The disclosure was made in
response to a petition filed by Urlacher regarding allegations that the mother,
Tyna Robertson, has violated the terms of a visitation order.
Urlacher's lawyer said he hasn't
reviewed the document, and he referred generally to her alleged history of not
telling the truth. For example, she once claimed that "Lord of the Dance"
star Michael Flatley has raped her, but a judge threw out her $35 million
lawsuit against him.
Still, it should be easy to
confirm that the messages came from Urlacher's device. Or that they did
not. What does she plan to say if the court wants to see the messages?
"I lost my phone last night"? "I accidentally erased the messages this
morning"?
The alleged messages contain the
perfunctory use of the "F" word, and various other profanities and indignities.
The most troubling message, in our view, was an alleged assertion from Urlacher
that Robertson is "raising a little pussy," in reference to his son.
We're not sure how this all will
work out, but in our view Urlacher's biggest mistake was getting mixed up with
the woman in the first place. And, if he sent the messages, in not
realizing that he might see them again.
POSTED 9:41
p.m. EDT, July 8, 2007
MAAS OUT OF JAIL, COULD BE IN
HOT WATER
The AP reports that former
NFL lineman and FOX broadcaster
Bill Maas was released from jail on Sunday, after being charged with felony
possession of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a weapon.
His companion, Sarah Murphy, was
charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana.
Maas and Murphy are required to
return to Court on August 21. They currently live together in Lee's
Summit, Missouri.
But, as a reader has pointed out
to us, the fact that Maas was arrested in Illinois could make the potential
penalties much stiffer. In 2001, Illinois
stiffened its laws regarding ecstasy in an effort to curb its usage.
Meanwhile, we've been trying to
find some video of Maas uttering some of his on-air asinine remarks, but the
only Bill Maas we can find on YouTube specializes in Festivus-style feats of
strength.
NO. 19 IS UP
Unlike those other lists of the
top 25 players over the past 25 years, which don't include weekend updates, we
don't stop pulling more names out of the PFT hat simply because the calendar
says "Saturday" or "Sunday."
Several readers have advised us
that ESPN Radio's John Kincade was openly praising on Sunday morning our recent
take on the Mike Vick situation.
It's risky territory for Kincade,
since we've been very critical of late regarding ESPN's both-sides-of-the-fence
reporting on the matter. On Saturday, we bashed Len Pasquarelli's attempt
to harmonize the conflicting reports, and laid out a summary of the facts that
contradicts Len's belief that Vick might be nearly out of the woods.
So we respect Kincade, assuming
that the various readers from whom we've heard today aren't confusing him with
someone else. And we respect the powers-at-be at ESPN Radio for letting
the hosts speak their minds.
Though broadcast networks
generally have been moaning about the overall profitability of showing NFL games
on their channels, times could be changing. For now.
Per the report, a strong economy
has increased spending by companies such as automakers and beer distributors.
Also, there is less trepidation this season; last year, the disappearance of ABC
and the purchase by NBC of the Sunday night package led to slower sales.
"Last year at this time, there was
a lot of skepticism in the marketplace, a wait-and-see attitude," Seth Winter,
senior VP of NBC Sports told Variety. "Buyers were worried that
football fatigue would set in by the time NBC came on the air in primetime."
ESPN, which pays more than $1.1
billion per year for the rights to Monday Night Football, already has
sold more than 50 percent of its ad space for the season.
Maybe the networks will reinvest
some of that money in luring more viewers to their broadcasts. There are
impressive advertising opportunities on, for example, the Internet, where
certain niche web sites cater to key demographics. I mean, we're just
sayin'.
MAAS, MARINO'S SISTER DIVORCED
YEARS AGO
Multiple league and industry
sources have confirmed that, though the Dan Marino archive on SportingNews.com
still says that he is the brother-in-law of former NFL lineman and FOX announcer
Bill Maas, the marriage between Maas and Marino's sister ended roughly 15 years
ago. We're also told that Maas and Marino, former teammates at Pitt, have
been on the outs since the marriage ended.
One of the sources says that Maas
has been reclusive since he was removed last year from the weekly slate of FOX
NFL games. Not long ago, Maas was regarded as a rising star on FOX.
With Matt Millen gone, Maas was in line to become the next John Madden.
But something happened over the
past couple of years. For whatever reason, Maas lost his fastball.
And his curve. And slider. By last season, he was reduced to making
mostly inane comments on the games that were being piped into eight percent of
the U.S.
On Saturday, Maas was arrested on
felony weapons and drug charges in Illinois at a routine traffic stop.
POSTED 3:32
p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 3:57 p.m. EDT, July 8, 2007
VICK MIGHT BE SAFER IN JAIL?
With all the talk about whether
Falcons quarterback Mike Vick will face federal charges as a result of the
dog-fighting operation found on property he owns in Virginia, there's one key
factor that has yet to be addressed.
What kind of a reaction will Vick
receive on the football field, regardless of whether he gets indicted?
A source having contacts with many
NFL players tells us that many NFL players are "incensed" by Vick's offseason
misadventures, and that reality is prompting speculation as to whether Vick will
face late hits, cheap shots, and/or other indignities between the white lines.
And what about his teammates?
Will the linemen block as zealously for a guy who, at a minimum, was so
oblivious to what his family members were doing that they were able to brazenly
start and maintain a dog-fighting ring on his land? Sure, they'll all say
the right things publicly, but there's no way of knowing what is going on in
their heads, or whether one or more of them might in a key moment release his
block a split-second early, putting the quarterback in greater jeopardy.
What of the officials? Will
they look the other way if/when Vick is targeted for a little more roughness
than what might be necessary?
Will the league office crack down
with fines? Will the Falcons complain to the media if the league office
doesn't?
Can we continue to ask questions
without answering any of them? And while we're act it, exactly where is
the beef?
Anyway, it's an interesting point
to ponder as training camp approaches. Apart from any verbal abuse that he
might get from fans (on the road or at home), we think there's a very real
potential for this inherently physical game to take on a far more physical
component when other players get a chance to take a shot at Mr. Vick.
VICK'S LAWYER WAS PRESENT FOR
SECOND SEARCH
One interesting fact regarding the
Friday, July 6 search of Mike Vick's property by federal agents that has been
generally overlooked by the national media (especially those segments of it who
are intent on reporting that Vick has nothing to worry about) is that, according
to Mary Kay Mallonee of WAVY-TV,
Vick's lawyer was present on the property during the search activities.
Though the lawyer's presence
isn't, standing alone, evidence that Vick is destined to be charged with any
crime, why would the lawyer feel the need to monitor the activities if he has
been told that Vick likely won't be indicted?
Really, does it make any sense
that Vick would send his personal attorney to a property that he claims to have
never visited if Vick truly has never been there?
Regardless of what it all means,
we're surprised that larger media outlets haven't mentioned this fact, which was
pointed out to us by a reader.
2007 ALL-TURD TEAM COMING
MONDAY
We're polishing off the members of
the offense for the 2007 ProFootballTalk.com All-Turd Team, and we plan to pull
the sheet off of the cake on Monday.
Later in the week, the defensive
team will be announced.
If you have any specific folks in
mind (apart from the usual suspects),
drop us a line and make your case.
