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.
Unlike the steroids policy, which
results in a suspension for a first-offense, a four-game suspension under the
substance-abuse policy is imposed after multiple violations. But since the
entire program is cloaked in (supposed) secrecy, it's usually impossible to
piece together the specific reason for a suspension, which is the first step in
the process that is publicly disclosed.
Rhodes' absence could give rookie
Michael Bush some early-season action, if he's fully recovered from a broken leg
that wiped out his final year at Louisville.
NO. 23 IS UP
We're proud to unveil the name of
the guy whom we regard as the 23rd best NFL player of the past 25 years.
A league source tells us that the
Chicago Bears have reached an agreement with first-round draft pick Greg Olsen.
Olsen, the 31st overall selection
in the 2007 draft, is the first first-rounder this year to come to terms.
The tentative terms, subject to
change as the deal is fully ironed out, are as follows:
In 2007, he gets a signing bonus
of $250,000, a $720,000 roster bonus, and a base salary of $285,000 in 2007.
The contract also has a one-time
incentive based on minimum playing time of $578,700. For 2007, the trigger
is 35 percent of the offensive snaps. For future years, it is 45 percent.
In 2008, there's an option bonus
of $3.545 million and a base salary of $460,000.
In 2009, the base salary is
$460,000, and Olsen is eligible for a $100,000 reporting/roster bonus that is
earned at the start of training camp and paid out over the course of the regular
season. (We'll explain the genesis of this new bonus later.)
In 2010, the base salary is
$550,000, and the reporting/roster bonus is $140,000.
In 2011, the base salary is
$650,000, and the reporting/roster bonus is $125,732.
The total value, including
possible incentives of up to $2.921 million, is $10.69 million over five years.
Olsen is represented by Drew
Rosenhaus, who also represents franchise-tagged Bears linebacker Lance Briggs.
Apparently, the rancor between the team and Briggs hasn't affected the
organization's ability to work with Rosenhaus.
Olsen played college football at
Miami. He jumped into round one thanks to a sub-4.5 40-yard dash at the
scouting combine in February. After he was selected by the Bears, a
firestorm was sparked in Chicago due to his involvement in the rap group called
the "7th Floor Crew," which had a song with profane lyrics posted on a
MySpace.com page.
POSTED 4:52
p.m. EDT, July 3, 2007
TORRIE COX SUSPENDED
by Michael David Smith
Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback
Torrie Cox has been
suspended
four games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, the team
announced on its web site.
Cox can participate in training
camp and the preseason before beginning his suspension on Friday, August 31. He
is eligible to return to the Buccaneers’ active roster on Monday, October 1
following the team’s September 30 game against the Carolina Panthers.
No specific information has been released
about Cox's substance-abuse violation. According to PewterReport.com, Cox
has two DUI arrests on his record, one in 2004 and one in 2005.
Cox played in all 16 games last
year, starting three games at cornerback and playing a major role on special
teams.
A brief statement from General
Manager Bruce Allen said, “We are hopeful that Torrie Cox can overcome this
personal setback.”
POSTED 2:20
p.m. EDT, July 3, 2007
WROTEN GETS ARRESTED
Rams defensive tackle Claude
Wroten, a first-round talent who fell to round three of the 2006 draft due to
off-field problems involving a green leafy substance not usually found in
salads, has been arrested.
So just as the "days without an
arrest counter" made it back to double digits, it must be re-set.
Wroten faces a single count of
misdemeanor criminal damage to property. He allegedly kicked in the door
to his girlfriend's apartment in order to recover items that he had bought for
her.
POSTED 1:34 p.m. EDT, July 3, 2007
VIKINGS BUNDLE PRESEASON
TICKETS WITH BEARS, PACKERS GAMES
by Michael David Smith
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
reports that Vikings fans who want to buy tickets to see their team host the
Packers or Bears this season
will have to pay
extra.
Technically, the tickets
themselves aren't extra, but anyone who wants to buy tickets to Minnesota's
September 30 game against Green Bay will have to buy tickets to the August 10
preseason game against St. Louis, and anyone who buys tickets to the December 17
game against Chicago will have to buy a ticket to the August 30 preseason game
against Dallas. The Vikings call the ticket packages, which range from $92 to
$248, "two-game mini-packs."
This is nothing new -- the Vikings
and other NFL teams have done it before -- but it's one of the things that
rankles fans, who think they're already paying enough of their hard-earned cash
that they don't need to be forced to spend more of it on games they don't want
to see.
But while it might seem unfair,
from the team's standpoint, there are two reasons to do it. The first, more
obvious, reason is that when the Packers and Bears come to town, the demand for
tickets exceeds the supply, and charging extra by packaging tickets to those
games with preseason tickets that might otherwise go unsold is an easy way to
make more money.
The other reason is that forcing
people who buy Bears or Packers tickets to buy Vikings preseason tickets, too,
might discourage some Bears and Packers fans from making the trip to Minnesota
to see their teams. It's always embarrassing when the visiting team's fans fill
up a stadium, and the Vikings don't want to be in a situation where thousands of
Bears or Packers fans are drowning out Vikings fans at the Metrodome. Some Bears
or Packers fans who might otherwise make the trip will decide not to if they
also have to buy a ticket to a Vikings preseason game that they have no desire
to attend.
By the way: What does it say about
the Lions that the Vikings don't feel the need to charge extra for their other
divisional home game?
