I Could Have Saved the NFL Millions!

On March 10, I posted my NFL Lockout rant, NFL Labor Dispute is a Joke! You can click the link for the full post. In this article, I summarized the major issues between the NFL and the NFLPA and detailed the simple, common sense compromises that were needed to get a deal done. Here's a quick recap from that post:

1) Get rid of any money off the top
As revenue grows (as it did since the last CBA), anything off the top becomes less valuable.

2) Split the difference in the two "on record" proposals:

• Owner share of revenue is 51.8% (an increase of $432 million or $13.5 million per team)
• Player share of revenue is 48.2 % (a decrease of the same amount)

3) Implement a simple rookie wage scale
This helps owners and veteran players. If less of the players' 48.2% is tied up for unproven rookie contracts, veterans get paid more! Owners will have more flexibility in the draft and holdouts will be over.

4) Implement a fund for player pension and healthcare
It is the right thing to do. These players get brutalized, and last on average 3 years in the league. The owners still make money when they are walking corpses (see Al Davis).

5) If that isn't enough, go ahead and add 2 more games
More money, but reduce the preseason and limit off-season OTA's. Nobody really thinks the NFL needs 2 more games, but fine.

Now that the CBA is finalized and the lockout is officially over, let's take a closer look at the major issues and see how I did:

1) Get rid of any money off the top CHECK
All revenue system adopted, eliminating the owners' take and the need for opening the books.

2) Split the difference in the two "on record" proposals CHECK
Hard cap and minimum set total player share of revenue at 47% - 48.5%

3) Implement a simple rookie wage scale HALF CHECK
Contract limits and rookie compensation limits implemented. Not a true wage scale.

4) Implement a fund for player pension and healthcare CHECK
$620M paid to legacy players by NFL and NFLPA in the next 10 years

5) If that isn't enough, go ahead and add 2 more games TBD
16 game season for now, players can vote on it in 2013.

Yeah, millions upon millions of legal fees by both sides. In the end, the compromise was crystal clear to a non-lawyer fan on March 10. What a waste.

Jürgen!

I'll keep this short and sweet. I'm happy that Bob Bradley is out as USMNT head coach. I've never really been a fan. Also, I get the excitement over Jürgen Klinsmann - but that needs to be tempered. Klinsmann had previously turned down the job twice in the past 5 years. Most people familiar with those negotiations agreed that he turned the job down because he couldn't get the amount of control he wanted of the overall system. So either one of two things has changed now...

1. US Soccer has relented and will afford Klinsmann the level of control he seeks.
2. Klinsmann is no longer seeking that level of control.

If it's the former, there's reason to be optimistic for the future of US Soccer as Klinsmann will have 10 months before WC '14 qualifiers begin to make big changes. Klinsmann is on the record saying he prefers an attacking style of soccer and he overhauled the mechanical German team during his tenure there. If he's given the freedom things could be exciting with the USMNT in the coming years.

If it's the latter? Well, expect more of the same that we saw from Simpson to Arena to Bradley. In other words, we'll overpower weaker CONCACAF teams and regularly get whooped on by class teams - maybe with a sprinkling of surprising (pleasant or otherwise) results.

I guess what I'm really saying is, as long as Jonathan Bornstein never gets a call up during Klinsmann's reign I'll consider him a huge success and his contributions to US Soccer priceless.

p.s. I mainly wrote this so I could use the umlauts.

Damn the Torpedos!!!

I think it is finally time.

Since the current ownership group took over, the Reds and GM Walt Jockety have been stockpiling talent in the minors. By leveraging that talent now, not only could we make a run at the playoffs and be a legit postseason contender, but we could be set up for the next 3 years. For so many reasons, I think Jockety has got to be ultra aggressive in the next 2 weeks.

First, look at the facts:

• We are the defending division champs, and are struggling this season to find a spark, despite having the same team.
• The Reds are currently 4.5 games out of first, and 9 games back in the Wild Card standings.
• Right now, we have more major league quality starting pitchers than we have spots in the rotation.
  
• We have 4 all-stars on our AAA Louisville team.
• Joey Votto is under team control through 2013, then he will be a free agent. Hasta la vista.
• Major realignment is almost a certainty for next season, and the playoffs are going to be expanded. Bud Selig has all but said this, and everyone is in favor of more teams in the postseason.

So what do the Reds need? A left fielder, a top line starting pitcher, and an extra arm for the bullpen. Amazingly, there are a lot of really good options out there for the Reds, and I think we can realistically cover all these issues - without mortgaging our future.

I have been closely following the trade rumors, and I think I see a way for the Reds to clean up. Each of these trades is being discussed, but here's what needs to happen.

