NFL Offseason 2011 - The Longest Yard?
- Thread starter the 4th hanson bro
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Yeah, he was a Bears safety for several years, drafted out of Notre Dame in 1983. He became a starter during their 1985 Super Bowl run, and was elected to four consecutive Pro Bowls. He was also one of the most prominent union leaders during the 1987 strike. Bummer. 
His family has requested that his brain be donated to the Boston University School of Medicine, which has been performing a long-term study on football players and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
His family has requested that his brain be donated to the Boston University School of Medicine, which has been performing a long-term study on football players and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The Broncos have signed Champ Bailey to a 4 year deal. Best news I've had all week. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to lose him. We have a lot of work we need to do on our defense, but it will be so much easier with him still shutting down receivers for us.
Yeah, he was a Bears safety for several years, drafted out of Notre Dame in 1983. He became a starter during their 1985 Super Bowl run, and was elected to four consecutive Pro Bowls. He was also one of the most prominent union leaders during the 1987 strike. Bummer.
His family has requested that his brain be donated to the Boston University School of Medicine, which has been performing a long-term study on football players and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
He was a really good safety. Didn't get a lot of INT's, but since the 85 Bears defensive front had most QB's on their butts, there weren't that many balls to intercept.
The NFLPA is expected to decertify by Thursday if no agreement is in place. As discussed earlier, this would allow lawsuits against the NFL, as it's illegal to lockout workers without a CBA in place -- that would be a violation of anti-trust laws. It would also allow the players to request injunctions to allow them to work (we could have the NFL next season). The NFL is, of course, going to say that the decertification is a sham, so all of this will go the courts unless a miracle happens by Thursday.
In essence, this makes a 2011 season much more likely, but it also means that things are going to get much bloodier in the interim.
In essence, this makes a 2011 season much more likely, but it also means that things are going to get much bloodier in the interim.
They are, which is why the union has already decided to decertify. It's the players' nuclear option. When that happens, the union for the players dissolves, becoming, ostensibly, a trade organization, and the NFL's antitrust exemption would go away (as long as they're negotiating with an elected union, they're given an antitrust exemption). Based upon antitrust law, if the NFL clubs, acting as 32 individual businesses, were to attempt to lock out the players, it would be a group boycott of the workers -- which is illegal. It would then open the NFL up to a class-action lawsuit by every individual player, and based on precedent, it would lose. However, the NFL will almost certainly challenge the decertification in court, pointing to the 1989 decertification and the fact that the NFLPA reformed immediately after a new CBA was signed.
There's also a lawsuit in U.S. District Court regarding the war chest the owners have assembled through the television contracts, and I believe arguments were heard on Thursday. That'll be interesting to watch. (Short version: The extensions that the NFL signed with the television networks a few years ago were structured so that the networks have to continue paying their rights fees even in the event of a lockout -- a total of about $4 billion. The NFLPA has filed a lawsuit contesting this, arguing that the NFL should be enjoined from using those funds to finance operations during a lockout, and rather they should be put in escrow until the labor situation is resolved.)
There's also a lawsuit in U.S. District Court regarding the war chest the owners have assembled through the television contracts, and I believe arguments were heard on Thursday. That'll be interesting to watch. (Short version: The extensions that the NFL signed with the television networks a few years ago were structured so that the networks have to continue paying their rights fees even in the event of a lockout -- a total of about $4 billion. The NFLPA has filed a lawsuit contesting this, arguing that the NFL should be enjoined from using those funds to finance operations during a lockout, and rather they should be put in escrow until the labor situation is resolved.)
The way I understood it the point of that lawsuit against the NFL regarding the tv money, is that the NFL has an obligation to the players to negotiate in good faith to maximise their income from tv broadcasts since the players' income is dependent on that too. And the NFLPA's argument is that the way they arranged for the money to be paid out in case of a lockout/strike (which the owners apparently have been planning for for quite some time) did exactly not that, because why would the tv networks agree to that if they didn't get a discount in return?
Nah, the union isn't contesting the payout of the money, especially since the NFL would eventually have to repay that money to the networks in the form of credits for future games. The union's simply saying that the NFL shouldn't be allowed to use that money to finance its operations during a lockout, and its arguments this past Thursday were framed around asking U.S. District Court Judge David Doty (who is a friend of organized labor, based on his history of decisions) to have the money placed in escrow.
This is pretty much a must-read for anyone interested in the labor situation.
This is pretty much a must-read for anyone interested in the labor situation.
Jets cut Vernon Gholston after three years of nothing despite being the No. 6 overall pick in 2008. How funny is this -- in order to receive a $9 million bonus last season, Gholston only needed to record one sack. Or force one fumble. Or recover one fumble. Or make one interception. He achieved none of the above. 
Good thing we didn't need Gholston to sack Tom Brady in the playoffs, huh?
Alsdo, the reason Tom Brady starts for you? The Jets broke Drew Bledsoe's leg! You owe us a debt of gratitiude!
Alsdo, the reason Tom Brady starts for you? The Jets broke Drew Bledsoe's leg! You owe us a debt of gratitiude!
Oh, yeah, it was Bledsoe's ribs. Well, whatever, we still got Brady starting for you.
The "we" was just a bit of hyperbole from a passionate Jets fan. I, sadly, was not there. You were, though! Watching your team get trounced. After every single writer, commentator, and fan said they would win.
That must have been fun.
Ah, well. What can you expect when your team is led by this guy?
The image, incidentally, is from a caption contest last year at the Jets Blog. The best caption, in my opinion, was "You call those jazz hands, Seven One?"
The "we" was just a bit of hyperbole from a passionate Jets fan. I, sadly, was not there. You were, though! Watching your team get trounced. After every single writer, commentator, and fan said they would win.
That must have been fun.
Ah, well. What can you expect when your team is led by this guy?
The image, incidentally, is from a caption contest last year at the Jets Blog. The best caption, in my opinion, was "You call those jazz hands, Seven One?"
Neither am I. My degrees are in journalism and public relations.
On the surface, this increases the pressure on the NFL, because that $4 billion from the networks would be placed in escrow, and teams have been counting on that money for operating expenses during a lockout. Teams that have large amounts of debt (the Texans and Redskins, in particular, have been identified as having significant debt issues) will need to find tens of millions of dollars to pay for that debt without any regular income.
However, at this point in time, it doesn't mean a whole lot, because of the league's pending appeal. Once that's filed, there will be a stay on Judge Doty's ruling, and nothing will happen until it goes to the Eighth Circuit. And there's some conservative weight there -- out of the eleven judges, nine are Reagan, Bush 41 or Bush 43 appointees. That doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot, as inferior federal judges aren't necessarily ideologically slanted based on appointment by party for a variety of reasons, and sometimes aren't ideologically slanted much at all. Outside of the Ninth, it's not like there are liberal paradises left, anyway.
So there's significance to Judge Doty's ruling, not only because of its implications but also because he overruled Stephen Burbank, a U-Penn law professor who has been special master of NFL labor relations since 2002. And if Judge Doty's ruling is upheld, it'll be huge. But right now, we're in a holding pattern.
Neither am I. My degrees are in journalism and public relations.
I got one in environmental engineering, and another one in...uh, environmental engineering. If you got a BS in one, how much harder could an MS in the same be? A lot, as I found out.
Regardless, as journalism guy, you are a lot more qualified to break this NFL stuff down than I. Give me a failing septic system though, and I'm set.
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