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      Rodgers still harboring bitter feelings when it comes to Favre?

      February 16, 2011 /
      Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is surrounded instantly on the field at the end of the game after leading the Packers to a 21-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in their NFC Wildcard playoff game in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field January 9, 2011. UPI/John Anderson

      An anonymous player told Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com that there’s still some “bitterness” that remains between Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.

      The speaker is a member of the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. He wanted to do something few in Green Bay would ever attempt in the post-title glow: He wanted to defend Brett Favre. Slightly.

      The fact the player wants to remain anonymous says almost as much as the quotations themselves. Favre remains, partly, a radioactive isotope being ripped as petty for still not yet contacting (as far as we know) quarterback Aaron Rodgers to congratulate him for his Super Bowl victory.

      “This is one of those situations where Brett can’t win,” the player said. “If he calls Aaron it looks like he’s grandstanding. If he doesn’t, he seems like he’s selfish and inconsiderate.

      “I can tell you Brett wants to speak to Aaron. He really does and it’s sincere. I don’t know if they’ve spoken yet. I just know Brett wants to bury the hatchet.”

      Really?

      “No question. The big issue is will Aaron want to take the call. That I don’t know. The bitterness remains deep.”

      Is it possible such a phone call between the two men has taken place and no knows about it?

      “Possible,” he said, “but unlikely.”

      Maybe Rodgers would be more willing to receive a text message from Favre instead of a phone call?

      Wait a minute…

      External Sports, NFL

      2011 College Football Program Power Rankings

      February 16, 2011 /
      Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor hands off the ball to tailback Dane Sanzenbacher in the third quarter at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans during the 77th Annual Allstate Sugar Bowl January 4, 2011. The Buckeyes won 31-26 UPI/Dave Fornell

      Almost a year ago we decided to try to quantify the stature of college football programs so that we could rank them against one another. (Click here for the 2010 Rankings.) Then our football guru, Anthony Stalter, wrote a little bit about each program and the direction that it’s headed.

      Here’s how the total points are determined — 20 points for a national championship, 10 for a BCS title game loss, seven for a BCS bowl win, five for a BCS bowl loss, five for a BCS conference championship, three for a mid-major conference championship, two for a BCS conference runner-up and one for a major bowl appearance (i.e. a bowl that has a recent payout of more than $2 million, so for 2011 that would be Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Gator, Insight, Holiday, Champs Sports and Alamo.) You’ll see the total points in parenthesis after the team’s name.

      We put some thought into the point values for each accomplishment, paying special attention to how the point values are relative to one another. For example, we figured that one national championship would equate to four BCS conference championships, or three BCS bowl wins. We only looked at the last five years, as college football has increasingly become a fluid and fickle sport, and that’s about how far back a recruit will go when deciding amongst a list of schools.

      Lastly, since a program is so dependent on the guy in charge, we added or subtracted points if the program saw an upgrade or downgrade at the head coach position in the last five years. A max of 10 points would be granted (or docked) based on the level of upgrade or downgrade. Again, we tried to quantify the hire relative to the program’s other accomplishments. For example, hiring Nick Saban is probably worth two BCS bowl appearances, or 10 points. (Sure, he might lead Alabama to more, but he also might bolt for another job in a year or two.)

      So, without further ado, here are the rankings. Every year we’ll go through and update the numbers based on what the program did that year (while throwing out the oldest year of data), so don’t fret if your team isn’t quite where you want them right now. Everyone has a chance to move up.

      1. Ohio State (58)

      Previous Rank: #2 (+1)
      Some college football fans will take issue with the Buckeyes being No. 1 because of their “soft schedule.” But this is a team that has dominated its conference five of the past six years and has finished no worse than second in each of the past six seasons. They’ve also appeared in two title games (though they lost both) and nine straight BCS bowl games, winning the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl in the past two years. They’ve got an interesting season coming up though. Five of their players including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Dan Herron and receiver DeVier Posey will miss the first five games next year after being suspended. Can the Buckeyes stay unscathed until those players return?

      2. Florida (51)

      Previous Rank: #1 (-1)
      If it weren’t for Urban Meyer leaving the program (and their lousy 2010 season), the Gators would probably still be ranked No. 1. They have three conference championships and two national championships in two years, but the lose of Meyer hurts big-time in these rankings. But don’t fret Florida fans, if Will Muschamp gets the program back on the right track then the Gators won’t be at No. 2 for long.

      Continue reading »

      College Football, External Sports

      La Russa: MLBPA forcing Pujols to ask for a record-setting contract

      February 15, 2011 /
      St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa speaks to reporters before a game against the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on August 13, 2010. La Russa who was given a two game suspension for his part in a bench clearing brawl during a game against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati last week, will not manage the next two games. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

      Tony La Russa doesn’t believe that Albert Pujols is all about the money. He thinks it’s that damn Major League Baseball Players Association that is making Albert Pujols be all about the money.

      From ESPN.com:

      St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Tuesday that he believes the Major League Baseball Players Association is attempting to “beat up” Albert Pujols and his agent in an attempt to get Pujols to sign a record-setting contract.

      And that, La Russa said emphatically, “is bull—-. That’s not the way it should be.”

