The NFL Has Done It Again

So we already knew that the NFL was king, especially when it comes to marketing and branding.  The immense popularity the NFL is experiencing is all the evidence one needs.  But even this move is something to be marvelled at by die hard and casual observers alike.  As I am sure all of you have heard, the NFL lockout is over and a normally 5 month offseason of activity has been condensed into two weeks.  This is pretty obvious since every sports outlet is leading with each signing, trade and rumor coming from the 32 teams.  On EsPN's website, 6 of the 11 headlines involve the NFL, including the top 2.  What is strange about this is that normally this would be a few days that baseball gets the spotlight with their trade deadline looming this Sunday.  However, the NFL is stealing that spotlight and it is no coincidence. 

How many of you realized or even saw any coverage of the Hall of Fame ceremonies from Cooperstown last weekend?   If you weren't trying to follow it, you probably didn't see much and that's because last weekend it was basically announced that a deal was done for the NFL.  By conveniently coming to this agreement at the end of last week and beginning their offseason this week, the NFL is overshadowing baseball on two of it's big events, Hall of Fame induction and the trade deadline.  Baseball only gets about 5 times a year to shine: opening day, all-star game, HOF induction, trade deadline and the World Series.  Now, thanks to the marketing genius that is the NFL, they are losing two of those times.  Make no mistake, the NFL knew exactly what it was doing with the timing of their agreement.  If you look at the new CBA you'll realize that, while there are some changes, nothing major got done.  Obviously, the money is always the biggest issue.  In the new deal, the owners now get 53% of the revenue rather than the 50-50 split of the old deal.  Sounds like a win for the owners, right?  But in turn the salary cap was raised with a higher minimum now in place, so players will be making more money.  Plus, more money is being put into retired player benefits, so that money the owners are getting will be going to the players later in their lives.  To me, this basically sounds like a wash.  The rookie wage scale was something both sides wanted, it was just a matter of getting the owners to agree to push that money toward the veterans and not completely remove it from the equation.  There are also changes to the amount of practice time teams get and how they can use it.  Basically, it'll be easier for the players now as there will no longer be two-a-days.  But let's be honest, the money is and always will be the main issue, and it really isn't changing much.  Am I to believe this type of deal really couldn't have been reached in April or May?  Now, before you yell at me that there is no way the NFL would want a lockout, you're right, they wouldn't.  No league wants to take that risk.  However, once the NFL realized that the lockout was inevitable, it certainly used it to its' advantage.  The lockout kept the NFL in the news constantly, and now with the huge buzz around the league due to the shortened free agency period, it is all anyone is talking about.  There is talk that the way this "conveniently" played out, the NFL could gain from it.  Expectations are that preseason games will see their highest attendance ever.  Fans are rejoicing that there will be a season, which, honestly, was never in doubt.  Direct TV is even getting in on the act by giving the Sunday Ticket package free to new subscribers if they only sign up for the second level package.  This is obviously being done with the NFL's blessing but will only help to bolster the goodwill the NFL is gaining with fans.  And in reality, the NFL didn't deny their fans anything.  Only one preseason game is lost, and that isn't even a game that season ticket holders are forced to buy.  It's the Hall of Fame game in Canton, so the only people hurt are those in Stark County, Ohio.  Ever since the NFL climbed into bed with the Mickey Mouse of sports networks, the arrogance of both the league and EsPN have grown.  This move certainly takes the cake, but I must reluctantly applaud them.  It was a stroke of marketing genius to be able to dominate the sports landscape all summer long. 

The twitter picks of the day are muddling along at .500, but since we either pick underdogs or very small favorites, we are actually a bit ahead.  Today has a full slate of baseball so plenty of winners out there.  Tonight I like the Florida Marlins at +145 against the Braves.  Beachy has been shaky for Atlanta and the Marlins have been one of the best teams in the league this month.  Enjoy that value and good luck, but remember, never bet what you cant afford to lose. 

AAAGGHHHHH!

