NFLPA bullies three fans over twitter handle

by | Oct 19, 2010 | Business of Football

It’s really annoying and stupefying to me that during a time when the country’s economy is teetering somewhere between stagnant and borderline recovery that the billionaire owners of NFL franchises and the NFL Players Association, which represents many, many millionaire players, can’t come together on a deal that makes sense for both sides.

For more than a year now the rhetoric going back and forth has led me to believe that neither side is all that interested in meeting in the middle to get a deal done.

I don’t really have a side in this fight. There’s plenty of damn money to go around. Figure out how to slice the pie and make sure there is a season in 2011. That’s the only thing I care about.

I found it more than a little ridiculous that the NFLPA took the time to get into a snit with three fans over the twitter handle @NFLLockout. The union attempted to negotiate with the three fans, who, according to Darren Rovell’s story here attached, had used the account to post updates on labor negotiations and occasionally tweak people involved with the league who make ridiculous statements, such as when Anquan Boldin allegedly said players aren’t really as rich as they seem because they have to pay taxes.

That brilliant one-liner, again uttered during a time when the country’s unemployment rate is as high as it’s been in years, reminded me a lot of the old Patrick Ewing line from the NBA lockout a few years back about how yes, players make a lot of money but they spend a lot too.  Thank you, Mr. Einstein.

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1986 Van Note profile in SI shows that labor issues haven’t changed much

by | Jul 20, 2010 | Business of Football, Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts

I stumbled across this old profile on former Atlanta Falcons center Jeff Van Note at sportsillustrated.cnn.com today. I often check that site but only occasionally actually click on the stories they have in their “vault,” which for those who don’t check the site, is really a repository for old, interesting stories that seem to randomly pop up from time to time.

I started reading it because of Van Note. I can’t completely explain why but he’s one of my favorite players from the early 1980s when I started watching the game. And the profile was very interesting. It was written as his career wound down. He had lost his starting job at center but was sticking around for a final season or two for no other reason than he really loved the game.

If Wikipedia (and my math) is correct, Van Note is 64 now. He played in the NFL from 1969 to 1986, all of which was with the Atlanta Falcons. When he retired, only Jim Marshall of the Vikings had played in more games with one team (246).

He played mostly for teams that weren’t very good, though he was a solid contributor on the Atlanta teams in 1978, that made and won the team’s first playoff games, and in 1980, that won the NFC West and had arguably the league’s best team before falling victim to a Dallas Cowboys comeback in the the playoffs.

He made five Pro Bowls and strikes me as one of those guys who will not make the Hall of Fame but who will more than occasionally be brought up for consideration.

I was very young and just learning about the game back then but everything I remember and everything I read indicate that he was, at worst, a very solid, workmanlike player and, at best, during his prime, memorably good.

One of the things that struck me about the profile was that he broke the picket lines during a 1974 labor issue only to decide later that he made a mistake. He became a vice president to the NFL Players Association and then the union’s president from 1983 to 1984.

One of the issues of the time was rookie salaries. “We’ve got to stop paying all this money to rookies,” he told Sports Illustrated’s Ralph Wiley at the time. “Salaries are fine, but earn them. What do rookies know about winning in the NFL? Tilt the scales to the proven veteran.”

As top picks like JaMarcus Russell, Tim Couch, David Carr and Ryan Leaf continue to sign massive contracts and fizzle out after a few years, that continues to be one of the main issues in today’s labor discussions as well. Of course it wasn’t a billion dollar institution at the time Van Note played, but it’s still instructive – the league has been fighting about some issues for as long as 25 to 30 years and still hasn’t figured out how to get it right.

Van Note may never make the Hall of Fame. But it was blue collar guys like him who came unheralded from the University of Kentucky to play for just short of two full decades who helped turn this league into what it is today.

His voice was instructive in 1986 when this profile was written. And it strikes me that if you got a half-dozen or so of his contemporaries into a room in an effort to solve the labor issues of today that you might have more success than the league and the union are having with some of the out of touch owners and players of today.

