RIP Bubba...

Charles "Bubba" Smith, an NFL lineman who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Colts and had a second career acting in several "Police Academy" films, has died. He was 66.

Smith's body was found on Wednesday at his home in the Baldwin Hills suburb of Los Angeles, said Los Angeles police spokesman Officer Gregory Baek.

He is believed to have died of natural causes, but the coroner's office has not made a final determination, police said.

Smith played for Michigan State University and entered the National Football League when he was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1967.

Aside from winning a Super Bowl with the Colts in 1971, Smith also went on to play with the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Oilers before he retired in 1976, after being twice selected to the Pro Bowl.

After retiring, Smith appeared in small television roles before he gained fame in "Police Academy" for playing Moses Hightower, a police recruit who was as soft-spoken as he was physically imposing.

Smith, who stood 6 foot 7 inches, starred in the first six "Police Academy" films, and also appeared in several Miller Lite commercials in which he ripped off the tops of beer cans.

Source: kgmi.com

Braylon Edwards pleads guilty to DWI charge

With a labor resolution and the start of NFL free agency potentially on the horizon, receiver Braylon Edwards pleaded guilty this morning to a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated, stemming from an arrest last September. He must pay a $500 fine and continue to participate in the NFL's substance-abuse program.

Edwards' drivers' license will be suspended for six months, and he must install also an ignition interlock system that requires the driver to blow into a blood alcohol detector before starting the car.

"I feel good; I feel like it came to a fair conclusion," said Edwards, who wore a lime-green shirt and arrived with his parents at Manhattan Criminal Court. "I'm happy this is past us, and now it's time to focus on football again."

Could The NFL Lockout Be Lifted Next Week?

We hope so because, quite frankly, there are no podiums in football. Over the past few months we’ve seen more politicking, grandstanding, lecturing, and negotiating in the NFL than we have in our national government even though we’re dangerously close to a debt ceiling (that’s a sin and a shame, but we’ll save it for a later post).

Over the course of this week, these guys have made quite a few strides to get away from the pulpit and back to the pigskin. One really big move: the owners and players have agreed the players will have another full season of unrestricted free agency, omitting the right-of-first-refusal from the fray.

What’s the right-of-first-refusal rule? Good question. It is a long and awkwardly punctuated way to say the owners have a right to retain their free agents by matching offers made to them by other teams. Example: Generic Wide Receiver has come to the end of his contract with the Washington Redskins and decides he agrees with T.O. as far as Donovan McNabb is concerned. Another team makes him an offer for that change-your-name money (shouts out to Ochocinco and Metta World Peace). If the Redskins match the offer, they keep Generic Wide Receiver, no questions asked.

The players weren’t going for it, and the owners have finally relented. At the end of the lockout (whenever that will be), the teams will have 72 hours to re-sign their free agents. After that, they are unrestricted and can be signed by anyone (and hopefully the city of Cleveland will be more understanding when it comes to football). Score one for…those who actually do all the scoring, anyway.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s on to the issues that remain. There are still a few, and the last battle lines have yet to be drawn, but both sides have actually done some compromising and light is showing at the end of the tunnel. Not only that, but these greedy MFs folks actually seem to believe they can get it done!

In fact, NFL Players Association President DeMaurice Smith said that while the lawyers will stay behind, he and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will work on the agreement this weekend, possibly face-to-face. Leaving the lawyers behind is quite a bold and powerful move, as it typically means principles will come before language and loopholes.

But wait, there’s more!

The NFL sent all of its teams a memo on Friday saying an agreement was currently being worked on and details would be released in a debriefing next Thursday in Atlanta. No league business is expected to be carried out before this meeting. Salary cap, rookie pay system, and free agency were all hot-button issues in the debate between those who runneth and those who signeth the check—and now they are all resolved. We won’t get too far ahead of ourselves, but things are certainly looking up and if both sides can continue to have an attitude of cooperation,when the dust clears, we should have ourselves a full NFL season.

Even more importantly, if these two diametrically-opposed sides can reach an agreement, it could mean there’s hope for the NBA and its lockout, as well as the USA and our national debt.

Source: www.live.drjays.com

Star QBs want deal soon

NEW YORK — Calling the players’ offer “fair for both sides,” star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees — plaintiffs in an antitrust suit against the NFL — said Wednesday “it is time” to wrap up negotiations on a deal to end the league’s lockout.

At the bargaining table, though, it wasn’t that easy.

On the day Brady, Manning and Brees spoke as a group publicly for the first time, players and owners spent nearly 11 hours meeting at a Manhattan law office before pausing for dinner.

“We’re just taking a break — long day,” players’ association chief DeMaurice Smith said.

Asked if they were returning Wednesday night, Smith replied, “Probably. Probably coming back.”

Regardless, negotiations were expected to continue Thursday. With each passing day, the need to strike a bargain and end the first NFL work stoppage since 1987 becomes greater.

Deadlines are coming up next week to get training camps and the preseason started on time. Although it seems the sides have agreed on the basic elements of how to split more than $9 billion in annual revenues, among the key sticking points recently have been how to structure a new rookie salary system and what free agency will look like.

In a statement released to The Associated Press via the NFL Players Association, New England’s Brady, Indianapolis’ Manning and New Orleans’ Brees said: “We believe the overall proposal made by the players is fair for both sides and it is time to get this deal done.”

They continued: “This is the time of year we as players turn our attention to the game on the field. We hope the owners feel the same way.”

In response, the NFL issued a statement saying: “We share the view that now is the time to reach an agreement so we can all get back to football and a full 2011 season. We are working hard with the players’ negotiating team every day to complete an agreement as soon as possible.”

