CHIEFS & FANS CHIP IN, USC DENIED, DANARIO BACK & COULD AN AGENT SOLVE THE LOCKOUT?
I told you Tuesday morning of the Chiefs' plan to help those stricken by the Joplin tornado. Well, I think even by optimistic standards, they exceeded their wildest hopes. But people from Kansas City have always been generous, I know for years, K.C. was at or near the top per capita of Jerry Lewis' MDA Telethon. Even having to shut down completely for over an hour because of tornado sirens, the Chiefs & their fans were able to fill nearly 6 tractor trailers with bottled water. They estimated the donations would total over 168,000 bottles. Chiefs' Cheerleaders were on hand to handle the cash & check donations & were also overwhelmed by the community's generosity. Tho the total wasn't revealed yet, it's safe to say it's a bundle. One recent high school graduate donated all the cash gifts she had received from family & friends. Two young girls, age 6 & 10, brought in $108 generated from a lemonade stand they operated Monday & Tuesday. A man who was recently laid off brought a trunk full of bottled water & then returned an hour later with another trunk full. Chiefs' owner Clark Hunt, GM Scott Pioli, President Mark Donovan, ex-Chief Keith Cash & others from the team offices unloaded every single case of water brought to Arrowhead & stacked them on pallets. Wonderful effort for a truly worthy cause. The Royals are currently doing the same thing today & tomorrow. I say again, where are the Rams & Cardinals?
Chiefs' owner Clark Hunt stacks bottled water donated by fans at Arrowhead.
Just about a year ago, USC was clobbered by NCAA sanctions stemming from the Reggie Bush scandal. They were ordered to forfeit 30 scholarships & banned from post season play for two years. New Athletic Director Pat Haden, brought in to restore some integrity & respect for Trojan sports, mounted an appeal of the deservedly harsh punishment, hoping to get it cut in half. The sanctioning body gave Trojan Nation "Thumbs Down" on Wednesday, no reduction in any of the penalties.
The St. Louis Rams have had three team workouts this week, run primarily by 2nd year quarterback Sam Bradford. The player who has impressed not only Bradford, but his fellow receivers, is former Mizzou wideout Danario Alexander. After suffering thru 5 procedures on his left knee, the most recent in October, he appears to be back running & cutting at full speed. Alexander never shied away from hard work & his teammates were amazed at his recovery. "Seeing him get off the line with explosion & then cutting sharply in his route was really impressive. He's worked hard obviously, we need him" Bradford said. If Alexander is indeed healthy, for the first time in over 16 months, it would be a major boost to the Ram passing game. He said he had moved temporarily back east so he could workout with former Tiger teammates Jeremy Maclin & Sean Weatherspoon during the lockout. Alexander said they worked out 7 days a week for over two months. It looks as tho it will pay off for Alexander. I certainly hope so, his courage & discipline are to be admired.
Alexander scoring his first NFL touchdown.
Could an agent solve the lockout? Could an agent get the two sides to agree on a new CBA? Joe Linta, agent to 45 current NFL players spoke out yesterday & people listened. Linta wants to know why the rank & file of the de-certified union can't read the CBA offers from the league. He & a few of his players have asked the former union's lawyers to forward a copy of the two offers submitted by ownership. Both offers were cast aside & the players failed to offer a counter proposal. Linta said "why can't I get a copy of this offer & disseminate it to my players? I'm legit, I represent 2% of the players in this league. These guys(lawyers) are running these players off a cliff now." He said he thought the player's leader, attorney DeMaurice Smith, former union president, made a huge mistake saying the players "were going to the mattresses." If you didn't see the Godfather(shame on you) the reference is one of total defiance. Linta thinks if all the players were allowed to see the NFL's offer, they might turn on their leadership or they might offer constructive opinions so that a counter offer could be given to ownership. "This all or nothing attitude while waiting for the 8th Circuit to render a decision is no way to negotiate. That's how things get solved, thru negotiation, not defiance" Linta added. Is Linta onto something? He could be if even a couple of hundred players make noise about not offering a counter proposal.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Wednesday "clearly this lockout has had an impact on our fans." Duh, really? He cited the fewer hits on the NFL's website as well as other websites whose major subject is the NFL. He also mentioned the TV rating for the draft were down. He's absolutely right, so why sit back so smugly with your only strategy "to wait 'em out." Both sides posture for the leverage they believe they need to win this battle. Win? Battle? This is why the fans are pissed off Mr. Commissioner, you & De Smith couldn't care less about your fans/sheep/lemmings, you know they'll come back whenever you decide to play football. I said it a few times recently, I'm going to urge you again to avoid purchasing any NFL licensed products from now until one calender year after the new CBA is signed. Make them feel your displeasure with their total selfishness, costing them $500 million would send a real message, it's money both sides would definitely miss.
NFL coaches have filed a brief known as the "friend of the court" legal paper. It doesn't really do much other than to lend support to the players' effort to lift the lockout. It's the coaches that will have to clean up the mess after the CBA is signed. Shortened off-season conditioning & mini camps will hurt. Rookies not getting proper coaching this summer & the possibility the preseason & training camp will be reduced, the coaches will have their hands full. Could they see reprisals from ownership? Who knows, but they know by siding with the players, they'll get better cooperation when they begin cracking the whip to get the team together.
