VOR

That was your first mistake.

The Patriots had $91.5M towards an adjusted (old CBA) cap of $92.5M in 2006, prior to the start of FA and before the draft. They ended-up 76 cents UNDER the new-CBA 2006 cap ($100M adjusted) when all was said and done. To think they had loads of room is wrong. And why did the owners self-impose a deadline of the start of FA that year? Why not have FA start under the old cap and then work on the CBA? That's because teams wanted to work with the increased cap number, rather than facing cuts. And again, why total revenue needed to be used, when shared revenue had been used for the previous 13 years without any problems (and this, actually, is the crux of Ralph's problem), is also a question one needs to ask, but obvious to most. The TV contracts had nothing to do with anything. They were going to get done whether there was a new CBA or not. And their value didn't even enter into the calculation for the 2006 salary cap. And the NFL product has sold itself for years. Fox's incursion into the football realm created a 4 major network demand for 3 packages. Ralph isn't the only owner to get money from his county to pay for upkeep of the county's stadium. Most owners would factor-in what they're getting, especially since most got $150M from the NFL's G-3 pool. As for ticket prices, again, the Buffalo market cannot support much more than what Ralph is charging. A new stadium will only take needed dollars for a luxury item, while creating higher prices and straining an already strained fanbase and economy. As I said, the time to take a stand was 3 years ago, before the owners foolishly gave up 5% of total revenue.

It's far from me "fervent wish." I have no stake in the teams reigning-in Snyder and Jones. They OTOH have everything at stake. And it's these clowns, along with Kraft, who drew-up that last CBA. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you'll have "labor peace" if you give into the demands of your employees. The players wanted 60% of total revenue and ended-up getting 59.5%, while the owners went from 54.5% to 59.5%. That's just a 0.5% decrease in what they players wanted, and a 5% increase over what the owners had been paying. But a sh------- deal is still a sh------- deal and saying "hey, but it preserved labor peace" for a few years while having the potential to screw the league even more down the road, is not saying a whole lot.

Well, that's the difference between criminal and civil cases. The victim/family of the victim might be happy to get paid-off, but society demands more.

The uncapped year can be advantageous to the owners if they can reign-in the big spenders, which I think they'll do. The problem is that the NFLPA has said that if there is a lockout, or if the owners try to reduce the percentage of total revenues, they won't accept a salary cap again. The time to make a stand was last time.

In the section you quoted, it says:

Ms. Flavin just killed her golden goose.

Ellison was never named the starter in any of his first 3 seasons with the Bills. Did Jauron ever say that he was the starter for 2009?

Well I'm not, and so aren't a lot of people. And just because the family is ok, because they got paid more money than they'll see in their lifetimes, it doesn't make it ok.

I don't know if Stallworth could have avoided the accident if he were sober. But the guy was already in the NFL's substance abuse program because of alcohol, and at the least got caught DUI and committed involuntary manslaughter. Getting 30 days is NOT a sufficient enough penalty, even if you think that his being drunk had little to do with him hitting the vic.

Sorry. When I said "mentally," I meant WRT the game of football. From everything I've seen, this kid is mature beyond his years.

There wasn't. Wild assumptions don't count for much in the real world. But if you have any evidence, please tell the world. We've been dying to hear it for over a year now.

Stallworth said he honked his horn and flashed his lights at the vic. If he had time to do that, he had time to take evasive action.

True. But physically and mentally, Maybin is a year behind Everette Brown (the only rookie DE who I've heard anything good about) and 2 years behind Orakpo, Jackson, and English.

I don't know which was worse. The Bills going 5-1 and missing the playoffs, or the Broncos needing just 1 win in their last 3 games to make the playoffs.

It wasn't weak. Stallworth hit a man and killed him, and was legally drunk. The defense was trying to claim that even if Stallworth were sober, he still would have hit and killed the man, which would have been very hard to prove. The plea was accepted because it saves the taxpayers an expensive trial, a lot of time, and the vic's family got anywhere from $3-5M as well as some conditions (can't drive, ever).

It's called sarcasm.

Probably the same hack who PFT quoted when he/she said that Maybin looked "brutal."

I haven't heard any reports about any other DE's except for Brown, who allegedly looks good. What does it all mean? We'll find out come September and beyond.

Someone should suggest he try Firefly vodka. That'll definitely make him happy.

The red card was total BS and obviously swung the game in Italy's favor. That call is NEVER a red card, period.

Or any fathers shot?

The economy had NOTHING to do with them opting out of this POS CBA. Whether you choose to believe that fact is immaterial. Sorry, my statement required you to take the next logical step, i.e. "the players had no incentive to [reject a CBA that was more favorable to the owners, thus forcing the owners to lock them out]." Snyder has owned the Redskins for 10 years now. Even if you think he's making just $30M a year in pure profit, that's enough to cover the (let's see, carry the one) $300M stadium. And he's seen the value of his team triple. Kraft is in an even better position, having bought his team for $175M, only to see it increase in value over 7 times. And his portion of the stadium was $325M-$150M from the NFL's G-3 fund. Add them to Jones, who is paying for his stadium, and you have 3 owners TOTAL who paid for their own stadiums, as I said. Most NFL teams don't have to worry about empty seats. The only team that does is Jax. Fair enough. Some of the teams did spend money on their stadiums. But outside of the Jets and Giants (who are in the largest market in the US, received $300M from the NFL and are sharing the cost between them, not to mention the exorbitant prices they're charging), every owner stuck his taxpayers with well over a $200M bill. Moreover, they raised their ticket prices by 50%, and the taxpayers are still responsible for stadium upkeep. And in Adams' case, he MOVED the team. Try proposing those to Erie County, versus what Ralph asked for, and see how far you get. As opposed to your cents-less claim that the Bills could just raise prices without any concern? LOL! And you realize that season tickets cost less per game than gameday tickets, and that most years, people can sell even just a couple tickets and payoff most or all of their cost for the seasons, right? Hence the reason you see the stadium filled with Pats fans, or Cowboys fans like in 2007? How much did you spend on Bills tickets this past season? How much more would you be willing to pay per ticket?

Mike Shanahan was fired before the 2008 season? Really? What "papers" were these? Rolling papers? And funny how Cutler's losing record and failure to lead his team to the playoffs is someone else's fault. Like his giveaways had nothing to do with it. Mr. CONSISTENCY strikes again.

The 2007 Bucs made the playoffs thanks to winning a lousy division with a 9-7 record (while no other team broke .500). And Garcia had just 2,440 yards and 13 TD's. And during 2006, he took over for an injured McNabb when the Eagles were 5-4, and the Eagles have consistently made the playoffs this decade without him.