POSTED 9:10
a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:54 a.m. EDT, July 8, 2007
FISHER STILL HAS NO EXTENSION
When the Titans decided to
exercise the final-year option on coach Jeff Fisher's contract, it was reported
that the team would also give him an extension beyond the 2007 season.
The reports might eventually come
to fruition, but they haven't yet. With training camp only a handful of
weeks away, Fisher is still in lame-duck status.
The reason for the delay isn't
clear. It could be that Fisher wants more money than owner Bud Adams is
willing to pay. It could be that new G.M. Mike Reinfeldt, who was hired
after the team opted to pick up the one-year option, wants to evaluate Fisher
before locking him up. General Managers usually like to hire their own
head coaches, no matter how well the incumbent coach might be doing (see
Jerry Angelo, Dick Jauron).
Another possibility at work here
is that Reinfeldt (we're told) is firmly in the mix to be the next president of
the Packers. So if the Titans are going to be hiring a second new G.M.,
maybe they prefer to let the next new G.M. make the decision on Fisher.
And maybe there's a chance that Fisher will be the next G.M. of the team as
well, if not in name then at least in authority.
Regardless of the reason for the
current cloud of uncertainty, it's going to be hard for the Titans to build on
last year's late-season success if there is uncertainty in the locker room about
whether a new boss will be in place come January.
MARINO, MAAS HAVE FAMILY
CONNECTION
One thing we didn't previously
know about former NFL defensive lineman and (likely) former FOX analyst Bill
Maas is that he is the brother-in-law of Hall-of-Fame quarterback Dan Marino.
The connection has no relevance
whatsoever to the news that Maas has been busted in Illinois on felony gun and
drug charges, but our post regarding the arrest prompted a reader to point out
the connection to us, and
this item from
SportingNews.com confirms it.
Marino and Maas played college
football together at Pitt.
Another interesting connection
between the duo is that, when Marino had his breakout year in 1984 with the
Dolphins, Maas was named
the AP
defensive rookie of the year in that same season.
UPDATE: A
member of the national media believes that Marino's sister might have divorced
Maas back in the 1990s. We're checking on it.
S Brian Dawkins thinks that the
Eagles are one of the short-list NFC teams that can make it to the Super
Bowl. (In light of the dilution of talent in the conference, we think that
any of them can get there.)
When it comes to understanding why
the Bears cut Tank Johnson, Carol Slezak of the Chicago Sun-Times
simply doesn't get it.
Richard Justice of the Houston
Chronicle says that former G.M. Charley Casserly "couldn't
evaluate a player."
Maas, whose profile plummeted in
2006 with FOX, was stopped at a roadside check point. Because he seemed
nervous, police asked for permission to check the car.
He agreed.
They found a loaded 22-caliber
revolver hand gun, 5 grams of marijuana, 6 grams of cocaine, and 28 ecstasy
pills.
Police arrested Maas and the
passenger in his car, 27-year-old Sarah Murphy of Missouri.
Maas spent nine seasons with the
Chiefs and one with the Packers. He was relegated to spot duty on FOX last
year, and presumably won't be back in 2007.
SATURDAY NIGHT ONE-LINERS
Only eight days remain for the Pats to work out a multi-year deal with
franchised CB Asante Samuel.
Former NFL K Steve Christie likely
will remain a former NFL kicker after
coming up six
yards short on a 47-yard field goal try.
On Friday, ESPN proclaimed that
Falcons quarterback Mike Vick likely won't be indicted by federal authorities in
connection with the investigation regarding the dog-fighting operation, known
according to a federal complaint as "Bad Newz Kennels," that was housed on
property that he owns.
On Friday night, we called out
ESPN for trying to play both sides of the fence on the Vick issue, reporting on
one hand that he's a "heavyweight" among dog fighters and on the other hand that
he's likely to get away with it.
Amazingly, Len characterizes the
overall events of Friday, on which federals investigators wanted to find, and
did find, ten more dog carcasses in shallow graves on property that Vick owns
(did we mention that he owns the property where the dead dogs were found?) as a
positive for Vick, since it came with the news that he's not likely to be named
in the first wave of indictments.
In the last line of the story, Len
calls Friday's events a "respite" for Vick and the Falcons organization.
A respite? What will he call
the day that Vick does a perp walk? A brief detour through a meadow of
daisies?
Though Pasquarelli (and,
vicariously, ESPN) acknowledges that Vick shouldn't exhale yet and that the
"ongoing investigation" could still entangle the guy who owns the property
hosting the dog fighting operation named for the slang reference to the town
where he was raised, the overall tone of Len's latest item is that Vick is, was,
and probably will be deemed innocent, and that anyone who thinks otherwise
either is jumping to unwarranted conclusions, or is a racist.
But let's summarize the available
evidence:
1. Vick owned the property
from which more than 50 dogs and evidence of dog fighting were seized in late
April.
2. Vick's first and only
comments came two days after the initial search, when evidence and details were
still sketchy. "I'm
never at the house," he said on April 27. "I left the house with my family
members and my cousin.
They
just haven't been doing the right thing."
How in the hell could Vick know
that his family members "haven't been doing the right thing" only two days after
the search happened? It was, in our view, a colossal slip by Vick, since
only someone who had knowledge of what was happening there would have enough
information to publicly blame his family members for it.
3. Vick has only ever said
"I'm never at the house." Somehow, his contention has been mangled by the
"real" media into "I'm
rarely at the house."
The distinction is HUGE.
In a case like this, where there
likely will be no direct evidence of Vick's presence at a dog fight,
circumstantial evidence is critical. Given the size and the scope of the
dog fighting operation, any credible evidence to contradict his "I'm never at
the house" routine is devastating to the
Sgt.
Schultz defense that Mike tried to float before the lawyers crammed a sock
in his throat.
4. Multiple reports later
surfaced from credible media operations like SI.com and ESPN's Outside the
Lines linking Vick directly to dog fighting. Chris Landry of FOX
Sports Radio said that Ray Buchanan of FOX Sports Radio (and formerly of the
Falcons) explained during the weekend of the draft that Vick was clearly
involved in dog fighting and openly talked about it in the locker room.
When confronted with the issue, Buchanan gave (in our opinion) an extremely
unconvincing explanation, and it was clear to us that his sole motivation was
and is to avoid snitching on a current NFL player.
5. Through all of the media
reports tying him to dog fighting, Vick and his handlers have not uttered a
single peep. In a court of law, silence cannot be regarded as evidence of
guilt. In the court of public opinion, the notion of a truly innocent man
saying nothing at all as his name and reputation are dragged through the dog
doo-doo by false and fabricated media reports is downright damning.
6. Federal authorities have
twice been to the property, and have removed a total of 17 dog carcasses.
The fact that they got what they were looking for suggests that they have an
informant who is giving them solid information. Thus, it's unlikely that
many (any) of those dogs died of natural causes, but that the bodies instead are
evidence that (as alleged in the federal complaint filed earlier this week) the
members of the Bad Newz Kennels often killed canines that had been on the losing
end of a fight.
7. In June, Vick's cousin
who lived at the house, Davon Boddie, gave a bizarre interview to WAVY-TV,
during which he claimed that the dogs found in April had been planted on the
property by folks who snuck through the woods.