I'm going to close on a sad note, Kansas City lost one of it's finest on Wednesday. Paul Splittorff passed away after an unsuccessful battle with oral cancer & melanoma. Splitt is the Royals all-time leader in victories with 166. He was inducted in the Royals' Hall of Fame in 1987. He was a consistent Yankee killer way back in the 70's, especially in the post season & he owned Reggie Jackson, striking him out 23 times as a Yankee. He had one of the highest leg kicks in all of baseball. The lefthander remained in the area, doing color on Royals' TV broadcasts & later Big 12 basketball. He was a longtime resident of Blue Springs & on several occasions he'd wander into my store & we'd talk baseball, Big 8 sports, whatever. He was truly a great ambassador for major league baseball, the Royals & Kansas City. He was 64.
Paul Splittorff, Royals' Hall of Famer 10/8/46 - 5/25/11 R.I.P.
Chiefs' owner Clark Hunt stacks bottled water donated by fans at Arrowhead.
Just about a year ago, USC was clobbered by NCAA sanctions stemming from the Reggie Bush scandal. They were ordered to forfeit 30 scholarships & banned from post season play for two years. New Athletic Director Pat Haden, brought in to restore some integrity & respect for Trojan sports, mounted an appeal of the deservedly harsh punishment, hoping to get it cut in half. The sanctioning body gave Trojan Nation "Thumbs Down" on Wednesday, no reduction in any of the penalties.
The St. Louis Rams have had three team workouts this week, run primarily by 2nd year quarterback Sam Bradford. The player who has impressed not only Bradford, but his fellow receivers, is former Mizzou wideout Danario Alexander. After suffering thru 5 procedures on his left knee, the most recent in October, he appears to be back running & cutting at full speed. Alexander never shied away from hard work & his teammates were amazed at his recovery. "Seeing him get off the line with explosion & then cutting sharply in his route was really impressive. He's worked hard obviously, we need him" Bradford said. If Alexander is indeed healthy, for the first time in over 16 months, it would be a major boost to the Ram passing game. He said he had moved temporarily back east so he could workout with former Tiger teammates Jeremy Maclin & Sean Weatherspoon during the lockout. Alexander said they worked out 7 days a week for over two months. It looks as tho it will pay off for Alexander. I certainly hope so, his courage & discipline are to be admired.
Alexander scoring his first NFL touchdown.
Could an agent solve the lockout? Could an agent get the two sides to agree on a new CBA? Joe Linta, agent to 45 current NFL players spoke out yesterday & people listened. Linta wants to know why the rank & file of the de-certified union can't read the CBA offers from the league. He & a few of his players have asked the former union's lawyers to forward a copy of the two offers submitted by ownership. Both offers were cast aside & the players failed to offer a counter proposal. Linta said "why can't I get a copy of this offer & disseminate it to my players? I'm legit, I represent 2% of the players in this league. These guys(lawyers) are running these players off a cliff now." He said he thought the player's leader, attorney DeMaurice Smith, former union president, made a huge mistake saying the players "were going to the mattresses." If you didn't see the Godfather(shame on you) the reference is one of total defiance. Linta thinks if all the players were allowed to see the NFL's offer, they might turn on their leadership or they might offer constructive opinions so that a counter offer could be given to ownership. "This all or nothing attitude while waiting for the 8th Circuit to render a decision is no way to negotiate. That's how things get solved, thru negotiation, not defiance" Linta added. Is Linta onto something? He could be if even a couple of hundred players make noise about not offering a counter proposal.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Wednesday "clearly this lockout has had an impact on our fans." Duh, really? He cited the fewer hits on the NFL's website as well as other websites whose major subject is the NFL. He also mentioned the TV rating for the draft were down. He's absolutely right, so why sit back so smugly with your only strategy "to wait 'em out." Both sides posture for the leverage they believe they need to win this battle. Win? Battle? This is why the fans are pissed off Mr. Commissioner, you & De Smith couldn't care less about your fans/sheep/lemmings, you know they'll come back whenever you decide to play football. I said it a few times recently, I'm going to urge you again to avoid purchasing any NFL licensed products from now until one calender year after the new CBA is signed. Make them feel your displeasure with their total selfishness, costing them $500 million would send a real message, it's money both sides would definitely miss.
NFL coaches have filed a brief known as the "friend of the court" legal paper. It doesn't really do much other than to lend support to the players' effort to lift the lockout. It's the coaches that will have to clean up the mess after the CBA is signed. Shortened off-season conditioning & mini camps will hurt. Rookies not getting proper coaching this summer & the possibility the preseason & training camp will be reduced, the coaches will have their hands full. Could they see reprisals from ownership? Who knows, but they know by siding with the players, they'll get better cooperation when they begin cracking the whip to get the team together.
I'm going to close on a sad note, Kansas City lost one of it's finest on Wednesday. Paul Splittorff passed away after an unsuccessful battle with oral cancer & melanoma. Splitt is the Royals all-time leader in victories with 166. He was inducted in the Royals' Hall of Fame in 1987. He was a consistent Yankee killer way back in the 70's, especially in the post season & he owned Reggie Jackson, striking him out 23 times as a Yankee. He had one of the highest leg kicks in all of baseball. The lefthander remained in the area, doing color on Royals' TV broadcasts & later Big 12 basketball. He was a longtime resident of Blue Springs & on several occasions he'd wander into my store & we'd talk baseball, Big 8 sports, whatever. He was truly a great ambassador for major league baseball, the Royals & Kansas City. He was 64.
Paul Splittorff, Royals' Hall of Famer 10/8/46 - 5/25/11 R.I.P.
Comments