The NFL, NFLPA, and an 18 game season.

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“We’re ready for round 5 in the Goodall vs. Smith fight.”

While almost every NFL analysts was projecting a massive spending spree by the league in an uncapped year, nearly 2 years ago I told you that the NFLPA would be crying for the reinstatement of the salary cap floor because teams would use the uncapped year to dump expensive players and save money. That is exactly what happened.

More than a year ago on this site, I proposed a solution to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that involved the 18 game season. The proposal was that the current players would get paid 18/16ths of their current contracts which would increase their gross by 12.5%. It should allow the NFLPA and NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith to give back 8% of the player’s cut of the total income from around 60% down to around 52%. If that proposal included an increase in the rosters from 53 to 60 and a rookie salary cap (to cut the amount of the pie that went to newbies and increase the pool available for the Vets) with the reinstatement of the NFL Salary cap, I believed that the NFLPA would accept it in … Read more at FryingPanSports

Sports Buffet for 06/29/10

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NFL

Lions president Tom Lewand was recently charged with DUI. That got him a not so friendly visit with Comm. Goodell this week. While there is no decision yet on punishment for the charge or from the league, the players and NFLPA Ex. Dir. DeMaurice Smith will be watching this case very closely. They will want to see if management is held to the same standard as the players.

UFA RB Brian Westbrook was charged with DUI in February but has been found not guilty.

Bengal RB Cedric Benson is in trouble again. This time he was charged with assault with injury resulting from an altercation at a downtown Austin Texas bar. He reportedly punched a bar employee in the face. He paid his bond but the charge is a class A misdemeanor. It will get him a ticket to meet with Comm. Goodall sometime soon.

Steelers OT Willie Colon’s hurt his Achilles’ tendon and will miss the entire year. He had started 54 straight games. The team is searching for a replacement but the good ones are gone.

NBA

We are getting closer to knowing where the big name UFAs will be going. One thing that looks fairly certain … Read more at FryingPanSports

Donte Stallworth got a pass on DUI Manslaughter.

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When is DUI Manslaughter not a serious crime? When you are a drunk NFL player that happens to run down and kill a j-walker.

Florida has a somewhat unique approach to accidents that end up with a death. The law assigns fault to each party based on the legality of their actions leading up to the accident. There is no question that Stallworth was drunk. According to police, he had a blood alcohol content of 0.14. That is well above the legal limit.

According to reports coming from Miami, the fact that the victim Mario Reyes, 59, was not in a cross walk was a major factor in the negotiations for the plea agreement reached this week. Another factor was that representatives of Stallworth had already worked out a confidential financial settlement to avoid a potential lawsuit from the Reyes family.

The resulting plea agreement was a joke. Stallworth will spend 30 days in jail, a sentence that he has already started to serve, and will have to serve 10 years probation. He also will have community service requirements. Had he gone to trial and been found guilty of DUI Manslaughter, the sentencing guidelines are from 4 ½ to 15 Read more at FryingPanSports

What should the NFL do with Mikey Vick?

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Michael Vick was released from prison today to spend the next couple of months of his sentence under house arrest. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is going to have to make a decision about QB Michael Vick’s return to the NFL before too long. The questions are how do you make the decision and what should that decision be.

How will the Commish make the decision: We are likely to hear a lot in the next few days about the difference between a right to play in the NFL vs. the privilege of playing in the league. Dictionary.com defines a right as that which is due to anyone by just claim, legal guarantees, moral principles, etc. It defines a privilege as a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most.

So, is playing in the NFL a right or a privilege? High school players earn college scholarships with a combination of their preparation, their play on the field and work in the classroom. Anyone that has ever tried to win a scholarship of any kind knows that it must be earned.

Every player in the NFL has worked his entire life to get to … Read more at FryingPanSports