Folks, if you add all that up and
apply some basic common sense, it doesn't look pretty for the guy that owned the
property that housed the dog-fighting operation.
Also, there's no evidence that the
feds have interviewed Vick or Boddie or anyone else who knows anything about the
situation. Our guess is that the authorities are wisely and prudently and
patiently getting their forensic evidence buttoned up before they start turning
the screws up on the suspects.
That specific aspect of the
investigation could lead to all sorts of interesting outcomes. If anyone
lies to investigators, they'll be subject to the Martha Stewart/Scooter Libby
treatment. If they exercise their constitutional right not to speak, they
are inviting indictments, since they will have provided investigators with
nothing to refute any conclusions that have been drawn regarding potential
guilt.
In light of everything set forth
above, and given the current status of the investigation, we firmly believe that
anyone who thinks that the man: (1) who owned the property; (2) who
initially claimed that he never goes there; (3) who blamed his family members
for "not doing the right thing" at a time when it was too early to conclude that
anyone had done anything wrong; and (4) who has since kept his mouth shut in the
face of damaging evidence is not the chief suspect in and ultimate target of the
ongoing investigation is naive, stupid, biased, or some combination of the
three.
The Virginian-Pilot reports
that federal investigators on Friday removed 10 dog carcasses from shallow
graves on property owned by Falcons quarterback Mike Vick in Surry County,
Virginia.
In June, the feds reportedly found
seven dead animals on the property.
Even if Vick is ultimately not
charged for the extensive dog-fighting operation housed on property that he
owned, the fact that this kind of stuff was happening on real estate registered
to a prominent NFL quarterback is significant, and it likely will prompt calls
from animal rights groups for some type of punishment of Vick.
If Vick ultimately is indicted on
dog-fighting charges, all hell could break loose, with NFL sponsors and partners
rising up and demanding action.
Given that corporate sponsors were
able to bully MSNBC and CBS Radio into dumping Don Imus for making an off-color
joke, the NFL will find itself in a very delicate position if the guy who not
long ago was one of the faces of the entire league is facing allegations that he
knowingly hosted and/or participated in animal fighting.
SATURDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS
LB A.J. Nicholson is trying to
work out his current legal entanglements; his attorney says that "numerous
NFL teams" are interested in him.
A league source tells us that the
Chicago Bears opted to dump defensive tackle Tank Johnson only one business day
after news broke last month of a speeding stop that resulted in suspicion of DUI
because the team concluded that Johnson is a "con man" who cannot be trusted.
The opinion of the organization
arose from Tank's public and private statements suggesting that he was putting
his troubles in his past, and was planning to become a model NFL citizen -- at
one point declaring that he plans to win
the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
But his actions told a different
story. Though he ultimately was found to be within the legal limits of
alcohol concentration, by the
wafer-thin
margin of 0.008 percent, the fact that Johnson would get behind the wheel of a
car after drinking booze while on the heels of prison and an eight-game
suspension told the organization all that it needed to know.
Meanwhile, several readers have
asked us whether the fact that alcohol was found in Johnson's blood tank will
trigger a finding that he has committed another violation of his pre-existing
probation. A league source tells us that Johnson emerged from his prison
stay with a clean slate, subject to no probation or other restrictions on his
activities.
NO. 20 IS UP
We've posted the latest addition
to our list of the best 25 NFL players of the past 25 years.
And let's pause for a moment to
ponder the realities of identifying the best 25 players from a 25-year window.
Every year, roughly five guys are inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
This means that, over two-and-a-half decades, 125 or so players will emerge who
are eventually deemed worthy of canonization in Canton.
So to trim that list from 125 to
25 is to eliminate a whopping 80 percent of the Hall of Famers from the
designated era.
Please keep that in mind while
typing that next e-mail to us questioning the sanity of our selections.
POSTED 11:03
p.m. EDT, July 6, 2007; UPDATED 5:34 a.m. EDT, July 7, 2007
DOES "BAD NEWZ" EQUAL "NEWPORT
NEWS"?
The complaint filed earlier this
week by federal authorities hoping to assume possession of the dogs seized from
Mike Vick's Surry County, Virginia property in April alleges that the
dog-fighting operation there was known as the "Bad Newz Kennels."
Our own Taco Bill, who apparently
spends his spare time boning up on all of the latest slang posted on the
oft-hilarious Urban Dictionary, has found on the site an entry for "Newport
News," the town in Virginia where Vick grew up.
The first sentence reads as
follows: "Newport News,
affectionately known as Bad Newz is one of Virginia's largest cities in
perhaps the largest metropolitan area in Virginia."
Though this link doesn't
necessarily mean that Vick was involved in the dog-fighting operation, the fact
that it bears the street name of his hometown does nothing to distance him from
the enterprise housed on the property he owns.
For the second time in two days,
an NFL player has been arrested in South Carolina.
On Thursday, it was Raiders
defensive end Bryant McNeal. On Friday,
Chargers rookie
linebacker Anthony Waters was charged as a result of a July 3 incident in
which he allegedly hit a man who allegedly threw a rock at his car.
Colby Sarvis, 18, allegedly threw
the rock. Waters and a friend, Brian Rogers, then allegedly hit Waters "on
his head and body."
Waters, who played college
football at Clemson and was taken in the third round of the April draft by San
Diego, was charged on Friday with simple assault and battery, and was released
on $1,000 bond.
PATRICK FEELING "BORED" AND
"BOXED IN"?
An industry source tells us that
the current will-he-or-won't-he exercise regarding ESPN's Dan Patrick arises
from Patrick's feelings of being "bored" and "boxed in" after 18 years in
Bristol.
The source says that Patrick has
asked to be released from his contract, and that talks are ongoing.
Also, the source says that
Patrick's unprecedented case of public wanderlust is supposedly not about money.
Patrick is a fixture on ESPN's
signature SportsCenter broadcast, and he has a three-hour weekday show on
ESPN Radio. He plays a prominent role in the ABC/ESPN coverage of the NBA,
hosting the in-season studio show on ABC.
POSTED 8:15
p.m. EDT, July 6, 2007
ESPN PLAYING BOTH SIDES OF VICK
FENCE
In May, ESPN reported that Falcons
quarterback Mike Vick is a heavyweight in the dog fighting world.
Now, on the same day that the
federal agents returned to Vick's Surry County, Virginia property for the first
time in more than four weeks to search for "more" animal remains,
ESPN is reporting
that Vick is unlikely to be indicted.
So, basically, the net result of
ESPN's reporting is that Vick is a dog fighter, and that he will get away with
his crimes.
Frankly, we don't buy it.
We've inspected the documents obtained on Friday by the Associated Press,
and they outline a dog-fighting operation so detailed and extensive that there's
no way any reasonable person would believe that Vick was unaware of the venture,
especially if those early reports from Virginia television stations regarding
the frequency of his visits to the property are remotely accurate.
In support of its latest premise,
ESPN's report seems to emphasize the notion that Vick isn't named in the federal
complaint aimed at securing legal possession of the dogs that were seized from
the property. But no one is named in the complaint. Thus, under the
same reasoning, no one will be indicted.
Also, the presence of Len
Pasquarelli's name in the report makes it automatically suspect, in our opinion.
