Category: External Sports (Page 173 of 821)

      Why it’s in the owners’ best interest to stall

      April 19, 2011 /
      Jerry Richardson, owner of the Carolina Panthers, arrives to continue negotiations between the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players’ Association (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)

      What I want as a fan as it pertains to the NFL lockout and what I think will happen are obviously two different things. I want the lockout to end yesterday, so that free agency will open and the NFL draft won’t seem like a major inconvenience to all parties involved.

      But what I think is happening right now is pretty obvious: The owners are stalling.

      Some believe that both sides want to get a deal done now. I don’t. I think the players wanted to get a deal done when the discussions first began, while I think the owners wanted a lockout all along and were ready to use the negotiated TV contracts to fund said lockout. But when Judge David Doty ruled that owners like Carolina’s Jerry Richardson (photo above) couldn’t use that money, the leverage swung in the players’ favor and things changed dramatically. The owners then wanted to get a deal done, so they put together what they thought was a reasonable offer before the CBA deadline expired. But at that point, the players wanted to decertify because they knew that if things went to court, Judge Doty would get them the best deal possible.

      But then they went to court and Judge Susan Nelson was chosen to oversee their case – not Judge Doty. The scales have now tipped back in the owners’ favor, even if Judge Nelson lifts the lockout in these upcoming weeks.

      Read the full article at the Washington Post.

      External Sports, NFL

      Reds’ pitcher Mike Leake arrested for shoplifting

      April 19, 2011 /

      Mike Leake and Winona Ryder now have more in common today than they did at the start of the week after the Reds’ pitcher was caught stealing $59.88 worth of T-shirts at a Macy’s.

      Cincinnati.com has the details.

      Reds pitcher Mike Leake was charged with misdemeanor theft hours before Monday’s game after being accused of removing security tags from six T-shirts at a Downtown store and leaving without paying for them, store security and police said.

      Employees at Macy’s called police after they said Leake removed the tags from six American Rag T-shirts, valued at $59.88, and left the store with them.

      The incident was captured by security cameras, police documents state.

      Leake, 23, was arrested at the 505 Vine St. store at 2 p.m. and booked into the jail at 2:32 p.m. He was charged with theft, a misdemeanor carrying a maximum jail term of 180 days. Leake is scheduled for an initial court appearance at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

      For those who were wondering, Leake received a $2.3 million signing bonus as a first-round draft pick in 2009 and is set to make $425,000 for the 2011 season. So obviously Mikey has a problem with shoplifting or he lost a bet. If I were him, I’m telling the media that I was honoring a bet I lost over the winter, I’m a fool and it’ll never happen again.

      The Reds have described the situation as a “club issue” and are dealing with the matter in-house, which is good of them. They need to let the legal process play out and then figure out the appropriate punishment when the time comes. This will all blow over soon, although Leake won’t live this down for a while.

      Here’s hoping one of his teammates is taping a photo of Ryder to Leake’s locker right now…

      External Sports, MLB

      How the BCS keeps small bowls alive

      April 19, 2011 /
      Oklahoma Sooners fans celebrate as the Sooners scored a touchdown against the Connecticut Huskies during the second half of the Fiesta Bowl college football game at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, January 1, 2011. REUTERS/Joshua Lott (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      I’m reading Death to the BCS, an excellent book about the truth behind the Bowl Championship Series written by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter and Jeff Passan. It’s an eye-opening read about how the bowls are fleecing colleges under the guise of non-profit (or charity) status. I really can’t recommend the book enough.

      Here’s an excerpt about how the BCS keeps small bowls alive:

      Know this about the bowl system: It is not subject to a free market, and this is where the future of the smaller bowls comes into play. If left alone, the minor bowls would collapse, and they would collapse spectacularly.

      The BCS operates much like a government, offering a form of welfare to ensure the survival of small bowls. Industry insiders estimate just fourteen of the thirty-five current bowl games are self-sufficient. The rest profit from a system that takes money from universities and guides it into the pockets of bowl operators.

      It’s more shell game than bowl game. Take Minnesota, which agreed to buy 10,500 full-price tickets to the 2008 Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, according to records the school filed with the NCAA. When Minnesota sold only 1,512, it incurred a $434, 340 loss on tickets alone. It spent an additional $1.2 million on travel costs and other expenses. In the end, it cost Minnesota $1.7 million to collect the bowl’s $1.2 million payout. In a vacuum, Minnesota’s bowl experience would have been at least a half-million-dollar financial drain.

      Continue reading »

      College Football, External Sports

      Teams may regret passing on Ryan Mallett

      April 19, 2011 /

      When he speaks to the media, I can see why he rubs people the wrong way.

      When the rumors about his drug use in college are brought up, I can see why some draft evaluators say that they “wouldn’t touch him” if they were a NFL GM.

      But when I look at Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett, I see a quarterback prospect that could potentially make a lot of teams regret passing on him in next week’s draft.

      Here’s what we know about him on the field: He has a cannon attached to his right shoulder and is a prototypical pocket passer, which is something that usually makes pro scouts drool over. At times, he has been known to struggle with his accuracy and ball placement, but when his pocket is good he will set his feet properly by getting into a wide base and will square up his target. Michael Vick he’s not, but he doesn’t have to be either.

      Here’s what we know about him off the field: He admitted to at least experimenting with drugs in college and according to one GM, Mallett was also the first quarterback ever to admit his drug usage to him during interviews. After the way he spoke to the media at the scouting combine, there are many observers who think he’s brash, cocky and arrogant. In fact, some have even gone as far as to say that he’s the next Ryan Leaf.

      Here’s what we don’t know: We don’t know what his behavior will be like once he’s a millionaire. We don’t know if his “experimenting” with drugs in college is actually a real issue and whether or not it’s actually a habit that he needs to kick. We don’t know how he’ll respond to the media on a daily basis or whether or not he can become the first quarterback who played under Bobby Petrino to succeed in the NFL. We may think we know these things, but we don’t.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      MMA Light Heavyweight Rankings

      April 19, 2011 /

      HeavyMMA.com released their latest rankings. Here are their rankings for the top light heavyweights in the sport.

      Jon Jones’ destruction of Shogun Rua at UFC 128 signaled the end of the PRIDE years and heralded the rise of a new fighter who could dominate the division for years to come. Instead of speaking about potential challengers for the title, fans and journalists have been left trying to figure out who in the world could possibly present a stiff challenge for Jones. It’s hard not to get caught up in the hype train, but so long as Jones maintains the maturity he’s displayed thus far, he’ll be fine.
      Will he be the first true mainstream superstar to come from the world of MMA? That remains to be seen. For now, he’s content with simply evolving. Oh, and ruling the light heavyweight division with an iron fist.

      1. Jon Jones
      Jones utterly dominated former champion Shogun Rua at UFC 128 in Newark which lands him atop this poll without any debate. Now comes a fight with Rashad Evans. What? He’s fighting Rashad Evans? It’s true. The former teammates had a falling out and will now square off for the light heavyweight strap sometime this fall.

      2. Rashad Evans
      Evans, a long time Greg Jackson student, has left the Albuquerque, NM camp and set up shop in Florida to prepare for newly crowned champ Jon Jones. Thought to be heading down to middleweight should Jones win the belt, Evans had a change of heart when “Bones” announced he’d fight his then teammate on national television.

      Check out the full rankings.

      External Sports, Mixed Martial Arts, UFC

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