OK...seriously, this is ridiculous now.  The NFL will be playing this season, like we all knew they would be doing.  But ever in the shadows of good news, there is a rumor of a certain player possibly not staying retired.  I refuse to use his name, and any mention of it on a radio or tv station immediately requires a channel change.  I am so sick of this guy and media outlets pumping up the story that I literally scream if I hear his entire name uttered anymore.  He is an overrated QB at best who will hold a billion records cause he stuck around and played more games than anyone.  He's a womanizer who gets glorified cause he shows up to work everyday, like millions of other people do all over the world, most of which have tougher jobs and all of which get compensated with a lot less coin.  And I swear to whatever you believe in, that if I see one video clip of him throwing footballs to high school kids...again...I may boycott the NFL all year long.  One thing for sure, if I see any type of countdown clock regarding a pending decision from this fraud, the only time EsPN will be on in my house this fall will be to watch live college football games...that's it!  There is way too much else going on in the sports world to give this idiot any more coverage.  I also now hate the Philadelphia Eagles for even making these events possible.  I have always been indifferent to the Eagles, realizing they will never see a Super Bowl Championship, much like my Browns, but now I have a reason to hate, and hate I will.  Well, I was hoping that would make me feel better, but my skin is still crawling.  What can you do??

So the Sunday picks went 1-1 after a loss on Saturday, so the overall record is 9-9.  The good thing about Sunday though was both teams I liked were dogs, so we still made money.  That's what makes my record a bit misleading, I'm not just looking for winners, but winners with value.  That is why tonight I like the Tigers at +125 against the White Sox.  Chicago is back home after a long road trip that wasn't great for them and the Tigers are playing very well on the road right now.  Enjoy the winnings and good luck, but remember, never bet what you cant afford to lose.

Salary Cap Required

It's time for college football to learn yet another lesson from professional sports.  They already have the TV revenue stream combined with exploitation of the athletes down, but now it is time to control salaries.  While this could mean the benefits players at nearly every institution seem to be getting, I am talking about the coaches.  In a landscape that is becoming more and more difficult to be competitive in, smaller schools are being forced to cut back in order to control their losses.  Yes, losses.  Most universities lose money with their football program.  In fact, in 2009-2010 only 22 programs saw a profit...and that was up from the year before!!  We know that there are many more than 22 universities with football programs that rely on tax dollars and student fees to operate.  So why is their no outcry about our money being wasted on these coaches?  Going into the 2010 season, of the schools with salaries open to the public, only 7 programs in BCS conferences were paying their head coach less than one million dollars.  ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!  That is a large sum of money to be paying out in university funds to mostly unsuccessful coaches overseeing unsuccessful programs.  This doesn't include revenues for the coaches from outside the university or potential bonuses.  Adding in the guaranteed revenue and only 4 coaches in BCS conferences make less than one million dollars.  Am I the only one that finds this insane?  Of the 7 programs, only 2 could be argued as being successful in recent years, North Carolina State and West Virginia.  The other 5 schools are Baylor, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue and Washington State.  This makes it pretty clear that if you want to have a top program, you need to spend big bucks.  The problem is that most schools simply can't afford to spend what Texas, USC and Florida spend on their coaches, and that is only one facet of a football program.  Another high cost aspect is becoming assistant coaches.  Head coaches have always know the importance of their assistants, but now are getting more and more money in an effort to attract and retain the top guys.  At Florida this year, their assistants will make well over two million dollars combined, with Charlie Weis leading the way at over $700,000.  Now Florida can get away with this since they are one of the haves.  But I was under the impression that college athletics were supposed to be about equality and fair competition, cough cough.  Now, I certainly know this isn't the case, nor will it probably ever be the case.  But shouldn't something be done to try to keep things balanced.  The money is coming in either way, how about the schools use extra revenue for all the other sports or, gasp, academic programs.  If players salaries can be capped in professional sports, there is no reason college athletics can't cap coaches salaries.  This will give mid major and smaller schools a much better opportunity to find good coaches and possibly keep them.  Along with a cap on salaries, something would have to be done for bonuses.  Head coaches should only see bonuses for three things, a high graduation rate, winning a conference title or winning the national championship.  That's it...no more.  This will keep schools from creating bonuses for things like training table attendance or golf tournament appearances.  Yes, I realize this would be a crazy concept, but other than the coaches themselves, who would this hurt?  The students attending college could possibly see fees dropped or certainly not increased while taxpayers could see their money going to something more beneficial, such as roads and public education. 