Brady, Manning and Brees are among 10 players who are named plaintiffs in an antitrust suit that is pending in federal court in Minnesota. That class-action lawsuit was filed March 11, hours after federally mediated negotiations to arrive at a new collective bargaining agreement broke down, and the old labor contract expired. The NFLPA immediately dissolved itself, meaning players no longer were protected under labor law but instead were allowed to take their chances under antitrust law.

On March 12, the owners imposed a lockout on the players, a right management has to shut down a business when a CBA expires. During the lockout, there can be no communication between the teams and current NFL players; no players — including those drafted in April — can be signed; teams won’t pay for players’ health insurance.

A series of court rulings followed, including one last week from an appeals court that said the lockout could continue.

Talks gained steam in May, overseen by a court-appointed mediator, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who is on vacation this week. Boylan ordered both sides to speak with him in Minneapolis next Tuesday, and the owners have a special meeting set for July 21 in Atlanta, where they could vote to ratify a new deal if one is reached.

That means there’s intense pressure on Smith and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to keep things moving in a positive direction. Disruptions to the planned preseason schedule would decrease the overall revenue pie.

In an added complication, a federal judge has set an Aug. 8 hearing for NFL retirees, who claimed Wednesday that the league and NFLPA “have conspired” to set low retiree benefit and pension payments in the negotiations. The retirees also say they have been illegally and intentionally excluded from the talks.

Smith and Goodell were joined at Wednesday’s meeting by a half-dozen team owners: Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, John Mara of the New York Giants, Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jerry Richardson of the Carolina Panthers and Clark Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs.

On the players’ side were Jeff Saturday of the Indianapolis Colts and Tyson Clabo of the Atlanta Falcons.

Source: www.salisburypost.com

James Harrison's words dull his point

James Harrison does not look tough. He does not look like the meanest player in the NFL, the hardest hitter or the most feared defender.

He looks like an idiot. And he looks very, very bad.

I'm not sure what is the most offensive part of the spread on Harrison in the August issue of Men's Journal, out on Friday. The picture with the guns? The anti-gay slur? The utter disrespect for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell? Or the calling out of two of his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates?

Mensjournal.comJames Harrison posed with two of his handguns for this photo that appears in Men's Journal.

It is all bad, and it overshadows the fact that Harrison does have a valid criticism, shared by other players in the NFL, of how Goodell went about fining players for illegal hits last season. There are players like Harrison who think Goodell unfairly targeted African-American players and fined certain players more than others. There are players like Harrison who think Goodell issued harsher fines for illegal hits on white players than for hits on black players. And there are players like Harrison who think Goodell had it out for certain players.

Harrison is the perfect person to speak on this subject, because Goodell took $100,000 out of his pocket last season, fining Harrison more than any other player. But because of his inflammatory language, Harrison lost any opportunity to make his point about the fairness of Goodell's system or to try to persuade Goodell to change it. He ripped Goodell, which was not breaking news, but he did so by using an anti-gay slur to describe the commissioner.

Using an anti-gay slur is just as unacceptable as using a racial slur. You don't have to be in support of gay marriage, but you cannot be intolerant. Gay slurs are not slang. They are hurtful, and the use of them has to stop.

Harrison also called Goodell "stupid," a "puppet" and a "dictator," and said that, "If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn't do it. I hate him and will never respect him."

Harrison can hate Goodell all he wants. He can think Goodell is out to get him, is unfair and is unjust, but he needs to show Goodell respect, just as he needs to show his head coach, Mike Tomlin, respect and his position coach respect and the person who makes his lunch in the Steelers' cafeteria respect.

Playing football under a six-year, $51.175 million contract does not mean Harrison isn't still an employee. He is. There are rules, and there are consequences for breaking those rules.

Harrison said that if the Steelers had defeated the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, he was going to whisper in Goodell's ear during the trophy presentation: "Why don't you quit and do something else, like start your own league in flag football?" Now that would have been classy, but Harrison did not get that opportunity. The Steelers did not win. Harrison did not take responsibility for losing the game, even though he had only one tackle the entire game, a sack of Aaron Rodgers where Rodgers essentially ran into him. He did not apologize for getting dominated most of the game by Packers tackleChad Clifton.

Instead, Harrison ripped his quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, who did take responsibility for the loss after throwing two interceptions in the game.

"Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again," Harrison said of Roethlisberger. "Or hand the ball off and stop trying to act likePeyton Manning. You ain't that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does."

Harrison also called Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall a "fumble machine."

Rule No. 1 of being a good teammate is you do not publicly criticize a teammate -- ever. You keep that in house. Publicly throwing a teammate under the bus, particularly the quarterback, only serves to divide a locker room, and divided locker rooms do not produce championships.

Tomlin is a master at managing star players and their monster egos, and he will have his hands full with this one whenever the lockout ends. Harrison drew a line down the middle of the team, offense on one side, defense on the other. Tomlin will have to fix that.

The photo accompanying the article shows Harrison shirtless with his arms crossed holding two of his guns, reportedly an FN Five-Seven pistol and a Smith & Wesson 460V revolver. It is a ridiculous image for kids to see. Harrison is a professional football player and therefore, unfortunately, a role model for some children. In the picture he is promoting guns, as if he has never been to inner city Chicago or Detroit or Philadelphia and seen the devastation gun use causes.

Harrison is not some character in a video game or a movie. He is a name and a number and a man with influence and sway on young people. We don't need more young people on the streets with guns. We need less.

If he wants to own a gun, fine. That is his right. But don't pretend that a gun makes you tough. It does not. It makes you dangerous. There is a difference.

No one has ever questioned Harrison's toughness. But it is now fair to question whether he has a clue.

Source: ESPN.com.