Pasquarelli has been the most ardent Vick apologist since news of the apparent
dog-fighting operation first broke, due in large part (we believe) to
Pasquarelli's friendship with Vick's agent, Joel Segal.
For the past two months,
Pasquarelli has been urging folks not to jump to conclusions prematurely.
So why should anyone conclude at this point that the guy who owned the property
that hosted the dog fights won't be held legally responsible?
ESPN reports that at least three
people are expected to be indicted. But that could merely be the first
wave of the indictments. Doesn't anyone think that the folks who are
charged will receive offers of leniency or immunity in exchange for giving up
others who might have been involved?
And why would the feds tell the
Falcons, the league, or anyone else that Vick likely won't be indicted? If
that aspect of the report is true, maybe the feds are hoping that Vick will let
his guard down a bit, perhaps by not focusing his efforts on ensuring that the
guys who get indicted won't snitch.
The bottom line is that it's still
far too early to conclude that Vick will be, or won't be, charged with a crime.
And we still think that the feds got involved in this matter in order to send
the strongest possible message to the rest of us regarding the connection
between crime and the consequences thereof. The only way to do that is to
fully and completely explore whether charges can be pursued against Vick.
The only way to know that is to round up the suspects, put their nuts in a vise,
and hope that someone will tell the truth about Vick's knowledge of (if any) and
involvement in (if any) the dog-fighting operation that was housed on the
property he owned.
But, hey, if Vick is never
indicted, we will remind everyone that ESPN's report was spot on. The flip
side of this coin, however, is that if/when Vick gets charged, we'll likely
revisit the subject.
The Denver Broncos have announced
that defensive end Kenny
Peterson has been suspended by the league for violation of the policy
against anabolic steroids and related substances. The specific substance
for which he apparently tested positive is not known.
He will miss the first four games
of the season, but he will be eligible to practice with the team and participate
in preseason games. The suspension kicks in as of August 31.
Peterson, a third-round pick of
the Packers, signed with the Broncos last September.
Unlike the substance abuse policy,
which has multiple levels that apply before a suspension, the steroids policy
calls for a suspension upon the first violation.
An industry source tells us that
the belief in radio-TV circles is that Dan Patrick wants to leave ESPN in order
to form a syndicated weekday radio show, a la the Jim Rome franchise.
The source says that Patrick also
plans to try to land his own television show, which would feature sports-related
interviews and debates and what-not.
The source also tells us that the
announcement, which was supposed to be made on July 3, has been delayed because
ESPN is trying to persuade/strong-arm him into staying put.
Hey, if he's leaving Bristol, we
hope that this is what he plans to do. We figure that The Price is
Right probably pays pretty darn well, but, after all, it's The Price is
Right.Dan simply doesn't strike us as a guy who's looking to
appeal to the least common denominator crowd.
However it turns out, we wish him
only the best, and we say that with (for a change) absolutely no sarcasm.
POSTED 2:38
p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 3:24 p.m. EDT, July 6, 2007
POINDEXTER TAKES ANOTHER SHOT
AT FEDS
On the same day that federal
agents emerged from nearly a month of silence to return to the Surry County,
Virginia property of Falcons quarterback Mike Vick to search (reportedly) for
"more" animal remains, local prosecutor Gerald Poindexter couldn't resist the
opportunity to run his mouth -- and to further confirm our belief that he was
and is unfit to properly manage such a high-profile investigation.
Poindexter
previously suggested that the federal investigation might be motivated by race.
His latest remarks could be evidence of frustration regarding the criticism that
was heaped upon him in light of the appearance that he was dragging his feet in
the early stages of the investigation. The feds haven't been moving any
faster, but their decision to refrain from talking to the media about the matter
has largely insulated the Department of Agriculture's team from criticism.
Poindexter, in
contrast, was talking about the case on a near-daily basis, and regularly
contradicting himself.
As to the
question that Poindexter has posed, the feds won't answer it. Indeed,
if/when the feds arrest someone, there likely won't be any advance press release
or warning. That's the smart way to do it, and Poindexter would be wise to
watch and learn.
COWBOYS, DON'T LET YOUR MAMAS
GROW UP TO BE CRIMINALS
At a time when more and more NFL
players are getting in trouble with the law, the virus apparently is spreading
to other members of their families.
On Thursday, the mother of Cowboys
tight end Jason Witten was
arrested for theft of $5,500 from someone else's bank account.
Kimberly Witten allegedly made 25
withdrawals from the account, beginning in November 2006. She claims that
she obtained the account information from a statement mistakenly delivered to
her mail box.
We don't buy it, and neither did
the prosecutor who has charged her with 25 counts of forgery and theft.
The Cowboys earn zero Turd Watch
points for this development, since Mrs. Witten isn't an employee of the team.
DAN PATRICK MOVING ON, MOVING
OUT?
One of our favorite personalities
at ESPN is Dan Patrick, long-time SportsCenter anchor and host of a
weekday radio show bearing his name. Sure, we like Dan in part because he
likes us; he has mentioned the site both on the radio and on television, and
invited us on for a radio spot in the days before the 2007 NFL draft.
We didn't realize until perusing
Friday's USA Today that there are rumors that Patrick might be bolting
from Bristol. Apparently, he hinted at an announcement of some sort for
July 3, but then was not on the air when July 3 came.
There is talk that Patrick
could be the new host of The Price is Right, or that he might simply
take some time off before making his next career move.
However it all turns out, we wish
him nothing but the absolute best. His radio show is informative and fun,
and he has a great broadcasting voice without coming off as one of those Ted
Baxter types that is all mouth and no mind.
Without him, ESPN would be down to
(in our assessment) only two guys who are Mt. Rushmore-type figures with the
network: Chris Berman and Bob Ley.
UPDATE: The Big Lead has been all
over this. Where in the hell have we been all week?
POSTED 9:17
a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 11:40 a.m. EDT, July 6, 2007
Citing unnamed sources, WAVY-TV
says that agents are "looking for more animal remains buried on the property."
The "more" is significant, because
it has not yet been reported with certainty that any animal remains were
found when feds searched the property for the first time last month. WVEC-TV
at one point posted an item on its web site suggesting that ESPN Radio had
reported the removal of carcasses from the property, but WVEC later explained
that the report of the report was erroneous.
With that said, video of from last
month's search by federal officials contained images of a worker fitting himself
with a mouth/nose mask (despite 90-degree temperatures), and one of the agents
was quoted as saying, "I hope I never see this place again."
UPDATE: Video on WAVY-TV's web site
shows agents digging at the site, and sifting through the dirt in search of dog
remains. Some are wearing masks -- and not paper mouth-and-nose masks, but
full-blown WWI-style gas masks. (Maybe they've finally found the WMDs.)
NEW PODCAST IS UP
Minutes after wrapping up a weekly
visit with our pal Joe Rose of 790 The Ticker in Miami, we powered up the
official PFT Commodore 64 and pulled together a new podcast.
It's Friday -- your boss doesn't
care if you listen.
THIS JOB IS EASIER THAN IT
LOOKS, OR SOMETHING
Writing about sports is fun.
(Wow, that sentence will get us at the top of the Pulitzer ballot.)
But it's not easy. Before making any factual assertion, the writer has to
be certain that the factual assertion is correct.