The twitter picks are now hovering just above the .500 mark at 8-7.  Tonight we are going with the Mets as they take on the Marlins in Florida.  Saw a stat that the Mets are a .542 team when David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes are in the lineup together, and all are once again healthy.  They are an underdog so enjoy the value and cashing yet another winning ticket.  Be sure to follow my daily picks on twitter, handle vegasobie.  Good luck, and remember, never bet what you can't afford to lose. 

Now what?

So everyone in the States was all geeked up for the Women's World Cup after the U.S. teams amazing game against Brazil  We watched as they got by France and were on the edge of our seats for the Final against Japan.  The country went "crazy" as we took the lead two different times only to see Japan tie it up each time.   Then the penalty kicks came and it wasn't even a contest.  We were awful, they were good.  The team played great, but many are arguing it was a choke job.  Some say the players couldn't finish the job while many are placing blame on the coach for the late game and shootout strategies.  Personally, it doesn't matter to me.  We lost.  But the reason it doesn't matter is nobody else in this country will care again about women's soccer for four more years.  In fact, I doubt most people watching on Sunday realized how the U.S. team had to struggle to even make the tournament, winning a home and home against Italy to be the last qualifier.  I'd love to see soccer catch on in this country as a legitimate spectator sport, but it is very unlikely.  Americans need collisions and injuries and personalities like Chad Ochocinco to be drawn in to a sport.  They need reasons to read rumors of player movement and to call into radio talk shows to yell about the latest happenings.  The problem is, most Americans don't know enough about soccer to argue over it.  And while the U.S. team played admirably and it was a dramatic tournament, there is nothing of significance to back it up now.  Hopefully it gets more young people out playing the game, that can only be a good thing.  But should the U.S. team struggle in qualifying again in a few years and not even make the tourney, nobody will be paying attention.  Sure it will get mentioned by the Mickey Mouse of sports networks, but there will be no outcry of anger or frustration.  Nobody will be calling for new leadership of the women's soccer program, nor would there be on the men's side.  Soccer will continue to be a niche sport in this country for many years to come.  And to be honest, that is ok with me.  I don't need the drunks I see at football games coming to soccer games.  I don't need loudmouth reporters that really don't know anything ranting about what is best for the game.  Nor do I need to hear the average joe schmo calling into radio shows to explain to the masses why his team is lacking execution on set pieces.  So thank you America for getting excited and supporting your team this past month, we'll see you again in four years.

The pick I gave you here last Friday was another easy winner, unfortunately we haven't won since then.  The twitter picks are 7-5 overall but today we begin to turn it around.  It's a big total in the Red Sox-Orioles game tonight, but it's hard not to like over 10.  The Sox should do it themselves against Guthrie.  Continue to check out daily picks on twitter, the handle to search is vegasobie.  Good luck and remember to never bet what you cant afford to lose. 

Surprise Surprise Surprise

Please channel your inner Gomer Pyle as you read that title.  In a stunning development, cough cough, it looks as if the NFL owners and Players Association will come to an agreement for a new CBA.  The owners are meeting next week and it is expected that they will vote on the new deal then.  Raise your hand if you are shocked that a deal is getting done and there won't be any games cancelled.  The doom and gloom picture the NFL's bitch network EsPN has been painting since the lockout began was getting annoying, so I'm glad they have ended this charade.  The idea that either the players or owners would give up any amount of serious money was laughable.  This is what made the mickey mouse of sports networks coverage of the entire thing ridiculous, letting us know how many days it had been going on, threatening the pushback of training camps and the possibility of lost games.  But rather than give more time to other sports that were actually taking place, we had to endure more rumors and innuendos on a daily basis, when the end result was always going to be the same.   A compromise would be reached and no games would be lost.  Owners of teams in Jacksonville, Tennessee and Tampa have zero choice but to play games.  Organizations in these medium size markets need those ticket sales and game day revenues.  On the other side, there are way too many players whose careers are only 3-5 years long and losing a 6 figure income for even one year is not an option.  Add to that the real damage that would have been done to a fan base had games not been played, and the amount of money lost would have been staggering.  But now we can all rest easy and EsPN can get back to endless hours on training camp coverage most of us care nothing about.  WHEW!

