August 3: What you missed

Another day from the VMAC meant another full lineup of guests on “The Kevin Calabro Show.” First up with Paul Silvi and Jim Moore was Hall of Famer Mike Ditka, who offered his take on the whole Brett Favre situation.

Ditka ultimately believes that the Vikings are a talented enough team to entice Favre into coming back for one more shot at a Super Bowl. But if he was in Brad Childress’ shoes, he wouldn’t let things drag out they way they do each offseason.

“You know, I’m old school,” said Ditka. “I would go down and I’d talk to him face-to-face and I’d say, ‘Listen. We have to know because you’re teammates have to know. We’re hanging them out to dry right now.’ That’s basically what I would say.”

To listen to the full interview with Coach Ditka, click here:

Later, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck stopped by to discuss the near game-like atmosphere created by the fans at the VMAC.

“It’s fun,” said Hasselbeck. “The energy from the crowd definitely helps. We had one practice where they weren’t here … and everyone’s like, ‘Well, we’re just simulating like we’re playing in St. Louis.'”

Hasselbeck also expressed his desire to get first-round pick Russell Okung signed and into camp.

“Anytime you are counting on a guy like we’re counting on him, it would be really nice to have him here,” said Hasselbeck. “It’s unfortunate that it’s gone on this long. … Hopefully he can get here soon, we would love to have him.”

To listen to the full interview with Matt Hasselbeck, click here:

Next up on the show was the always entertaining T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who explained how he came to be primarily known as a slot receiver.

“Perception is reality,” stated Houshmandzadeh. “My whole career I’ve been a receiver that runs a lot of shorter routes and catch the ball, get tackled, because I can do that. … We [in Cincinnati] didn’t have anybody besides Peter Warrick that could play in the slot, and when he went down it was, who else can we try in there? I was the guy because I was the only one on the team who could play in the slot after trying different guys out. It was, ok, T.J. is the only one that can do it now on the team, so that kind of became my role.”

To hear more from “Housh,” including where he thinks he would finish in a footrace with the other Seahawks receivers, click here:

Also joining the show after practice was Seahawks tight end John Carlson. He admitted to being disappointed in his play last year, but has high expectations for 2010.

“The goal this year is to be productive on offense, to score a lot of points, to help the defense out, and then we’ll all have pretty good numbers,” said Carlson.

If you’d like to hear what Carlson thinks of the Notre Dame-USC rivalry, what kind of dog he has at home, and more, click here: