DUERSON TRAGEDY, A 100K BAR TAB, LABOR NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE & T.O. IS, WELL HE'S T.O.
This past Thursday, former Bear & Giants' safety Dave Duerson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Duerson won Super Bowl rings with the '85 Bears & the '90 Giants, he was the 1987 NFL Man of the Year for his numerous charitable contributions & involvement & was a member of the NFLPA's board of directors during labor negotiations. His suicide was shocking to every friend & family member, no one saw it coming. Thursday morning he texted several members of his family requesting that when he was gone, he wanted his brain donated intact to the NFL's study on brain damage created by concussions & repeated blows to the head. The study, partially funded by a $1 million donation from the league, is examining the brains of deceased high school, college & professional football players. The researchers are looking for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE in these brains. Duerson's concern for the research is certainly admirable, but was it the cause of his suicide, did it contribute?
The power of the social networks is amazing. Since creating a Facebook page, the "Tide for Toomers" the group, made up of Alabama supporters, has raised almost $40,000 to help fix the mess created by a deranged Tide fan who poisoned a number of oak trees in Auburn's Toomer's Corner. The Facebook group has nearly 32,000 supporters & the money is flowing in to replace the trees that were sprayed with herbicide. Let's hope they raise the money needed to replace the 130-year old trees.
A number of NFL quarterbacks & receivers have already made plans to practice together in case of a work stoppage. This is one area of a football team that will suffer if they aren't practicing together. The Steelers led by Ben Roethlisberger & Hines Ward have already scheduled a number of practices, so have the Vikings, Buccaneers & Ravens. No word yet if the Chiefs have any such practices scheduled. If no CBA is reached before the March 4th deadline, coaches & players will no longer be able to have any contact. It will be up to coaches to load up their players with strength & conditioning workout goals & drills that will help keep their teams semi-competitive without any organized team activities(OTA's) or mini camps.
Just to show you how concerned some NFL players are about a possible lockout & no future paychecks for an unknown period of time, here's a good example. Vikings offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie was in L.A. for the NBA All-Star game & last Thursday night he was in the swank MyHouse Club with some friends & he decided to pick up the bar tab. After 13 bottles of very expensive champagne & some brandies, McKinnie was presented with a bill totaling just over $100,000. He paid the tab & left. No word on how large the tip was, if there was a tip.
Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert has decided not to throw this weekend at the NFL Combine. This is fairly typical, many of the top-rated quarterbacks like throwing to their own receivers on their own field & that is what Gabbert has chosen to do. Other highly rated QB's will throw, Jake Locker & Colin Kaepernick will both throw. No word yet from Heisman winner Cam Newton, altho I think he'll throw, he already has a lot of baggage & not throwing will only compound the questions regarding him. Florida State's Christian Ponder will also wait to throw until the Seminole's pro day on campus. Mizzou pro day is March 17th.
Honestly, I'm not trying to "rub it in" Chiefs' fans. The Green Bay Packers are raising ticket prices $3-4 a seat at Lambeau Field. The most expensive ticket in the house will now be $87, up from $83. The St Louis Rams also intend to raise their ticket prices in every price bracket except at the $25 level. This makes it much more economical for Rams' owner Stan Kroenke to buy up remaining seats to avoid a local TV blackout. Teams must pay 34-cents on the dollar on unsold seats to preserve local telecasts. That money is split between the league & the visiting team.
The NFLPA & the league has indeed met on 4 consecutive days for a total of 27-hours behind closed doors with their federal mediator. They have also kept the media blackout they promised, not a word has leaked out from the meetings with one exception, Steelers' backup QB Charlie Batch, one of the three active players at the meetings said late today "we're making real progress." That's it. I'm just encouraged that they have met 4 days in a row for real meetings & nothing being thrown out to the media in an effort to pump up their side of the argument. Maybe something will actually happen before September, wouldn't that be nice?
Thirty-six year old wide receiver Terrell Owens has this special way of ingratiating himself to each & every team he's played for, Niners, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills & now the Bengals. He pretty much burned his bridge to the Bengals with these comments on Friday. When asked what happened to Cincinnati this season Owens replied "you start with the head coach & then you start with the staff on both sides of the ball. Offensively, we really didn't have the coaching we really needed to muster what we had on the offensive side of the ball." Huh? "It's starts at the top with the owner, not everyone did what they were supposed to do" Owens added. Let me add a few facts to Owens' assessment. The Bengals won the AFC Central in '09 by sweeping the division & compiling a 10-6 record. In 2010, they struggled to a 4-12 record, dead last in the division. What was different, what caused the dropoff? Let's see, same coach, same coordinators, same QB, same RB, in fact, 19 starters returned to start the season. One of the three new starters.......Terrell Owens. Couldn't be him could it? This is a guy who will find it very, very, very difficult to find anyone interested in signing him this season. His agent Drew Rosenhaus will earn every dime of his 5% commission if he can find an NFL franchise foolish enough to sign this cancer. I don't see any takers, I think T.O.'s football career is over right now.
