Month: July 2005 (Page 2 of 2)

      The new and improved NHL…if anyone cares

      July 28, 2005 /

      Writing as one of hockey’s six remaining fans, I am excited about this season. Most team’s rosters currently retain only about half of the players they employed before the locked-out season. How about that new Markus Naslund you’ve had your eye on? A Scott Niedermayer would look pretty good at your blue line. How about a 2005 Khabibulin between the pipes? They could be yours, for cheap too. Everyone is a buyer with a Collective Bargaining Agreement that requires every team to have a minimum salary requirement. In the new CBA, no one player can account for more than 20% of a team’s salary. Thus, if a team signs a Peter Forsberg for the max $7.8 million, that team has to spend the maximum team salary so his contract does not account for more than 20% of the total. This should restrict teams from stockpiling all-stars, and trying to buy a Stanley Cup. Sorry, Rangers fans. GMs will have to be creative like NFL GMs were forced to do, and marquee players may have to *gasp* not go to a team solely for the money. I know, pure lunacy. Unlike NFL teams, though, they will not be able to cut a player and get the cap money back. GMs will have to sleep in the beds they made, whether it’s at a Red Roof Inn or a Ritz-Carlton. Maybe they can even instill some type of team loyalty back in professional sports and market their premier players to the public as more than just a stopgap until someone less expensive comes along and they trade or waive that player.

      Fans become die-hard fans of a team because of the players, usually a player. How many Bulls fans are there because of Michael Jordan? And he’s been retired for seven years (note: Washington never happened). Notice I didn’t use a hockey player in that example. I think they are taking some of the best features from the NBA (max money contracts) and the NFL to come up with a deal that may lead to long-term stability for a league that desperately needs it. Now, if they realized they may have to reduce some of the most expensive ticket prices in professional sports to less than a mortgage payment for a family of four to go to a game, the casual fan may actually head down to the arena rather than change the channel on their way to more reality TV. More on the G-Spot’s take of the new NHL to come.

      NHL

      Alexander, Edge and Walker go camping

      July 28, 2005 /

      There were some interesting developments this week for fantasy owners, most of them concerning potential camp holdouts. Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander signed his one-year franchise tender of $6.3 million and, in exchange, received assurances that Seattle would not place the franchise tag on him next season, they’ll negotiate in earnest on a long-term contract, and they won’t trade him during the season without his permission. This is great news for fantasy owners as now Alexander will report to camp on time and should be a top-five selection in any draft. Another running back threatening to miss camp, the Colts’ Edgerrin James, signed his one-year tender of $8.1 million and projects as a top-10 back and solid late-first/early second round pick, while Packers receiver Javon Walker, whose contract situation had the potential to get real ugly, reported to camp this week as well, resigned to playing under a deal he feels he’s outperformed.

      Then there’s the Saints’ Deuce McAllister, a big disappointment last year for fantasy owners who nabbed him in the middle of the first round. Deuce inked a seven-year contract extension that’ll make him the highest paid player in franchise history and the second-highest paid back in the league. This is a huge indication that the Saints are intent on making McAllister the focal point of their offense once again, which makes the former Mississippi star a huge value pick this year. Don’t forget that McAllister ran for 1,388 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2002 while totaling more than 1,600 yards and eight scores in 2003. Last season’s “meager” totals of 1,074 yards and nine touchdowns weren’t first-round worthy, but Deuce sure looks like a first-round choice this year, even though you should be able to get him in the second or, if you’re real lucky, maybe even the third.

      Fantasy Football

      Clarett passes on guaranteed dough

      July 28, 2005 /

      One thing’s for sure about Maurice Clarett: He has balls. Not a lot of brains, presumably, but he’s got stones. He said all along that he was a first-round talent so when it came time to negotiate his contract with the Denver Broncos, who chose Clarett with the final pick in the third round of last April’s draft, Clarett elected to forgo $410,000 in guaranteed money to sign an incentive-laden deal that could net him as much as $7 million. ESPN reports that, while the details of the contract are sketchy, Clarett could hit an escalator worth more than $1 million if he rushes for 1,000 yards, and the money continues to increase along with the yardage totals. While you’ve got to admire Clarett’s desire to prove his doubters wrong and his willingness to put his money where his mouth is, this seems like an awful big risk for the former Ohio State back to take. The Broncos, as always, are loaded at running back, with Ron Dayne, Quentin Griffin and, the two backs with the best shot at starting this year, Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell. There’s no guarantee that Clarett is going to see much playing time at all this season and, while Dayne has proven he’s anything but an every-down NFL back and Anderson may not be a long-term solution, the Broncos love Bell, a 5-11 second-year back out of Oklahoma State who ran for nearly 400 yards on just 75 carries last year. Clarett obviously is confident that his skills will translate into first-round money sometime down the road, but this may very well prove to be a decision he regrets before it’s all said and done.

      NFL

      Cubs fans show their support

      July 28, 2005 /

      The boo-birds at Wrigley Field this year are out of hand. It used to be that a Cub player could do no wrong. Now, Cub legend Ron Santo would be booed out of the building for not walking fast enough on his two prosthetic legs. Any fan base within five outs of the World Series two years ago is going to have higher expectations than before, especially after a century of losing. I can understand the occasional boos. However, this used to be amongst the most congenial crowds in sports, everybody drunk on beer, chatting on cell phones, and maybe even watching the game. The Cubs have spent the money, have the talent (although injured most of the year), and should be competing every game. With Prior, Zambrano, Maddux, young lefty Rich Hill, and the occasional Kerry Wood start and now relief appearance, we are right to expect wins. But boos are now as common as cheers at Wrigley. Crowds are chomping at the bit for either manager to put in a player they can jeer with the two most common players this year being LaTroy Hawkins and Corey “Trade Bait” Patterson. On Tuesday, the crowd at Wrigley led an inning long “Hawkins sucks” chant after he came in for the Giants in the eighth. An inning long! Even current Cubs players such as Derrek Lee and Ryan Dempster told the media it crossed the line. I can understand booing an opposing pitcher on his way to and from the mound, but a whole inning? Hawkins is lucky Cubs fans didn’t take a cue from Phillies fans and start throwing batteries. But, then their cell phones wouldn’t work. If you have to boo, boo someone deserving, like all of the St. Louis Cardinals.

      MLB

      Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