The Weekend Run-down July 25, 2011

I don’t know where you are while reading this but chances are it’s probably hot where ever you may be. Here in Nashville the mercury rose to over 95 degrees this weekend and will get up to 98 this week with no end in sight. These are the dog days of summer and of course that means not much in the sports world to go around. The big subject for most is the NFL labor dispute, and it looks as if it’s finally coming to an end. Sources close to the action are reporting that the players could ratify the deal as early as today, hopefully so as it would be welcome news to all the football fans (Including myself) out there. Cadel Evans made history as the first rider from down under to win the Tour de France.The old fox Brett Favre just can’t seem to give up football and the Seattle Mariners just can’t seem to get a win.




Now for the rundown:



The NFL is ready for business?

As I stated above it seems both sides are finally ready to settle on a new CBA. ESPN is reporting that free-agent negotiations and trades could begin as soon as Tuesday can be filed with the league office Friday at 6 p.m. That’s means that its time for the free-agent bonanza folks. Every big named player including Nnamdi Asomagha, and Matt Hasselbeck, Kevin Kolb, and Donovan McNabb will be able to be moved by this weekend. Thank God this soap opera is over and we can get back to the business of football. It really sucks looking at Sportscenter as it is in the summer, and when you take away the occasional football update it makes that even worse. The players have to re-certify but that should be done soon. Neither side won this battle but the fans ultimately won’t judge either just as long as we get to see some football in the fall. Let the festivities begin.



Brett to the Eagles? Did I hear that right?

Now that lockout appears to be in its final moments its only right to begin the annual Brett Favre watch right? There are reports surfacing that the old gunslinger is being recruited by Philly to backup star Michael Vick. This guy just can’t leave it alone can he? He played probably his toughest year last season, taking on various injuries including his shoulder, ankle and rotator cuff and yet it seems all it takes is for a team to show some interest and him and he could possibly jump right back in. At least this time around he would be a backup and wouldn’t have to endure such punishment. Said Vick “I would be honored to have Brett Favre as a backup," Vick tweeted. "That will be amazing learning how to toy with defenses the way he did his whole career." The jury is still out on this one. We will have to wait and see but it just wouldn’t be a proper summer without a Brett Favre watch would it?



Cadel Evans wins the Tour de France:

Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the prestigious Tour de France. The world most famous biking tournament seems to always be clouded by doping scandals, but this year seemed to go rather smoothly. Previous 3-time Tour winner Alberto Contador finished 5th after dealing with his own allegatiations. This was a rather entertaining Tour this year with 7 riders donning the yellow jersey. Frenchmen Thomas Voeckler held it for 10 days, to the delight oaf the French but couldn’t hold off the Aussie Evans who became the oldest Tour winner ever. He was also just the third non-European to claim the title, joining Americans Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong. Congrats to Evans and of course Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!



Seattle Mariners lose their 15th straight:

It seems like every sport has that one team that has an epic losing streak. NBA = Cleveland Cavaliers, NFL = Carolina Panthers and now MLB = Seattle Mariners. The Mariners were actually a .500 team (43-43) before this losing streak and they just ran into a buzz saw in the Boston Red Sox. The Mariners have one of, if not the best pitcher in the game in Felix Hernandez but he hasn’t had the run support needed to win games for them. Seattle’s problem is its bats as the Mariners rank near the bottom of every offensive category in major league baseball. Their schedule isn’t doing them any favors either as their next two series are against the Bronx bombers of New York and a hungry and young Tampa Rays team. Ouch.

Alright that’s all have for my over the weekend coverage. Make sure to check back this week as I have some more announcements coming and we will cover all things post NFL lockout. Hope everyone enjoyed a nice and prosperous weekend. Stay out the heat folks!

Finally Friday: Weekly Roundup Edition

The end of the work week is finally here and in celebration of a grueling work schedule, I’ve have brought back a Sportaholic tradition in the “Finally Friday” article. This week saw its share of highlights, bloopers, and rants from various sports. I have posted an assortment of links for your enjoyment, you can thank me later. Hopefully everyone has a nice safe weekend. Join me as I will be hosting the Sportaholic sports radio show on beatknockin.com along with Ashley Danielle AKA the “Sports Chick” this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. CST, so if you are up that early please tune in and listen.

