Really, Only A $10K Fine?

The NFL has handed out its first fine of the regular season, and it wasn’t for a vicious helmet to helmet hit.  Charles Woodson, cornerback for the Green Bay Packers has been fined $10,000 by the league for “throwing a punch” at Saints’ tight end David Thomas during last Thursday’s opening game.

Let’s get a few things straight here.  Yes, Woodson “threw a punch”…but he also landed it!  He said that he felt Thomas was “holding me a little longer than I wanted”…I’m sorry, he landed a punch!  The only thing worse than the miniscule fine (Woodson makes millions of dollars a year) is that it happened right in front of a referee.  Had the punch been hidden (middle of a pile) I can understand the small punishment, but the referee in question immediately threw his flag and assessed a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.  In all my years of watching football (high school, college and pro), I have never seen a player throw a punch and be allowed to stay in the game…especially one that was right in front of the official and that was penalized.  This doesn’t make any sense to me.

Many (especially Green Bay fans and others who were betting jellybeans on the game) would argue that Drew Brees threw for 419 yards and three TDs with Woodson in the game, but the fact of the matter is, the removal of Woodson from the game in the third quarter would have degraded the Packers’ defense.  Instead of having their number one and two cornerbacks on the field for every play, they would have had numbers two and three playing, with other lower players on the depth chart filling in as the nickel back on passing downs….which was just about every play.  A quarterback doesn’t pass for 419 yards when his team is running the ball a lot.

I’m not saying that the Saints would have definitely won that game, but their chances would have been significantly higher had Woodson been correctly tossed.

So What Did We Learn?

Week one of the NFL season is in the books, so what did we learn? For starters, we now know that half the league won't go undefeated this season....beyond that, it's really all still speculation. Today's immediate highlight culture thinks every event is the greatest ever. Let's pause and look at what things really mean.
Here are a few things I learned.
- The Steelers will be OK. Did they get punched in the mouth and bullied by the Ravens? Absolutely, and yes they turned the ball over seven times but after the Ravens got a lead they were able to focus on rushing the passer and turnovers and sacks followed. The Ravens held serve on their home turf. The Steelers have issues to address but their proud, storied organization will rebound. They lost one game… on the road…in a hostile environment.
- Does Tony Romo deserve all of the blame for the Cowboys' late collapse against the Jets? No way. Did he turn the ball over twice in the final 9 minutes? Yes, but the fumble occurred when Romo tried to scramble for a touchdown, so I don't totally fault him for trying to personally extend the Boys' lead. Let’s back up a few plays, however, to Romo's nice long completion to TE Jason Witten. Witten got chased down and forced out of bounds by a smaller DB, Jim Leohnard. Personally I think Witten should have driven his way to paydirt. Romo's fumble would have thus never had the chance to happened. Was Romo on the field when the punt was blocked and returned for a score? No. He didn't get a first down but he had nothing to do with the special teams' gaffe. The interception to Derrell Revis was bad though. His intended target was Dez Bryant who was hurt, so Romo shouldn't have even been looking that way. If Revis was covering a hurt guy, that meant Miles Austin or Witten didn't have Revis covering them. Should have looked a different direction.
- Cam Newton had an incredible debut with 422 yards passing, while accounting for three TDs. What we don't know is how good is the Cardinals' defense? Were they expecting him to run and he stayed put in the pocket and thus let plays develop? Was Newton facing eight men in the box? Time will tell.
- Packers-Saints...lots of points. Didn't learn much, just validated what we thought we knew.
- Biggest benefactor of Stanford's Andrew Luck not entering the 2011 NFL Draft...Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Buffalo Bills. Stay with me...Luck would have gone number one to the Panthers with Von Miller still going number two to the Broncos. At number three, Buffalo would have taken Can Newton instead of DT Marcel Darius. Fitzpatrick's time with New York's actual only team would have been virtually over. So what does Harvard's Fitzpatrick do? 4 TDs on the road at KC. Their win probably had something to do with their classic uniforms too.
- The Dolphins are thankful they don't have to play Tom Brady every week. Tom Terrific tore them apart. One interception and it came on a weird deflection back to a defensive lineman.
- Sorry Donovan McNabb, that was awful. Yes you've got Adrian Peterson but you've got to pass for more than 39 yards. Washington is looking smarter to have parted company with McNabb, even though they'd given up a lot to acquire him a year ago.
- The Eagles won comfortably (over the Rams) with their star studded team but I think it will take at least a month for the team to gel. The line needs to protect Vick better or the Eagles' massive investment is in serious trouble.
- Peyton Manning just showed the world that he's indeed the Colts' MVP. Wow that team was terrible without him. ESPN created a new scoring metric for QBs called Total Quarterback Rating which is on a scale of 0 to 100. Kerry Collins had a rating of 2.3. Yowzah.
- The Bears beat down the Falcons but Atlanta will be fine.

