Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 146 of 1503)

      2011 NFL Draft to be canceled now?

      March 12, 2011 /

      As if the NFL and NFLPA haven’t bent over the fans enough, now it appears as though there may not even be a draft.

      According to Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal, the NFL players’ lawsuit in a U.S. district court is seeking declaration that the NFL draft violates antitrust laws. Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller is even named as a plaintiff in the suit. (How is his draft stock looking these days?)

      Throughout this entire absurd process, fans have been under the assumption that, at the very least, there would be a draft in 2011. But hey, seeing as how there’s no free agency, no trades and there may not even be a season next year, what’s the point in having a draft? Why not take everything away from fans? Clearly the league is not for them anyway. It’s for the greedy players and the even greedier owners.

      My apologizes for sounding like a scorned lover but this is ridiculous. The draft was the last and only thing fans had to look forward to this offseason and now that could be stripped from us as well. Maybe this was a naïve thought but I kind of felt that the draft represented hope that there will be a season next year. But now? Who knows. I’m feeling less optimistic about this situation than ever this morning.

      Buckle up fans, it’s about to get bumpy.

      External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      More concerns emerge about Da’Quan Bowers’ knee

      March 11, 2011 /

      Earlier this week, I wrote a post about how Clemson defensive end Da’Quan Bowers’ draft stock may be falling due to a knee injury and this report from the Denver Post does nothing to refute that claim.

      According to the report, “several teams” insist that Bowers’ knee surgery was more serious than the defensive end claimed. Bowers had arthroscopic knee surgery following the season and was only able to participate the bench press at February’s scouting combine. He has also postponed his Pro Day from March 10 to April 1 as he continues to try and recover from what was thought to be a minor knee scope.

      For Bowers’ sake, I hope he performs well at his Pro Day and he can put the concerns about his knee to rest. He’s a bona fide top 5 prospect and was a terrific player at Clemson. He’s strong, long-armed and extremely athletic. He has excellent closing speed for his size and could turn out to be a very good edge rusher in the NFL. But the concerns about his knee could cause him to drop out of the top 10 and while he would wind up being a steal for whichever team drafted him later in the first, it would cost him millions in the process.

      One thing to keep in mind is that some teams will attempt to sabotage a prospect in hopes that he’ll fall in the draft. But it’s not like this is the first time that a media outlet has reported problems about Bowers’ knee. We’ll just have to wait and see if he can perform at his Pro Day in April and convince teams at the top of the draft that he’s still worthy of being selected among the first five of picks.

      College Football, External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      As owners make last ditch proposal, the NFLPA decides its next move. Could another deadline be coming?

      March 11, 2011 /
      National Football League Players’ Association’s (NFLPA) Executive Director DeMaurice Smith (2nd R wearing hat) arrives with players to continue negotiations between the National Football League (NFL) and NFLPA in Washington March 11, 2011. The parties were still negotiating a range of sticking points, including how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, but the players’ union insist one issue, the NFL’s proposal to add two more games to the regular season, was off the table. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS)

      If you’re searching for the latest news on the NFL labor dispute, good luck. It appears that nobody, not even the most plugged in reporters, knows exactly what’s going on inside those meeting rumors. Which I guess means that the NFL and NFLPA have successfully managed to do something together: black out the media.

      But as we draw closer to the 5:00PM ET deadline that the players have to decertify, SI.com’s Peter King and ESPN’s Adam Schefter have shared a morsel of news via their Twitter pages. According to one of his sources, King says that the NFL owners made revised offers on core issues this morning but Schefter writes that DeMaurice Smith told the players in a conference call to be prepared to decertify. Schefter also notes, “If nothing else, the NFL gave the NFLPA something to think about today with its last-ditch proposal. NFLPA now deciding what’s next.”

      If you want to remain really, really optimistic about the situation, there’s still a chance that the two sides will agree on a new CBA before the players decertify and before the current CBA expires at 11:59PM ET Friday night. If you want to feel somewhat optimistic, then maybe the two sides will agree to another extension and talks will resume next week. If you want to feel realistic, then it appears that the players are heading for a decertification and the owners are heading for a lockout.

      Personally, I’m somewhere in between somewhat optimistic and realistic at this point. I think the Pirates have a better chance of winning the World Series this year than the owners and players coming to an agreement in these last remaining hours. But part of me believes the union has seen enough give from the owners to allow the deadline to decertify pass and agree to another extension. Hopefully my somewhat optimistic side wins out, but I’m also aware that the players’ biggest play is to decertify. If the owners know they can’t decertify, will they be willing to compromise further next week? Doubtful.