Having a good memory helps.
Thinking that your memory is better than it really is doesn't. We've
learned this the hard way too many times, by stating a fact that we were
convinced was true, only to receive 94 e-mails reminding us of how stoopid we
really are.
We mention this because we've
received an e-mail complaining not about us (for a change) but about Bucky
Brooks, a former NFL receiver whose work recently began popping up on SI.com.
In a preview of the AFC South, Brooks makes this observation about the Jaguars'
top two safeties: "First-round picks Reggie Nelson and Gerald Sensabaugh
are slated to man the deep positions in the secondary. Though they have
great athleticism and potential, both enter the season with
zero combined career starts."
It took about five minutes to find
that information on the Intergoogle. If a guy is going to write about
football as his primary professional pursuit, he needs to be willing to spend
that extra time -- and he needs to be able to recognize those occasions where
his own beliefs about a given fact might require confirmation.
And the reality that SI.com has
editors and fact-checkers and other people to whom the company can afford to
issue paychecks doesn't mean that writers should rely on someone else to catch
the mistake.
Earlier in that same quote, Brooks
suggests that Reggie Nelson and Sensabaugh were both first-round picks.
Nelson was; Sensabaugh wasn't. Though the attachment of the "s" to the
word "pick" might have been a typo (and we no a things or to about typoes),
someone on the payroll should have caught it. Preferably, the guy whose
name is at the top of it.
OH NO HE DIDN'T
We mentioned on Thursday that the
sole redeeming quality of ESPN's ridiculous "Who's Now" feature was that Steve
Levy teased the outcome of the voting with an homage (inadvertent or otherwise)
to our pal Len Pasquarelli.
Said Levy, "Who's moving on?
Who's moving out?"
We didn't catch the full hour of
SportsCenter this morning, but Levy said it again -- though with a bit
less gusto.
Frankly, we don't know whether
Levy knew about the "move on or move out" thing before
he uttered the catch phrase the first time, and we don't know whether someone
told him that we pointed it out on Thursday. But we do know that
plenty of folks in Bristol eyeball this space from time to time (or more often),
and we also know that Len's radio rant raised a lot of eyebrows there when we
first posted it last year.
Tom Murphy, Vice President of
Marketing for Sprint Nextel, deferred any comment on the matter to Saturday's
press conference, which will be held in conjunction with a Nextel Cup race at
Daytona. "We are very excited about our future plan with NASCAR," Murphy
told the Star, "but you'll have to wait until Saturday to see how this
all comes together."
The series has carried the Nextel
brand since 2003. A year later, Sprint and Nextel merged.
We mention all of this because, as
you might have noticed, Sprint and Nextel are the official telecommunications
sponsors of ProFootballtalk.com. The company provides broad support to
various professional sports leagues and the media that cover them, so there's no
reason for any true sports fan to choose any wireless carrier other than Sprint
or Nextel.
POSTED
7:09 p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 10:12 p.m. EDT, July 5, 2007
NO NEW CHARGES FOR TANK
Former Bears defensive tackle Tank
Johnson will not
be charged in the wake of last month's stop in Arizona resulting in a test
that showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.072 percent.
Though he was under the legal
limit by 0.008 percent (i.e., the amount of alcohol in the haze of a
moderate burp), he could have faced prosecution under Arizona law prohibiting
"impairment to the slightest degree."
"I am not surprised by this
decision, but I am relieved," Johnson said in a statement. "I am still
disappointed at having been released by the Bears yet I know the organization
was placed in a difficult position when I was stopped by police. Now I
will move on [or move out] to look for an opportunity
with another NFL team, and make the most of it when it comes."
But when will the time come?
Any team that signs Tank must do without him for eight weeks of the regular
season. Indeed, the eight-game suspension doesn't begin to run until he
has a new home.
We continue to think that the
Buccaneers are a candidate for his services, given that coach Jon Gruden is
facing a win-or-else reality in Tampa. Other teams that have been
mentioned as possible destinations include the Cowboys. Some of our
readers think that the Redskins would be willing to give Tank a try, due to the
team's desperate need for quality defensive linemen.
If Tank finds no takers by
September, he should offer to sit out all of the 2007 season in exchange for
receipt of a free and clear return in 2008.
NO. 21 WAS A TOUGH CALL
We're continuing with our list of
the best 25 players over the past 25 years, as inspired by the USA Today
list with the same purpose.
The first four were easy.
But this one was our first quarterback, and to get there required us to weed
out plenty of guys who currently own, or might eventually acquire, a spot in the
Hall of Fame.
Another way that we like to pass
the dead time between the end of OTAs and the opening of training camps is
through the issuance of our annual All-Turd team.
The 2007 version will be followed
by an updated All-Time All-Turd team, and a few new Hall of Fame inductees, who
are named on the weekend of the annual festivities in Canton.
Last year's "honorees" were O.J.
Simpson, Lance Rentzel, Mossy Cade, Rafael Septien, and Rae Carruth.
Former Bengal
Jason Berryman was cited for driving with a suspended license and failing to
obey a stop sign after an automobile accident. [Editor's note:A prior version of this entry incorrectly identified Berryman as a current
member of the team. Our bad.]
Former NFL coach June Jones is
having trouble finding opponents to play his Hawaii team: "They come
here, we kick their ass, they go home." (Yeah, but at least they get
lei-d. Rim shot!).
We think that
getting a security pat-down before entering a football game is slightly less
intrusive than, say, getting blown up.
POSTED
6:44 p.m. EDT, July 5, 2007
PACMAN TWISTS IN THE WIND
The freedom of Titans cornerback
Pacman Jones, and possibly his entire football career, now hinges on the outcome
of felony charges filed against him in Las Vegas.
On Thursday, a judge in Tennessee
decided to wait until the
new charges are resolved before deciding whether Jones violated the terms of
a deal that would have resulted in the dismissal of past charges arising from an
August 2006 incident outside of a nightclub if Jones were able to stay out of
trouble for six months.
The Tennessee judge will revisit
the situation on January 3.
It's unclear whether the Vegas
situation will be resolved by then. Jones has a constitutional right to a
speedy trial, but the term "speedy" is at times more malleable (thanks, Tiki)
than hot taffy.
On one hand, it is in Jones' best
football interests to get to trial ASAFP, since a full acquittal could get him
back on the field before the end of the 2007 season. On the other hand,
rushing to trial prematurely could leave Jones more susceptible to a conviction,
if his lawyer doesn't have enough time to properly work up a defense to the two
counts of felony coercion.
Through it all, Jones remains
upbeat.
"I'm going to get through [the
charges]," he said. Asked whether he is confident that he'll play pro
football again, Jones said, "Of course I am."
The reality, however, is that if
he goes down on these Vegas charges, the only team he'll ever be playing
football for again is the one that is providing a tune-up for the guards.
POSTED 2:33
p.m. EDT, July 5, 2007
RAIDER BUSTED IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Raiders defensive end
Bryant McNeal has been
arrested in South Carolina on multiple outstanding warrants. Pulled
over at 3:35 a.m. EDT for driving on a suspended license and driving without a
headlight, McNeal was taken into custody on Florida charges based on violation
of pawn brokering laws.
