Don't Do It Rook

If JaMarcus Russell can do it, everyone
should be able to do it. 

I am catching up on the NFL before I need to get all the first-second round picks for the different regions plus my Jersey Shore Power Rankings for today.  But strap in and enjoy some depressing stuff from pro football, awesome!  We will start out with something that bothered me more than Comedy Central thinking The Situation could do a comedy roast.

The NFL Players Association told fifteen to twenty top prospects who will get invited to the NFL Draft to not attend the event. The players thought they would be wrong to embrace Roger Goodell who supposedly caused all of this drama. Really? Correct me if I am wrong NFL players, weren't you guys the same ones who agreed to reduce rookie salaries dramatically. Now, you are trying to tell these prospects who had visions of shaking Roger Goodell's hand and holding up the jersey of their future team to forget all of it. Pathetic.



Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers, Tom Brady, and others pushing this idea would not protest the NFL Draft if they were coming into the league, you know why?  All of their collective egos are too damn big to let them pass up the chance of going to New York and having a night be all about them. Mostly, reasons for going to the NFL Draft is to show off your hot girlfriend/wife is, wear an expensive suit, and get drafted in the first ten to fifteen picks with the crowd cheering for you. If you don't agree,  remember the embarrassed awkward feelings things were for Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn when their stays in the green room were prolonged. It's all about your ego, nothing else.

In no way am I trying to imply there is something wrong with getting an ego boost, God knows I love it when it happens. If you did something to the highest level plus you are getting paid for playing the sport you loved as a kid, you deserve it that ego boost. The NFL players should not try to take something away from these prospects because they are dealing with more problems than Tony Hawk. It's like your older sibling telling their young sibiling how wrong something is and try to get inside the naive brain of the younger one. Therefore he or she will agree with the older sibling instead of creating your own opinion on something.

Good for Patrick Peterson for already saying he wants to go to New York. Don't be afraid of the older guys, they would give anything to be in your shoes right now. Because they would not have to deal with the stress of what's going on each day, everyone just wants to be a kid again.

-Charlie.

5 Things Missed if (When) The Lockout Happens

While you are reading this I want you to have Welcome Back-Mase played in the background. Why? Because I haven't wrote anything since the end of the NFL regular season. So I decided to put down my notes about carboxylic acids and their derivatives to talk about something that irked me. I was watching ESPN and they were doing Top 5 things missed if there is a lockout. Marcellus Wiley's list really got me going. I don't remember them all but two that stick out in my head are him missing Drew Brees pumping up the Saints before the game, and watching Michael Vick throw the deep ball. Really? That's what you are going to miss the most, I pray that I heard him wrong but I don't think I did. That's just plain dumb, really dumb. This lead me to think of my own "Top 5" and also I felt obliged to blog so if this thing goes huge I'll get 10% or something.

5. Talk and build up to the regular season

-Seeing how teams come out of training camp and all the hoopla that goes along with that is an exciting time, at least in my opinion. Let's be honest, so much happens before the season even starts, contract negotiations, trades, injuries, fights, players bitching about who knows what and seeing what the rookies can do. Not to mention fantasy football drafts which is part of another further down the list.

4. Wearing my team's gear with relevance

-People will tell you I wear Packer gear like I'm on the IR chillin' on the sideline. With no games going on it won't mean as much repping my team and wearing it proudly. Yes I'll still wear Packer clothes because I'm a big fan but it won't feel the same on Monday after a big W. And wearing the gear will just remind me of nothing to look forward to on Sunday, bummer.

3. Electric Plays

-Lets get real, every year there are plays that just plain "wow" everyone and will never be forgotten. Particular ones that stick out in my head are Donald Driver's catch and run against the 49ers, showing that he's got some gas left in the tank. The other one being Desean Jackson's punt return to end the Giants season.

2. Players coming out of no where

- I love watching football and having some no name or lowly expected player come out and make a huge difference. Seems like every year there are a handful of players who have had mediocre careers or you've never heard of and just take off to have a great year. I think the whole Kansas City Chiefs team can qualify under this one, especially Matt Cassel. Peyton Hillis comes to mind, Desmond Bishop, Caleb Hanie (hehe) and Jacob Tamme. Witnessing new athletes emerge to me is exciting and makes watching the game more fun.

1. Camaraderie amongst peers and fans

-Easily number 1. Nothing is better then everyone coming together on a Sunday afternoon, putting off school or other obligations to watch football. It has definitely become part of our culture when Sunday's in the fall are considered the best days, even if the worst day, Monday, follows. Along with this is the immaculate Fantasy Football leagues and draft like I stated earlier. Since we are all bums now, my friends and I only have this serving a remedy to keep our competitor juices flowing. Digging deeper into this camaraderie, I can think of Water Street as the Packers won the Super Bowl. The bars were absolutely packed and every 10 minutes a Go Pack Go chant would start. Everyone that night were best friends and times like those will be the ones I will miss if (when) a lockout happens.