TUESDAY AFTERNOON ONE-LINERS
by Michael David Smith
Terrell Owens is
suing a nightclub that he claims used his name and likeness without
permission.
Lions WR Calvin Johnson is the
betting favorite to
win
Rookie of the Year. (Jon Kitna thinks Johnson will catch 600 passes for
10,000 yards.)
Add former Lions RB Billy Sims to
the list of retired players who think the
current players need to do more to beef up pensions.
A league source with connections
to the Eastern Virginia legal community tells us that there is talk in the local
bar that Davon Boddie, the cousin of Falcons quarterback Mike Vick, has plunked
down a $1 million retainer with a criminal defense lawyer who specializes in
federal matters, in the event that Boddie is indicted for dog fighting or other
charges arising from his status as the main resident of Vick's Surry County,
Virginia home.
Last month, Boddie refused during
an interview with WAVY-TV to talk about the situation. "I got a little
French poodle, man," he said. "That's all I know."
Boddie also suggested during the
interview that the 60-plus dogs that were seized from the Vick property in late
April had been planted there by authorities.
If this specific item from the
rumor mill among Eastern Virginia lawyers is true (and we're not saying that it
is), a reasonable inference would be that Team Vick sees Boddie as someone who
could be flipped by the feds, and thus Team Vick has opted to make a generous
advance donation to Boddie's legal defense fund.
If Vick is paying for the
representation of Boddie, it also raises questions regarding the independence of
the lawyer. Rule 5.4(c) of the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct
states that "[a] lawyer shall not permit a person who recommends, employs, or
pays the lawyer to render legal service for another to direct or regulate the
lawyer's professional judgment in rendering such legal services."
In English, this means that the
lawyer's job (if Boddie has indeed hired a lawyer with a seven-figure retainer
financed by Vick) is to protect and advance the best interests of Davon Boddie,
even if Boddie's best interests are adverse to the interests of the guy who
might have signed the check.
For example, if the feds offer
Boddie a sweetheart plea deal in return for testimony against Vick, the lawyer
can't advise Boddie against taking the deal because the lawyer believes that
part of what he is being paid for is to protect Mike Vick. The lawyer
needs to make the right decision for Boddie, even if it means recommending that
Boddie snitch on his cousin.
Of course, whether Boddie would
ever go Sammy the Bull on Vick is a completely different issue. Boddie
might very well be willing to go to jail for Vick -- especially if the pool from
which the possible $1 million retainer was paid can also be used to make it up
to Boddie once he's out of the big house.
USA TODAY DISSES LORD
FAVRE
So we've been paying close
attention to the ongoing countdown of the top 25 NFL players of the past 25
years on the USA Today web site, and we've even decided to
do our own.
Our decision was due in large part
to our belief that the USA Today list, well, isn't very good. Our
concern started with the inclusion of Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, whose
only football-related activity of note in the past quarter-century was his
Hall of Fame speech.
But now we've got another major
beef with the folks at USA Today. At
No.
14 on their list is Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
Brett Favre? No. 14?
The guy who has shattered the record for consecutive starts by a quarterback?
The guy who could end up with every career passing record?
Look, we take plenty of shots at
Favre, primarily because we get sick of hearing how great he is. But he
is. And there's no way that Favre is only the fourteenth best pro football
player of the past 25 years.
POSTED
8:24 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 9:03 a.m. EDT, July 3, 2007
ELWAY STORY CONFIRMED
We've touched base with the source
of our Monday story regarding the intentions of John Elway to make a run at
re-making the Arena Football League into a developmental league for the NFL, and
our source stands by the information 100 percent.
We reported that Elway wants to
oust AFL Commissioner David Baker, re-work the Collective Bargaining Agreement
with the players union (which by the way is tied closely to the NFLPA), and then
position the AFL to fill the void created by the dissolution of NFL Europa.
A big part of the motivation is
financial. Elway's team, the Colorado Crush, isn't doing as well on paper
as it could be or should be. And Elways wants that to change.
"Elway
isn’t going to lose his ass again without doing things his way," said the
source, "which includes getting rid of Baker, locking out the union, etc.
He's tired of selling out the arena, winning football games, and losing money
because the AFL business model is flawed. It's not a toy to him, it's a
business venture."
The source
explained that Elway's team has often carried less than the maximum number of
active players and practice squad players in order to save money.
Currently, the Crush have (has?)
23 players, one less than the limit.
Under AFL
rules, teams are allowed to have up to 24 players on the team, with 20 dressed
out on game day. The source says that, during the 2006 season, the Crush
often went with only 19 active players, and had no practice squad.
One of the big
financial problems is injuries, explained the source. Some teams pay up to
$700,000 per year for workers' compensation premiums in the states where they
are based.
Here's another
point to keep in mind -- the patent on the AFL's game rules expires at some
point in 2007. This means that the door will be wide open for competitive
leagues to copy every aspect of the AFL game.
And, as the
source notes, this creates an alternative for Elway. He could take the
Crush, and several other AFL teams, and create a new indoor league with an
express purpose of serving as an NFL developmental league.
Meanwhile, the
AFL refuted our report on Monday, via a couple of e-mails from Executive V.P. of
Communications Chris McCloskey. (Scroll down for more.)
Stay tuned to
PFT for more details -- especially since you won't hear much about this
behind-the-scenes rancor on ESPN, which now owns a piece of the AFL.
