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.

State Lottery game testing gambling for Vikes’ stadium?

by | Jul 20, 2010 | NFL Random Thoughts

The Minnesota State Lottery has introduced a new Minnesota Vikings scratch off game that has a $200,000 grand prize with second-chance drawings that will make players eligible for other prizes, such as season tickets.

As is called for under state law, proceeds from the $10 tickets will benefit environmental causes and the state’s general fund, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.

Steve LaCroix, the Vikings’ vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement that the promotion is not tied to the team’s long-standing pursuit of a new stadium, but instead capitalizes on newfound popularity after the team’s strong showing during the 2009 season.

But the team saw progress in its pursuit of a stadium during the state’s legislative session this year and increasing gambling options statewide have been discussed as one possible funding mechanism for a new facility.

One could surmise that the team and the state might be taking a look at how this scratch off game performs as 2010 winds down, the 2010 season approaches and the 2011 legislative session approaches.

The Vikings’ lease at Metrodome expires after the 2011 season and team officials have said they will not renew the lease.

Russell continues foolish ways

by | Jul 5, 2010 | NFL Random Thoughts

JaMarcus Russell had been linked in recent days to the New York Jets as a possible backup quarterback option, but it looks like he’s blown that long-shot opportunity.

He’s probably not going to be relegated to reprising The Longest Yard anytime soon. But the one-time-top-draft-pick-for-Oakland-turned-all-time-draft-bust just made it harder for himself to get a second chance.

Russell was arrested and charged with possession of codeine syrup, according to several media reports.

Hmm. His name is already becoming synonymous with luminaries such as Ryan Leaf and Tony Mandarich in terms of being a stiff despite high draft status.

He was so bad at quarterback for Oakland last year that when Bruce Grad-friggin-kowski upgraded the Raiders’ quarterback play to merely mediocre, the team immediately became more competitive.

Teammates and coaches have called him out for not having much – if any – work ethic.

Yes, this news just cannot help him in any way. If he actually WANTS a second chance in the NFL, he’s got a funny way of showing it.

Dez makes Dallas dangerous, line puts Cowboys in danger

by | Jun 7, 2010 | NFL Random Thoughts

One of the most exciting rookies entering the NFL this season is Dez Bryant, the wide receiver from Oklahoma State who fell to Dallas late in the first round.

Reports indicate that he is catching everything in sight and that, even if he is the third wide receiver by definition, he will be the first receiver by performance no later than by the end of the season.

Some seem to think it’s time to start carving Bryant’s bust for the Hall of Fame and that he makes Dallas an unstoppable offense that could be destined for the Super Bowl. To those people I say whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s hold on just a minute.

Without question the Cowboys have a great deal of offensive skill talent and Bryant will very likely be one piece of that puzzle. Tony Romo has been a good to very good quarterback, at least during the regular season. There’s Miles Austin, who made this blog look good last season by breaking out after we predicted he would well before the preseason started.

There’s Roy Williams, who has underperformed since Owner Jerry Jones traded a ransom for him but who also has the skills to be a productive wideout.

There’s the speed back in Felix Jones and the power back in Marion Barber III and they are accompanied by Tashard Choice, a more than solid reserve who could probably start on a handful or more teams. Rounding out the talent are Jason Witten, who arguably is the best tight end in the league, and a collection of parts like Patrick Crayton and Kevin Ogletree, who fill important roles on good teams. (more…)

College football as we know it on the line

by | Jun 6, 2010 | College Football, NFL Random Thoughts, We Forgot

I’m not smart enough nor do I have the time right now to understand ins and outs of college football’s Bowl Championship Series. If you do an archive search on this blog, which typically focuses more on the NFL than college football, you’ll see that neither my brother nor I like the BCS as it sits right now.

But I would guess neither of us would claim to be an expert on what conferences make huge chunks of money or whose teams have the worst chances of being selected for the big money bowl games.

I was intrigued during the last couple weeks, however, as discussion emerged about the possibilities of the Big Ten, which includes the University of Minnesota where we both went to college, potentially adding any number of teams from big name Notre Dame to up-and-coming Rutgers, to recent power Missouri to trying-to-re-emerge Nebraska.

But I’ve been hesitant to embrace the talks too much because when you follow college sports you know that A) the BCS sucks and B) there is always a money angle somewhere along the line.

Yahoo! Sports has a fantastic story describing one view of how the Big 10 fought off a “plus one” playoff format a couple years ago as part of a plan to get its own network up and running so it could now raid the Big 12 and become one of what could become three or four “super conferences”. (more…)

First preseason magazine hits the rack

by | Jun 1, 2010 | NFL Media, NFL Random Thoughts

The first NFL preseason publication, Athlon Sports Pro Football, hit racks around the country sometime over the weekend.

In the last few years I hadn’t bought Athlon. I thought they had traded the compilation of a lot of important news in exchange for being the first magazine on the racks. But this was Memorial Day weekend and I had some free time on my hands at the cabin of some relatives. So I decided to pick it up. (more…)