In March 2007, a warrant was
issued in Richland County, South Carolina on charges that McNeal wrote a $1,500
bad check to a dental office.
We'll tally up the Turd Watch
points as more information about the charges comes in. And we'll zero out
the "days without an arrest" counter.
McNeal is listed as a current
member of the Raiders roster. He was signed to the team's practice squad
in 2006, and appeared in no games. He dressed out for several games with
the Broncos in 2003, but did not play. He was on the Bucs' roster in 2004,
but was never active on game day). McNeal was out of the NFL in 2005.
POSTED
12:58 p.m. EDT, July 5, 2007
SPECULATION CONTINUES THAT
BELICHICK IS DONE AFTER 2007
Largely due to the fact that the
question of the number of years remaining on New England coach Bill Belichick's
contract is guarded almost as closely as the codes for the
nuclear football,
the unknown status of Belichik's future tenure invites constant speculation.
The current speculation in some
league and media circles is that Belichick's contract with the Pats expires
after the 2007 season, and that he will leave. The fact that the Pats have
loaded the cannon via free agency and trades, adding folks like linebacker
Adalius Thomas and receivers Randy Moss (who coincidentally has a one-year
deal), Donte' Stallworth, Wes Welker, and Kelley Washington, has only
intensified beliefs that Belichick wants to make a run at a fourth Super Bowl
victory before walking away.
But while some think he will
retire, others believe that he'll take a new job. One prominent national
media type has suggested to us that Belichick would like to be the first coach
to win a Super Bowl in each conference.
To make that happen, Belichick
would have to land in the NFC. The most obvious place for him to go is
back to New York, given that he was the defensive coordinator for the Giants
when the team won championships in 1986 and 1990. But some believe that
his entanglement with former Giants receptionist Sharon Shenocca will keep the
Mara family from approving the move.
The source who thinks that
Belichick craves an NFC Super Bowl win thinks that Washington, Dallas, Carolina,
and Tampa are the potential destinations. We'll also throw the Vikings
into the mix, since owner Zygi Wilf is a life-long Giants fan who once waited
outside of a bathroom to get Lawrence Taylor's autograph. (We hope L.T.
washed his hands before he grabbed the pen.) Wilf is wise enough to heed
the quiet criticism of current coach Brad Childress, even if the rest of the
front office is doing their best to prop up the field boss for fear of being run
out the door if a guy like Belichick were to come to town.
Anyway, it's all speculation for
now. But unless and until someone says that Belichick is under contract
beyond 2007 with the Pats and plans to honor it, the two Bills -- Belichick and
Cowher -- should be penciled in at the top of the list for the 2008 coaching
carousel.
POSTED 11:23
a.m. EDT, July 5, 2007
CHESTNUT ANGLING FOR NIKE
ENDORSEMENT?
We weren't going to dignify the
ultimate "ain't that America?" event that unfolded at Coney Island on Wednesday
by mentioning it in this otherwise undignified piece of electronic real estate.
But we can't help but wonder
whether winner and new . . . competitive . . . eating . . . champion . . . of
. . . the . . . world Joey Chestnut intentionally stopped on 66 dogs in
order to fuel subtle comparisons to the NFL star who had
66 dogs seized
from his property in April. (Thanks to the reader who pointed out the
similarity.)
Maybe Joey is hoping to team up
with Mike Vick for their own line of Nike shoes:
Otherwise, we've got no use for
any "sport" that glorifies gluttony, especially in an era when so many kids (and
grown ups) are morbidly obese. (Besides, we can't watch any eating contest
without recalling the pie-eating contest from Stand By Me.)
We recently pointed out in this
space the owner rankings that have been complied by Michael Silver of SI.com.
Though plenty of readers have carped to us about the placement of the folks who
own their favorite teams, we're not here to quibble with the manner in which
Silver listed them. Would we have produced a different list? Sure.
Does the topic interest us enough to do so? No.
But what is interesting to
us is the text that Silver inserted for the low man on the NFL ownership totem
pole, Mike Brown of the Cincinnati Bengals. Specifically:
"In the midst of a complaint about
the current stadium-building plan that is part of the league's revenue-sharing
arrangement, Brown was reminded by a fellow owner that he had taken advantage of
the same plan (and a provision that allowed him to waive the club-seat premiums
that normally go to visiting teams) upon opening Paul Brown Stadium several
years earlier. According to a witness, Brown replied, 'Look, it seemed
like a good thing in the beginning. A lot of people think a lot of things
are good in the beginning. A lot of people thought
Hitler was good in the beginning.'"
One of those people was late Reds
owner Marge Schott. In 1996, Schott said that Hitler was "good
at the beginning" but then "went too far."
So what gives here? Was
Brown offering up an homage to Schott? Or is it merely a coincidence that
multiple owners of professional sports teams in Cincinnati independently believe
that a miniseries about
Eva Braun might be a good idea, after all?
The third possibility is that
Silver's source got the facts bungled a bit. Brown might have said
something like, "Remember what Marge Schott said -- even Hitler was good in the
beginning."
Regardless, we're surprised that
no one has noticed the fact that the owner of Cincinnati's NFL team, which
currently is the poster child for bad behavior off of the field, would offer up
a comment virtually identical to the one that created a media firestorm eleven
years ago when it came from the mouth of the former owner of Cincinnati's MLB
team. Could it be that the supposedly liberal media is anything but
liberal as to the topic of whether a crotchety old woman should be occupying
such a high position in an industry dominated by greedy old men?
In other words, was the media
looking for anything and everything negative that could be pointed out publicly
about Schott, because the media simply didn't believe that she "fit in"?
And was the general disdain for Schott the product of the fact that she was
female, or because she was generally unlikable, regardless of gender?
Hey, it's a compelling topic for a
sssslow NFL news day. Alternatively, we could debate whether Steve Nash or
Serena Williams is more "NOW!" -- or we could take bets on how long it would
take Serena to beat the snot out of Steve.
McCLOSKEY USED TO WORK FOR THE
NFL
Several media sources have advised
us in response to our recent piece suggesting that AFL Executive Vice President
of Communications Chris McCloskey should refrain from seeking employment with
the NFL that McCloskey previously was an employee of the NFL league office.
So allow us to clarify our point.
Since McCloskey's P.R. repertoire (thank, Tiki) now includes posting comments on
blogs, he shouldn't apply for reinstatement with the "real" American pro
football league.
And it could (emphasize:
could) be that McCloskey's departure from the NFL wasn't entirely voluntary.
Several league insiders have told us in the past that the folks at Park Avenue
don't usually like to fire people. Instead, the employees who in other
settings might be terminated simply get placed elsewhere.
For example, it was believed that
former NFL league office employee John Collins was the person inside the
building who took the heat for the Janet Jackson boob-flap flap during halftime
of Super Bowl XXXVIII. Instead of being run out the door, Collins later
became the president of the Cleveland Browns (where he was eventually run out
the door).
And, for the record, this isn't
the official "Pick on Chris McCloskey" week at PFT world headquarters. But
when the guy sends us a preachy e-mail directing us to take down a story about
the possibility that the AFL will fill the void created by NFL Europa only three
days after disseminating an internal AFL memo advising all staff that he expects
such discussions to occur, we tend not to forget about it, at least for a week
or so.
