A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

What: “NFL Jams” CD (Castle Records)

Price: $12.99

The liner notes to “NFL Jams,” almost worth the price of purchase on their own, lay down the concept behind what’s at work here:

“Pro footballers and new-jack talent meet and prosper atop concrete beats. . . . Each song in this concept collection pairs an NFL star with popular hip-hop performers. Over phat tracks that will make any lowrider stand erect with respect, the participants go for theirs discussing life, love and their game.”

For example, “The raspy-voiced rapper Richie Rich drops tight mack chat alongside the Minnesota Vikings’ Esera Tuaolo’s smooth loverboy sentiments”--and why can’t you find this type of writing in Pro Football Weekly anymore?

Other pairings include “Rocket” Ismail and Pharcyde, William Floyd and Celly Cel, Andre Rison and Ghostface of Wu-Tang Clan, and Rodney Hampton and Phife of A Tribe Called Quest.

Given rap’s lyrical reputation for misogyny, bad language and drug and sex references, one question quickly comes to mind:

Where’s Michael Irvin?

Sorry, only PG-rated rap and hip-hop are permitted here, seeing as how the project was sanctioned/sanitized by NFL Properties Inc. The roughest this ride gets is the collaboration between Channel Live and the Seattle Seahawks’ Corey Harris, invitingly titled, “Heads Get Split.”

Stylistically, the vocals of Washington Redskin Scott Galbraith and Indianapolis Colt Ray Buchanan on “When the Cheering Stops” raise the question, “How fast can Barry White run the 40?”

Interestingly, no current Ram or Raider is featured on the album. Then again, “NFL Jams” is not a comedy record, and it’s not gangsta rap, either.