      And so we wait…

      Update: Here’s the latest from Schefter: “De Smith: Met with owners till 4. Discussed proposal. Significant differences remain. Informed owners they need more info. Want answers by 5. Significant differences remain. Informed owners they need more info. Want answers by 5.”

      Another Update: The union has decertified.

      So it looks like reality is about to win out. *Shakes head, stomps feet and curses to the NFL gods.*

      External Sports, NFL

      NFLPA is ready to decertify on Friday

      March 11, 2011 /
      National Football League Players’ Association’s (NFLPA) Executive Director DeMaurice Smith speaks to the media as he arrives to continue negotiations between the National Football League (NFL) and NFLPA in Washington March 11, 2011. The parties were still negotiating a range of sticking points, including how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, but the players’ union insist one issue, the NFL’s proposal to add two more games to the regular season, was off the table. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES – Tags: EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS SPORT FOOTBALL)

      The current CBA deadline may be set for 11:59PM ET on Friday but for the NFL and NFLPA to avoid a lockout, the two sides will have to come to an agreement much sooner than that.

      That’s because the deadline for the players to decertify is approximately 5:00PM ET, or seven hours before the CBA deadline is set. And the NFLPA has already filed the paperwork to take the necessary actions once that deadline hits. In essence, the two sides will either have to agree on a new CBA (or at the very least, another extension), or prepare for a lockout/decertification.

      The hiccup in talks still appears to be the owners’ unwillingness to show the players audited financial statements for every team. The owners did open up their books earlier this week, but the players want more intricate details. In the eyes of the union, it’s not enough for the owners to ask the players to take a paycut and only provide overall yearly numbers. The NFLPA want more.

      The players have already won a couple of battles but the war is far from over. U.S. Eighth District Court Judge David S. Doty’s ruling that the owners can’t use the annual TV revenue to financially support a lockout was a big win for the players. And if they decertify, they would be heading back to court with Doty, who has sided more with the them than the owners when it’s come to past labor transgressions.

      But while the players would have an alley in Doty, avoiding him is still the goal. Coming to an agreement with the owners so that there’s a season next year is what everyone (from the NFLPA to the fans) wants in the end. If they decertify, then the divide between them and the owners because much bigger than it already is, which is only fueling the problem.

      External Sports, News, NFL

      RichRod defends Jim Tressel

      March 11, 2011 /

      Former Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez recently appeared on Colin Cowherd’s ESPN radio show and wound up defending Ohio State coach Jim Tressel in the wake of “Tattoogate.”

      From the Detroit News:

      Cowherd told Rodriguez he no longer trusts Tressel; Rodriguez responded by defending Ohio State’s coach.

      “If you run a program at Ohio State or at Michigan or something like that, so much of what you do is public,” Rodriguez said. “There’s not all this crazy cheating and things like that going on that people think. There are some guys out there that bend the rules a little bit or they get around the rules and try to get a competitive advantage. I don’t think that was the case in this at all. There were five guys who sold items who shouldn’t have sold it. And they were wrong for doing it. Did that give Ohio State a competitive advantage? I don’t think so.”

      Rodriguez continued: “There’s coaches out there that are trying to get a competitive advantage the wrong way, a handful, and they seem to get away with it. And there are other coaches that are really trying as hard as they can, doing everything in good faith, and they seem to get nailed. I think that’s the thing that frustrates coaches, like, ‘Geez look at what these guys did, and they’re winning and they did all that.’

      “How do we fix that?”

      Rodriguez’s overall point is correct. The NCAA has a much, much bigger problem on its hands than what Tressel did. He broke rules, made a poor decision and deserved to be punished. But he’s not in the same stratosphere as the coaches who are flat out cheating when it comes to signing recruits. I think it’s safe to say that there are a lot of coaches out there doing a lot worse.

      But even though I agree with some of what he said, I think RichRod is missing the bigger picture when he talks about how there are coaches out there that “bend the rules a little bit or they get around the rules and try to get a competitive advantage.”

      Rules are in place so that everyone has a fair playing field. The fact that some coaches have done far worse than what Tressel did isn’t the point: If you break rules, you should be punished. Granted, there are different degrees of punishment but nobody should be “bending the rules a little bit” or “getting around the rules” to try to get a competitive advantage. Play within the rules and then you won’t wind up embarrassing your program like Tressel did.

      Now, if the NCAA decides to crack a stronger whip and terminates Tressel’s contract, then that’s a whole different can of worms. But until then, it would be nice if college coaches made wiser decisions when it came to running their programs and then something like “Tattoogate” wouldn’t be an issue.

      College Football, External Sports

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