TIKI UN-RETIRES, HUNT JOINS LABOR TALKS & TRESSEL SPEAKS OUT TONIGHT
Tiki Barber retired after the 2006 season but now he wants back into pro football. What's more likely about his desire to return is it's about money. Tiki hasn't done well since he filed his retirement papers with the league, thought to be a rising star in the media, he signed on with NBC to fill a variety of jobs. He was on The Today Show, Football Night in America on Sunday nights, Morning Joe on MSNBC & the Olympics. But by spring of 2010, he was out at NBC. He did a couple of guest hosting gigs on Fox & Friends, but they quickly dried up as well. Barber had a long term extra-marital affair with an NBC assistant, which was well known at the network. He filed for divorce from his college sweetheart Ginny, when she was 9-months pregnant with their twin daughters. His football credibility was shot after he blasted his former coach Tom Coughlin before & during the 2007 season, the year the Giants won the Super Bowl without Barber. Now, less than a month before his 36th birthday, Barber wants to return to the NFL. Thirty-six year old NFL running backs are few & far between, especially ones who haven't played in four full seasons. He has about zero chance of making an NFL roster in my opinion, in fact I can't see a team even giving him a shot.
Ryan Mallett worked out today at Arkansas' pro day. It wasn't pretty, Mallett's athletic ability was worse than disappointing. He ran the forty-yard dash in 5.37 seconds, slower than half the offensive & defensive linemen at the recent NFL Scouting Combine. Quarterbacks don't have to be great athletes, Tom Brady & Peyton Manning aren't going to wow anyone with their athletic ability & they has prospered in the NFL. But Mallett has a terrific throwing arm & that's about it. He doesn't move well in the pocket, he doesn't move well laterally to avoid oncoming pass rushers & his sight reads & checkdowns have been erratic over his career. The 6' 7" 243-pound QB has a 1st round arm, but he is a real risk in my opinion, he could be a major bust.
The NFLPA & league ownership sat down with federal mediator George Cohen again this morning. The lawyer I told you about yesterday, Jeffrey Kessler, was absent again. NFLPA Director, DeMaurice Smith, held him out of the meetings & it looks like he won't be back. Kessler incurred the wrath of Patriots' owner Robert Kraft last week & he hasn't been a part of the face-to-face negotiations since. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell tried a different tact today by enlisting Giants' owner John Mara & Clark Hunt of the Chiefs. Both come from families who, as PFT.com's Gregg Rosenthal put so perfectly, "have a legacy of compromise & league-first thinking." It was men like Lamar Hunt, Art Rooney & Welington Mara who were always the voice of reason in the NFL, they were not only brilliant in helping the league soar past baseball as the country's number one sport, but they paved the way to sensible labor agreements when others in ownership were looking to strip the players of any power in negotiations. Smart move by Goodell, he should keep this pair involved thru the rest of the week, maybe something will actually get accomplished.
DT584evr asked how a possible lockout will effect teams, like the Chiefs, who are still in the developmental stage? I think teams that aren't changing their offensive or defensive schemes have an advantage over those who are making dramatic changes. Changing coordinators will also hurt unless the schemes remain the same. Teams that are changing quarterbacks will also fall behind. Teams with more veteran starters will should also have an advantage both in their conditioning & preparation for the season, whenever that is.
I told you last week about a rumored NCAA investigation into the football program of a major national power. It is unfolding as you read this & that program is Ohio State. Tonight at 6PM CT, there will a new conference on the Columbus campus. Appearing before the assembled media will be University President E. Gordon Gee, Athletic Director Gene Smith & Buckeye head coach Jim Tressel. The investigation stems from "Tattoo-Gate", the mess uncovered last fall when five OSU players were caught selling/trading Buckeye team gear, which included bowl game jerseys & Big-Ten Conference Championship rings, for services from a local tattoo parlor. Despite a major public outcry, Tressel did not suspend the five starters, including QB Terrelle Pryor, for the Sugar Bowl game. They were suspended by the NCAA for the first 5 games of the 2011 season. The school had already filed an appeal with the sanctioning body to get those suspensions reduced by two games. The NCAA has no power over the bowl games, so they couldn't impose any suspensions for the Sugar Bowl. Tressel claimed at the time, he knew nothing about the Tattoo-Gate transactions until December. But a 2-month investigation by YahooSports claimed the Buckeye Coach knew as early as April about what his star players were doing with the tattoo guy. If, as it is alleged in the report, Tressel knew about these infractions & sat on it without telling the OSU compliance office or the A.D., he's in a lot of trouble, enough to possibly lose his job. If he told Smith or the compliance office what he allegedly knew & they decided to keep it quiet, the school is facing severe NCAA sanctions. Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee has his own issues within the college football world, sticking his foot in his mouth often belittling smaller, lesser financed programs. He apologized each time but his credibility isn't the best because people don't believe the man has the slightest clue about anything regarding college football. Athletic Director Gene Smith is the current president of the NCAA Men's Basketball Selection Committee. With "Selection Sunday" for "March Madness" being this coming Sunday, he certainly has a huge responsibility this week. But Smith had to fly home to Columbus this morning to deal with the possibility Tattoo-Gate still has a long way to go before it's resolved. We'll know more tonight after the press conference.
