Comical Raiders becoming life’s third sure thing

by | Aug 18, 2009 | NFL Random Thoughts

They say the only things you can count on in life are death and taxes. That’s no longer true, however. The new, third sure thing in life is that the Oakland Raiders will provide an annual (or more) dose of comedy.

For the last few years it’s been the coaching carousel. Since Jon Gruden did his four year tour under Al Davis, which ended in 2001, the Raiders have had, I think, 36 head coaches. It’s gotten so weird that Davis has been turned down by guys with legitimate prospects elsewhere and has had to settle on guys like current boss Tom Cable. If it goes on much longer, Davis may have to reclaim the position himself.

Last year, it was a free agency spending spree that netted a collection of overpriced stiffs like Javon Walker, Kwame Harris and William Joseph. Just about all of them are gone, as are the bonus dollars Davis paid out to them. The year 2008 also brought the amusing in-season firing of then-coach Lane Kiffin, who clashed with Davis from the start, and whom Davis called a “flat-out liar” and claimed to have fired with cause.

This year started off just as humorously on draft day when the Raiders pounced on Darrius Heyward-Bey a half-a-round before most teams would have taken him while passing on the more acclaimed Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin, then took safety Michael Mitchell, a guy who was not invited to the NFL Scouting combine and who was considered by most a second-day pick.

Not that Heyward-Bey doesn’t have some potential, but Crabtree still considers the selection such a slight that he is (foolishly) holding out to get Heyward-Bey money despite being chosen three picks later.

But all joking aside, the latest signs that the Raiders’ organization may be spiraling frighteningly out of control are multiple reports that current coach Cable cold-cocked assistant Randy Hanson about two weeks ago at the team’s training camp headquarters.

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Zoneblitz going out on the road

by | Jul 22, 2009 | Hall of Fame, NFL Random Thoughts

We’ve hinted at it a couple times in previous posts, but we’re now making it official. Zoneblitz.com will be heading to Canton, Ohio for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in early August.

We’re making a week-long road trip out of the trip. Check brushbackpitch.com for a more detailed accounting of where we’ll be headed, as much of the trip will be dedicated to baseball-related activities as well.

But on the football front, we’re planning on arriving in Cleveland on the morning of Friday, August 7 with hopes and plans of touring Cleveland Browns Stadium. We wandered around the outside of the stadium while visiting the city of Cleveland during a previous road-trip. From the outside it’s an impressive looking venue, but we weren’t there during a time when tours were available. So we’re excited about that opportunity.

On Saturday, we’re planning on getting to the Hall of Fame early – it’ll be my third time there and my brother’s second time.

We’ll be arriving to see the opening of the new, $2.4 million Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery. After the ceremony it’s off to Pittsburgh for the rest of the trip, the focus of which will switch largely from football to baseball.

During this week-long trip, we’ll be doing some brainstorming on possible additions and/or changes to Zoneblitz.com. We’re also building in at least short chunks of time throughout the trip to fit in some other sites and sounds of the U.S. If anyone has thoughts and suggestions on either what we should look for during the trip or on what we could do to improve the blog, please feel free to leave us a comment.

Who knows? If this goes well, maybe we’ll make this an annual thing.

Thanks for reading.

Vick may be back – if someone will take him

by | Jul 22, 2009 | NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

ESPN.com is reporting that Michael Vick, fresh off being released from house arrest, will meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell soon and that its likely he’ll receive some sort of “conditional reinstatement” that will allow him to attend training camp while the commish reserves the right to impose future penalties.

That’s quite a change from speculation over the last few months where most “experts” in the media seemed to think Vick would be subjected to some league-imposed suspension beyond his incarceration for issues surrounding his dog fighting.

Should he receive this conditional reinstatement, any further penalty would likely be imposed by Sept. 1, according to the ESPN story, which was attributed to “sources” and included several on-the-record no comments from Vick’s agent and league officials.

So, if Vick is going to get the okay to play in 2009 the question shifts to which team will give him a shot? He’s never been a good passer but he is a game-changing athlete with running skills. Or he was, anyway. What he’s got left now is complete speculation at this point. Assuming he’s retained most of the athletic abilities, where does he become a good fit?

The minimum salary for someone of his playing tenure appears to be $620,000, so salary cap issues are mitigated to some extent as long as Vick is willing to take that kind of cash. And it’s not like he’s got a lot of leverage.

So, team-by-team, here’s the Zoneblitz.com take:
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Texas Tech star Harrell heads to CFL

by | Jul 17, 2009 | College Football, NFL Draft, NFL Random Thoughts

Graham Harrell, the latest record-setting quarterback from Texas Tech University, has signed a contract to play for Saskatchewan in the Canadian Football League.

Nothing against the Roughriders (or is it the Rough Riders), but how can 14,000 yards passing and 119 touchdowns against 30 interceptions during a four-year college career not even warrant a training camp tryout in the NFL?

I realize Mike Leach runs a passing offense that skews some of those numbers. I also realize the stellar numbers of guys like Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons and Sonny Cumbie haven’t translated to success in the pros.

