Sports Quick Hits - Hard Labor Edition

Happy All-Star Break to all baseball fans out there; hopefully your team has played better than my Reds have of late. Just to let you know, if you're missing Chizzy, he's still in preparation for the bar exam, and probably won't be back until August, so you'll have to bear with me for the remainder of the month. I myself am thinking about taking the plunge into law school...yikes, right? But that's a ways off still, if I go through with it. Onto more sports related things, and perhaps some of the best news we've received yet in the NFL Lockout, so we'll start and end there, as there's not much news going on in the sports world besides the lockout this week.

NFL
Reports surfaced today that a new CBA could be reached between the players and owners in the NFL lockout, and could be ratified by owners as early as July 21st. In order to pass, 75% of the owners, i.e. 24 of the 32, must vote in favor of it. While the revenue-sharing issues amongst owners aren't at the forefront this time around, if I had to bet on two owners who would vote no, it'd be the same two as the last time around: Cincinnati's Mike Brown, and Buffalo's Ralph Wilson.

It's rumored that the last sticking issue, and quite frankly in my opinion, the most surprising, is the rookie wage scale and rookie contract length issue. The owners want to be able to sign first round picks for 5 years, which I get since they're still shelling out big bucks to 21, 22, and 23 year olds who've never set foot on an NFL field. On the other hand, if the current players are getting to free agency after 4 accrued seasons of service, shouldn't it be the same for the rookies? I think so. The players have already made several concessions and hopefully the owners will see that with respect to the rookie wage/contract length issue and not muck up the negotiation process.

Now, with the potential ratification date on the 21st, it appears that the only football lost, other than the 50 plus workouts, OTAs, mini-camps, and rookie tryout camps that have already been lost, would be the Hall of Fame Game on August 7th, between the Chicago Bears and the St. Louis Rams. Here's what the truncated league calendar would look like:

July 21st - CBA ratification and date to start educating teams (i.e. GMs, coaches, players, staff, etc.) on new collective bargaining agreement and voluntary training.

July 25th - Begin signing period for undrafted rookies and re-signing of teams free agents. For example, teams can sign any undrafted rookie free agents, but wouldn't be able to sign others free agents - meaning at this point, teams could only re-sign their own players, the Dolphins couldn't make a call to Ahmad Bradshaw, for example.

July 28th - League Year Opens, free agency begins. At this point, all those players waiting on huge pay days: Nnamdi Asomugha, DeAngelo Williams, Ahmad Bradshaw, Sidney Rice, etc are now set to meet with any NFL team if they haven't re-signed with their 2010 team.

At this stage, most, if not all teams begin training camp. This is typically the normal start time anyway, but they'll have been without said OTAs, rookie camps, mini-camps, etc.

August 2nd - Teams must set max rosters at 90 players.

August 3rd - Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets from their current NFL team. At this point, it would be those players who are slated for free agency that haven't accrued 4 seasons of play.

August 7th - Deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers in the form of draft picks or player compensation. I don't think there's that many huge restricted free agent names out there, but it could be interesting to watch.

August 12th - Deadline for drafted rookies to sign. I think this is a good step, as it forces both teams and players (and their agents) to negotiate deals quickly. Given the truncated timetable, I'd imagine most rookies are signed relatively quickly once the market is set on rookie contracts. I can't imagine any lengthy holdouts as we've seen over the past few years with players like Michael Crabtree, JaMarcus Russell, and David Pollack.

August 16th - Restricted free agency period ends.

August 29th - Deadline for players to report to camp. If players fail to report they're to be listed in the reserver, non-football injury list, or PUP (physically unable to perform list) until week 6 of the season.

At this point, I think it'd be assumed that the trade deadline would be the same as usual, also typically around week 6 of the NFL season.

All things considered, I think the timetable is fair as it gives each NFL team a chance to take care of the easier things first, like signing UDFAs and bringing back their own free agent players before getting into restricted free agency and teams making runs at unrestricted free agents.

I've still not seen word on franchise tags applied to players prior to the lockout, for instance, Patriots G Logan Mankins. Teams would still be able to use a franchise tag and possibly a transition tag as well, and would get to use those coinciding with restricted free agency's deadlines.

In other news:
Adam "Pacman" Jones was arrested in Cincinnati over the weekend on disorderly conduct charges. Though he claims he wasn't drunk, I've got it on good authority that he's been frequenting a particular bar with fellow Bengal Frostee Rucker, and Reds P Aroldis Champan, and on more than one occasion, Jones has been carried out of the bar and had a cab paid to take him home. I don't think he'll ever learn.

