The Steelers' SB win was da Bomb

A bomb threat at the theater hosting the premier screening of the Steelers championship DVD triggered authorities and the theater management to evacuate the theater in the middle of the screening. Apparently the Steeler attendees were taken out of the theater just before the rest of the crowd was told to leave even as the DVD rolled on. The video report of KDKA TV interviews a women who stated Jerome Bettis even signed an autograph for her mid evacuation.

NFL delays start of free agency

In what is hopefully a return to reason the NFL has delayed the start of Free Agency until Monday. This will give them time to reach a new agreement of the CBA with the players association. The move prevents a "Bloody Thursday" scenario which would have saw many veteran players cut so team could reach compliance with the League salary cap. Of course it opens the possibility that those cuts will be spaced over the next few days and we will have a Bloody Monday on our hands. I am hoping that the extension will be used to reach a new CBA. This might require owners to settle their super rich vs the very rich squabbles over revenue sharing first, reportedly a demand of the Players association. The other sticking point is apparently a 3.5% difference between the PA and the NFL over how much revenue should be allocated for salaries. Of course this could just be ploy to give the teams more time to figure out where to make their cuts and what contracts can be restructured to get under the cap. I am optimistic that is not the case though, it makes sense since the NFL just last night announced that the cap would be aprox 94 million. Teams, in anticipation of a new CBA were figuring a cap to be upwards of 102 million, thus many of them had to and may still have to find the 8 to 10 million in extra savings against the cap, thus creating the need to cut many veteran players.

NFL hell about to break loose

All hell is about to break loose as it looks like teams over the salary cap will have to cut veterans to get under the cap by 4pm EST on Thursday. Of course the NFL has not announced what that cap is (prob 95 mil) or what tender offers for restricted free agents will be. I would have guessed that they would have reached terms for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement by now or at least agreed to delay the start of free agency, but it looks more and more like neither of those things are going to happen(bronco cut vets with tread left)... So prepare for a mess with NO winners, teams will have to part with talented players who they want to keep, $ will be almost nonexistent for free agents and draft picks will probably see a 30% drop across the board in guaranteed money, as teams can no longer spread bonuses (signing, roster, performance) over a the life of a contract. None of this makes sense, and there just seems to be no good reason for it to be happening, yet it is. Owners are likely giving up the salary cap and maybe even the draft, as next year is an uncaped year under the current CBA and conventional wisdom is that the players assoc will not let the genie be put back inn the bottle if the League allows an uncaped year. I don't have all the answers inn this confusing and complicated situation, but I do know this is going to turn in to a HUGE CLUSTER FUCK and has the potential to lead to a lockout in the future and might seriously damage the most profitable and popular sports organization in the world. I am anxious and to see how it plays out but I am not happy about it. If this whole thing is over revenue sharing the owners better get it together or they will soon be looking at a lot less revenue to fight over. Let me make this clear it is BAD BAD BAD for all. Players who are not free agents, rookies or high price vets who may be in danger of cap casualty cuts won't win in the long run either...First they will have to wait another two years for FA to kick in...Second I believe if there is no CBA in the next 24 hours there will be a lockout in 2008 and that wont help anyone.

Kiss your sister and receive mercy at the WBC

In addition to enforced pitch counts the WBC will feature the mercy rule and TIES in pool play. Fourteen Innings is pretty generous and one can understand how combined with the pitch count rules a team could be unduly penalized and maybe even end up with no eligible pitchers in a game the day after a 20 inning affair. My question is what are the odds of a game ending in a tie. I have a feeling there are not going to be a lot of low scoring games as pitchers will probably be a little behind hitters in getting in to mid season form. I have looked for a book on this on the internet with no luck so far. Drop me an email if you see posted odds on a tie in the WBC. I also wonder what the over under for mercy games is set at. I cant imagine there will not be any.

WBC and March madness cant come too soon

I don't know about the rest of you but I have found the post Super Bowl dog days of sports to be very depressing. I even took to following Olympic Curling going as far as actually learning the rules and strategy of the game. But now the dawning of March brings new hope. Just days away is NFL free agency, hopefully providing lots to talk about. As always the March madness NCAA College BB tourny will be held in March. With perhaps the most intrigue will be the inaugural World Baseball Classic. I for one am getting increasingly excited to see how competitive the games will be. If there will be a dark horse country to pin a few losses (or ties) on some of the powerhouse teams. Among other things I am curious to see if the Cuban team can hang with MLBers and how pitch count and players just "playing into shape" will effect the flow of the games. Mostly I am just hopping for something, anything interesting to happen after the Olympics (involuntary yawn.)

Dress for Success!?

I found it a little strange that the players were in full uniform (minus pads and helmets) for NFL media day. I mean jerseys may have made sense (do sports media members need this much help to figure out the 350 pound men are the players) but did they have to wear there uni pants? I just don't get it...maybe I am paying more attention to media day since my beloved Stillers are in the Big Bowl...but I always remember street cloths for media day. Putting the players in full unis just further homogenized the event and practically guaranteed that it would be even more boring...These guys are people, some might actually express themselves if they could dress themselves...this probably seems like a nit pick but they made media day soooo boring that I have to come up with something. Where is uni watch when you need them.

Motown, da Bus, and da Butcher

Jerome the Bus Bettis received the key to the City of Detroit today as a postscript to the Super Bowl media day. That puts him in select if somewhat bizarre company. There have only been three "honorary keys" to the city of Detroit given out and one of them was in 1980 to Saddam Hussein. The Bus apparently had a sense of humor about it all joking that they have "changed the locks since then." This is maybe the only interesting story to come out of the motor city today. Not that I think it means anything or has a point but it is surreal. Maybe Marshal and his d12 cronies will get a key to Amityville soon too, that would be even more Bizarre.

Lets Get it started

Ok...Here we go. At the constant urging (read nagging) of Twoedge, I am finally starting a blog. I guess he does have a point in that I spend 4 to 6 hours a day reading sports, political, current events and arts news. So I guess that is the short answer of what this blog will be about with a heavy emphasis on sports for now. Today is as good a day as any being the Super Bowl Media day as well as the State of the Union. So hopefully this will be interesting, entertaining, engaging, enraging or something at least less boring than either Media Day or tonight's State of the Union speech, for now I am setting my sights low...