"WHO'S NOW" DRAWING INDUSTRY
JEERS
Speaking of ESPN, the folks in
Bristol are filling up the sssslow spot on the sports calendar with a phony
popularity contest that pits athletes from various sports against each other in
a bracket-style contest aimed at deciding who is the most "now" -- whatever in
the hell that means.
We've heard from several industry
sources regarding this goofy fluff-fest (in order to preserve the identity of
our sources we won't say whether any of them work for ESPN . . . wink, wink),
and the reaction has been decidedly negative.
Said one source: "Keep
ripping it. Transparent dead-period stuff. Embarrassing."
Said one reader: "ESPN is
the new US Magazine."
Really, who is the target audience
of this exercise? 10-year-olds? Why not just have a bunch of
high-profile athletes square off in a Madden tournament? (Or, even better,
Guitar Hero.)
Hey, there is plenty of stuff
about ESPN that we like. For example, last week's "My Wish" segment with
Drew Brees was the best that we've seen. But since one of our goals is to
stir things up, we focus on the things that we don't like -- the things that
tend to tarnish the brand that we watched grow into legitimacy in the 1980s, and
soar to the top of the industry in the 1990s.
"Who's Now" is the best example of
the worst we've seen on ESPN, and we hope that they never bring it back.
Even better, we'd like to see them pull the plug on it, along with a public
apology for wasting everyone's time.
We initially were skeptical,
because one of the various team-focused dot-com sites that make up the FOX-owned
Scout.com network screwed the pooch earlier this year with a report that the
Packers had made a trade offer
to the Chiefs for L.J., when the Packers most definitely had not. (We
appreciate the irony of that observation, since from time to time we get one
wrong. But when we do we acknowledge it.)
So we read the latest report
regarding a possible L.J. trade destination, and it goes a little something like
this: "There's absolutely no truth to rumors that the Cowboys will try to
trade for Johnson . . . but maybe there is."
The article then sets forth
various different reasons why the trade could happen. However, it ignores
the most important factor -- the Cowboys also hold Cleveland's first-round pick
in the 2008 draft, and if the Browns don't play well this year it could be a
high one.
Still, anyone who might be
inclined to trade for L.J. needs to come up with enough draft picks to satisfy
the Chiefs, and enough money to satisfy the player. We just don't see it
happening before the start of the 2007 season, unless some pretty darn
hardheaded folks get really reasonable really fast.
A DECIDEDLY UN-GAY DAY IN THE
LIFE OF JEFF GARCIA
Another worthless dead-time
endeavor currently playing daily on ESPN is the "day in a life" series featuring
various NFL players. We just saw the segment regarding Bucs quarterback
Jeff Garcia.
Our first thought? One of
Garcia's primary motivations was to use the exposure to make his case to the
sports-watching world that those
T.O.-fueled rumors
of Garcia's sexual preference are off the mark.
The video shows him kissing a
total of three females. Though one was a niece and the other was a
sister-cousin type, the subtle message was "I kiss women."
The third female on the receiving
end of a smooch is Garcia's wife, with whom he cavorts on the driving range.
At one point, Mrs. Garcia says to hubby, "Are you hittin' on me?", to which he
responds (somewhat awkwardly, in our view), "A little bit."
Then there's a discomforting PDA,
with a close-up of Mrs. Garcia kissing her husband multiple times and telling
him that she loves him.
This isn't about whether Garcia is
or was gay. We don't care if he is, was, or eventually will be. It's
irrelevant, and it's his own business (but, if he is, his wife might have a
question or two for him). Our point here is that, in light of what Terrell
Owens once said about Garcia, we believe that Garcia was using the ESPN spot as
a tool for making his case that he isn't.
The whole thing made us long for
the days when a guy simply called a press conference to say "I
date women" and moved on. (Or moved out.)
UPDATE: We
just finished rolling on the floor after a reader suggested possible comparisons
to the Troy
McClure-Selma Bouvier marriage.
Several readers have argued in the
wake of the revelation that former Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson's blood
sample showed an alcohol concentration of 0.072 percent that, because he was
below the legal limit of 0.08 percent, he should not have been cut by the team,
and he should face no criminal charges of any kind.
The first thing to keep in mind is
that the 0.08 percent threshold is the point at which the law presumes that a
person is impaired. As a practical matter, impairment can arise at lower
levels.
For
pilots, 0.04 percent is the legal limit. Ditto for truck drivers
subject to DOT regulations.
Also, Johnson can still face
charges in Arizona of "impairment to the slightest degree." The fact that
he was within 0.008 percent of the limit of presumed impairment does not bode
well, in our view.
And don't forget that, the more a
guy weighs, the more drinks it takes to get him in the shadows of 0.08 percent.
In Tank's case, a 0.072 reading for a 300-pound man could mean that he had seven
or eight drinks before getting behind the wheel.
Finally, and as an astute reader
pointed out to us, don't forget the possibility that the percentage was higher
when Johnson was pulled over, and that it dropped to 0.072 percent by the time
he was tested.
Besides, to the extent that the
Bears opted to put Tank on his very last chance in lieu of cutting him following
his December 2006 arrest, any run-in with the law would have and should have
been enough to get them to pull the trigger.
So even though he won't face DUI
charges in Arizona, the Bears decided that they had enough. Still, the
absence of DUI liability could make it easier for someone else to sign him.