1) James Shields (TB) for Yonder Alonso / Yasmani Grandal / Mike Leake
This is our biggest need, and this trade has to happen. Shields is a dominating #1 ace pitcher. He has a reasonable contract, and is under team control through 2014. A PERFECT fit for the Reds. Alonso has no place to play for the Reds, Grandal has another stud catcher ahead of him in the minors, and Leake has no place to pitch. Did I mention the Rays are desperate for help at 1B and C???

2) Santiago Casilla (SF) for Ramon Hernandez
Hernandez is expendable, and there is high demand for a hitting catcher. The Giants NEED a catcher. Remember Buster Posey and his home plate collision? Casilla is a pretty good reliever, and we still have Hannigan. This also clears the way for our future catcher, Devin Mesoraco. He is ready.

3) Josh Willingham (OAK) for Billy Hamilton Willingham isn't going to be an all-star outfielder, but he is an upgrade over what we have now in left. He could slot nicely into the cleanup slot (he bats 3rd for the A's) and solve a huge problem for us - we are 15th in the NL for cleanup production. If we get lucky, he becomes a Matt Holliday type acquisition for us. Hamilton is a nice player, but he has Cozart and Phillips ahead of him, and likely will not contribute for years.

4) Prospect (ATL) for Johnny Gomes
There just isn't any room for Gomes. The Braves are desperate for another bat, and Gomes destroys lefties. Get a good AAA prospect, instead of letting Gomes warm the bench.

It really is now or never. Either we go for it and shoot for the 3-year window we have with our core players (Votto), or we just hold tight and hope to sneak into the playoffs with a whimper. These trades need to happen, and we become a much better team. Now and in the future.

Ever Wonder...

how a professional golfer would fare at your local public course? I always have, and much to my enjoyment a writer for the Washington Post had the same question. Luckily for us the writer also had the resources to arrange everything.

Tee for Two

What makes this article even more exciting is the course the pro plays with the writer is a course I have played numerous times, East Potomac in DC. The article was written 4 years ago, but the pro, Steve Marino, is still playing very well on the PGA tour (64th in the world rankings).

I assumed that a professional would absolutely tear up a public course. I was thinking they would probably shoot in the mid-50's. However, this wasn't the case, Marino only shot 4 under par! I have golfed with amateurs who played better than that. In addition, Marino was full of excuses: the greens are too slow, the grass is too high, the tee boxes aren't level. Cry me a river; now you know what it's like for the rest of us!

As the article states: great golfers get great scores at great courses, but I was amazed to see how they can't adjust their game to take advantage of an easy course that may not be in great condition. This all makes me feel so good about my golf game: now I can just blame my triple bogeys on poor course conditions!

Enjoy It (While It Lasts)

This year's Women's World Cup has been fantastic. And not just because the good ol' US of A is in the final after two of the most exciting soccer games - men's or women's - I've ever seen, but because the soccer itself has been great in every match. The pace and power of the women's game will never be on par with the men's game, for obvious reasons, but the skill and creativity are quickly catching up. Plus, the women's game doesn't have any of the diving and playacting (save the last 15 minutes of the USA-Brazil game) that can make the men's game so infuriating at times.

But here's the problem - at least, if you're an American - while teams like France and Japan are coming out of the woodwork to challenge the traditional powers, the US women's game doesn't seem to be evolving at the same rate. The US women's team seems to focus on three qualities as being important: work rate, size, and spirit. Not surprisingly, theses are the same attributes that are most often mentioned with the US men's team. If you don't immediately see the problem there, go back and look at the men's results against top competition recently. Spirit and work rate don't win soccer games the majority of the time. If you want to be elite, you first need the skills and creativity, then the tactical awareness and smarts. The spirit and work rate can put you over the top, but lacking the others you're going to spend a lot of time chasing the game.

For the majority of yesterday's semifinal matchup France dominated the US. Dominated. They were better tactically. They relied on positioning, movement, and quick passes. Their touch was outstanding and, player-for-player, they were much more creative. The US won because a) the French goalie was terrible and b) Abby Wambach is a 5' 11" freak of nature. Now look at who the US is facing in the finals. A Japan team that has plowed through two teams - Germany and Sweden - with characteristics very similar to the US, i.e. big, fast, power teams. It's going to be a very interesting game.

The big question is what does the future hold for the US women's program? Title IX and other societal advantages gave the women's program a huge head start on the rest of the world, but they're catching up quickly. If the US women continue to think that just hard work and that indefatigable American spirit will keep them at the top (as the men's program seemingly does), they are sorely mistaken. Other countries will continue to get bigger, faster, and stronger, but will also focus on creativity and tactics. And it won't take long for the US to be left behind. If the US wants to remain ahead of the curve they need to shift focus now.