So here are my predictions for the 2011 NFL season. These did not change after the week one games.
AFC East - Patriots. Until someone dethrones them, I will continue to pick Brady and Bill Belichick.
AFC North - Ravens. Flacco and Rice are a great tandem. The defense for years has gotten all the credit in Baltimore (justifiably so) but I think the offense under coordinator Cam Cameron could be great.
AFC South - Texans. Without Petting Manning playing for 2-3 months, this should be their year. They're defense under Wade Phillips will be improved and their offense will be excellent. They did crush the Colts without last year's leading rusher in the NFL, Arian Foster.
AFC West - Chargers. Phillip Rivers put up ridiculous passing numbers last year without any big name receivers (Vincent Jackson held out for half the season) and this year Rivers’ starting the season with Jackson, as well as the others who benefited from Jackson's previous absence. They're special teams can't be as bad this year as last...but they scared everyone when they gave up a touchdown on the opening kickoff of the season….and lost their exceptional kicker to a torn ACL.
Wild Card 1 - Steelers. They'll rebound. Too proud of an organization not to do so. They do need to protect Ben Roethlisberger better though.
Wild Card 2 – Jets…I don't want to make this pick….so you know what, I’m not going to because nobody circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills.  I don’t know why, but I can’t stand the Jets.  They may finally make good on Rex Ryan’s Super Bowl promise, but I think a team that hasn’t reached a Super Bowl since Joe Namath was quarterback needs to only let their play on the field do the talking.

NFC East - Eagles. Won't run the table but they'll be fun to watch.
NFC North - Packers. Had 15 players on IR last year...and still won the Super Bowl. They even lost two key players during the title game (Driver and Woodson).
NFC South - Saints. Defense won't go against the Packers every week thankfully.
NFC West - Cardinals. No standout teams so this one is rough. (Remember, the Seahawks won this division with a losing record last season...and then they then beat the heavily favored Saints in the playoffs.) The Cardinals acquired QB Kevin Kolb in the offseason and hopefully he'll gel with WR Larry Fitzgerald quickly.
Wild Card 1 - Falcons. They traded several future draft picks in order to trade up and get WR Julio Jones. He doesn't have to be the number one guy (Roddy White is that guy) so he'll be fine...as will the Falcons.
Wild Card 2 - Lions. Yup, they're back. It's been a long time coming. QB Matthew Stafford can be great if he stays healthy and WR Calvin Johnson is ridiculously good. Double teams don't stop him. The defense, with their outstanding defensive linemen, is going to be a force this year.
 

AFC Title Game - Patriots over Chargers (at San Diego)
NFC Title Game - Packers over Saints (at Green Bay…replay of the opening game)
Super Bowl - Packers over Patriots. Second team to 45 loses.

Is It Much Adieu About Nothing?

The NFL is still back, and everyone still seems to be breathing a collective sigh of relief.  No courts have invalidated the labor deal....and none will.