      “I’m not saying that if I was a union representative I would do it differently,” the manager said. “I’m just saying I think it diminishes the other factors that a player looks at. … I think each negotiation should be based on what’s the best decision — taking everything into account, not taking one thing into account.”

      But because the union sees Pujols as a player who can raise the salary bar, he’s under more pressure than your average player, La Russa said.

      This sort of pressure has gone on for years, with many high-profile players, La Russa went on. But in Pujols’ case, he said, this was “not just arm-twisting. It’s dropping an anvil on your back through the roof of your house.”

      La Russa said he had no specific evidence that Pujols was being pressured by the players union. But he said his many years in the game have made that “a guaranteed assumption. It’s gone on since I started managing. And I don’t think they’d deny it.”

      I think the first sentence in that last paragraph sums up this situation nicely: La Russa has no evidence that the players union is pressuring Pujols.

      Who knows, maybe La Russa is right and the union is pressuring players to get the most they can. But it’s not a stretch to think that the players and agents want to soak every last penny out of teams. Why wouldn’t they? If they’re lucky, players are able to land one, maybe two big contracts throughout their playing career, so you better believe they’re going to stretch the dollar amount as big as possible.

      Besides, I don’t really see a benefit for the union to demand that players ask for as much money as possible. There’s already a natural order to the way contracts are done now. Player A makes X amount in 2010, then Player B makes a little more than what Player A made in 2011. Player C then makes a little more than Player B and the cycle never stops.

      The union already has what it wants, so there’s no real need to put pressure on players. I think La Russa has just grown frustrated that this Pujols contract situation hasn’t been resolved and the players are set to report to spring training.

      External Sports, MLB

      David Stern answers questions about lockout, contraction of New Orleans

      February 15, 2011 /
      NBA commissioner David Stern attends an NBA preseason game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks in Paris on October 6, 2010. The Timberwolves won the contest, part of the annual NBA Europe Live tour, by the score of 106-100. UPI/David Silpa

      David Stern visited Bill Simmons’ podcast on Monday and discussed a wide-ranging set of issues, including a potential lockout and the possibility that the Hornets are contracted.

      Whether the NBA will try to prevent locked-out players such as Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki, while still under contract to their NBA teams, from playing abroad during a potential work stoppage

      “If, in fact, there’s a lockout, then the player is free during the course of the lockout to do what he wants to do if his contract is in effect. I don’t want to play that game with anybody. … If we have a collective bargaining arrangement with the union and there’s a lockout, then last time around [in 1998] players were free to do what they’re going to do, because they’ve been locked out.”

      Conspiracy theories suggesting that one of the league’s motivations in buying the Hornets was to give itself the ability to easily contract one team for leverage in upcoming labor negotiations

      “Well, I guess all I would say to that is that wouldn’t be a conspiracy. I know that there are some owners who might share that view. … Anything that we do gets done by a majority of the owners. All you’re stating is a potential third option. But right now we are steaming full speed ahead with every single possible [intent] to make that team successful in New Orleans, and I think we’re going to succeed. So we’re going to make it unattractive to move it or contract it.”

      Click here to listen to the entire podcast.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Report: Panthers owner belittles Peyton Manning in recent CBA meeting

      February 15, 2011 /
      Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (18) drops back to pass against the Dallas Cowboys during the first quarter at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis on December 5, 2010. UPI /Mark Cowan

      Details are starting to emerge about what Panthers owner Jerry Richardson said to Peyton Manning in a CBA meeting a day before the Super Bowl that got the Colts’ QB and NFLPA so riled up.

      Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports has the details:

      Richardson treated the Colts’ quarterback like a dimwitted child. After Manning questioned the financial urgency of the owners’ request in the absence of documentation – a common union refrain – Richardson became agitated and dismissive while lecturing the player about the risks that their employers assume.

      “He was condescending to Peyton,” said one player who was at the meeting. “He tried to talk about P&L [profit and loss] statements and all these other risks that the owners assume, as if Peyton didn’t know anything. Drew interrupted and said, ‘All we’re doing is just asking you to show us your books. We want to negotiate in good faith.’”

      Said another player who was present: “We were so pissed. Peyton was breathing heavily, and some of us were about ready to jump across the table.”

      As one perennial Pro Bowl player told me Monday morning, “When the owners want to get serious, they just need to get him out of the room – because we’ll never get a deal done with him in there. It’s not professional, and it’s not good business.”

      The last paragraph that I pulled from Silver’s article (which was incredibly well-written and I encourage everyone to check out the full piece) disturbs me the most. If there’s one guy who is keeping the contract negotiations from even getting off the ground then Roger Goodell needs to step up ask Richardson to control himself. Or leave. Or go on vacation. Or go back into food sales and sell the Panthers to someone who cares about the league just as much as he does his yearly profits.

      Guys like Richardson think that the NFL is about making money. He thinks it’s the owner’s league. But it’s not – it’s the fans’ league. It’s our league. It’s our money that lines the owners’ pockets so that they can pay the players and we want football next year. So if Richardson is not a part of the solution, then get him out.

      Jerry Richardson is about to become public enemy No. 1 among football fans. And that’s not good for the rest of the owners.

      External Sports, NFL

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