But in a league where backup guys like Dan Orlovsky, Quinn Gray, Cleo Lemon and Anthony Wright get recycled year after year after year, wouldn’t a fresh face like Harrell warrant a tryout?

Harrell completed better than 70 percent of his passes his last two seasons. He led the Red Raiders in chasing the national championship against traditional powers like Oklahoma and Texas by posting a six-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio. He threw for nearly 2,000 more yards than Kingsbury did – breaking his school passing yardage record five games into his senior season – in a similar number of attempts and completions.

He can run – he eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark as a rusher his senior year of high school – so he’d at least have an opportunity to complete in the new, fangled Wildcat fad that’s spread across the NFL. And he was considered a leader at Texas Tech.

I’m not saying all or any of those facts will make him into an NFL superstar. Is it possible he could join the ranks of all the other Texas Tech “system” quarterbacks and be junk in the pros? Absolutely. It might even be likely.

But the fact that this guy isn’t going to get a chance to prove or disprove those theories is confusing and disappointing. Not even a spot on someone’s practice squad? Really?

Somebody give this guy a shot.

Fan says Favre to Minnesota is done deal; fantasy ramifications for four

by | Jul 10, 2009 | Fantasy Football, NFL Random Thoughts

A caller to KFAN Radio this morning told hosts Paul Allen and Paul Charchian that a friend of his in the south had an order for 50,000 purple Brett Favre jerseys.

Okay, it would be preposterous to assume that the Vikings are officially signing Favre based on the musings of a guy who may or may not have a friend in the south who knows anything about pending jersey orders.

But the combination of that coupled with a Pioneer Press report that Favre has put a deposit down on a condo in suburban Edina and another from WCCO.com indicating that a contract has already been signed contingent upon Favre’s arm being alright are enough of an indication that it’s likely that this transaction has more like a 95/5 chance of happening than a 50/50 chance.

So someone should look at the fantasy football ramifications of this potential deal. First, not that you can help Adrian Peterson’s draft status much – he’s number one on most lists and top two in almost all projections. But Favre, even with not much left in the tank, has to be taken more seriously than teams have taken Tarvaris Jackson in the passing game.

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Revised bankruptcy plan hints that Vick still doesn’t get it

by | Jul 1, 2009 | NFL Random Thoughts

Michael Vick’s attorney shared “highlights” of a revised bankruptcy plan he intends to file by the end of the week, according to a wire service story posted on several sites.

As part of the plan, the embattled former quarterback would pay 10 percent of the first $750,000 he makes off of his annual salary to creditors and 25 percent of earnings between $750,000 and $2.5 million.

Those numbers are an improvement over the first “plan”, which called for him to keep all of the first $750,000 and pay 20 percent of the amount between $750,000 and $2.5 million, and increasing percentages on amounts above that. He gets so generous that after $10 million he will pay between 33 percent and 40 percent.

How about this for a plan. He keeps enough off of the first $750,000 to live on – say $100,000. Everything from $750,000 on up goes to creditors until they are paid off.

This guy spends a couple years in custody, and then wants to have his cake and eat it too. Vick filed for protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy code in July 2008 after killing dogs and gambling got him in trouble with the law. He reportedly listed assets of $16 million and liabilities of $20.4 million.

It astounds me some of the financial issues professional athletes get themselves in. But with bad business deals, crooked advisors and other bad luck, I can see how it can happen sometimes. Vick, however, brought his troubles upon himself.

If he’s got $16 million in assets, as the filing claims, he should be liquidating those to pay the creditors first – the new plan does call for him to liquidate a $2 million home under construction and sell one of two Virginia homes.

Maybe I should be satisfied. It’s a better deal that the original plan, which called for Vick to keep ALL of the first $750,000 he makes. At least this extracts something from him. But to me this doesn’t seem like nearly enough.

What happens if Vick doesn’t get back to the NFL? It’s not unthinkable, given that while he was a fantastic athlete he never was a great passer. What if he is unable to ever earn a salary that gets to a level where the creditors’ bills are paid? And what is a guy coming off of a federal prison sentence and under bankruptcy protection doing building a $2 million house?

This is wrong. Vick needs to satisfy his creditors first. Then and only then should he be able to go and rebuild his own bank accounts.

He made bad decisions. He went to prison. But paying the people he is in arrears to should be part of the penalty for those decisions.

So, the attorney representing a committee of Vick’s unsecured creditors may claims in the CBSSportsline story that the committee supports the plan. I don’t. I realize individuals and companies file bankruptcy all the time in this country and creditors end up getting pennies on the dollar if anything.

This is a different case. This is a guy who A) has a ton of assets already, B) has the potential to get back into a lucrative game and make several millions more, and C) brought any financial problem he faces upon himself. This is a case where creditors can be made whole.

And as such I think this is a case where a message needs to be sent. You make mistakes and lose a bunch of money? Fine. Mistakes happen. But you don’t get off easy for making them. You pay them off first. Then you can worry about yourself again.