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Showing posts with label giants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label giants. Show all posts
Cowboys get an impressive win over the Giants 24-17; Romo looking good
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Watch the broadcast of the NFL season opener: Cowboys vs Giants
Live Show: NFL Season Preview Special, Truth about NFL Referee Lockout, and Cowboys vs Giants
10:30pm CST: NFL Season Preview Special! Plus Ryan Henry gives us the real truth about the referee lockout and we preview Cowboys vs Giants.CLICK HERE TO BE APART OF THE SHOW
Everybody Lies - The NFL Referee Holdout
by Ryan Henry
A well-renown, pill-popping, New Jersey-based, television
doctor had a saying: “Everyone lies.” While this may not be perfectly true, it
certainly holds whenever people are talking about labor disputes or contract
holdouts. It is the reason why when Maurice Jones-Drew said that his contract
holdout wasn’t entirely about the money, nobody believed him. It is also why
when the NFL and their referees say that it is only about the money we should
be skeptical.
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| First down! Source: nfl.com |
Right now, referees get paid about $3000 per game with the
some of the referees making up to $140,000 per year. The NFL wants to increase
the number of available NFL-approved referees and replace the pension that was
part of the CBA the negotiated back in 2006 and put in place a defined
contribution 401(k) valued somewhere between $16,000 and $22,000, according to
ESPN.com. The league is citing a downturning “economic environment,” which is
the same argument they used against the players.
These numbers should seem low. In 2011, the NFL grossed $9
billion in revenue. That’s billion…with
a “b.” Why then are they arguing about what would amount to less than 1% of
their revenue? Because it isn’t about the money.
Instead, what this holdout is really about is the NFL
telling the referees that they are a dime a dozen, and if they don’t want to
work, then they will find someone who will. The NFL wants their referees to
feel replaceable. They want them to know their place.
The referees on the other hand want to show the NFL that without
their expertise, the quality of the product that the NFL produces will decline.
And it will. If you watched a preseason game, then you got to see some of this
in action. There were questionable calls (more so than in a normal NFL game);
there were more challenges; and the pace of the game felt a lot slower. In week
one of the preseason in the game between Green Bay and San Diego, there was an unsportsmanlike
penalty called for after a rookie scored his first NFL sack and flexed. The ref
said that that constituted unnecessary celebration. Granted, that was the first
week of the preseason and many refs weren’t used to the NFL rules, but the
preseason represents a much slower game. Players simply don’t care that much
about the preseason.
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| NFL referees discussing. Source: nfl.com |
When the regular season comes around (Wednesday September 5,
2012, Dallas at New York Giants), calls will be missed. The NFL is hoping that
these calls aren’t too egregious. The referees currently embroiled in a holdout
hope they are.
Best case scenario? We have replacement referees on Wednesday,
but they reach a deal and are able to work on Sunday. However, this remains
unlikely. Once a deal is met, each NFL referee must undergo a fitness test and
a recertification. Basically, the referee equivalent of a checkup. It is far
more likely that the NFL will wait until after the Monday night game to
determine what kind of leverage it has. If the replacement refs do well, then
you can be sure the NFL will force the Union to agree to its terms. If they do
poorly, then it becomes a much more interesting story. It boils down to how
much the NFL wants to taint its product with poor officiating.
This is especially excruciating for the coaches and players.
After all, at the end of the day they are the ones that have to play under
these circumstances. With poor officiating, players are able to get away with
more, which in turn leads to more injuries. Coaches on the “hot seat” could
also lose their jobs. The NFL is a league of inches, and poor officiating can
be the difference in a potential playoff appearance or being on the outside
looking in.
No matter what happens with the end of this holdout,
remember this. Everybody lies, and when they say it is about the money…then it
definitely isn’t.
Baseball and PEDs: Further Down the Rabbit Hole
by Ryan Henry
After Melky Cabrera, San Francisco didn’t
just lose their best hitter and the only person who could cover for Buster
Posey in their lineup. They also lost a legitimate MVP candidate. Baseball also
came face-to-face with performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) yet again. Not even
two weeks later, Oakland A’s ace Bartolo Colon tested positive for PEDs. Their punishment?
Each was suspended for 50 games. This seems almost too fitting as Barry Bonds,
Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens all become eligible for the Hall of
Fame. Eventually, baseball is going to have to admit that PEDs are a problem
and that putting a stop to their use is more important than losing one of their
stars.