NO. 24 IS READY FOR YOUR
SCRUTINY
Within minutes after we identified
Adam Vinatieri as No. 25 in the PFT top 25 NFL players of the last 25 years, our
e-mail box was flooded with complaints.
"No way a kicker should be on the
list," several readers argued. Others said that Morten Andersen or Gary
Anderson are more worthy.
We figure that No. 24 will stir up
some debate as well. It's now posted, for your
perusal.
TANK WAS DRINKING, BUT WASN'T
TANKED by Michael David
Smith
Former Bears defensive tackle Tank
Johnson had a
blood alcohol level of .072 when he was pulled over by police in Arizona on
June 22, putting him below the legal limit of .08.
That's good news for Johnson, but
it isn't news that's going to make NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell or any team
thinking of signing Johnson happy. It means that less than 24 hours after
leaving Chicago for the Bears' offseason activities, Johnson drank alcohol, got
behind the wheel of his car at 3:30 a.m., and drove fast enough for a
police officer to pull him over for speeding.
Johnson had been suspended for the
first eight games of the2007 NFL season, with Goodell leaving open the
possibility that he would reinstate Johnson after six games if Johnson was on
his best behavior. This incident is presumably enough to keep Goodell from
reducing Johnson's suspension.
The Bears waived Johnson after his
arrest, and he's now free to sign with any team willing to deal with the
potential negative P.R. of having him on the roster the next time he screws up. He
could go through training camp and the preseason with a new team if he signs
during the summer, but he cannot play in a regular-season game until he has
served his eight-game suspension. So any team that signs him will have to be
prepared to wait eight games to have his services.
PANTHERS LINEMAN: I WAS
ARRESTED FOR DRIVING WHILE BLACK
by Michael David Smith
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis made a
stir a few weeks ago when he said Bengals players are "profiled" by police.
He then retracted that statement and claimed that he wasn't using the word
"profiled" to mean what it usually means in the context of police stopping
citizens.
Now, D'Anthony Batiste, a reserve
lineman for the Carolina Panthers, is
claiming he was racially profiled, and he's not going to back down. In
fact, Batiste has previously worked as a deputy in Louisiana, and he says it's
his experience as a police officer that informs his belief that his race led to
him being targeted.
In March, police searched
Batiste's car and found the service weapon from his days as a deputy with the
Lafayette (La.) Parish Sheriff's Office. He was arrested on a concealed
weapons charge, but last week a Mecklenburg County judge threw out the charges
against Batiste, saying police had pulled Batiste over for a window tint
violation as a pretext to search the car.
"When the arrest happened, I
called some of my supervisors back in Louisiana," Batiste told the (Rock
Hill) Herald after leaving the courtroom Friday. "As soon as I'd
explain it, all of them said 'D, something's not right about this.' We're
all kind of under the impression I was arrested for driving while black."
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police
Department spokeswoman Julie Hill responded that Batiste's arrest was not
racially motivated and that the department had made window tint violations a
high priority because windows that are too dark can put police officers in
danger when they approach a car.
Although Batiste is far from a
household name -- he's never played in a regular season game and might not make
the Panthers' roster this year -- his status as both a professional athlete and
a police officer gives him a unique opportunity to make an issue of racial
profiling. When Lewis spoke up on the issue, he did so hastily and
backtracked quickly. Batiste sounds measured in his comments and willing to
stand by them.
[Editor's note: As several readers have pointed out, how could the cops have targeted
Batiste based on his race when the windows were tinted?]
POSTED 4:01 p.m. EDT, July 2, 2007
RAIDERS LOSE APPEAL
by Michael David Smith
The Raiders have
lost an appeal before the California Supreme Court in the latest development
in the Raiders' decades-long claim that the NFL sabotaged their effort to build
a stadium at Hollywood Park in Los Angeles.
For more than 20 years, the
Raiders have claimed that the league office didn't do enough to help the team
find a newer, nicer home than the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the team played
from 1982 through 1994. The Raiders left Oakland after the 1981 season and returned
in 1995.
A jury ruled for the NFL in 2001,
but a new trial was ordered when the Raiders claimed that one juror was biased
against the team because he said he once lost money betting on the Raiders and
that another juror, a lawyer, gave his fellow jurors legal information that the
judge didn't provide. But a state appeals court overturned the decision to order
a new trial, and the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled today that the
verdict against the Raiders stands.
The Supreme Court ruling rejected
the Raiders' case because jurors' recollection of deliberations were "sharply
conflicting on every material issue, and the Raiders submitted no other evidence
to support their motion for a new trial."
The ruling may finally bring to an end the string of lawsuits the Raiders have
had against the league and the stadiums where they've played.
NFL attorney Gregg Levy, one of the finalists for the position of NFL
Commissioner, said, "A clean sweep is a fair characterization."
PUNTER BRIAN MOORMAN GETS PAID by
Michael David Smith
In Week Nine of the 2006 NFL season,
when the Packers visited Buffalo, the Bills' offense couldn't get anything
going. At one point the Bills had a string of
nine straight
drives that ended like this: punt, punt, punt, punt, end of first half,
punt, punt, punt, punt.
Despite their offensive
futility, the Bills managed to win, 24-10. The biggest reason was punter
Brian Moorman, who averaged 47.4 yards per punt and landed four of those
eight punts inside the 20-yard line. A fifth left the Packers on their own
20 -- and Moorman was standing in his own end zone for that one.
