Wally

Jerome Harrison was Arian Foster two years ago (at least during the fantasy football playoffs). I'd go with Hightower if it wasn't for his head coach. The Rat will screw you every time. I'm interested to see how Willis McGahee pans out in Denver.

Nah, that distinguished honor goes the Matt Jones for all of his illustrious accomplishments on and off the field (and Dickson Street) I guess Mallett technically played ball in Texas. Touche Mr Salet.

I may be naive in asking this, but isn't the total revenue known by all parties? If that's the case, and all parties know what percentage of the the revenue goes to the players and what percentage goes to the owners, then asking the owners to open their books is only going to tell how much they're spending on operations, finances, and investments. I don't really see how that does the players any good. Different franchises are going to choose to use their capital in different ways, but they'll all have one thing in common: their number one expense is going to be player salaries. I guess that they could look at the bottom line as the owners' take home, but its doubtful that the owners are paying themselves all of the team's net income each year. I actually wouldn't be surprised if the owners have figured out how to make these franchises lose money on paper. I'd be shocked if they weren't running expenses from their other business ventures through the teams' books in order to minimize their team taxes while showing better returns in their other businesses. Plus opening the books isn't going to give the players any idea about the value of the franchises themselves, which is probably where the majority of the return on investment actually lies.

Thought he went to Arkansas High in Texarkana? I'm not touching the black or white speech thing. He has an accent, and he doesn't sound like a Rhodes scholar, so call it whatever you want. But I think he has the potential to be a good pro QB if he goes somewhere with a decent to good O-line (hoping for Miami). Of course I'm an Arkansas fan, so I'm probably just being a homer.

You mean except Ryan Mallett, correct?

South Arkansas

I've met the kid on a few occasions, and he's always been extremely polite and personable. I don't know about his ACT or Wonderlic scores, but from watching him play at Arkansas, the kid has a pretty good football IQ. Also, he's used to taking snaps under center and he runs play action about as well as anyone I've ever seen. People harp on him for his interceptions in big games, but in just about every one of those instances, his receivers had dropped perfect passes a play or two earlier, putting the team in a bad position. Had they not dropped those passes, he wouldn't have needed to try and fit the ball between 3 defenders 20 yards down the field. I think he gets a bad wrap b/c his accent makes him sound like a dumba$$. But whoever drafts him will train him on how to give interview, and will probably hire a speech coach. A lot of that goes on in the NFL: guys coming out of college that can barely string together three sentences are all of a sudden "well spoken" after a year or two in the league. If he falls to a decent all around team with a solid O-Line later in the draft, he'll be effective immediately. My only concern is that he is slight of build. Right now, one shot in the numbers from Ray Lewis or Clay Matthews would cripple him. Whoever drafts him needs to put 10 to 20 lbs of muscle on him asap.

Those insurance premiums were paid from revenues that were supposed to be shared with the players. The owners insured themselves against a lockout partially with funds that were not there's to use. I don't have any problem with buying an insurance policy, but part of that insurance payout should go to the players, as it was paid for with their money. Were the players' naive to believe that the owners would negotiate in good faith on their behalf? Absolutely. Does that make what the owners did an acceptable form of business? Absolutely not. I doubt that any worker in any industry would knowingly take less pay so that the boss can buy work stoppage insurance with that money. And I'm pretty sure that any group of employees would file a law suit if they found out that they had been deceived in such a manner. Its makes about as much sense as loaning someone a gun so that they can shoot you with it.

My bad. I really wasn't sure what was being said. I think people forget that the owners agreed to get the best deal for all parties involved in the last CBA. They agreed to do one thing, and then did the total opposite, which is wrong. I personally think the players (at least the rookies) are way overpaid. I don't have any problem with Manning, Revis, etc cashing in b/c they've earned it. Those guys generate a ridiculous amount of revenue for the NFL, and probably work 80 hour weeks when you factor in film study, weight training, playbook study, practice, games, rehab, etc. But I cringe every time I hear that some kid that's never played a down in the NFL gets a $30 million signing bonus. If you start someone at $10 million a year when they're unproven, what do you think they're going to do once they've become a star in the league? The thought process goes something like this: "If I was worth $10 million a year as a no-named rookie, I must be worth $50 million a year now that I've been in the league for a while." That type of thinking is only human nature, so I can''t blame the players. It has to be stopped before it ever starts, ie a rookie salary cap. Also, the Dan Snyders and Al Davises of the world don't help matters by overpaying for big name free agents. But that's their prerogative. If they want to piss away money on guys like Haynesworth, more power to them. They've made that money, they get to spend it however they like.

Not really sure what your point is, b/c that sentence reads like a Charlie Sheen quote. What I'm saying that roughly half of that $4 billion technically belongs to the players. The owners didn't violate the "spirit" of the contract, they violated their fiduciary duty to the players. I think that the owners have the right to do whatever they want to with THEIR money, but part of this is the players' money. It was the owners' obligation under the contract to get the maximum amount from the TV stations, which they didn't do. Instead they took less money in an attempt to insulate themselves from the financial fallout that a work stoppage will create. They negotiated in bad faith.

The way that I understand the ruling on the $4 billion is that the last CBA granted the owners the right to negotiate contracts on behalf of the players, and in good faith. Basically, since revenues are shared, the players and owners are partners to a degree. Also, to simplify things, the players granted the owners the right to negotiate for them, instead of having a third party at all negotiations to represent the players' interest. So the owners are supposed to negotiate the best deal possible for everyone in the NFL. Instead of getting the most money possible, the owners made a deal with the TV stations where the NFL would take less money per year, and in the unlikely event of a lockout, the TV stations would agree to pay an extra $4 billion to the owners, which is basically money that was forgone in the past. Since the players are locked out, and not getting paid, this $4 billion would not be shared and the owners would essentially be getting the same amount of money during a lockout as they would in a regular season. The judge ruled that this deal violated the "good faith" clause of the old CBA, b/c the owners took less money (and thus the players got less money) in order to insure the owners in the event of a lock out. They negotiated in bad faith. While I'm generally on the owners' side in all of this, I think this was a pretty shady move on their part. If a new CBA would have been agreed to, this side deal would have never been discovered...at least not until the next CBA expired and the owners tried to cash in this insurance policy.

Mustain did go undefeated in the SEC during his freshman year....... That being said, this may be the stupidest article that I've ever read. Is the Modesto Press an actual newspaper or is that just some hack's blog?

I'd have laughed at someone who did that in rounds 4 - 10. Shows how much I know....

Totally agree, but Choice has that Leon Washington feel to me: no reason that he shouldn't play and play well, but just never seems to get his shot. I've picked him up mid season each of the last 2 years and just waited, and waited, and waited.