The NFL beat the deadline of missing out on preseason game revenue...something the owners were very in tune with.  What many people don't realize is that everything during preseason is full price (namely tickets) and that players are only being paid a stipend (basically for food and lodging) during training camp.  Players' big checks don't come until the regular season starts, so preseason games are cash cows for
the owners.

The NFL did have a different offseason than in years past, but free agents and rookies (drafted and undrafted alike) are negotiating and signing with teams, and trades are also taking place.  Except for a much smaller time window for these events to happen, as well as the new financial rules to operate under with the new CBA, how is this year different?

In previous years, when the free agency window opened, all of the big name free agents were signed within the first few days...often on day one...just the same as this year.  For example, in 2009 when Albert Haynesworth (that years most sought after free agent) left the Titans for the Redskins, his deal was announced during ESPN's morning show Mike & Mike in the Morning (which runs from 6-10 a.m. EST) on the first morning of free agency.  Bottom line, the big names go quickly.  The only part of free agency that's different this year concerns second and third tier players who usually start signing with teams a week or two after the big names have inked their deals.  Now, a little of that will happen this year, but their timeline has shifted, as most are signing deals no so that they can get into training camp with their new teams.

As mentioned in my last post, OTAs were missed this year, but many teams still had players get together and practice on their own.  It wasn't officially OTAs, but it was teams preparing for the upcoming season.

A few days of training camp may be missed this year, but each team will still get four preseason games in advance of the 16 game regular season.  The 20 games are almost exactly what each team had last year, with the only difference being the Hall of Fame preseason game was cancelled this year.  (This was supposed to be a fifth preseason game for the Bears and Rams.)  After all the drama of the lockout, no real games were missed and only one 'fake football' game was skipped.

So back to the title, are the events, post lockout, in the NFL much adieu about nothing?  I believe the answer is yes...expedited...but yes.  When the regular season kicks off in Green Bay on September 8th, the events of this summer will be a distant memory.

Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?

So professional football is back.  The deadline league struck again.

Congratulations to the NFL (Owners) and Players Association...I mean trade union...for figuring out a way to share at least $9 billion ($9B) annually.  I say 'at least' because in a few years the TV deals will expire and new richer ones will be negotiated.  Experts...whomever they are...say that the nine billion number may be more like 13-15 billion.  Holy crap.

Now that the lockout is over, who won and who lost?

The Winners

The Owners – One of their overall goals was to keep the players' share of the revenue under 50%.  At one point the players thought 49% of the revenue was a real possibility for themselves, but in the end, the players settled for 48%.  Players received other benefits that brought the number down to 48%.  Also, now that everyone's giddy about football being back, nobody seems to remember that it was the owners who (in 2008) opted out of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that was just two years old and put us in the current situation.

The Players – Grown men are going to be paid a lot of money to continue playing a game.  Yes, it's more than just a game because of the entertainment it brings to countless people, but when you cut out the fluff, it really is simply a game.  Players also got to miss out on their spring organized training activities (OTAs).  Like Allen Iverson, NFL players don't like to attend offseason practice....yes Allen, we're talking about practice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI> ).  One final benefit the players acquired is guaranteed contracts for injury.  Players who have remaining years on contracts who suffer career ending injuries are now guaranteed at least $1.M.  Nice deal.

The Fans – We get uninterrupted professional football for the next ten years.  Unlike the CBA of 2006, the CBA just agreed to has no opt out clause for either side.  That's right, ten years of labor peace, with absolutely no mention of either the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals or Judge Doty.

Retired Players – This one is missed by a lot of people.  Over the next ten years of the CBA, retired players are going to be a paid a total of $945M in retiree benefits.  One thing that I can't find good clarification on is who is paying this money?  Yes, the NFL owes the players of yesteryear a great deal for helping build the game into what it is today, but isn't it the players who should be taking care of their own?  Come on, without Archie Manning, there's definitely no Peyton or Eli...both on and off the field.