It's performances like that
that have gotten Moorman rewarded. Today he
signed a three-year contract extension with the Bills that makes him one
of the league's highest-paid punters. Moorman already had three years left
on his existing contract, but the new deal locks him up through 2012 and
adds $10 million in new money, making him among the league's highest-paid
punters. Mat McBriar, who led the league in gross average last year,
signed a five-year, $8.5 million contract in February to remain with the
Cowboys, and at the time he was reported to be the league's highest-paid
punter.
Moorman, who
originally signed as an undrafted free agent out of Pittsburg State in 2001,
made the Pro Bowl the past two seasons and finished second in the NFL last year
with a 39.2-yard net average.
POSTED 1:15 p.m. EDT, July 2, 2007
REGGIE BUSH OVEREXPOSED?
by Michael David Smith
Mike Triplett of the New Orleans
Times-Picayune reports that Saints running back Reggie Bush will be the
subject of
no less than eight national ad campaigns this season, including adidas,
Subway, Visa, Pepsi, and a public service campaign on obesity.
We've got nothing against Reggie
Bush, who has great athletic potential and seems like a good guy off the field. But it's hard to escape the idea that Madison Avenue has decided to make Bush
the next American sports superstar before he's done anything in the NFL to
warrant such attention.
Remember: Although Bush made some
great highlight-reel plays last season, his overall production puts him well
behind the elite running backs of the NFL. As a rookie in 2006, he had 155
carries for 565 yards, a sub-par 3.6 yards per carry. He did catch 88 passes and
make a solid contribution to the Saints' passing game but, even there, he
managed a pedestrian 8.4 yards per catch.
And yet the media can't get enough
of Bush. Even NFL Network is getting in on the act: A recent profile (which can
be viewed on NFL.com) celebrated Bush's unique
offseason training regimen while glossing over the fact that Bush's coach, Sean
Payton, had hoped Bush would stay in New Orleans to work with the Saints'
training staff during the offseason. Obviously, working out with a personal
trainer is preferable to other activities Bush could engage in during the
offseason (like pigging out with his former USC backfield mate LenDale White),
but it's odd to see a player celebrated for going off on his own when most
players are working out with their teammates.
Bush will appear on the cover of
Men's Fitness in August, he's scheduled to show up at the ESPY awards, and he
has more commercial filming obligations still ahead of him. That's all well and
good as long as the Saints are winning. But if the Saints slip in the standings
this year and Bush is appearing in every other commercial while still averaging
3.6 yards per carry, it won't take long before we see a Bush backlash.
EARL CAMPBELL: UNION SHOULD BE
ASHAMED by Michael David
Smith
Hall of Fame running back Earl
Campbell is one of the most frequently cited examples of a retired NFL player
who is now struggling to get through life thanks to a body beaten down by
football.
The 52-year-old Campbell, however,
isn't so sure that football is the reason he can hardly walk anymore. But he
still believes the NFL Players Association needs to do more for retired players. In an Associated Press account of an event for past Heisman Trophy
winners, Campbell is quoted as saying that his health problems -- which range
from bone spurs in his back to severely damaged knees -- are
more likely the result of
bad genetics than football.
But whether football caused his
health problems or not, Campbell thinks his contribution to the rapid growth of
football's popularity in the 1970s ought to entitle him to better benefits in
his retirement. "They need to do more for ex-athletes," Campbell told the
AP.
The AP also quotes Campbell saying
of NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw, "[He] should be ashamed. He played the
game and he knows."
Why did the AP put "he" in
parentheses? It may be an indication that Campbell is deteriorating mentally. The Dallas Morning News reported that Campbell showed signs of short-term
memory loss, including
referring to Upshaw as "Art Shell" even after being corrected twice.
Watching NFL Films highlights of
Campbell and contrasting them with the broken-down middle-aged man we see today
is one of the most powerful messages imaginable about the health problems of so
many former players, even if Campbell doesn't blame his football career for his
current ailments.
Though this site is called
ProFootballTalk.com, the only pro football we ever really talk about is the
NFL. But since the blue-suited sharks from Covington & Burling would be
devouring our appendages (and, as a card-carrying hammerhead, I say that with
only admiration and respect) if we were to include the "NFL" acronym in the name
of our site, we opted for a more generic title.
With that said, we feign interest
from time to time in "other" pro football leagues, but usually only if/when
there's a real connection back to the NFL.
On Monday, we posted for the first
time (that we can remember) an item regarding the AFL. Based on a source who
has solid connections within the indoor version of the greatest game ever
invented, we reported that John Elway ultimately wants to make the AFL into the
NFL's developmental league.
We also mentioned that, along the
way, Elway wants to oust the current Commissioner of the AFL, and potentially
lock out the players in order to drive down costs.
Understandably, the report grazed
a nerve or two within the AFL's league offices.
We received within a couple of
hours after posting the item an e-mail from Chris McCloskey, the Executive V.P.
of Communications for the AFL. Said McCloskey: "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."
In order to gauge how "full of absurdities" (or other, um, substances) our story
is, we asked McCloskey to identify for us the erroneous portions.
His response? "Everything. I know you are a rumor site and do not use the
same journalistic standards as the mainstream press, but if this ran in a
newspaper it would be the worst story I'd have read in my 15 years of sports
PR. One example, Commissioner Baker appointed John
as Co-chairman of the Competition Committee and was fully in favor of free
substitution. It's just all wrong."
