Pigskins, Pot and Poker 7/26

1) NFL - With mini-camps opening up this week, I thought I'd touch on some of what's in the news with football;

A) Ricky Williams- Let me ask you a question. If the arbitrator had ruled in favor of Ricky and said he didn't need to pay back close to $9 million dollars to the Dolphins, do you think he'd be making a comeback right now? In his press conference he talked about how much he missed playing, what it meant to him, blah, blah, blah...... I didn't hear him once say he needs the money. At the end of the day, it's just what Rod Tidwell said in "Jerry McGuire", "Show me the Money!" We'll see what happens, but I can't imagine there are too many teammates in his locker room that are happy to have him back. I say when he returns after his 4 game suspension, he is a bit player and the Dolphins try to trade him at the end of the year.

B) Renegotiations - Touchy topic here. Several big name players (Terrel Owens, Javon Walker and Richard Seymour) are threatening to sit out the year unless their teams renegotiate. My stance on this is that the player agreed to the contract, so honor it. The argument you hear is that the club can cut the player anytime so why should the player honor the contract. My feeling is that argument has 2 flaws in it. First of all, you have signing bonuses, which have come about in order to give the players guaranteed money. They know when they sign those contracts, the only thing they're guaranteed is the upfront money, NOT the base year salaries. Secondly, this structure is what the Owners and Players Association have agreed to in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If the players don't like it, they need to fire the head of their Union (Gene Upshaw), and when the CBA expires, renegotiate a different pay structure. Until then, they need to shut the hell up, get into camp and play football!

##### Editor's Note ##### Just as I get done writing this bit and go to publish it, I notice ESPN has an article on it. You can read it here http://tinyurl.com/7hsew


2) Money Ball - In case you haven't noticed, the hottest team in baseball right now are the Oakland A's. After getting off to a horrible start, the A's have won 37 of their last 50 games including 7 in a row, and are currently only 5 games out of first place. After tearing apart their pitching staff in the offseason, very few people gave them any chance this year. What they've discovered is a young staff which is giving up very few runs and an offense which has been scoring at will lately. The General Manager, Billy Beane, was criticized for ripping the team apart, but with this latest surge, his "money ball" philosophy is being lauded again. If you haven't read the book about him and his baseball beliefs, I highly recommend it. One of the neat things about it is some of the young guys he drafts in the book, are now making their debuts on the Major League team and are big contributors to this latest turnaround. Check it out here http://tinyurl.com/avqs3

3) Love Em or Hate Em - I heard this on ESPN radio the other day and thought it was interesting. Michael Vick. I'd have to say LOVE HIM, because he is a tremendous athlete and fun to watch play. HOWEVAAA, if I'm a head coach, I probably hate him, because he'll be too quick to try to run, instead of running the offense. Probably drive me crazy.

4) Link of the Week - Next time you go to Vegas and you're wondering what to do, you need to take the advice of professional poker player Antonio Esfandiari. http://tinyurl.com/73l9x


Till next time,

Bill