Forty years ago tonight, Joe Frazier beat Muhammed Ali in New York's Madison Square Garden. It was Ali's return to the ring after being stripped of his title for being a conscientious objector to the draft during the Vietnam War. I was in basic training at the time & one of my two drill instructors was named Joe Frazier, swear to God. Of course we had no idea what had happened the night of the fight being so isolated. But come 4:45 AM, SSGT Frazier began banging the lids of two galvanized garbage cans, his soothing way of waking his men. He slammed the lids back onto the cans & walked to within 6-inches of my face. This hulking African-American drill sergeant yelled "who is the heavyweight champion of the world?" Not knowing who won the fight, I took a shot & said "sir, Joe Frazier sir!" He cracked a huge smile & said "you're goddamn right." Whew, another bullet dodged & it wasn't even 5 in the morning.
Ali-Frazier I, New York, March 8, 1971
Ryan Mallett worked out today at Arkansas' pro day. It wasn't pretty, Mallett's athletic ability was worse than disappointing. He ran the forty-yard dash in 5.37 seconds, slower than half the offensive & defensive linemen at the recent NFL Scouting Combine. Quarterbacks don't have to be great athletes, Tom Brady & Peyton Manning aren't going to wow anyone with their athletic ability & they has prospered in the NFL. But Mallett has a terrific throwing arm & that's about it. He doesn't move well in the pocket, he doesn't move well laterally to avoid oncoming pass rushers & his sight reads & checkdowns have been erratic over his career. The 6' 7" 243-pound QB has a 1st round arm, but he is a real risk in my opinion, he could be a major bust.
The NFLPA & league ownership sat down with federal mediator George Cohen again this morning. The lawyer I told you about yesterday, Jeffrey Kessler, was absent again. NFLPA Director, DeMaurice Smith, held him out of the meetings & it looks like he won't be back. Kessler incurred the wrath of Patriots' owner Robert Kraft last week & he hasn't been a part of the face-to-face negotiations since. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell tried a different tact today by enlisting Giants' owner John Mara & Clark Hunt of the Chiefs. Both come from families who, as PFT.com's Gregg Rosenthal put so perfectly, "have a legacy of compromise & league-first thinking." It was men like Lamar Hunt, Art Rooney & Welington Mara who were always the voice of reason in the NFL, they were not only brilliant in helping the league soar past baseball as the country's number one sport, but they paved the way to sensible labor agreements when others in ownership were looking to strip the players of any power in negotiations. Smart move by Goodell, he should keep this pair involved thru the rest of the week, maybe something will actually get accomplished.
DT584evr asked how a possible lockout will effect teams, like the Chiefs, who are still in the developmental stage? I think teams that aren't changing their offensive or defensive schemes have an advantage over those who are making dramatic changes. Changing coordinators will also hurt unless the schemes remain the same. Teams that are changing quarterbacks will also fall behind. Teams with more veteran starters will should also have an advantage both in their conditioning & preparation for the season, whenever that is.
I told you last week about a rumored NCAA investigation into the football program of a major national power. It is unfolding as you read this & that program is Ohio State. Tonight at 6PM CT, there will a new conference on the Columbus campus. Appearing before the assembled media will be University President E. Gordon Gee, Athletic Director Gene Smith & Buckeye head coach Jim Tressel. The investigation stems from "Tattoo-Gate", the mess uncovered last fall when five OSU players were caught selling/trading Buckeye team gear, which included bowl game jerseys & Big-Ten Conference Championship rings, for services from a local tattoo parlor. Despite a major public outcry, Tressel did not suspend the five starters, including QB Terrelle Pryor, for the Sugar Bowl game. They were suspended by the NCAA for the first 5 games of the 2011 season. The school had already filed an appeal with the sanctioning body to get those suspensions reduced by two games. The NCAA has no power over the bowl games, so they couldn't impose any suspensions for the Sugar Bowl. Tressel claimed at the time, he knew nothing about the Tattoo-Gate transactions until December. But a 2-month investigation by YahooSports claimed the Buckeye Coach knew as early as April about what his star players were doing with the tattoo guy. If, as it is alleged in the report, Tressel knew about these infractions & sat on it without telling the OSU compliance office or the A.D., he's in a lot of trouble, enough to possibly lose his job. If he told Smith or the compliance office what he allegedly knew & they decided to keep it quiet, the school is facing severe NCAA sanctions. Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee has his own issues within the college football world, sticking his foot in his mouth often belittling smaller, lesser financed programs. He apologized each time but his credibility isn't the best because people don't believe the man has the slightest clue about anything regarding college football. Athletic Director Gene Smith is the current president of the NCAA Men's Basketball Selection Committee. With "Selection Sunday" for "March Madness" being this coming Sunday, he certainly has a huge responsibility this week. But Smith had to fly home to Columbus this morning to deal with the possibility Tattoo-Gate still has a long way to go before it's resolved. We'll know more tonight after the press conference.
Forty years ago tonight, Joe Frazier beat Muhammed Ali in New York's Madison Square Garden. It was Ali's return to the ring after being stripped of his title for being a conscientious objector to the draft during the Vietnam War. I was in basic training at the time & one of my two drill instructors was named Joe Frazier, swear to God. Of course we had no idea what had happened the night of the fight being so isolated. But come 4:45 AM, SSGT Frazier began banging the lids of two galvanized garbage cans, his soothing way of waking his men. He slammed the lids back onto the cans & walked to within 6-inches of my face. This hulking African-American drill sergeant yelled "who is the heavyweight champion of the world?" Not knowing who won the fight, I took a shot & said "sir, Joe Frazier sir!" He cracked a huge smile & said "you're goddamn right." Whew, another bullet dodged & it wasn't even 5 in the morning.
Ali-Frazier I, New York, March 8, 1971
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