Many of its diversions were unintentional, but any lack of planning has failed to reduce the subsequent impact.

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Instead of permitting fans to continue chewing on Eli Manning's emergence as a hero, the NFL and its emissaries were laying the foundation for the Brett Favre soap opera.

Rather than immersing ourselves in the free-agent derby, NFL followers were obliged to learn about the reinstatement efforts of Adam "New-Man" Jones.

Mini-camps were overshadowed by one man's unhappiness with Jason Taylor demonstrating his ability to dance.

And now, our march toward the beginning of big camps has been co-opted by that ongoing hootenanny in Green Bay.

Our efforts to re-establish a primary focus include prematurely judging the merits of the teams we love or love to hate. With such high-mindedness as our guide, we now will attempt to remind you that — based on preexisting assets, draft-day bonanzas and free-agent shopping — almost every team gives us something to be happy about. Almost every team also is rife with reasons to be a bit less cheerful.

We'll begin with the NFC, which manages to drag bragging rights into camp:

NFC East