So without further ado, here are the best stories of the week links below:

Shaq gets right to it as the “Big Analytical”, says Miami only has Big 2:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AkAL5PG_lkZr4pkSiMpV1Ym8vLYF?slug=ap-heat-shaqsthoughts

What NFL players association really thinks about the owners proposed new CBA:

http://www.cbssports.com/print/nfl/story/15341317/players-dont-vote-on-cba-rip-gamesmanship-of-owners

Did the owners try to pull the wool over the players heads? This guy thinks so:

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bryan-burwell/article_30c45678-1706-54d1-a680-6ca752a58310.html

So is Kobe serious about playing in Turkey with Deron Williams? Depends on who you talk to:

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/072211/spo_860408692.shtml

http://lakers.ocregister.com/2011/07/21/why-kobe-why/56787/

Mike Slive wants the SEC to change its recruiting ways:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/07/20/slive-sec-ncaa-change.ap/index.html?sct=cf_t2_a3

I had a feeling this Longhorn Network thing would be a problem for the Big 12:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/andy_staples/07/21/longhorn-network-big-12/index.html?sct=cf_t11_a1

Being loyal is overrated, just ask former Tiger Woods caddie Steve Williams:

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-woods-williamsreaction

By far the funniest highlight of the week, little fans with big problems:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/U-mad-bro-Young-Giants-fan-pouts-big-time-over?urn=mlb-wp13298

The Pittsburgh Pirates are in 1st place and have everyone pulling for them:

http://thesportscube.blogspot.com/2011/07/pittsburgh-pirates-alone-at-top.html

Its always good to brush up on your sports knowledge, its like a man law or something:

http://sportshistory365.blogspot.com/2011/07/today-in-sports-history-july-22.html

                                                     

Derek Dooley and the Tennessee Vols heating up on the recruiting trail:

http://www.checkerboardchatter.com/2011/07/tennessee-adds-another-commitment.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CheckerboardChatter+%28Checkerboard+Chatter%29

Urgent Breaking News: NFL Labor Deal Imminent:

The 17 week NFL lockout may be coming to an end soon my friends. Multiple sources including ESPN, Sports Illustrated and Yahoo! Sports are reporting that the owners and players union have cleared most of the major hurdles regarding the Collective Bargain Agreement. The two sides have agreed to a new salary cap set at $120 million (down from $128 million last year) and also a rookie wage schedule that will differ from the top 10 picks to the next set of 10 and so on and so forth.


This is the most eventful day out of the entire lockout as both sides finally have agreed on some of the toughest issues concerning the lockout. Sources are estimating that the deal could be in place within the next 24-48 hours so stay tuned. The news of an imminent deal should put a smile on every NFL fan as we can finally see the light of a long winding tunnel that has consumed the league into lockout mode March 11.

I for one always thought that a deal would be struck right in the nick of time as both sides stood their ground but recognized that losing any time of the season would be detrimental to both. The players have made concessions on the Judicial review front and the momentum seemed to build from there. The current salary cap would put teams such as Dallas and Pittsburgh over the current number but exemptions could be made due to the nature of the shortened amount of time to fix their cap space.

Hopefully we are in the last hours of this horrific and time-consuming debarment of football. The seeds have been laid for the eventual end and lets hope the players and owners don’t fumble on the goal line and get this deal done.

Bummer of a Summer 2011 edition

                