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| Cabrera before his suspension. Courtesy of mlb.com |
First of all, 50 games for a first
offense is simply not enough of a penalty to actually cut down on PED use. During
a radio interview with ESPN Radio New York, Victor Conte, the founder of
BALCO, said that “as much as 50 percent” of MLB players currently use PEDs. While
the actual numbers are probably lower, that does not mean that PEDs are not an
epidemic that is plaguing baseball. These players are essentially committing fraud
against the paying public. Both Cabrera and Colon are important pieces on
contending teams. That does not even count Ryan Braun who was almost suspended
during the off season, but escaped penalty due to a technicality. Braun is the
reigning NL MVP and it was the first time that a suspension for PED use had
been overturned.
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| Braun narrowly avoided his own suspension. Courtesy of mlb.com |
Baseball’s drug testing policy is
flawed. It doesn't catch enough people, and even when it works, the punishment isn't severe enough. Some of the proposed solutions range from making a first offense
a year-long suspension to holding a player’s salary in escrow until a player
passes drug tests to a team forfeiting wins for artificially winning games as a
result of PEDs. After all, Cabrera’s .346 batting average or Colon’s 3.43 ERA
are largely owed to their use steroids.
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| Colon was suspended 50 games for testing positive for testosterone. Courtesy mlb.com |
So in light of the revelation that
steroid use is still rampant throughout baseball that means that the steroid era
is far from over, despite what MLB wants us to believe. With the first of the
so-called steroid era becoming Hall of Fame eligible, what should baseball do?
Let them in. Steroid detection began in 2006 when MLB adopted the Joint Drug
Prevention and Treatment Program. Since then there have been only 37 players suspended
by this policy, and of those 37 only one (other than the 2 this year) have been
notable plays: Manny Ramirez, twice. Those 37 players were suspended for a
variety of reasons ranging from failure to comply with treatment programs to steroid
use. The most troubling of these suspensions is that of Ramirez. He was suspended
twice, once in 2009 and he served a 100 game suspension in 2011. The allure of
steroids was so captivating that not even a 100 game suspension would dissuade
him.
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| Ramirez was suspended for 100 games while with the Dodgers. Courtesy mlb.com |
Since baseball cannot develop tests
fast enough to test accurately for steroids and is either unwilling or unable
to punish players sufficiently to get them to stop using then, it is time for
baseball to begin to accept it. I don’t think that the MLB should stop trying
to catch people who defraud baseball by using steroids, but they also shouldn't deny Bonds and company their deserved trip to Cooperstown simply because they
did what everyone else was doing at the time. Baseball also cannot be certain how
deep the proverbial rabbit hole goes. Where do the voters draw the line? They only
admit people that are perfectly clean, i.e. have never been suspected of PED
use? What about people that have been suspected but later cleared? What about
pitchers who pitched in a World Series while wearing a bloody sock that has
already fended off perjury allegations in front of a grand jury? These are all
impossible questions. There is no correct arbitrary line. Don’t vote a player
in if he was convicted of steroid use. That is a pretty clear line in the sand,
but denying deserving players based on hearsay and suspicion isn’t right. After
all, they are innocent until proven guilty.
Giants losing Melky Cabrera is apt five years after Barry Bonds ended his PEDs-fueled reign by Steve Henson of Yahoo! Sports
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Luck plays huge role in Super Bowl by Gregg Easterbrook ESPN.com TMQ
I am not the only one who thinks the Patriot era was the best...
http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/_/id/7548066/luck-plays-bigger-factor-super-bowl-life-care-admit
http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/_/id/7548066/luck-plays-bigger-factor-super-bowl-life-care-admit
Super Bowl XLVI Pregame Show @ 11:30am CST
RF Sports Radio - Roc & Royce - Super Bowl XLVI Pregame Show
Dear Jerry Jones, Blow it up!
There is but one solution Mr. Jones, Blow it up! New personnel, new coaches, and a new GM. That's right Jerry...You're Fired! Stick to what you do best and market Americas team. Leave the football to football people like Jimmy and Parcells. You want to WIN don't you! Division opponents, like the Giants, have a better record in your stadium that your own team. I'm frustrated, I'm sick, I'm tired, and I'm out on this season....
Sincerely,
Cowboy Fan For Life
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