Oh well. We've got no reason at all to doubt our source. And, as we see it,
McCloskey has every reason to help keep the current Commissioner on the job,
because a new Commissioner installed as a result of an Elway-led coup might want
to hire his or her own Executive V.P. of Communications.
The fact that Baker appointed Elway as Co-chairman of the Competition Committee
is meaningless to us. In business, folks in a position of high leadership have
all sorts of motivations for the decisions that they make. Maybe Baker saw
Elway as a threat, and wanted to appease him. Maybe Baker follows the old adage
of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Or maybe Baker was
pushed to appoint Elway by a group of owners who were ready to revolt against
Baker's leadership.
And are we really supposed to take at face value the notion that the
Commissioner of any sports league was "fully in favor" of a landmark rules
change? What's Baker going to do, hold a press conference announcing that he
thinks that free substitution will destroy the game?
We're circling back with our source for more information on this one. But we're
not taking down the story, especially not at the suggestion of a guy who has a
vested interest in seeing it go away.
TAMPA O-LINE ON THE UPSWING?
Though many league observers and
fans are quick to assume that the Buccaneers won't be much better this year than
they were in the days of the yellow-and-orange uniforms with the Village
People's version of a pirate on the helmet, we think that Bucs will surprise a
lot of people this year. (Not that there's anything wrong with the Village
People.)
They did a great job in free
agency of nabbing guys at a reasonable price. And, more importantly, Jon
Gruden knows he is coaching for his job, for the first time in his career.
Another reason? The
offensive line will be better. Left tackle Luke Petitgout, dumped by the
Giants early in the offseason, was signed to a three-year, $15 million deal -- a
steal in light of the seven-year, $49 million packages that went to guys like
Derrick Dockery, Eric Steinbach, and Leonard Davis.
Petitgout also has a chip on his
shoulder, due to getting cut by the Giants. And he took a swipe at his
former team's approach on offense in gushing about Gruden's way of doing things.
"We did a lot of the same things
in New York, and different looks dictate the plays called in the huddle,"
Petitgout told the St. Petersburg Times. "Coach Jon Gruden likes to
be very creative. That helps us out. You've got to be on the same
page with him. You have to pay attention to the quarterback because he
runs the show.
"[Gruden] is not scared to call a
naked [bootleg] play on first down. He'll buck the tendencies. I
like that out of a coach. It's not so cut and dry where a defense knows
when you line up what you're going to do."
Petitgout is encouraged by the
quality of his new teammates. "I see a lot of talent on the offensive line
and on offense in general, " he said. "The two young guys [guard Davin
Joseph and tackle Jeremy Trueblood] on the right side are promising and will
benefit from a year of playing and are a lot more confident. The center,
John Wade, is a good leader and makes a lot of great calls. At left guard,
Anthony Davis has had a good offseason, and he's competing with [Dan] Buenning
and [Arron] Sears, who is a talented young guy. Then you've got myself.
I see good things."
The Bucs have a solid set of
skill-position players; the problem of late has been the blocking. If the
line can improve, Tampa can get back to the postseason -- and Gruden can save
his job.
With NFL Europa being flushed down
the thing that sits next to the
bidet, an indoor football source tells us that former Broncos quarterback
John Elway plans to push for the Arena Football League to become the new NFL
developmental league.
To get there, the word is that
Elway, co-owner and CEO of the Colorado Crush, first plans to target AFL
Commissioner David Baker for removal, due to the fact that plenty of the teams
are consistently losing money. Per the source, Elway and Baker don't see
eye-to-eye on anything. Last year, Elway and Philadelphia Soul co-owner
Ron Jaworski were instrumental in pushing through the
scuttling of the league's signature "ironman" rule, which limited
substitutions and required most guys to play both ways, on offense and on
defense. (As a practical matter, this new rule better prepares players for
a potential jump to the NFL by having them focus on only one position.)
If/when Elway can get Baker out of
the way, we're told that the next step will be to renegotiate the Collective
Bargaining Agreement between the owners and the players, locking them out if
necessary after the expiration of the current deal in 2010. The goal will
be to get the wages more in line with the pay scale provided by NFL Europa.
Currently, the AFL has a rookie minimum of $1,500 per game plus housing.
Stars like quarterback Tony Graziani are making $15,000 per game, plus housing.
If/when the wage scale is changed,
Elway is expected to work with other AFL owners who also own NFL teams to
position the AFL to become a developmental league, with a new name that would
include the NFL brand (e.g., NFL Indoors or NFL Arena Football or
something to that effect).
But we still think that a
developmental league that plays in the spring hurts the guys who otherwise would
be participating in his NFL team's offseason program. So we believe that
the final step in Elway's expected power play should be to move the AFL to an
August launch, taking advantage of the anticipation for "real" football by
dropping some games in the run-up to the commencement of the NFL regular season.
If/when the two leagues are ever linked up, the NFL should look for more ways to
cross-market the indoor version of the sport, by for example dropping the AFL
championship into the weekend before the Super Bowl, and possibly by playing the
AFL title game in the same city where the Super Bowl will be held, using the AFL
event as the official kickoff to the week before the NFL championship game.
KEYSHAWN NEEDS TO BUY SOME
SUITS
Now that we're watching
SportsCenter again, due to the absence of anything else worth watching in
the mornings, we're noticing all sorts of things that give us fodder for
commentary.