DeMaurice Smith – The Players brought in a labor lawyer to get a new deal done for them, and that's just what he did.

Robert Kraft (Patriots owner) – Numerous reporters have said it, and the Colts’ Center Jeff Saturday confirmed it, a deal would not have gotten done without Kraft’s work.  When the CBA was falling apart, he was the driving force for working through all of the differences.  That said, Kraft has been through too much lately.  On top of the contentious negotiations, his wife of 48 years, Myra, lost her battle with cancer.  Hate the Patriots as much as you want to, but Robert Kraft is one of the best owners in sports.  He was before this summer’s saga, and he will continue to be going forward.

The Losers

Roger Goodell – Yes, it's only a few, but there have been some very vocal players preaching their dislike and distrust for the Commissioner.  Unfortunately, the loudest, most outlandish voices are the ones that get microphones put in front of them because "they're always good for a quote."  What's lost on me is that Commissioner Goodell is the head of all the owners.  He represented all 32 owners though out the entire lockout.  Yes, he's the overall face of the league, but the hatred shown towards the Commissioner should be pointed at all 32 owners.

The Players – A couple things come to mind here.  The CBA starts this season with a salary cap number of $120M per team.  While many teams will have to increase their 2010 payrolls to get to this amount, what makes this a loss for the players is that the salary cap number for 2009 (the last capped season) was $128M.  (2010 had no salary cap.)  Yes, the cap will increase in the years to come, but the players lost out on at least $8M per team.  (‘At least’ because that was in 2009 money.)  The other potential loss for the players is just a question from me right now.  Why did the owners not want an opt out clause in this contract?  Please don’t say that it was for the good of the fans.  In my opinion, there is at least one thing in this contract that is very favorable to the owners, which they don’t want to have the players take away after just a few years.

Sal Paolantonio, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen (and their counterparts at other tv networks, websites, newspapers, etc.) – This was supposed to be their offseason.  At least they get a break now…oh wait…season’s about to start.

Rookies – Missing spring OTAs may be a good thing for veterans, but rookies need the extra snaps.  I believe offensive rookies (especially the QBs) will have slower development this year than in years past, which is especially troubling because four of the top 12 picks in this spring’s draft were QBs.  Also, a new rookie wage scale has been agreed to within the new CBA.  This year’s number one pick Cam Newton can make $22M over four years, while last year’s number one pick Sam Bradford will receive a guaranteed $50M.  Tough for some of these guys to make it on $22M, but it is over a 50% decrease.  (At least the money previously spent on rookies will go to the veterans who’ve actually earned their money on the NFL playing field.)

All Other Professional Sports – This was supposed to be the time during the year that other leagues had their day in the sun, but the lockout was talked about on tv and on the radio every day this summer.  Even when there were great sporting events to cover, the NFL loomed large.

The Fans – Finally, we lost too.  We’ve gotten jerked around for the last 135 days, under constant threat that there would be no football.  Also, who do you think gets to pay the $9B for the NFL to divvy up?

I have to admit that I’m kind of soured on football right now.  Of course that may all disappear with fantasy football drafts and the kickoff to the season on September 7^th.

Can We Please Wait to Crown Rory McIlroy the Next Golf King?

First off, congrats to Rory McIlroy for lapping the field at Congressional last week to win this year’s U.S. Open.  He played remarkable golf for four days to win by eight shots on a course that played a little easier than expected.  The USGA aims to have the winning score for the four rounds at even par, but this year on a wet course, 22 golfers finished at even par or better.  All that said, McIlroy decimated that course, finishing every round in the 60s.

