My choice for NFL MVP will surprise you

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I realize the NFL regular season still has six weeks remaining, but I'll go ahead and reveal the slam-dunk, no-doubt, take-it-to-the-bank winner for this year's Comeback Player of the Year:

Gary Hogeboom.

OK, he hasn't actually suited up for any NFL team this year (or in his case, the past 15 years), but consider that a mere technicality. Hogeboom, the underachieving ex-Cowboys/Colts/Cardinals quarterback, is still playing the game, only this year it's on reality TV in the dense jungle of Survivor: Guatemala. And so far, he's having the best year of his career.

Anybody who watched last Thursday's show knows that Hogeboom made his biggest move to date, somehow turning the game against the more dominant alliance. That came on the heels of his ability in the previous episode to find a hidden immunity idol that saved him from being voted off. In other words, he followed a Hail Mary win with a crafty gameplan that exploited his opponents' weaknesses. Pure NFL genius!

Sure, Hogeboom no longer is concerned about a balanced offense. But he is concerned about balancing a clay jug on his head. You tell me: Which is the tougher chore? Think Donovan McNabb had it tough with T.O.? That's nothing compared to Hogeboom having to process the paranoid ramblings of Jamie from North Hollywood.

Let's face it ... had Hogeboom shown this kind of field generalship while starting in Dallas in the mid-1980s, the Cowboys never would have free-falled to the point of getting the No. 1 pick at the end of that decade. Instead, it'd be Hogeboom's name up there in the Ring of Honor at Texas Stadium, while Troy Aikman (that eventual '89 pick) would have wound up playing three-down offense for the Toronto Argonauts. (OK, I'm pretty sure Troy would have been pretty good no matter what, but you get my drift.)

Hogeboom now seems to be calling the shots among the final seven survivors, a latter-day Unitas in flip-flops and Survivor buff instead of black hightops and wristbands. Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field? Give me the Croc-Infested Waters Near The Maya Ruins.

If Hogeboom -- whose crafty manipulation of the Xhakum tribe is equaled only by his crafty manipulation of the Cowboys locker room in '84 when he stole the starting job from Danny White -- runs the table and wins the $1 million prize, then don't limit him to the Comeback Player award.

Make him the league MVP.

The tribe has spoken.