For starters, if Keyshawn Johnson
is serious about becoming a legitimate fixture on television, he needs to lose
the jeans and the sneakers. Now.
In segments regarding ESPN's
ridiculous popularity contest pitting players from various sports against each
other in an NCAA-style bracket, Johnson is on the set alongside Kirk Herbstreit
and Michael Wilbon. Though neither Herbstreit nor Wilbon are wearing
neckties, they have slacks, dress shoes, and shirts with buttons and collars
under their jackets.
Keyshawn, in contrast, looks like
he just rolled in from hanging out at the local mall, with sneakers and jeans
and a T-shirt covered up by a jacket that likely came from the Bristol "extra
coats for guys too stupid to bring one" closet. (Hopefully, they'll
return it to the Friar's Club before one of the Flying Sandos Brothers swipes
it.)
We don't know whether he's
attempting to be different or whether he just doesn't care. Regardless, he
needs to try to look like a guy who plans to be on television for a living, if
he truly intends to be on television for a living.
MONDAY MORNING ONE-LINERS
Another possible replacement for
NFL Europa
could be the AAFL, which will try to develop pro teams that cater to the
same provincial passions stirred by the college game.
POSTED 6:30 p.m.
EDT; LAST UPDATED 8:14 p.m. EDT, July 1, 2007
CARTER NOT CLOSE TO AN NFL
RETURN
As we see it, whatever favor
ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli was repaying when he suggested that former Cowboys
quarterback Quincy Carter might have a shot at getting back to the NFL must have
been a huge one.
On Friday, Len wrote that at least
one team is "considering"
bringing Carter in for a workout. If that's true, the owner of said team
should be "considering" firing the G.M.
For starters, Carter couldn't even
make it in the CFL, and couldn't land a job in the Arena Football League.
Instead, he's been relegated to the AFL's B-level cousin, and he's not exactly
tearing things up there.
An af2 source (hey, we've got
sources at every level of the sport) tells us that Carter is playing "okay" by
af2 standards. And he's coming off of a one-month suspension for "missing
team meetings and a practice," and all that that might imply to folks who are
inclined to try to read between the lines, correctly or otherwise, if they so
choose to try to do so.
Carter's numbers are good but not
great -- in eight games (through Friday night), he has thrown for 2,190 yards,
with 48 touchdowns and six picks. And, as the source explained, Friday
night's loss to the Amarillo Dusters showed that Carter still doesn't have the
maturity necessary to succeed in the NFL.
On fourth and goal from the
Amarillo one-foot line in the fourth quarter of a tight game in which Carter's
Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings held the lead, Carter tried to dive over the
pile. He was denied.
Carter
then went bonkos, spiking the ball and then throwing his helmet.
The result? Two penalty
flags, giving the Dusters the ball not on their own one-inch line but at their
21 yard line. Two plays later, the Dusters scored the go-ahead touchdown.
Game over for the Battlewings.
For Carter, the game ended a long
time ago.
OUR OWN TOP 25 LIST GETS
ROLLING
We decided on Saturday to rip off
USA Today's effort to name the best 25 NFL players from the past 25
years.
Another Madden soundtrack, another
reason for us to feel even older as we recognize the names of fewer and fewer of
the singers.
POSTED 4:56
p.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 5:48 p.m. EDT, July 1, 2007
EVANS GIVES FINS THE TURD WATCH
LEAD
With his June 22 arrest on various
charges and the disclosure of a February 10 arrest for marijuana possession and
subsequent plea of no contest, former Dolphins defensive tackle Fred Evans has
given the Miami Dolphins the overall lead in the PFT
Turd Watch.
It took us some time to tally the
points, due to our distinction between the points assigned for felonies and
misdemeanors. We've determined that two of the charges from June 22 --
battery on a police officer and resisting arrest with violence -- are felonies
under Florida law, and that the other two -- disorderly conduct and trespassing
-- are misdemeanors.
Also, per media reports that Evans
was hit with "multiple" counts of each of the felony charges, we've scored it
for now as two counts of resisting arrest with violence and two counts of
battery on a police officer. If "multiple" in this case means more than
two, the number could go even higher.
So the final tally is 38 points
for Evans. Coupled with the four points racked up by Joey Porter, the Fins
now have 42 points, which is one more than the 41 that have been scored by the
Jags.
The third Florida team, the
Buccaneers, are in fourth place with 30 points, one behind the Titans at 31.
Five months into our "game," only
eight teams still have zero points, including the Bills, Pats, Texans, Lions,
and the entire NFC East.
MORE ON POSSIBLE NFL MINOR
LEAGUE
In the wake of the recent
scuttling of NFL Europa and our report that a growing number of NFL executives
would like to see the establishment of a true minor-league system, we've tracked
down an article first posted more than four years ago by former PFT contributor
Ron Del Duca, an agent who has handled NFL, NHL, tennis, baseball, and NASCAR
clients.
The challenge, as we see it, will
be for the NFL to avoid the perception that the creation of a minor league is a
reaction to the recently-announced plans of the UFL, which will feature a team
owned by Mark Cuban and plans to target cities that currently do not host NFL
franchises.
NEW PODCAST IS UP
Check out the latest installment
of the PFT Podcast, a 15-minutes-only discussion (for the ADD generation) of
various current NFL topics.