Congrats to Rory on winning a major, it really is a great accomplishment, something that only a small fraction of professional golfers ever do, but let’s not anoint him as the Next Best Thing quite yet.  Is his future bright?  Absolutely, but let’s not lose site of the fact that this was only the third victory of his career.  Someone on ESPN’s PTI or Around the Horn (I apologize for not remembering who) said that until Rory wins another major he’s merely Todd Hamilton (little known/remembered 2004 British Open Champion).  It’s a great point.  Rory has all the potential in the world, but he’s got a lot of ground to make up if he wants to catch the career win totals of Jack Nicholas or Tiger Woods.  To catch Tiger, Rory needs to win 68 more titles, including 13 more majors, and to catch Jack he needs to win 71 more titles, including 17 more majors.  Daunting?  Yes.  Impossible?  Can’t say impossible, but improbable?  Absolutely.  Nicholas holds the distinction as owning the most major titles, but it’s the legendary Sam Snead with 82 total PGA Tour wins that everybody’s chasing.

We live in an instantaneous society, where everybody wants immediately to crown the Next Best Thing, but Rory’s one major win isn’t causing Jack, Tiger, Phil or any of the two plus time major winners to lose any sleep.  Let’s see how Rory does at the majors over the next two years.  I say two years because it took Tiger from the Masters in 1997 until the PGA in 1999 to win his second, but after that, Tiger put on an absolute clinic, winning four of the next five to complete the Tiger Slam (held all four major titles at the same time, but not won in a single calendar year).

Will the success of winning one major cause Rory to settle or will it stoke the fires inside like it did for Tiger?  It’s going to take a bonfire inside Rory for The Sports’ Question Mark to crown him the Next Golf King.  I promise, when he wins his 19^th major, I’ll be the 355^th to crown him once he’s completed all of his mandatory post round interviews.

What is the Greatest Trophy in Sports?

The doldrums of summer have now officially hit in the worlds of professional and collegiate sports.  Now that the NBA Finals and NHL Stanley Cup Finals have wrapped up, we only have Major League Baseball and a week of the College World Series from Omaha (somewhere in middle America) to entertain us until preseason football games in Aug...well maybe.  Yes, there's also MLS and auto racing...which will both be ignored.

So let's talk championships and more specifically championship trophies.  Now, I'm not going to be limited here by a "trophy" being defined as a two to four foot tall metal object, I'm talking about a prize given to an individual or team for winning a tournament, race, event, etc.  Yes, the monetary prizes for winning these events can be massive, but inquiring minds want to know what the best hardware is.

I'll build from the bottom to the top of the trophy pantheon.

MLS - Who knew that U.S.'s soccer championship trophy was simply called the MLS Cup? The trophy looks pretty cool, but the name of it and stature of the league make it fall way down the ranks.

NCAA Football - Cool crystal football, but you can't do anything with it except put it in a display case.  Look at the photos/video of all the coaches raising the thing after they've won the BCS title game.  They hold that thing more delicately than they hold babies.  Also, based on recent events, there's a greater than 10% chance that a championship team is going to give their title back due to improper benefits.  (USC confirmed and Auburn speculated.)

NASCAR - There are 37 trophies to choose from here (including the overall championship trophy), but I think only four are memorable.  The Daytona 500's Harley J. Earl Trophy is pretty special because of the history of the race, and sometimes it's awkward for the small drivers to lift the thing over their heads after they've won it.  After winning at Texas, drivers are given two six shooters to fire off from Victory Lane...pretty cool.  Winning at the Brickyard earns drivers a trophy with a brick...no joke.  http://www.life.com/image/82081261  One of the best trophies has to be for Dover's Monster Mile race http://www.doverspeedway.com/track/news/article.php?dir=200409&id=2 .  The only thing that tops this is that outside the stadium is a full sized monster http://www.aolnews.com/2008/01/29/bristol-goes-non-smoking-dover-gets-miles/ .  While all of these are nice to put on the mantel, there are too many to choose from.  Also, a winner of the Brickyard 400 isn't going to take his silver brick out and hope to pick up women with it.

MLB - It's sad to say that as lame as MLS's trophy's name is, MLB's Commissioner's Trophy is even worse.  Come on, couldn't you name it after the original Hall of Fame class?  The Cobb-Johnson-Mathewson-Ruth-Wagner trophy (although a mouthful) is infinitely better than the Commissioner's Trophy.  This trophy looks interesting with all of the pennants on it, but I'd be afraid to parade it around because those posts look like they could snap.

