GABBERT A CARDINAL, LOCKOUT COSTING FANTASY FB ALREADY & PLAXICO DELIVERS POWERFUL WARNING AT ROOKIE SYMPOSIUM
Tyler Gabbert is a Louisville Cardinal. The former Mizzou quarterback & younger brother of Blaine, a #1 NFL draft pick last April, accepted the last 2011 scholarship Louisville had to offer. Because of transfer rules, he will have to sit out the 2011 season. Cardinal QB coach Shawn Watson had originally recruited Blaine while he was the offensive coordinator at Nebraska. Blaine later turned his back on his verbal commitment to the Huskers & signed at Mizzou. Watson was thrown under the bus by Bo Pelini after last season & he landed in Louisville. Another sidelight to the story is Central Florida QB Demarcus Smith has withdrawn his NCAA appeal to be released from UCF to join his hometown Cardinals now that Gabbert has signed.
Talk about "No Fear", the Mocs from Tennessee-Chattanooga have none. In the past three season, they have played both the Heisman Trophy winner & one of the teams that played in the BCS title game. Pretty strong for a Division I program. In 2008, they took on Sam Bradford & Oklahoma, Mark Ingram & Alabama in '09 & Cam Newton & Auburn in 2010. Pretty stout scheduling.
Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman is man who won't take no for an answer. The former Kansas State signal caller originally from Grandview Missouri, got 55 players to attend a team workout session. That's the best number I've seen during the lockout. He said he texted, emailed & called every teammate. Freeman told them if they didn't plan to attend they had to notify him by telephone, not email or text. In other words, if you're looking to duck out on this session, you'll have to tell Josh man-to-man. Only a couple turned him down. This young man has developed more quickly as a leader than most predicted, selected after Matthew Stafford & Mark Sanchez, Freeman has the physical tools to excell & with the right coaching, IMO he could develop into one of the league's elite quarterbacks.
Forty-Niner center Eric Heitmann will miss his second season in a row after undergoing neck surgery for a ruptured disc. After starting 114 games for Frisco since 2002, he missed last season after breaking his leg in training camp. The neck surgery will require a 6-month rehab & it leaves the Niners without a true center on their roster again this season. Backup guard David Baas moved into the pivot after Heitmann went down last summer. The results were only so-so. Career backup guard, Tony Wragge, is the only other center prospect on the roster, so San Francisco will need to move quickly after free agency opens up to find a serviceable replacement.
Bengals' quarterback Carson Palmer closed on his Cincinnati home yesterday, it was orginally listed for $2.1 million, but the sale price wasn't divulged. Palmer moved from Cincinnati in February after threatening to retire if he wasn't traded by the Bengals. Owner Mike Brown made it clear the Bengals would not honor that request. Brown will not trade Palmer, he'll have to sit out a season or retire. Brown doesn't want to give any more Bengals a blueprint on how to get out of Cincinnati.
The Fantasy Football industry is reported to generate upwards of $800 million. They are the first to feel a financial impact from the NFL lockout. Fantasy Football Index, a magazine that has been published for the past 25-years has cancelled their printing run for 2011. The publisher, Bruce Taylor, said they sold 161,000 copies last year but with the unknown labor situation, he couldn't justify his periodical this season. Taylor added he had to layoff one of his employees & another will go shortly, plus having to take a 2nd mortgage on his home to see him thru till 2012. Last year there were 25 Fantasy Football magazines, nearly all, including ESPN, will shorten or cancel their runs for the upcoming season. What it has done to the online subscription sites is unknown, but I have a connection to whom I can inquire as to the impact the lockout has had on them. Here's a perfect example of the "Billionaires vs Millionaires" affecting working class people. Not just the magazine publishers, but printing companies & periodical wholesalers & distributors.
It's interesting to read the top football scribes' take on the lockout & how the negotiations are progressing. CBS.com's Mike Freeman has said for about a week we're very close to a deal. FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer reported late Wednesday a conference call leak revealed Demaurice Smith telling players they weren't close to a deal. Pro Football Talk & NBC Sports' Mike Florio makes a case the 2 players' attorneys, Jim Quinn & Jeffrey Kessler, are undermining Smith attempts to "close the deal." Smith has ejected both Kessler & Quinn from the negotiations several times for being too disruptive. Florio reports the pair may have gone behind Smith's back for a meeting with the players. Somewhere in all of this is the truth. By now many leaks are intentional & may not be truthful, intended to be a diversion. We're talking about more than $9 billion dollars just in 2011 alone. Now I know by Federal Government standards, that's pocket money, but to a business that employs less than 6,000 people, that's a helluva lot of money & neither side wants to be seen as the loser. I still believe we're close but if we pass that July 25th threshold of camp openings, the owners will start lowering their offer because they will begin to forfeit preseason TV money & that could cause the players to really dig in & fight. Keep thinking positive(make that pausitive) thoughts people.
