Stadium / SuperBowl

So, in his conversation yesterday with the media, the commish said that the snow and cold that is dampening the overall spirit and mood of the leadup to the game in no way affects the decision to not host in Miami. Its all about the venue itself, and Dallas has a great venue, and Miami is lagging behind.

Then he went on to say that the people involved with the Supe have done a great job of getting everything ready for the big game, and making everything easily accessible. Think he was talking about the local city workers, the police, the people the NFL hired?

Nope, he was referring to the volunteers! The reason he's touting the success is because there are scores of people who are GIVING their time FOR FREE to this multi-billion dollar industry!

I hate that. The NFL looks good, and the muckety mucks are happy because people make it so on their own time. And meanwhile, the NFL owners and players are haggling over millions!

I can honestly say I'm insulted and hope there is a protracted labor dispute and that the NFL does lose its stature as king sport, and there is a loss of revenue! It would serve their smug attitudes right!

CBA

The situation with the labor deal is likely to come to a head as early as Monday.

The NFL announced plans to have a "limited free-agency period" between the time after the SuperBowl and the March 3rd date.  The owners are aligned, and are expected to apply tags such as 'restricted' and 'unrestriced' and 'franchise' to players thus allowing for free-agency.

But not so fast.  The players content that the language in the CBA doesn't allow for that until *after the new league starts*.  The NFL claims it allows for it in the offseason, which includes this time period.  As I've said before, I'm no expert, and the language seems a little vague.  But I generally have to side with the players on this one.

The players have threatened to take it to court, if the NFL proceeds with its plan - essentially their claim is that if there is a free-agent period, ANYONE not under contract can sign with any team...and of course they contend that there can't be free agency now because of the lack of a salary cap, and the inability to trade which are laid out in the CBA specifically.

This is going to get contentious fast, I believe...

Superbowl

I was on the west coast this week and can tell you that travel was challenging. And with the Dallas airport closed for parts if 2 days there are gonna be people who can't make it to the big game. And the amount of snow? Yikes.

The next one is in Indy and then in New York? I gotta imagine that Florida is looking better these days.

Kind of funny how the "threat" of not coming back to Miami if there wasn't a roof has unintended consequences, isn't it??

Good news, bad news

The good news is that Demaurice Smith and Rodger Goodell met over the weekend.

The bad news is that they met to agree to met again soon.

And the other bad news is that this is an effort to get a deal done - without the owners involved. So really can't accomplish much.

Chad Henne

Schmoe Montana has gotten a little support recently.

First jeff Ireland thought Henne would still work at QB. Then Mile Dee told us no one has given up on Henne.

Now Dan Marino has gone on record as saying that he thinks Henne is a good QB and will ultimately succeed in the NFL.

Now marino was a very good qb. But his talent evaluation is suspect IMHO. And I find that he really never says anything - certainly negative - about anything.