POSTED
11:17 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 1:52 p.m. EDT, July 1, 2007
FOUR SURGERIES LATER, BENTLEY
INTENDS TO RETURN
Browns center LeCharles Bentley
popped a patellar tendon on the opening day of 2006 training camp, his first in
Cleveland. A staph infection resulting from surgery to repair the injury
resulted in three more procedures, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer.
But instead of having a fifth
surgery in June that would have wiped out his chances of playing in 2007,
Bentley tells Cabot that he plans to try to play this year.
"I've been fortunate enough to
have worked myself into a position to even think about playing football again,"
Bentley said. "In spite of some major hurdles, I've been truly blessed all
along the way to the point where I might possibly play this year."
After the fourth surgery, Bentley
was told that he'd never play football again.
"At that point, it was more just
about living a normal life than playing football again," Bentley said. "I
was trying to learn how to walk up the stairs again."
Still, Bentley's climb back to the
NFL will be even more challenging. The fifth surgery would have replaced
the new patellar tendon, since it has been damaged by the staph infection and,
in the fourth surgery, was partially removed. With the kind of wear and
tear that comes with life in the NFL, it's hard to imagine the replacement
tendon holding up for long.
"[The doctor]
told me my knee was sufficiently healed enough to live a
normal life," said Bentley. "He said, 'Go retire, go
fishing, go live your life.' If he's telling me I
don't need surgery, I started thinking, 'Maybe I can play
again.'"
After further
rehab, the doctor agreed. If the process continues as
it has, Bentley will pass a physical and be cleared to play.
We wish him the best in this
regard, but everyone needs to be realistic. Patellar tendons don't heal
themselves. If the one that's in Bentley's leg has been torn up by an
infection and partially torn out by a surgeon, the odds are against a long-term
return to the game.
WE GOT GAS (AND TROPHIES)
Please pardon this temporary
detour from our non-stop coverage of the only professional sport that matters to
address for a moment a subject relating to youth sports.
Florio Jr., as you might recall
from past meanderings, doesn't play football. He currently plays baseball,
basketball, and soccer. And his Pony League baseball team, sponsored by
local gasoline/convenience store chain GoMart, capped on Saturday a most
improbable turnaround, vaulting from a 6-9 regular season record to a 4-0 run
through the double-elimination six-team tournament, and capturing the county
championship in the 9-and-10-year-old Mustang Division.
We think that baseball generally
is boring. But when your kid is playing, it suddenly becomes interesting.
And when he's at the plate with his team on the wrong end of a 3-1 score in the
third inning and a 5-4 count in the fifth, baseball can be downright compelling.
In both instances, the pint-sized
Big Papi tied the game. The first hit was a blazing double that roared to
the outfield. (After the game, I pulled my best Michelle Tafoya impression
by asking him what was going through his mind when he hit the ball, and his
response was, "Holy crap.")
He also scored the final run on a
passed ball, pushing the margin to 7-5 after five full frames. Then, with
runners on second and third and one out in the top of the sixth and final
inning, the opponents' best hitter jumped on the first pitch and rocked a laser
that was destined to hit the grass and bounce to the fence. Out of
nowhere, left-centerfielder Austin Swiger snagged the ball in full stride before
it hit the ground, and then continued sprinting to second base, where he
completed the double play by stomping on the bag.
Every player made a key
contribution on the way to the title. Chaz Rodeheaver pitched 18 stellar
innings, allowing only one walk. Chad Morrison was a force on the mound,
behind the plate, and with the bat. Phillip Chafin's inside-the-park home
run was the back-breaker in a key game early in the tournament. Jordan
Brown made a big-league caliber leaping stab from shortstop to turn an
extra-bases line drive into an out on Saturday. Sam Rodeheaver anchored
the right side of the infield with solid play at second base. Ty Wickline
and Tyler Mays worked hard late in the year to develop into solid outfielders
and effective hitters. John Marshall became a vacuum cleaner at first base
once the tournament began.
First row (left to right): Sam Rodeheaver, Chaz
Rodeheaver, Chad Morrison, Jordan Brown, Ty Wickline; second row (left to
right): Tyler Mays, Phillip Chafin, Austin Swiger, Alex Florio, John Marshall;
third row (left to right): head coach David Morrison, assistant coach Matt
Hansberry, assistant coach Tim Brown, and assistant coach John Wickline.
So congratulations to the team
that was a combined 0-6 during the season against the top two seeds in the
tournament, and then beat both of them on the path to the title. After the
win, the GoMart squad broke the huddle with the season-long cheer based on their
sponsor's primary product -- "We got gas!"
Former Pats RB Robert Edwards,
whose knee was exploded in an NFL-sanctioned beach football game after his
stellar rookie season, is
still playing in Canada.
Falcons CB DeAngelo Hall
plans to hit the market after the 2008 season (apparently, he's never heard
of the franchise tag).
Says Titans RB LenWhale White,
regarding his offseason weight gain: "It's not that I
have an eating problem," White said. "I'm not going to leave here and
go to Wendy's and get 17
cheeseburgers." (Apparently, 16 is his limit.)
For all of our stuff from
June 30 and before, click here, and if you want to go even farther back in time,
click here for five full years of
archives. (Or you can watch slo-mo replays of a couple of dudes
cramming a bunch of hot dogs down their throats with the chorus of
Pink Houses playing in the background.)