Plaxico Burress was the featured speaker today at the rookie syposium down in Florida. He made quite an impression with the 150 or so rookies in attendance. He told them of the mistakes he made early in his career by being "proud, but stuborn." Those snowballed over time & he was no longer wanted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Burress said New York was "almost too big for me, I tried to be bigger & it really cost me & my family. If I had to do it all over again, I would have never left the house that night." Burress warned the rookies to learn from his mistakes, "don't make them yourself." He is absolutely, 100% correct, but there will be those who won't get the message, they will repeat Burress' mistakes & worse. I believe he has truly learned his lesson & won't be any trouble for the team that signs him. I was never a fan, but I'm rooting for him now, I hope he signs shortly after there's a labor agreement & has a solid, productive season.
Talk about "No Fear", the Mocs from Tennessee-Chattanooga have none. In the past three season, they have played both the Heisman Trophy winner & one of the teams that played in the BCS title game. Pretty strong for a Division I program. In 2008, they took on Sam Bradford & Oklahoma, Mark Ingram & Alabama in '09 & Cam Newton & Auburn in 2010. Pretty stout scheduling.
Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman is man who won't take no for an answer. The former Kansas State signal caller originally from Grandview Missouri, got 55 players to attend a team workout session. That's the best number I've seen during the lockout. He said he texted, emailed & called every teammate. Freeman told them if they didn't plan to attend they had to notify him by telephone, not email or text. In other words, if you're looking to duck out on this session, you'll have to tell Josh man-to-man. Only a couple turned him down. This young man has developed more quickly as a leader than most predicted, selected after Matthew Stafford & Mark Sanchez, Freeman has the physical tools to excell & with the right coaching, IMO he could develop into one of the league's elite quarterbacks.
Forty-Niner center Eric Heitmann will miss his second season in a row after undergoing neck surgery for a ruptured disc. After starting 114 games for Frisco since 2002, he missed last season after breaking his leg in training camp. The neck surgery will require a 6-month rehab & it leaves the Niners without a true center on their roster again this season. Backup guard David Baas moved into the pivot after Heitmann went down last summer. The results were only so-so. Career backup guard, Tony Wragge, is the only other center prospect on the roster, so San Francisco will need to move quickly after free agency opens up to find a serviceable replacement.
Bengals' quarterback Carson Palmer closed on his Cincinnati home yesterday, it was orginally listed for $2.1 million, but the sale price wasn't divulged. Palmer moved from Cincinnati in February after threatening to retire if he wasn't traded by the Bengals. Owner Mike Brown made it clear the Bengals would not honor that request. Brown will not trade Palmer, he'll have to sit out a season or retire. Brown doesn't want to give any more Bengals a blueprint on how to get out of Cincinnati.
The Fantasy Football industry is reported to generate upwards of $800 million. They are the first to feel a financial impact from the NFL lockout. Fantasy Football Index, a magazine that has been published for the past 25-years has cancelled their printing run for 2011. The publisher, Bruce Taylor, said they sold 161,000 copies last year but with the unknown labor situation, he couldn't justify his periodical this season. Taylor added he had to layoff one of his employees & another will go shortly, plus having to take a 2nd mortgage on his home to see him thru till 2012. Last year there were 25 Fantasy Football magazines, nearly all, including ESPN, will shorten or cancel their runs for the upcoming season. What it has done to the online subscription sites is unknown, but I have a connection to whom I can inquire as to the impact the lockout has had on them. Here's a perfect example of the "Billionaires vs Millionaires" affecting working class people. Not just the magazine publishers, but printing companies & periodical wholesalers & distributors.
It's interesting to read the top football scribes' take on the lockout & how the negotiations are progressing. CBS.com's Mike Freeman has said for about a week we're very close to a deal. FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer reported late Wednesday a conference call leak revealed Demaurice Smith telling players they weren't close to a deal. Pro Football Talk & NBC Sports' Mike Florio makes a case the 2 players' attorneys, Jim Quinn & Jeffrey Kessler, are undermining Smith attempts to "close the deal." Smith has ejected both Kessler & Quinn from the negotiations several times for being too disruptive. Florio reports the pair may have gone behind Smith's back for a meeting with the players. Somewhere in all of this is the truth. By now many leaks are intentional & may not be truthful, intended to be a diversion. We're talking about more than $9 billion dollars just in 2011 alone. Now I know by Federal Government standards, that's pocket money, but to a business that employs less than 6,000 people, that's a helluva lot of money & neither side wants to be seen as the loser. I still believe we're close but if we pass that July 25th threshold of camp openings, the owners will start lowering their offer because they will begin to forfeit preseason TV money & that could cause the players to really dig in & fight. Keep thinking positive(make that pausitive) thoughts people.
Plaxico Burress was the featured speaker today at the rookie syposium down in Florida. He made quite an impression with the 150 or so rookies in attendance. He told them of the mistakes he made early in his career by being "proud, but stuborn." Those snowballed over time & he was no longer wanted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Burress said New York was "almost too big for me, I tried to be bigger & it really cost me & my family. If I had to do it all over again, I would have never left the house that night." Burress warned the rookies to learn from his mistakes, "don't make them yourself." He is absolutely, 100% correct, but there will be those who won't get the message, they will repeat Burress' mistakes & worse. I believe he has truly learned his lesson & won't be any trouble for the team that signs him. I was never a fan, but I'm rooting for him now, I hope he signs shortly after there's a labor agreement & has a solid, productive season.
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