A league source tells us that
negotiations for first-round rookies who were selected in round one of the 2007
draft will be more complicated this year because of the 2006 revisions to the
Collective Bargaining Agreement, which limit the extent to which payments made
to players can be pursued for reimbursement.
The new CBA restricts forfeitures
to "signing bonuses" only, and it was determined within the past several months
that an option bonus is not a signing bonus, and therefore is not subject to
recovery by the team in the event of a default. The ruling came in
connection with the Broncos' effort to act against the option bonus paid to
receiver Ashley Lelie, who held out in 2006 and ultimately forced a trade.
The other reality is that for the
last two years teams have been avoiding signing bonuses in round one, because of
limitations on the number of years over which the bonus can be prorated and the
25-percent rule, which reins in salary growth over the life of the deal to
one-fourth of the first year value -- and which excludes the signing bonus
proration from this calculation.
As a result, first-round rookies
have primarily been paid by year-one roster bonuses and year-two option bonuses,
in lieu of signing bonuses. Because there can now be recovery of signing
bonuses only, teams are looking to resurrect this device.
For Bears tight end Greg Olsen,
who agreed to terms on Tuesday night, $250,000 was pushed into a signing bonus.
(With that said, Olsen still will be paid an option bonus of $3.545 million, and
a 2007 roster bonus of $720,000.) As to the rest of the $365,000 that
otherwise would have been added to the signing bonus, roster bonus, or option
bonus, the Bears and agent Drew Rosenhaus devised a reporting/roster bonus that
will be earned when Olsen shows up for training camp in 2008 ($100,000), 2009
($140,000), and 2010 ($125,000 and change).
If Olsen doesn't show up (because,
for example, he wants a new contract), he doesn't get the money.
Though this new device provides no
protection to the Bears for the more than $4 million in roster and option
bonuses that Olsen will receive, it's apparently the best that the team could do
in light of the new CBA. As other teams realize that their desire to
achieve protection against bad behavior must yield to the financial realities of
getting the deal done, we suspect that they also will use these future-year
reporting/roster bonuses to ensure that guys who might be inclined to breach
their contracts will show up in order to earn the deferred six-figure payments.
Under the CBA, the full
unallocated amount of a signing bonus may be recovered if the player retires
during the term of the deal. If, for example, a player receives a $4
million signing bonus on a four-year deal and retires after one season, the team
can recover $3 million. For other types of defaults (e.g., a
holdout), the team can recover 25 percent of the allocation for the year in
which the default occurs, or 1/17th of the amount for each regular-season game
missed, whichever is greater.
For option bonuses due in the
future, the team can exercise the option not to pay it. However, doing so
will constitute a termination of the deal. Some contracts also include a
non-exercise fee, forcing the team to pay the amount that otherwise was owed as
an option bonus. As a practical matter, such non-exercise fees makes the
option bonus fully guaranteed.
SOUTH CAROLINA RAISING STAKES
FOR UNLICENSED AGENTS?
A league source tells us that
authorities in South Carolina are expected to take action against some big-time
NFL agents for failing to register with the state before recruiting players
attending college there.
The primary sources of potential
NFL players in South Carolina are Clemson and the University of South Carolina.
This
link suggests that the penalty for failure to register under South Carolina
law is a misdemeanor with a $10,000 fine and up to three years in jail; however, the
source says that the fines are expected to be increased to $100,000.
(Frankly, we'd be more concerned about the three years in jail.)
We're not yet aware of the names
of any agents who have been targeted, and we don't know whether any specific
enforcement action has commenced.
STEVE LEVY GOOFS ON LEN?
Okay, so maybe we don't completely
hate the "Who's Now" thing on ESPN's SportsCenter after all. (We
definitely still hate it, just not completely.)
Why? Because as Steve Levy
teased the outcome of the epic battle between LaDainian Tomlinson and David
Beckham in the always-competitive Jordan bracket while heading to commercials
during the show that currently is looping on the parent station, Levy just might
have taken a backhanded dig at Len Pasquarelli.
"Who moves on? Who moves
out?" Levy said in reference to the coming announcement of the outcome of the voting.
If you don't know why this would
be a dig against Len, we hope you're enjoying your first few days as a visitor
to this site. For a primer on the whole, "move on or move out" phenomenon,
click here.
Though Arena Football League
Executive V.P. of Communications Chris McCloskey described as "absurd" our
Monday report regarding the desire of Colorado Crush co-owner John Elway to
position the AFL to fill the void created by the folding of NFL Europe, a source
with knowledge of the situation has forwarded to us a memo that McCloskey
circulated to "AFL Staff" on the morning that the death of NFL Europa was
announced.
In the memo, McCloskey expressly
acknowledges that there will be discussions aimed at further strengthening the
link between the NFL and the AFL.
"As I am informed, and fully
expect," McCloskey wrote, "this event will lead to further discussions of how
the AFL and NFL can work together to mutually grow the game of football in the
future."
McCloskey also directed AFL staff
to "refrain from comments" regarding the termination of NFL Europa, and
suggested the following talking point: "The Arena Football League remains
ready to help and assist the National Football League in growing the game of
football in any place and at all times."
Consider McCloskey's memo in light
of his initial e-mail to us from Monday, July 2: "I'm
writing you about your front page story on Elway turning the AFL into NFL Europa.
Although you and I don't know each other, I'm writing to tell you that it's in
your best interests to take the story down because it is so full of absurdities
that it puts the entire credibility of your Web site in jeopardy."
Hmmm.
Though our report also addressed the desire of Elway to oust AFL Commissioner
David Baker and to finagle a better labor agreement, the overriding gist of the
report was that Elway wants to position the AFL to become the NFL's new
developmental league. Three days earlier, McCloskey reduced to writing his
belief and anticipation that discussion regarding such matters will occur.
NO. 22 IS UP
We've posted player No. 22 in our
own version of the top 25 players over the past 25 years.
We'll keep doing one per day until
we get to No. 1. (And, if you don't like it, we'll come up with our own
"Who's Now"-type contest based on the overall "coolness" of each team's
quarterback.)
POSTED 10:18
a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 11:20 a.m. EDT, July 4, 2007
PORTER PUNISHMENT COMING
Tuesday's news regarding the
suspensions of Bucs cornerback Torrie Cox and Raiders running back Dominic
Rhodes for violations of the substance-abuse policy reminded us that Dolphins
linebacker Joey Porter is on deck for a punishment of some type under the
Personal Conduct Policy for his guilty plea to battery on Bengals left tackle
Levi Jones.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, whose
dedication to his job had him responding to our e-mails after 10:00 p.m. EDT the
night before a national holiday (hey, folks, we gotta keep up good relations
with the people at Park Avenue), says that a consultation between Porter and the
league office has occurred regarding the matter, but that Porter did not meet
with Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The next step, then, will be the
issuance of a fine or a suspension. Last year, a guilty plea for
disorderly conduct arising from the 2005 sex boat escapade resulted in the loss
of a game check for Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie and Vikings cornerback
Fred Smoot. In this new climate of intolerance regarding off-field
conduct, we think that a guilty plea for battery on a fellow NFL player could
trigger a one-game suspension.
