Week 1's contest between the St. Louis Rams and the Detroit Lions might be very different if Sam Bradford hadn't returned to school before the 2009 NFL Draft, in which the Lions took Matthew Stafford No. 1 overall. That—along with Bradford's competition with Ndamukong Suh the next year—is an interesting fact about a vaguely boring NFL matchup. So of course somebody had to turn it into a controvery: Rumor apparently has it that Bradford stayed in Oklahoma the extra year because he didn't want to play for the Lions.
↵That he ended up playing for the St. Louis Rams the next year would seem to moot that concern. But MLive asked the question anyway, and Bradford confirmed, once and for all, that he didn't spend another year in college and risk losing millions of dollars because he might have to spend some time in Detroit every winter.
↵So now we know. I hope somebody at the Post-Dispatch remembers to ask whether Matthew Stafford wishes the Arch would fall down and crush Busch Stadium, just so we can finally put that spurious rumor to bed.