't even have to head to a Lonestar Steakhouse in Voorhees to get their stories.

Combine star Mamula was burdened by high expectations [ESPN]