Lawmakers introducing Vikings stadium options

by | May 3, 2010 | Business of Football

There are budget deficits and education reform measures facing the Minnesota Legislature during its last two weeks before adjournment but the Minnesota Vikings and the team’s efforts to get approval for a new stadium will at least be discussed, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Low construction costs and the short-term remaining on the team’s lease have lawmakers planning to introduce some options for taking care of the team. The press conference announcing several options comes just weeks after the Minnesota Twins opened Target Field to great acclaim.

There are plenty of obstacles to overcome before a Vikings deal becomes reality. But the team is getting more attention at the Capitol this year, despite huge budget deficits now and projected into the future, than it has in four years.

How to “Fix” Practice of Resting Starters

by | Jan 3, 2010 | Business of Football

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has come out and said that the NFL will consider offering incentives to teams playing late-season games to discourage them from resting their starters for the playoffs, after the Indianapolis Colts were widely criticized by fans and media for pulling many starters with a 15-10 lead in the 3rd quarter of a game against the Jets in Week 16.

The Colts were 14-0 at the time, and the Jets scored 19 unanswered points to win the game, including a backup QB Curtis Painter fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

One of the options likely to be considered would be awarding teams that play their starters draft choices.

Personally, I think I’ve got a better idea–how about you get the labor negotiations solved, and make sure to preserve some of the ideas that have kept the league competitive (revenue sharing & salary cap) in place, so that the likelihood that teams will have the opportunity to rest players in 2-3 games remains on the low end?

Realistically, I would think that rewarding teams for playing their “starters” seems more likely to cause problems–I’m guessing that some teams would find some loopholes, and manage to get some backups declared as starters so they could rest their stars and get the extra picks too.

Additionally, unless the picks were earlier picks–probably 2nd or 3rd round selections–I really wonder if teams would consider it worth the extra risk.

Another alternative, raised by a friend of ours over drinks this evening, would be to reward teams not with extra picks, but possibly with moving them up in draft position–and not just for playing starters, but for actually winning–by coming up with a point system for determining draft order rather than pure record, and figuring out some way to reward teams with extra points when they win games that they don’t need to win late in the season.

(Admittedly the details we have on this idea are slim, but I’m guessing that the league has some PhDs in an office somewhere that could fine tune things).

That way, at least teams are being rewarded for performance rather than just participating–and it wouldn’t add picks to the draft–which the NFLPA should and probably would be against in the first place, since it would reduce the amount of the rookie pool available for players, possibly cost more veterans spots, and reduce the number of guys that could negotiate where they go if not drafted late.

Anyone have any other thoughts on how the league could encourage teams to compete in late season games, without making a mockery of the game?

Indianapolis Lawmaker Wants Refund For Colts Fans

by | Dec 30, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL News

Former Indianapolis City-County Council President Beurt SerVaas apparently wasn’t too happy that the Colts decided to rest key starters in the second half of their loss to the Jets on Sunday.  The Colts led the Jets 15-10 with about 10 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter when Colts’ coach Jim Caldwell, who had led the Colts to a 14-0 start to the season, decided to pull them.

The Jets came back to win 29-15, and Caldwell and the Colts have been taking heat ever since, including a Yahoo! Sports reporter ridiculously calling it a bigger mistake than Marty Mornhinweg taking the wind rather than the ball to start overtime.

But none of the criticism appears to be more ridiculous than that of SerVaas, who has said he will petition the council to ask for refunds for all fans upset about the loss (he hasn’t found anyone on the council to sponsor his proposal).

“They came to see a game played honestly. It was not played honestly, ” he said.

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Al Sharpton: NFL Expert

by | Oct 12, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL Media

The Reverend Al Sharpton has a reputation for sticking his nose in places it doesn’t belong, and raising racial issues where they may or may not be warranted, just to see his name in the papers again.

The NFL is no stranger to Sharpton, who has been critical of hiring practices for coaches, assistant coaches and general managers in the past.

Now, Sharpton is targeting another level of the NFL–ownership. And he isn’t just claiming racism–he’s declaring that a potential owner is…”Anti-NFL?”

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