With that said, we suspect that
the Fins are lobbying the league office aggressively to have Porter available
for the September 9 regular-season opener at Washington. The team's best
argument in this regard? They're giving up a home game this year to
facilitate the league's desire to play games in other countries.
McCLOSKEY PROBABLY SHOULDN'T
APPLY FOR NFL GIG
We've kind of forgotten about our
recent spat with AFL Executive V.P. of Communications Chris McCloskey, because
(1) we really don't care about the AFL; and (2) we'd never heard of McCloskey
before he e-mailed us on Monday.
But in poking around the
Intergoogle for some July 4 content, we noticed that McCloskey has also been in
touch with our own Michael David Smith in conjunction with his AOL gig.
For instance, McCloskey confirmed
for MDS on Tuesday that the AFL's patent expires this year --
on September 30, to be precise.
Also, McCloskey
apparently posted a comment in response to the MDS version of our "John
Elway wants to dump AFL Commish David Baker" report.
Wrote McCloskey: "You write
this as if you've interviewed John Elway, Commissioner David Baker and the NFL.
You have not. You are simply creating a watered-down version of a rumor
started on Pro Football Talk, which is nothing more than a rumor Web site, that
has no basis in fact. The story, including its speculation, is completely
absurd."
Though it's possible that someone
else posted the comment and used McCloskey's name, the comment appeared on July
2 at 10:12 a.m., less than an hour after McCloskey's first e-mail was sent to
us, and more than a half hour before we first mentioned McCloskey's name
on this site. So we think it's safe to assume that McCloskey's P.R.
efforts on behalf of the AFL include posting comments on blogs.
Chris, we assume that you aspire
to at some point work for the NFL or one of its teams. If so, we strongly
advise against mentioning during the interview the time that you put MDS in his
place by posting a comment after one of his stories on AOL's FanHouse.
WEDNESDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS
MDS thinks that former NFL QB Mike
McMahon, now a backup in the CFL,
should change positions. (We think McMahon should change industries.)
The Chicago Tribune reports
that the
Bears have signed first-round TE Greg Olsen. (That's how we would have
written it if others hadn't reported it yesterday, and that's something the
Trib doesn't mention today.)
POSTED 9:27
a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 10:05 a.m. EDT, July 4, 2007
17th GAME DROVE DEATH OF EUROPA
The same source who gave us a
one-day head's up regarding the imminent demise of NFL Europa tells us that the
deciding factor in the move was the developing plan to add an extra
regular-season game for the purposes of sending 16 total games per year to other
countries.
Though nothing in this regard has
been finalized -- and can't be until the NFLPA signs off on it -- the source
says that the momentum is building toward the expansion of the season for the
purposes of exporting more of the NFL's product.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell
floated a public trial balloon on this issue earlier in the year, and the
reaction was generally positive (or, more importantly, not negative).
We love the idea. But we
also think that not all 16 games should be shipped to other countries,
especially in light of the seemingly greater potential for a terrorist attack in
countries like England. Why not drop eight of the extra games in a
brand-new L.A. stadium, thereby rendering the relocation of an existing team
there unnecessary?
We also like the fact that each
franchise will still have eight home games every season. Apart from the
strategic benefits of playing the full slate of home games, we're very troubled
by the loss of 1/8th of the annual revenue that drives the local economy --
especially since so many of the NFL stadiums were funded in whole or in part by
public money, based on their expected impact on the surrounding hotels,
restaurants, parking facilities, not to mention the increased tax revenues.
Over the long-term, we think that
the best way to globalize the sport will be to expand, with new teams
headquartered in L.A. (which many on the East Coast already regard as foreign
soil), Mexico City, Canada, London, Germany, Hong Kong, China, and Japan.
Though it would raise incredibly complex logistical issues, the potential
explosion in revenue makes such a possibility worth exploring.
MORE PROBLEMS WITH "WHO'S NOW"
We continue to hear from industry
sources and readers who think that ESPN's ongoing "Who's Now" contest is a
complete joke. But, as one reader pointed out on Tuesday, it might not be
as ridiculous as those phony baseball press conferences from a year ago with
former Mets G.M. Steve Phillips.
Still, "Who's Now" is definitely
not "now," and we've noticed a few more problems with it.
First, we've done the math.
We're going to have to put up with the thing for 27 total days, based on the
32-player "field".
Second, because they shot multiple
in-studio "debates" regarding the "opponents," we're constantly reminded of the
fact that Keyshawn Johnson showed up for his TV job wearing Chuck Taylors,
jeans, and a T-shirt.
Third, that breathy female voice
introducing the "contestants" is far better suited to something like, say, the
Seinfeld episode where Jerry's girlfriend turned out to be Kramer's T.P.-hoarding
phone sex partner.
Please, ESPN -- dump the "Who's
Now" thing, right now. The only people who'll miss it are too young to
patronize your sponsors (unless you're going to start running ads for Lucky
Charms and/or Cinnamon Toast Crunch).
WEIRD BELICHICK STORY GETS A
LITTLE WEIRDER
The bizarre divorce proceedings
involve a woman whose ex-husband claims was having an affair with Pats coach
Bill Belichick took an even more bizarre turn this week, when a judge refused to
allow the woman to move her two kids
into a $2.2 million New York home owned by Belichick.
The woman, former Giants
receptionist Sharon Shenocca, was chided by the judge for the proposed move into
a property that she does not own and has no apparent means to financially
maintain (the state taxes are $38,000 per year).
"She asked
this court to permit her to take the children from their
home, schools and neighborhood to a strange community in
a different state to a house she cannot pay for and in
which she has established no legal right to reside,"
Judge Stephan Hansbury wrote in his decision on the
matter.
"Her only
reply is the family friend [Belichick] will provide.
She has provided no evidence that this is anything but a
whimsical dream.
"[She]
never produced this friend to testify at trial, nor did
she offer any reason or explanation why she should be
the recipient of this financial bounty," the judge
added.
And that
seems to be the heart of the issue. Mrs. Shenocca
initially denied that she had received any money from
Belichick, presumably because of the appearance that
there can be no six-figure cash gifts in the absence of
a romantic relationship.
She later
admitted that Belichick sent her $150,000 in cash, and
picked up the tab for multiple vacations.
Her
proposal to move her two children, ages 6 and 8, into
the townhouse owned by Belichick would lead a reasonable
person to believe that, in the absence of a damn good
explanation that has not yet been provided, there's
something more than friendship at work here.
The judge
apparently came to that conclusion as well. Even
though the couple agreed to joint custody of the
children, the judge gave Mr. Shenocca "residential
custody," which means that the kids will visit with
their mother every other weekend and for an "occasional
midweek dinner."
On the same day that it was
announced that Buccaneers cornerback Torrie Cox will be suspended four games for
violation of the league's substance-abuse policy, the Raiders have disclosed
that running back
Dominic Rhodes also has been suspended for the first four games of the
season for violating the same policy.
It's unclear whether the
suspension arises from Rhodes' arrest earlier this year for suspicion of DUI.
He eventually pleaded guilty to reckless driving, and the DUI charge was
dismissed. If, however, he was already "in the program," and if drinking
any alcohol violated the terms of his treatment program, evidence of alcohol use
would be enough to trigger a fresh violation.