The Bolton

If you're like me (trust me, if you're reading this blog you are), you gave up on Saturday Night Live 10 years ago. However, the shining star of SNL these days are Lonely Island and their awesome Digital Shorts. We all know the original classic, Lazy Sunday. Since then, they have had a series of awesome shorts including I'm on a Boat, the awesome trilogy D*ck in a Box, Motherlover and 3-Way, and one of the funniest I have seen J*** in my Pants.

There are many more, but here is one that is vastly underrated. Saw this for the first time and laughed my a$$ off! I present to you the tale of Jack Sparrow!

Wait, Smoking is Bad For You?

The FDA has released the official graphics for their new campaign of warning labels on every pack of cigarettes sold in the United States. I have two immediate thoughts:

1) Holy shit, can they print that?
2) Will they be selling a commemorative carton so I can collect all 9?

Here are the images that will start rotating on every pack sold as of September 2012. They will cover the back of the pack as pictured.

Pretty tame. Big tough guy quit smoking. Good for him.

Another tame one. Oh man, smoking is bad for kids. Come on, they don't smoke anyway!

Now we start to ratchet up the fear. People don't like to look at other sick people.
You know what else people don't like? Crying babies. Worse yet, crying babies born premature in an incubator!
Now the FDA goes all anatomical on us. Normal lung on the left. Your lung if you smoke this pack of cigarettes on the right!
Now it's game on. Second hand smoke kills, and nobody wants to see a grieving widow. This one hurts to look at.
Another shocker. Anyone who's ever been to a VA hospital has seen this. Most people probably have not. For those who don't know, this guy has a tracheostomy as a result of surgery for throat cancer. He likely uses an electronic voice box to speak, and also must smoke his cigarettes through his trach tube! That's right, mouth not required to continue to kill yourself!
Another disgusting image. Rotten teeth and lip cancer. I especially like how the mouth is designed to be in proximity to the cigarette as you pull it out of the pack. If only this one could be "scratch and sniff!"
The coup de grace. Corpse status post autopsy. To save cost, probably the same guy they took the lungs from pictured above! FDA needs to use it's government spending wisely - we have a budget crisis!!!

Swoosh!!!

Yours for the bargain price of $35!!!

We all know it. Some love it, some hate it. The Nike Swoosh turns 40 on June 18. I read a great article today on the history of Nike and the ubiquitous Swoosh, and found out some amazing facts. Click over for the full story.

• The Swoosh was designed by a freelance graphic design artist in 1971 for $35. Carolyn Davidson was friends with Nike founder Phil Knight and did work on business presentations for him prior to being asked to design a logo for his new brand of shoes.


• Phil Knight was a HUGE fan of adidas' classic three stripe logo for it's shoes. He had a very hard time accepting other possible logos that were not stripe based.

• Davidson designed the Swoosh in about a week (above), and when she presented it, Knight said, "Well, I don't love it. Maybe it will grow on me." He had a deadline for production so Davidson didn't even get to refine her design.

• Davidson worked as a low-level employee for Nike for a few years after designing the logo, but certainly wasn't a founding employee worth millions today (like Knight and his posse).

• In 1983, after Nike had clearly become a premier company, Nike president Bob Woodell suggested to Knight that they do something special for Davidson. They had a big surprise party for her, gave her a gold Swoosh ring with a diamond, and an unspecified number of stock certificates in Nike.

• Sources suggest the number of certificates in 1983 was 500. In 1983, that was worth $6,085. Allowing for the current price of Nike stock as well as stock splits since 1983, the value of her gift today would be $643,035.
  

Charleston, SC

So Samantha, Teresa, and I did a long drive down to Charleston, SC for a week-long vacation with the Paulus clan. Our week was spend in a rental-house in Kiawah Island, which is south and west of Charleston, as opposed to Isle of Palm, which is almost due east of the city. Here's a recap of various portions of the trip which may or may not impact our vacation in August.

Travel/Drive
From Columbus, we took US-33 (2-lane divided for most of the way) to just over the West Virginia border - took about 2.5 hours. We then picked up I-77 and took it due south through West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and to Columbia, SC. Finally, we took I-26 to Charleston. The timer in my Traverse said it took us a little over 10 hours of drive time in the car to get to the Charleston airport, at I-26 and I-526. This does not include stopping for gas, period rest breaks, and other various stops. The traffic was fairly light, and speed limits were 70mph most of the way. We did this drive on Memorial Day weekend, and we did the final leg from Columbia to Charleston around 3 in the afternoon. At no point was I driving under the speed limit due to congestion, and there was only 1 work zone on the entire drive where I had to reduce speed. I believe this was the major area of concern for a vacation spot, so I think we can assume the best for driving in August.

