Joe Thornton has lost his captaincy from the San Jose Sharks. For now?

On Wednesday, head coach Todd McLellan removed Thornton from his role at captain as well as Patrick Marleau from his as alternate captain. The team will go into training camp without those roles filled.

According to The San Jose Mercury News’ David Pollak, it will be open competition to see who gets the role of captain and alternate captain (s). Should Thornton and Marleau not retain those titles, players like Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture could be the favorites to get those letters on their jerseys.

I actually applaud this idea because,well,the Sharks need to make some moves considering the piss poor offseason they’ve had following one of the greatest choke jobs in NHL history being up 3-0 on the Los Angeles Kings in their opening round series, only to lose four straight and any hope of hoisting a Cup. Not only that, but they didn’t clean house like I thought they should’ve, so making this move shows me that they are open to new leadership within the players on their team. I will say this,no matter who the captain is, this team needs to show some serious results or else people from the front office down will be working elsewhere.

It’s official: Flipping off the opposing team’s bench is less severe of a penalty than dunking over a field goal post, at least according to Roger Goodell.

Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel gave a one-fingered victory salute to the Washington Redskins bench last Monday night in their 24-23 preseason loss and was fined $12,000. Meanwhile, Jimmy Graham of the Saints was fined $30,000 for his dunks over the goal post,which are now illegal to do in the NFL because you’re not allowed to have fun anymore while playing in the NFL.

I don’t understand how fines and suspensions work in this league anymore. An obscene gesture nets less of a fine than dunking? Also, dragging your fiance out of an elevator is only a two game punishment but smoking weed gets you a year? The way these things are determined are becoming as confusing as the scoring system on ESPN’s Around the Horn. If it was me, Graham would’ve been fined less than Manziel and Ray Rice would be sitting out way more than Josh Gordon. Just sayin…

Does anyone else understand what the Jaguars are doing by starting Chad Henne over Blake Bortles? Because I don’t. Bortles was the third pick in this year’s draft and has played very well this preseason and Chad Henne, who isn’t very good, is starting in the first week of the regular season.

The Jaguars have not been very good the last few years and last made the playoffs in 2007, so why are we starting a quarterback who himself is not very good in favor of a young quarterback who is the future of this team? Shouldn’t the future be now?

Look, I understand why Bortles is getting a clipboard to hold, but there are enough arguments and examples as to why you should throw him to the wolves. Those examples are Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson,and Andy Dalton to name a few. These guys all got to the playoffs in their first season. I’m not Bortles can do the same, but he is in a weak division, so why not give him a chance?

Speaking of stepping up,it looks like someone will have to step up and be the guy to fill in for Sam Bradford,again.

The Rams signalcaller is once again out for the season with a torn ACL, his left one which he injured last season and one has to wonder if he will ever play again let alone next season. It also makes me wonder why the Rams haven’t drafted a quarterback as insurance in case Bradford got hurt again. I don’t think Shaun Hill is going to step in and take this team to the postseason.

I like Jeff Fisher a lot as a coach,but he is in a tough spot here with his quarterback out yet again and he plays in what is possibly the toughest division in all of football. I hope Bradford can recover and resume his career, but the outlook isn’t too good.

I think Joe Panik is definitely the guy who should be the Giants’ everyday second baseman.

Though he had a rocky start, Panik has been hot as of late and his batting average is up to .316 and on Friday he hit his first career home run,a 402-foot blast in the Giants’ 10-3 win in Washington.

“Thankfully, it wasn’t AT&T Park,” said Panik, regarding his first home run. “But I’ll take it. It’s definitely nice to get into a little trot instead of having to bust it into a triple or something.”

Though defensively he has been shaky at times, I think Panik has shown me enough to know that he can be relied on daily at second base. Not only that,but he is finally producing offensively and I hope Bruce Bochy puts him higher up in the lineup in future games.