The Women's World Cup Team made it past Brazil and into the semi-finals against France. Go USA, but man, women's soccer is very slow and tough to watch!

I'm not really interested in the Home Run Derby. Much like the NBA's dunk contest, there's hardly ever many big names in it, and without steroids, it's just not the same as seeing Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds just go yard.

Chiefs OLB, and former Patriots OLB, Mike Vrabel will retire and return to Ohio State to become linebackers coach. I wish you well Mike Vrabel, but why go back now? I have to think that most, if not all, of that staff will be gone after 2011 when Ohio State makes a run at Bo Pelini, a former Buckeye, or Urban Meyer, who just moved to Columbus. All things considered though, you had a great NFL career and should do what you want.

The Daily Rant: Caught RED-handed? Admit it.

So in case you all don't know, 23 year old Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake was arrested Monday afternoon for theft. In the downtown Cincinnati Macy's in Fountain Square, Leake took the price tags off six "American Rag" shirts that had a total value of $59.88. Leake makes $400,000 this year, and when he signed as a first-round draft pick last year, he received a $2.3 MILLION signing bonus. From this fact pattern, a few questions immediately need to be asked. First, who in god's name is wearing American Rag t-shirts? With these buttons? Is this a barcode? Yes, yes it is. I'm pretty sure only dj's and Jersey Shore characters should be wearing these shirts. Second, why did you have a credit card and $250 in cash but STILL attempt to steal shirts worth less than $10 a pop? You definitely have the money. Third, since when did the Reds play in "Reds Stadium," as you said to the arresting officer, and not "Great American Ballpark." But the point of the article is not to question why people steal, the point is to just wonder why Leake has attempted to rationalize his actions by coming up with a horrible excuse.

Leake came up with the following, which in my mind makes him look even worse. He claims to have purchased the shirts at an earlier date. But he didn't like the shirts, so he returned to Macy's to exchange them. On his own. Without an associate's help. Without going to the checkout counter. Now, we've all returned things to a store before. You go to the counter, say "Hey nice salesperson, I'd like to exchange this for something else." Then you go get your item, return to the desk, and exchange it. There may be some minor variations to this procedure, but it's basically the same. Leake isn't a homeless person, isn't broke, and has the money to pay for the damn shirts and legal fees. He's not even an NCAA athlete that "allegedly" doesn't get paid to play. So rather than attempt to save face by giving a crappy excuse, just say this: I screwed up, it was an error of judgment, I'm sorry. Then everybody moves on.

The public is forgiving to celebrities. We all know this. But when people give crappy excuses, it makes them look foolish. Mike Vrabel, NFLPA representative and a named Plaintiff in the lawsuit against the NFL, was arrested last month for walking into a deli at Belterra Casino in Indiana and taking eight bottles of beer. Dude, I've been to Belterra. Bottles of beer are $3.50 a pop. By my count, that's $30, including tip. According to the police report, the Indiana Gaming Commission just asked Vrabel to pay for the beer and return to his room. But instead, Vrabel was arrested for a Class D felony and then released a report saying the entire thing was just a "misunderstanding." So why didn't you just tell the Gaming Commission "My Bad," fork over the $30, and walk away? Because he thinks that being a celebrity or an athlete puts you above the law.

Apparently stupidity doesn't just stick with players, as even coaches can't avoid this sort of thing. Former Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez was charged with shoplifting a $1,400 manpurse... excuse me, satchel... from a Polo store in New Jersey. Gonzalez and his wife left a bag in a restaurant. When they didn't return for the bag in twenty minutes, restaurant staff looked into the bag, finding it empty with a ripped sensor inside. Gonzalez, who made $435,000 the year before an undisclosed contract extension was signed, claimed that the charges stemmed from "a series of miscommunications and misunderstandings." What were those Bobby? Seriously, I'd love to hear what miscommunications happened while security cameras showed you grabbing a bag, removing the sensor, and walking out of the store with it. Just say you screwed up. You're not going to go to jail, so admit that you had an error of judgment. He probably can't figure out for the life of him why he doesn't have a job right now.

So, a lesson should be learned for future millionaires that think about committing a petty offense such as this. The public doesn't have sympathy for millionaires who get caught red-handed stealing things that a majority of average citizens can pay for, like beer and T-shirts. And when celebrities try and steal even more expensive things when they can afford it, like Bobby Gonzalez and Lindsay Lohan, it makes it even worse. So if you do decide to make an error in judgment, just admit your mistake and move on rather than give the public shady excuses and heartless apologies. You're going to look a lot less foolish in the end, and you'll be able to move on with your life without a serious hit to your reputation.