I'm not a Pulitzer Writer but hopefully you all somewhat enjoyed. If not, your fault for continuing to read.

That is all for now. See you again in 2 months.

Big cat

Cold Front Headed for the NFL

Maybe the Mayans and Nostradamus were talking about the end of the world after all.  The only problem is, the real date is March 3, 2011 at 11:59 p.m.  At that exact point in time, the Earth may stop, volcanoes will erupt, and tsunamis will rise from the depths of the sea.  That is when the world stops turning for many football fans around the world.  The news coming from the NFL and the counter-punch from the NFLPA has led me to believe that this deal for a new CBA will not get done. 

Could this be the Earth at 11:59 p.m. on March 3rd? Or will the NFL get it done?

The fact that the league is prepared to put the NFLPA in front of the National Labor and Regulations Board signals a giant "oh shit" for me and the rest of the dedicated fans of the greatest game in America.  I understand that in negotiations you never present your best offer right away because then you have nothing to bargain with.  Another thing that scares me is how fast the deadline has creeped up on me in particular.  I never had a worry about getting a new deal done, but today it hit me harder than James Harrison hitting Charlie running a crossing route with Mitchy at QB.  Personally, there are just too many issues in play that I really don't see this CBA being signed by the NFL and NFLPA before the NFL Draft, and other analysts are predicting Memorial Day as a hopeful target. 

As a football fan and resident blogger, I'd love to go over all the issues, but that would not do them any justice, nor enhance your knowledge about the negotiating process, but I'll highlight the revenue sharing and do my best to try and understand both sides.

We've all seen the $9B figure across the screen whether we're watching ESPN, the NFL Network, and maybe even some local news channels.  To me I think this is the turning point of all labor negotiations.  This is the lead domino, but the problem is, it seems bigger than a brick pillar holding up Lambeau Field.  From what I understand, the owners are hellbent on reversing their misfortunes from the last agreement and want to retain more of the revenue. As it currently stands, the owners receive and automatic $1B dollar credit off-the-top of the revenues generated by the game to help cover various expenses.  Here comes the number crunching.  That means that the 32 owners, or 32 NFL teams each receive $31.25M from the start. 

Then the players get 60% of the remaining $8B which means that they split $4.8B.  The remaining 40% or $3.2B is again divided by the owners.  To me I really believe that this is a revenge tour fueled by greed from the owners because their 40% means they each get an additional $100M in revenue.  I also understand the concept of running a fully functional and successful business model, but my gripe with the owners is that they lack financial transparency.  That makes me as a fan, question their claims about decreasing operational revenues because I find it hard that they can't each cover $131.25M in expenses.  As a player, I also think I deserve to see how my CEO is running the team.  I want a detailed breakdown of expenses to show where the money is going when the owners take that individual $131.25M to the bank. 

If the owners showed legit findings that profits have decreased then I will change my argument, but right now, how can you argue with a group of 1,696 players that make up the NFL's starting rosters, and many practice squad players splitting $4.8B in comparison to 32 owners/teams splitting $3.2B.  I think my math skills tell me that something isn't right.  Don't get me wrong, I don' think the players should get more than 60% of the revenues and I think the system in place compensates its greatest athletes fairly, not ludicrously like the rookies (which is another debate), but I can't justify them getting less than say 55% of the pie in the end. 

Now, current talks have the owners proposing to skim off the top $2B to compensate for expenses, which doesn't seem unreasonable, but then it looks like they want at least a 50/50 split of the remaining $7B.  To me that is just downright hardballing the players.  Do you really think that they don't know the difference between splitting $4.8B and $3.5B? I'm not sure how this gets resolved.  If the players concede the $2B credit then I expect the NFLPA to bargain hard for no figure less than 55% because De Smith knows the players got a great deal last time, but that doesn't mean he will let the owners come in and steal the kitchen sink in revenue sharing. 

Also, I don't think I've heard this been said in talks yet so correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this revenue sharing could be an area that helps the rookie pay scale and the retired players pension fund.  If the players concede to a rookie pay scale similar to that of the NBA where there is a 2 year contract with a 3rd year option, that moves to a 4th year option based on percentage increase of the 3rd year salary and then in the 5th year they move to a qualifying offer that is a percentage increase over the 4th year salary.  If the players give in to this type of rookie pay scale, which saves the owners money, then the owners need to lend a hand and put a percentage of their $2B credit into a retired pensions fund to help current alumni and set up current and future NFL players for a financially secure post-career life.  If they are willing to dump 10%, which is $200M a year, collectively as owners into the fund, I can't see why the players wouldn't be willing to take that deal.  Now obviously, I'm sure things are more complicated than this, but this is just a simple look into some of the complex issues both sides are dealing with...and oh, I didn't even mention the 18 game schedule. More to come on that in another segment.

-Pat