Weather Conditions
Weather for us was high-80s, low-90s, and fairly humid most of the week. If you're on the beach, you won't notice humidity due to the fairly constant breeze, which was very refreshing while not being so strong it blows your umbrella away. Bring the sunscreen, but water temps ought to be extremely pleasant for us in August.

Water Temp
I didn't have a thermometer with me, but the water was never "cold". Most of the time, I would have considered it warm, and at high tide in the early evenings, it was downright hot! Our beach was about 10 yards at high tide, and closer to 50 yards at low tide. Water at low tide was only to my waist when I was roughly 50-yards offshore - probably the reason the water was so warm.

Charleston tour
We did go into Charleston for a day, which took us abut 75 minutes from Kiawah (should be closer to 30 minutes from IOP). We went to the Aquarium and the Market District, both of which were pretty cool. Sam enjoyed the aquarium, as there are some huge fish tanks in there you can just sit and watch all the big fish. The Market District was pretty similar to the markets in NOLA, but interesting to walk through all the same. I'm sure there's lots of other places to go, so feel free to throw out some suggestions.

All in all, it was a much easier drive, and awesome beach for the trip. For those of you flying, the airport will likely be a 30-45 minute drive from IOP. I'm sure you can figure out the distances. I'm looking forward to the Heffernan trip, and I know Sam is too! She wants to play with cousins for a week, not her mom and dad!

Their Grades, My Grades

The USMNT put in a strong opening game to the Gold Cup last night, knocking off a Canada team looking to beat the US for the first time in 3 decades 2-0. Here are the player grades from FoxSoccer. Here are mine...

(FoxSoccer Grades in parenthesis)

Tim Howard - 8 (8)
Outstanding, as usual. Although his second great reaction save of the night was his own fault for not pouncing on a loose ball inside his six.

Carlos Bocanegra - 6 (7)
I didn't think he got forward as much as usual, and he missed a sitter in the first half. Wasn't as effective on set pieces, but I'll take him (or anyone, really) over Bornstein every time.

Steve Cherundolo - 5 (8)
Cherundolo was abused by Josh Simpson all night. Simpson regularly went right around and past him in dangerous situations. He might be beginning to show his age (32) and I'm wary of him getting exposed further by the Mexican attack.

Tim Ream - 7 (7)
I love this call by Bradley. Onyewu is done. Ream is much more calm and collected, every bit as imposing, and doesn't make all the stupid fouls Onyewu does. On top of that, he knows all these MLSers in this tournament which makes him a smart choice assuming he keeps playing this well.

Clarence Goodson - 6 (7)
Good partnership with Ream for a player that keeps getting better. He seems a lot more comfortable knowing he's not going to have to clean up for Onyewu all night.

Landon Donovan - 6 (7)
Moves all over the place, and did a great job tracking back on defense and saving Cherundolo's ass. I'd like to see him be a little more selfish on the attack. He seems hesitant in the final third.

Jozy Altidore - 6 (8)
He scored a (lucky) goal and setup Dempsey's, but he just doesn't move well. Furthermore, every time he tries to take on defenders, he loses. Every. Time. And then he makes dumb fouls trying to win the ball back.

Michael Bradley - 8 (8)
The mercurial Bradley. You never know what to expect. Maybe it was having Jones - and his crazy speed and tackling - alongside him, but Bradley was great last night.

Jermaine Jones - 8 (7.5)
The best athlete to ever dress for the USMNT. He is faster and stronger than any player on the USMNT and, dare I say, anyone in CONCACAF. I hope his partnership with Bradley only gets better.

Juan Agudelo - 6 (5.5)
The scorecard won't look as favorable for him as it did Altidore, but Agudelo seemed more dangerous all night. He had great movement and was willing to try things on the attack that few of his teammates would.

Clint Dempsey - 8 (7.5)
As Colin said on Twitter last night, no one is even close to Dempsey on the USMNT. People give him a bad rap, but I still believe it's because he gets frustrated when players around him aren't up to his level. If you give him the ball and room to operate, anything is possible.

SUBS
Maurice Edu - 4 (5)
Huge drop-off from Jones.

Chris Wondolowski - 3 (4)
Token MLSer. I don't remember him touching the ball for almost the entire 30 minutes he played.

Sacha Kljestan - 4 (5)
Really? This guy is still on the team? I know he had a good season and Anderlecht, but his favorite move last night was holding up a pending attack and passing back to Ream or Goodson. Also, he looks exactly like Ethan Hawke.

The USMNT showed last night that it's capable of winning this tournament. The biggest concern is their lack of depth. Bradley is already carrying a yellow card and a lot of guys are coming off long seasons overseas. The subs last night (and over the weekend against Spain) showed the shocking drop-off in skill from our regulars to the backups. An injury or suspension here or there and the wheels could come off pretty quickly.