There are so many things to catch up on…
Let me start with the continuing chatter about the NFL going to an 18-game season and dropping two exhibition games. Generally, I am in favor of more “real games” and fewer “meaningless games” so this idea has plenty of appeal to me. In the process of working out how this will come about, let me say that there needs to be serious consideration given to a few ancillary matters:
1. Somehow, the rosters and/or the development squads have to be expanded to account for more injuries. This will increase owners’ costs but it should make the union happy because it gets more members who are collecting checks and paying dues.
2. The playoff rules need to be examined carefully. With 16 games, there are already too many “meaningless games” at the end of a season where teams know where they are in the playoff seeding and just do not play hard. Expanded to 18 games, the possibility exists that a team can “mail it in” for a month. That does not help.
3. If the NFL wants to expand the playoffs – which the owners surely would love to do, let me suggest adding a third wild card team to each conference to raise the number to 14 teams. That would give only one team in each conference a bye week – - meaning good teams still have something to play for – - and it would not add a week to the playoff schedule.
Reportedly, there is strong opposition to this idea from the players and the union. Now, if the NFL thinks that it will increase the length of the regular season and still hold the players to their existing contracts, then the players are right. They signed on to play 16 games a year for however many years the contracts run. If the season expands to 18 games – - a 12.5% increase – - then salaries/bonuses and the like contained in any contracts that would bridge the time when the new schedule goes into effect should also increase by 12.5%.
Question of the moment:
With Stephen Strasburg on the DL for the second time in two months, is he destined to become a great pitcher or is he destined to be known as a “China Doll”?
Running back, Glen Coffee, has left the SF 49ers and there are reports that he will go into the ministry. In his rookie year, Coffee gained 226 yards for the Niners on 83 carries. He looked like a prospect coming out of Alabama but you would have to consider last year ordinary. Here are two comments on this matter from columnists:
“The 49ers will reportedly seek to recoup three-fourths of the $828,000 signing bonus they gave second-year running back Glen Coffee, who abruptly quit the team to go into the ministry.
“Lawyers for Coffee, no doubt, will claim insufficient grounds.” [Dwight Perry, Seattle Times]
“San Francisco 49ers running back Glen Coffee revealed last week he was retiring at age 23.
“He told the Mobile Press-Register he was thinking of going into the ministry.
“Makes a lot of sense — having played for the Niners, he’s already in the habit of praying daily for miracles.” [Brad Rock, Deseret Morning News]
Here is another unusual sequence of events involving an NFL player:
In 2009, KC Chiefs’ WR Chris Chambers filed 11 different stalking complaints against a woman with whom he had had an affair.
Recently with his marriage ended partly on the basis of his affair, Chambers married the woman who allegedly was stalking him.
I have seen people propose marriage on the scoreboard at sporting events and by flying an airplane with a sign trailing behind it and things of that nature. However, I never heard of anyone expressing the thought, “Will you marry me?” by filing a bunch of stalking complaints seeking restraining orders. Who said that romance is dead…?
Norman Chad had this insight in his syndicated column recently:
“How did the greatest golfer of his generation – potentially the best of all-time – go from birdie machine to broken man? Well, at some point, Tiger forgot that he puts on his pants one leg at a time, just like everyone else. Actually — more to the point — I guess he forgot that he takes off his pants one leg at a time, just like everyone else.”
A long time ago, I wrote that Roger Clemens was putting himself in harms way testifying before the Congress and that he was definitely getting bad advice. Now Clemens has been indicted for perjury and some other stuff. When he showed up for his day before the Congress, Clemens was not under subpoena; he had merely been invited to come and testify and he agreed to do so. How did that happen? Hubris? Very possibly. Bad PR and legal advice? Certainly.
By the way, this matter does not involve the prosecutor who is always called “dogged” by the press for his work on the BALCO matter. I think there are other adjectives that could be used here since the BALCO matter has been ongoing for about 5 years now and the successful prosecutions can be counted on one hand. Given all the evidence that has been dismissed in the Barry Bonds case, it looks as if he will skate when he comes to trial sometime in 2011 unless he fires his current lawyer and hires Algonquin J. Calhoun to represent him. [Google is your friend…]
If you are even a little bit surprised to learn that Brett Favre managed to finagle an extra $3M out of the Vikings in this uncapped year to report to training camp and play another season, then you would probably also be surprised to learn that martial arts are not paintings done by a sheriff.
Finally, Greg Cote had this item in the Miami Herald a while ago when a grand jury was considering whether to indict Roger Clemens:
“Jose Canseco testified before a grand jury on Roger Clemens’ behalf regarding steroids. Dear Roger: To mind comes the phrase, ‘With friends like that . . .’ “
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…