Ramius

Watch SF some time. Clements is barely playing up to a $20 million dollar contract, let alone an 80 dollar one.

I'll definitely go see it too, especially being a huge A's fan. As you said, OBP is now highly overrated by everyone. But he did manage to win with it, because no one paid any attention with lower "regular" stats and high OBP. Now if someone has a high OBP, everyone is looking at him. Defense isn't the next big "undiscovered" thing to win. Going by defense gets you a team like the Mariners. Beane has shown he can change with the times, but sooner or later he's simply gotta go get some guys that can hit .300 and/or be a 40 HR threat. He's wasting great pitching. The funniest past was that in the famed "Moneyball draft" of 2002, none of those guys have gone on to do anything. Swisher is decent, but there were a ton of flops in that draft. As Hops guy said, the book was more of a narrative than a true story. Its a good book if you are a big baseball fan, but if not, then it wont be a huge deal to see the movie first. But the book isn't about Beane. Its about how Beane challenged/changed a 100 year old thought process when it came to player evaluation.

This isn't the first time i've heard rumors of everything not being on the up-and-up at Clemson. Once they get done with UNC, i wouldn't be shocked to see Clemson come under fire. I mean seriously, you've gotta wonder how a second rate program like them with Dabo frickin Sweeney as HC constantly gets top recruits.

I want to apologize in advance to Jim for the utter and complete beating Chad's going to get over the next 4 years at our hands.

I'm fine with that rule. Don't exhale and collect your ashes in your pocket. Or put lids on beers and make people use a straw.

Vancouver PD thought they had the carnage contained, but one rioter slipped by on a bad angle and then the floodgates opened. The police chief was heard muttering something about "shoulda put Schneider on the line."

Boiled down to its simplest terms, drinking a beer doesn't bother/affect the person sitting next you. Smoking does.

Awesome job by the Peoria Cubs making fun of LeBron... http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/articles/msn/chicago_cubs_minor_league_affiliate_pokes_fun_at_lebron_james_with_fake_replica_championship_ring_giveaway/5051743

I think there should be a designated, fenced-in smoking area within the Ralph. I also think they should place the raging drunks they drag out in the same area, so they can puke on and beat the piss out of the smokers instead of innocent fans. Kills 2 birds with 1 stone by getting the 2 most obnoxious groups of people out of the stands.

LeBron never scored 81!

Agreed. My biggest need for the new CBA is a hard rookie cap. Let's pay Dareus 3-4 million over the first 3 years in the NFL, and then if he's beating ass (like all expect and hope), then we can pay him his $50 million guaranteed. NOT right off the bat.

It wasn't me by Shaggy.

But, that revenue loss from removing the top 200 players would be short term. In 2-3 years, there'd be a new group of "top 200" players taking their place.

Now i could be wrong, but if someone hates twitter so much, you ARE in fact allowed to not follow someone who annoys you. But i guess its more fun following people who bother you and then bitching about it. It has its uses. Its great for breaking news, and for following sporting events if you aren't in front of the TV. You can get much more from twitter than from a simple play-by-play or box score. Its also great for keeping up with friends and sending out messages to a group fo people. Its free text messaging.

There better be a damn hard rookie cap in whatever CBA they agree upon. To me, thats far and away the most important provision.

But Sisyphean's point is, that when Peyton and Brady leave the game, the game won't lose millions of fans, even if millions of fans buy Manning jerseys. They'll simply buy Jim Bob Martin jerseys when he's drafted #1 overall, and continue to root for the Colts. NFL fans are fans of both the game and the players, but its the game that keeps them coming back year in and year out, not the players.

Jamarcus could be a principal owner of a franchise in the NewFL. Get him on the phone!

I think the real lesson to be learned is that the players shoudl start their own league called the NewBA, with their own money, and get rid of the owners.

The owners opted out and tried to negotiate a new deal, to which de smith stonewalled them. The players had the same contractual right. Prior to the expiration of the CBA, the players decertified while the owners were still trying to negotiate. There's no revisionist history anywhere. Thats simply what happened.

3 things you can count on: death, taxes, and the US soccer team playing like a bunch of kids with Down's Syndrome anytime there's ever anything on the line. They're the LeBron James of soccer...without the talent.

LeChoke will never be anything more than scottie pippen. D-Wade is the real man in Miami. The next MJ? :lol: Jordan's dingleberries are more clutch than LeChoke.

The league doesn't have to be losing money to want to lower the players percentages. If they feel that costs will rise faster than revenues in the future, then they have every right to want to negotiate a lower % for the players.

Why is it ok for the players to want to make as much money as possible for themselves, yet it isn't ok for owners to do the same thing? And remember, we wouldn't be in this situation if the players hadn't decertified. They fired the first shot.

As others have said, the owners presented an offer that increased the amount of benefits and retirement dollars paid out to players as well as decresing the required amount of work time. But feel free to justify how that is a "cut" in benefits. As for the "pay cut," let me explain this simply: If you make $100 for a job, and your boss tells you that next time you do the job, you're only going to make $95, that is a pay cut. You are receiving less money for the job you are doing. Nothing like this is happening nor will it happen in the new CBA. Whats happening is that you are receiving less of an increase on your pay next time. You will make more than $100 dollars. Notice: this is no way shape or form a pay cut, as you are making MORE money. But, instead of your pay increasing to $105, its increasing to $103. That's not a pay cut. Its simply you presenting lies and disinformation in an effort to bolster your argument. The salary cap is going up. It will still go up every year. The floor will still increase every year. The cap simply won't rise as fast as the players want it to. The NFL offered more money and benefits to former players. They offered to cut work time. Yet you try to pass these facts off as a "cut" in monies received. Furthermore, the NFL is different from a regular business in that there are a fixed amount of employees (players) to be paid. So if the total money keeps increasing (which it most likely will), each player has the opportunity to earn more money. Its not as if the owners are hiring more players. So even with the smaller slice of the pie, players are still getting more money.

This is nothing but a flat out lie. Nowhere has the NFL asked the players to take a pay cut, and no matter what CBA is signed, not a single player is going to take a pay cut. The NFL is simply asking that the players get a smaller increase from year to year. They are still getting an increase and will still be seeing more money, so i have no clue as to why you persist on perpetuating a lie that the players are going to get a pay cut. The NFL owners have deemed that the current economic model is unsustainable. Sure, the past few years they have been still making money, but if costs keep rising (which they are going to be), but revenues rise at a slower rate than they have been, the teams will be in trouble. Hence the reason they want to hold the increases the players are getting in check. The players have no equity in NFL teams, nor are they partners. They are employees. If they do not like their terms of employment, they can seek employment with another league, like the CFL, or UFL. I'm not sure where this "the owners/CEO are making more money, so the employees are entitled to it" attitude comes from.