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      Vegas likes the Patriots, Packers and Eagles

      August 5, 2011 /
      New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick watches a drill during the afternoon practice session of their NFL training camp in Foxborough, Massachusetts July 29, 2011. REUTERS/Brian Snyder (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      Mad genius Bill Belichick is getting props for his off-season moves, and the odds-makers also like the free agent coups of the Eagles. Of course, they also respect Aaron Rodgers and the Pack, even though they’ve been quiet.

      Here’s how they are ranked when you look at the NFL futures on the odds to win the Super Bowl:

      New England Patriots: 6.5/1 odds

      Green Bay Packers: 7/1 odds

      Philadelphia Eagles: 7.5/1 odds

      The Jets are at 12/1 and the Steelers are at 14/1.

      Check out the rest of the odds and get ready for a fun season.

      External Sports, NFL

      Braylon Edwards is single-handedly destroying is own value

      August 4, 2011 /
      New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards celebrates after he caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Mark Sanchez in the first half of their National Football League game against the Atlanta Falcons in East Rutherford, New Jersey, December 20, 2009. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      Braylon Edwards is 6’3” and 214 pounds, he’s only 28 and has been to one Pro Bowl after racking up 80 receptions for 1,2890 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2007.

      Given those factoids, the current free agent should be in camp right now after signing a multi-year contract with one of the many wide receiver-needy teams in the NFL. But because he continues to prove that a career in football isn’t among his top priorities, he remains in NFL purgatory. And given this latest incident, he may be there a while.

      According to the Birmingham Eccentric, Edwards could end up facing legal trouble for his role in a fight that broke out at a bar in Michigan over the weekend. Apparently two members of his entourage assaulted bar employees with knives and forks and while Edwards wasn’t arrested, two of his cousins have been charged with felonious assault. The bar also claims that Edwards was involved and may have been an instigator.

      That sound you just heard was the incineration of any multi-year deal that Edwards was hoping to land this offseason.

      Now, let me cover my basis and be diplomatic for a second. Edwards wasn’t arrested, nor was he charged with committing a crime. And in this country, you’re thankfully innocent until proven guilty. Thus, Edwards is innocent at the moment.

      But this is also the same man who is already on probation in Cleveland after he reportedly punched a local party promoter in the face outside of a nightclub in 2009. In September of last year, Edwards was also arrested on a drunken driving charge in New York, so there’s a history here. At this point, he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt from anyone.

      Teams were already concerned about his stone hands and his questionable desire. If he winds up being suspended because of this latest incident, Edwards will be lucky to accept a one-year deal at the veteran minimum. In fact, even if he isn’t charged with anything, this incident may be enough for teams to avoid him completely.

      I think it’s telling that the Jets were more willing to sign Plaxico Burress, who is five years older and is fresh out of prison, than Edwards this offseason.

      Update: Edwards has signed a one-year deal with the 49ers, but the contract is only for $1 million. He will receive $3.5 million if he catches 90 passes and makes the Pro Bowl.

      Again, considering he’s only 28 and has a Pro Bowl under his belt, $1 million is chump change. He done screwed up.

      External Sports, NFL

      Billy Hunter thinks NBA season will be canceled

      August 4, 2011 /
      The executive director of the National Basketball Association players’ association, Billy Hunter, speaks to reporters after taking part in contract negotiations between the NBA and the players association in New York June 30, 2011. The NBA was on the verge of its first work stoppage in 13 years after negotiations over a new labor deal collapsed hours before the current collective bargaining agreement expires, the union representing players said on Thursday. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS BASKETBALL)

      NBAPA executive director Billy Hunter believes that the entire NBA season is in danger of being canceled.

      “The circumstances have changed among [David Stern’s] constituency,” Hunter told a group of lawyers Wednesday, as quoted in the Baltimore Sun. “In the last six or seven years, there is a new group of owners to come in who paid a premium for their franchises, and what they’re doing is kind of holding his feet to the fire.”