I I posted my very first article last year entitled “Summer of Bummers” as I featured a summer full of scandals that were rampant this time last year. If you can remember way back when to 2010, we had the “luxury” of witnessing the annual Brett Favre watch, Lebron-a-thon, Albert Haynesworth’s fall from grace in DC, Ben Roethlisberger’s late night romp, and Tiger was still recovering from his own scandal from which he has seemingly never has fully recovered. To avoid confusion, I decided to call this issue, “Bummer of a Summer”. To be sure, this summer has seen it’s own share of scandals as well: as we have Frank McCourt running the once proud Los Angeles Dodgers organization into the ground; College Football is in shambles from its own self inflicted wounds; and Alberto Contador is looking to win his 4th tour de France with the biggest cloud of suspicion (yeah I watch a little cycling, don’t judge me) hovering over him. But worse than all of the scandals, are the crazy NBA and NFL lockouts, which make for a different set of circumstances of which most sport fans aren’t accustomed. The summer months of sports are usually dull in my humble opinion. Baseball, Tennis, and Golf just doesn’t stir up the same type of emotions for me as Football and Basketball. As bad as the summer of 2010 was, at least it was entertaining and we knew we could look forward to seeing Football and Basketball in the Fall.

As a matter of fact, looking back at last year’s summer to the summer of 2011 it makes one long for Big Al coming to camp overweight and uninspired in Washington, the annual Brett Favre watch, and even that stupid decision fracas Lebron and co put together. It at least gave us something to talk about until the season started. The NFL and now the NBA are in full-blown lockout mode and both have put their respective upcoming seasons in jeopardy. This is unprecedented as the two of top sports leagues in our country will be taking a hiatus for an unforeseen amount of time. On some levels I can definitely understand the owners of the NBA locking out their players. A report from SI.com stated that 22 of the leagues 30 teams are operating in the negative. The players’ salaries are bloated and the current model of the NBA is broken, there is just no way around it. But no one made the owners pay guys like Rahsard Lewis and Gilbert Arenas over 100 million dollars in the first place. The NFL’s situation is different as the owners and the players can’t figure out how split 9 billion dollars worth of revenue among the two parties. The NFL system is not broken but neither side seems to want to concede any type of concessions that could possibly push the sides closer.

As it is now, neither situation makes us fans happy. We want the business side of things to work themselves out so we can see our sports heroes do what they do best. We expect for Roger Goddell, David Stern, DeMaurice Smith, Billy Hunter and all of the lawyers involved to find a way to get deals in place, because quite frankly it’s their job to do so. The dialogue from both leagues is what scares me as a fan the most. You have Charles Barkley saying that the current labor situation in the NBA could possibly swallow up the entire year and Kevin Durant saying that the players are ready to go all the way until some concessions are made on the side of the owners. In other words, this one is going to be a dogfight just like the NFL’s and maybe even worse. The NFL has had its share of tough talk as players as prominent as Adrian Peterson have stuck their own foots in their mouths. DeMaruice Smith has made some statements that have made me think that this labor thing may never end.

The lockouts will destroy all the positive momentum both leagues had going for them. The NBA just had its best ratings since “His Airness” Michael Jordan roamed the court in 1998 (how awkward is it that he is now on the owners’ side of things instead of the players). Lebron’s decision last year, whether you liked it or not, has brought about a ratings boom for the league as it gave fans a team to hate and despise in Miami. The NFL just had one its flagship franchises in Green Bay win the Super Bowl. It’s the number one sport in America and still hasn’t reached its ceiling. Most fans understand that the owners and players will always have a certain level of distrust with one another. That is just the nature of these types of relationships. But to possibly take away an entire season from the fans in the name of greed for both sides is definitely a turn off to us fans. Real fans support their teams no matter what, when it comes to the product on the field or the hardwood. I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and last year, as everyone knows, was possibly the most painful season I have endured. But I still brought my Cowboy gear, watched the games, and if I could have given my right arm I would have just to travel to Jerry’s world in Dallas to watch and cover a game. I’m sure those who are reading this did mostly the same during the course of the NFL season. So when the league decides that it’s best for them to cancel everything until further notice it just doesn’t sit well with us. What would they do if we all decided to strike and refused to buy tickets and fill the stadiums?

This year’s “Bummer of a Summer” has taking on an entire different meaning from last years. The bummer is that two of top sports league’s in the world that feature some of the greatest athletes that have ever been produced, can’t come to an agreement, so that everyone in sports world can get on with their sports lives as usual. Writers and bloggers won’t have anything to write about, reporters won’t have anything to report about and fans won’t have anything to cheer about. And there is nothing that any of us can do about this but watch and wait. This summer has definitely become the the mother of all sports bummers.