Picking winner after winner over at vegasobie on twitter, so be sure to get there to check it out.  We are now 6-2 with the picks and looking to keep it going through the weekend.    But as a bonus, I'll share today's pick with you on here as well.  With baseball, anyone can pick the top three teams for a good record, but the key is picking winners that bring value.  That's why you won't see me ever picking favorites that are -135 or better.  Tonight's choice is the Phillies at -110, with Worley facing Dickey.  The Phillies starter has been great this season while the Mets have already traded their closer and everyone else in the clubhouse is just waiting for their turn to get moved.  Add to that the injury to Jose Reyes for the Mets and I'll be happily cashing tonight.  Good luck, and remember, never bet what you cant afford to lose.

Ignorance or Appreciation

As a sports fan, this is without a doubt the most miserable three days of the year.  With baseballs all-star break here, there are no major sports being played until Thursday, other than the all-star game itself.  And obviously I don't consider the WNBA a major sport, let alone a sport worth watching.  I won't even be tuning in to see the home run derby tonight, nor will I ever again watch it as long as that blubbering buffoon from EsPN is allowed to sit at the microphone.  With that said, I now find myself most interested in the Womens World Cup and not only because of the U.S. win over Brazil yesterday.  I watched on Saturday as heavy favorite and host Germany was stunned by Japan.  As I was watching these games, it got me wondering why in this country there seems to be more respect and interest in womens soccer than womens basketball.  I have come to the conclusion that it has very little to do with the success of the national team.  Our womens basketball teams have been dominant on the world stage for decades.  It also has very little to do with an appreciation of soccer, but rather the complete opposite.  I think the lack of knowledge and respect for soccer on the mens side leads to more interest on the womens side.  American fans can see very little difference between the mens and womens game when it comes to soccer, but since we "know" basketball, we can easily see the difference.  So before soccer fans, like myself, get too carried away with yet another renewed interest in the beautiful game, let's make sure we understand why people care. 

On my twitter picks I have improved to 4-2, so be sure to check it out and follow me there.  My handle on twitter is vegasobie.  Good luck and remember, never bet what you cant afford to lose.

Changes Are A Coming

So in a break from historical precedent, baseball is attempting to be proactive.  With the NFL and NBA in the midst of lockouts, the MLBPA and owners are already discussing a new collective bargaining agreement to avoid the same situation.  The most stunning development is the idea of major changes in the way baseball is structured.  Currently the sport has one league of 16 teams and one league of 14 teams with three divisions in each league and four teams qualifying for the postseason in each league.   In the most discussed proposal, baseball would change to two 15 team leagues and no divisions with five teams making the postseason in each league.  The biggest effect of this change would be a balanced schedule, where each team would play the other teams in its' league an equal number of times.  Considering under either system there are wild card teams making the playoffs, a balanced schedule only makes sense.  With the division set-up, it's entirely possible to see the third best team in the league also be the third best team in it's division and be left at home.  By playing each team an equal number of times and only having one league, it will pretty much guarantee the five best teams always make the playoffs.  The only hangup on it being a 100% guarantee is that there will still be interleague play, and that will never be balanced due to the "rivalry" games.  In all honesty, since baseball is making changes, I think it's time to do away with interleague games and also contract by two teams.  Choosing two teams is pretty simple too, just eliminate the Marlins and the Rays.  Florida is meant for spring training baseball, not summer baseball.  I realize the Marlins have two world championships, but those are also the only two years they have been competitive.  And while the Rays have been quite good the last few years, they still get nobody to come to their games.  Last season was the highest the Rays have ranked in attendance, and that was 22nd in the league.  It's obvious the people in the Tampa Bay region don't care, so why should the rest of us.  Imagine how much better of a game baseball would be with two less organizations diluting the talent.  I realize this is asking way too much, but at least baseball is considering major changes.  A sport that is too often criticized for being traditional is the only sport that seems to entertain and embrace the idea of major changes.  Hopefully we will see some more in the next couple of years. 

Normally I end with picks, and of course, winning picks, but with baseball the only sport going on, it's a bit tough.  So if you are interested in my picks, check my twitter page for my winners.  You can find me at vegasobie on twitter.  But remember, never bet what you cant afford to lose.