The power of the social networks is amazing. Since creating a Facebook page, the "Tide for Toomers" the group, made up of Alabama supporters, has raised almost $40,000 to help fix the mess created by a deranged Tide fan who poisoned a number of oak trees in Auburn's Toomer's Corner. The Facebook group has nearly 32,000 supporters & the money is flowing in to replace the trees that were sprayed with herbicide. Let's hope they raise the money needed to replace the 130-year old trees.
A number of NFL quarterbacks & receivers have already made plans to practice together in case of a work stoppage. This is one area of a football team that will suffer if they aren't practicing together. The Steelers led by Ben Roethlisberger & Hines Ward have already scheduled a number of practices, so have the Vikings, Buccaneers & Ravens. No word yet if the Chiefs have any such practices scheduled. If no CBA is reached before the March 4th deadline, coaches & players will no longer be able to have any contact. It will be up to coaches to load up their players with strength & conditioning workout goals & drills that will help keep their teams semi-competitive without any organized team activities(OTA's) or mini camps.
Just to show you how concerned some NFL players are about a possible lockout & no future paychecks for an unknown period of time, here's a good example. Vikings offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie was in L.A. for the NBA All-Star game & last Thursday night he was in the swank MyHouse Club with some friends & he decided to pick up the bar tab. After 13 bottles of very expensive champagne & some brandies, McKinnie was presented with a bill totaling just over $100,000. He paid the tab & left. No word on how large the tip was, if there was a tip.
Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert has decided not to throw this weekend at the NFL Combine. This is fairly typical, many of the top-rated quarterbacks like throwing to their own receivers on their own field & that is what Gabbert has chosen to do. Other highly rated QB's will throw, Jake Locker & Colin Kaepernick will both throw. No word yet from Heisman winner Cam Newton, altho I think he'll throw, he already has a lot of baggage & not throwing will only compound the questions regarding him. Florida State's Christian Ponder will also wait to throw until the Seminole's pro day on campus. Mizzou pro day is March 17th.
Honestly, I'm not trying to "rub it in" Chiefs' fans. The Green Bay Packers are raising ticket prices $3-4 a seat at Lambeau Field. The most expensive ticket in the house will now be $87, up from $83. The St Louis Rams also intend to raise their ticket prices in every price bracket except at the $25 level. This makes it much more economical for Rams' owner Stan Kroenke to buy up remaining seats to avoid a local TV blackout. Teams must pay 34-cents on the dollar on unsold seats to preserve local telecasts. That money is split between the league & the visiting team.
The NFLPA & the league has indeed met on 4 consecutive days for a total of 27-hours behind closed doors with their federal mediator. They have also kept the media blackout they promised, not a word has leaked out from the meetings with one exception, Steelers' backup QB Charlie Batch, one of the three active players at the meetings said late today "we're making real progress." That's it. I'm just encouraged that they have met 4 days in a row for real meetings & nothing being thrown out to the media in an effort to pump up their side of the argument. Maybe something will actually happen before September, wouldn't that be nice?
Thirty-six year old wide receiver Terrell Owens has this special way of ingratiating himself to each & every team he's played for, Niners, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills & now the Bengals. He pretty much burned his bridge to the Bengals with these comments on Friday. When asked what happened to Cincinnati this season Owens replied "you start with the head coach & then you start with the staff on both sides of the ball. Offensively, we really didn't have the coaching we really needed to muster what we had on the offensive side of the ball." Huh? "It's starts at the top with the owner, not everyone did what they were supposed to do" Owens added. Let me add a few facts to Owens' assessment. The Bengals won the AFC Central in '09 by sweeping the division & compiling a 10-6 record. In 2010, they struggled to a 4-12 record, dead last in the division. What was different, what caused the dropoff? Let's see, same coach, same coordinators, same QB, same RB, in fact, 19 starters returned to start the season. One of the three new starters.......Terrell Owens. Couldn't be him could it? This is a guy who will find it very, very, very difficult to find anyone interested in signing him this season. His agent Drew Rosenhaus will earn every dime of his 5% commission if he can find an NFL franchise foolish enough to sign this cancer. I don't see any takers, I think T.O.'s football career is over right now.
Comments