NBA - As you've learned, I'm not a big fan of the NBA, but congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks for winning this year's Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.  This trophy is indeed iconic, but others are more so.

Wimbledon - Sorry guys, you get a trophy that looks like too many other trophies, it's the ladies that earn the best hardware...or in this case tableware.  The humongous plate...maybe it's so big it's a platter...is great.  It would be higher on the list, but in all the years of playing and following tennis I've never seen anyone eat off the thing.  You've just won the most prestigious tennis tournament ever ladies, enjoy the biggest serving of strawberries and cream on that trophy!

NFL - Everybody knows this polished silver trophy with the football on the top.  Almost everyone even knows the name of it, the Lombardi Trophy.  It is very iconic...it's named after one of the most famous coaches of all time...but the one thing I find wrong with it is it lacks a certain mystic or reverence...more on this with #1.

World Cup - It's a little gold trophy lacking an original name (FIFA World Cup Trophy), but every soccer playing nation hopes to have their team claim this, and the title of World's Best.  The trophy is small and isn't a polished work of art, but can billions of soccer fans be wrong?

Augusta - The coveted Green Jacket.  While Europeans may claim that the Claret Jug of The Open Championship (what we call the British Open) is the greatest prize in golf, no golf award is more iconic than the prize given to the Masters' Champion.  While it's not very stylish, who would ever tell a golfer wearing it to remove it?  That's why it's this highly ranked.

Olympic Gold Medal - (Thanks to my son for adding this to the list when I was thinking of trophies.)  Years of sacrifice and sometimes even the pressure of a nation make this the second greatest trophy of all time.  It's an award that you can take with you forever, but here's an interesting thought...someone once wrote that earning the Gold medal is sometimes a relief after all the hard work and earning the Silver can sometimes leave a somewhat bitter taste because that individual was so close to earning Gold.  The Bronze medal may be the best to earn because you got a place on the podium, edging out all the other finalists.  Nobody remembers who got fourth in an Olympic event.  One final thing, earning a Silver or Bronze does set an individual up for a higher medal when someone tests positive for performance enhancing drugs and is thus stripped of their hardware.

NHL - By far the greatest trophy in sports is in fact a trophy...The Stanley Cup.  Named for Lord Stanley (General Governor of Canada starting in 1888), who first presented a cup (actually it was a bowl) to the best amateur hockey team in Canada, it is the only trophy of a major sport's league in North America that is passed from one year's champion to the next.  Only one Stanley Cup exists.  What changes on it are the bands with the championship teams' player's names.  When all of the bands become full, one is removed and put into the Hockey Hall of Fame and a new blank one is added for future engraving.  What I think distinguishes this trophy is two things.  First, every player who wins this trophy is given 24 hours to do whatever they want with it.  For instance, when the Colorado Avalanche won one of their titles it was taken to the top of one of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks.  Most people hold parties with the trophy and drink various beverages out of the silver cup that sits atop it, but the bottom line is, each person can do whatever they want for their 24 hours.  But, the greatest thing about the Stanley Cup is that if you're associated with hockey and you've never won it as a player or executive, YOU DON'T TOUCH THE CUP!!!  (I wish this applied to fans as well.  Some adhere to it, but others don't.  I promise, I will never lay a finger on the cup...can't do it...unless of course I become an NHL executive and my team wins it.)  Hockey people hold the Stanley Cup in reverence.  I hate when they have promotional shots for the Super Bowl and players and coaches are shown holding the trophy in advance of the game.  You haven't won it, put it down.  Numerous stories have been told about NHL players giving a wide berth to Lord Stanley's Cup if they're ever in a room with it.  The Stanley Cup is revered and I wish other sports would do the same with their championship trophies.