      Hunter told an American Bar Association conference that if he “had to bet on it”, he would wager that there will be no NBA season.

      “We’re $800 million apart per year,” Hunter said Wednesday, adding, “something has to happen that both of us can use as leverage to save face.”

      If the NFL lockout was bad, the NBA’s situation is far worse due to just how far the two sides are apart. The owners aren’t afraid to cancel the season because many of them would save money (i.e. they’re in the red). Many players have saved up in case of a lockout and are even finding work elsewhere. This looks like it’s going to get ugly.

      External Sports, NBA

      Jordan Farmar to play in Israel

      August 3, 2011 /

      Per NJ.com…

      Jordan Farmar, the Nets’ backup point guard, has reached agreement on a one-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League to play there during the NBA lockout. The deal includes a termination provision in the event the lockout is settled and the NBA season resumes.

      “I’m very excited to play in Tel Aviv,” Farmar told the Star-Ledger. “I went there as a little kid. My stepdad is from Tel Aviv. I watched Tel Aviv play basketball and football — soccer.”
      Farmar, 24, who is Jewish, will initially count as an American on Tel Aviv’s roster. Israeli teams are allowed to dress only four foreign players for league games. Farmar, though, said he will apply for Israeli citizenship “to give (the team) more flexibility, or whatever.”

      As the NBA lockout drags on, more and more players are going to play elsewhere.

      External Sports, NBA

      A-Rod in trouble for playing in illegal, underground poker games?

      August 3, 2011 /
      New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez (13) comes up to bat against the Los Angeles at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California on June 5, 2011. The Yankees won 5-3. UPI/Lori Shepler.

      According to ESPNNewYork.com, Major League Baseball is looking into the allegations that Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez took part in illegal, underground poker games.

      “We’re talking to people involved in the investigation and we’re taking this very seriously,” said an MLB executive who spoke to ESPNNewYork.com on condition of anonymity. “Because he had been warned about this before, I would say a possible suspension would be very much in play.”

      The allegations, first published by RadarOnline.com, are that the New York Yankees third baseman played in at least two of the games, one of which took place at the Beverly Hills mansion of a record executive at which “cocaine was openly used and a fight nearly broke out when one of the players refused to pay after losing “more than a half-million dollars.”

      According to the story, details of which were reportedly provided by another player at the games, Rodriguez “tried to distance himself from the game,” once the violence broke out.

      “He just shook his head, not knowing what the hell happened,” the whistle-blower revealed. “He didn’t want to deal with it at all. He was like, ‘OK, whatever. It’s your game.’ I would estimate A-Rod lost, like, a few thousand dollars that night. After everything that happened, he paid up and left.”

      In 2005, Rodriguez had been warned about gambling in underground poker clubs by the Yankees and by baseball commissioner Bud Selig, both of whom were concerned that possible involvement with gamblers who might be betting on baseball games could result in a Pete Rose-type lifetime ban from baseball.

      Let me get this straight, Major League Baseball turned a blind eye to steroid use for over a decade but a player participates in a poker game and the league is taking the situation “very seriously?” What, if the league can’t make money off the situation then it’s ready to jump into action? Come on.

      Look, I don’t condone drug use and seeing as how A-Rod was warned by the Yankees and MLB not to participate in these games, he’s subject to punishment. But this situation seems rather hypocritical in my eyes. Players probably gamble all the time in the clubhouse or on road trips, but because A-Rod was gambling in someone’s house now it’s a problem? If the league is so worried about a Pete Rose effect, then why doesn’t it ban all forms of gambling? Go Big Brother on everyone. (And really, poker? They’re in a tizzy about a poker game? Get real.)

      Again, Rodriguez had been warned so if he obeyed the people that sign his checks, then he should be punished. But it would be ridiculous if MLB made a huge deal out of this and suspended him for an inordinate amount of games. Besides, had the U.S. government not shut down all of the online poker sites a few months ago, A-Rod could have played in the comforts of his own home.

      Just say’in.

      External Sports, MLB

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