By now most football fans know that Jets wideout Braylon Edwards was arrested and arraigned on drunken-driving charges stemming from an incident on Tuesday where he was stopped on Manhattan's West Side around 5 a.m. Edwards, who was in the car with two other players and a fourth passenger, was given a breathalizer and blew more than twice the legal limit.
At a glance it seems like this would be yet another situation where NFL Commissioner, aka Judge, Roger Goodell would come down on Edwards with a hefty fine and suspension. At the very least the expectation would be that the Jets themselves take some form of disciplinary action. Unfortunately neither is going to happen, at least until the legal process runs it's course.
The reason is the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. According to the CBA, Edwards actions and subsequent arrest fall under the league's substance abuse policy. As such the only penalty that Edwards is currently eligible for is a forfeiture of half a game's pay. The Jets cannot suspend Edwards, nor can they deactivate him for Sunday's game against the Dolphins. In fact, they cannot even keep him active but refuse to play him. In short, Edwards will not only be in uniform on Sunday, but he will be on the field catching passes from Mark Sanchez.
Whatever happened to accountability? Forget the fact that Edwards is an idiot. Forget that the NFL has a contract with a company, that Edwards refused to use, that will provide transport to any player, anywhere, anytime, to any place. Why is this allowed to happen? The NFL and the NFLPA already have severe disciplinary actions in place for other offences. Why was drunk driving allowed to slip on through?
This isn't even the first time in recent memory that a player got into trouble for drinking and driving. A few years ago Donte Stallworth had a few too many to drink, got behind the wheel and killed someone. He was suspended for one season and one season only. At the very least he was very up front with his regret and refused to fight any charges against him and accept his punishment. Ok, but why did he feel like it was ok to get behind the wheel in the first place, better yet, why wasn't the NFL harsher on him?
Edwards should have known better, the two other players in the vehicle with him should have known better. But until the Goodell and the NFLPA pull their head's out of their backsides and really make an effort to change the culture that seemingly fosters this sort of behavior more and more incidents like this are going to happen. Hopefully change comes before another innocent life is lost.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Where does it end?
I made a big mistake today. I started looking around the various ticket exchange websites to see how much Patriots tickets might cost for later in the season. Not surprisingly they were expensive, over $90 on StubHub and around $70 on the NFL.com ticket exchange website.
But I wasn't all that surprised, NFL tickets are expensive because they are in high demand since there is only 8 home games every season.
My mistake came however when on a whim I decided to check out how much Giants tickets are. The answer, over $150 per ticket. Enter rage.
Of all the good things about the NFL the unreasonably high ticket prices are the biggest thing to hate about the NFL. No care or concern is given to the fans when team's set their prices, especially when a new stadium is being opened.
The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business and yet we, the fans, have to suffer. As ticket prices go up the true, blue-collar fans. The ones for whom the game should be played, are pushed out of stadiums and forced to watch games at homes. Even long-time season-ticket holders are shown not a shred of loyalty as they are forced into forking over tens of thousands of dollars just for the right to possibly purchase tickets (yes I'm talking about PSL's).
Owners will sit there and say that tickets need to be priced as high because demand is high. Or that they need the ticket prices to be high to fund the team's operations. But even an untrained monkey would be smart enough to see through the BS and realize that these utter morons are simply used to living a certain way and need money to fund their mansions, helicopters and expensive parties. Why else would they cater almost solely to the wealthy. Meanwhile we, the real fans, are left out in the cold.
We're also told that if we don't pay to go to games, spending upwards of $400 alone on tickets (for a family of four), and the stadium does not sell out we won't even be able to watch our hometown boys on TV because of the NFL's antiquated and unfair blackout policy. Yes — you read right — if a stadium is not sold out within 72 hours of a game the game gets blacked out in the local TV market. That happened seven times last year and early projections see it happening around 28 times this year...a 400 percent increase.
And now the owners are considering locking out the players next season if no new collective bargaining agreement is reached proving once again just how out of touch those arrogant jack asses really are. I suppose there is one good thing to come out of a lock out or strike though — at least fans won't completely break their bank trying to go to take their family to a game.
But I wasn't all that surprised, NFL tickets are expensive because they are in high demand since there is only 8 home games every season.
My mistake came however when on a whim I decided to check out how much Giants tickets are. The answer, over $150 per ticket. Enter rage.
Of all the good things about the NFL the unreasonably high ticket prices are the biggest thing to hate about the NFL. No care or concern is given to the fans when team's set their prices, especially when a new stadium is being opened.
The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business and yet we, the fans, have to suffer. As ticket prices go up the true, blue-collar fans. The ones for whom the game should be played, are pushed out of stadiums and forced to watch games at homes. Even long-time season-ticket holders are shown not a shred of loyalty as they are forced into forking over tens of thousands of dollars just for the right to possibly purchase tickets (yes I'm talking about PSL's).
Owners will sit there and say that tickets need to be priced as high because demand is high. Or that they need the ticket prices to be high to fund the team's operations. But even an untrained monkey would be smart enough to see through the BS and realize that these utter morons are simply used to living a certain way and need money to fund their mansions, helicopters and expensive parties. Why else would they cater almost solely to the wealthy. Meanwhile we, the real fans, are left out in the cold.
We're also told that if we don't pay to go to games, spending upwards of $400 alone on tickets (for a family of four), and the stadium does not sell out we won't even be able to watch our hometown boys on TV because of the NFL's antiquated and unfair blackout policy. Yes — you read right — if a stadium is not sold out within 72 hours of a game the game gets blacked out in the local TV market. That happened seven times last year and early projections see it happening around 28 times this year...a 400 percent increase.
And now the owners are considering locking out the players next season if no new collective bargaining agreement is reached proving once again just how out of touch those arrogant jack asses really are. I suppose there is one good thing to come out of a lock out or strike though — at least fans won't completely break their bank trying to go to take their family to a game.
Monday, September 13, 2010
The little guy ain't so little anymore
All Hail Division I-AA!
All Hail the FCS!
The tyranny of Division I-A is over!
Ok, so maybe its not. But after the "little guys," from James Madison University, a small school in mid-Virginia, upset supposed national title contender Virginia Tech this past weekend it's clear that it doesn't always matter how big your football program is or how much money you have; at the end of the day football is football, there are winners and losers and sometimes the loser is going to be the "better team."
I've always felt that Division I-AA teams were always looked on with a sort of casual indifference by the experts, too good for Division II but not good enough to be classed with the so-called elite. But more and more it's proven that the I-AA teams can be just as good as the I-A teams if not better.
Maybe it's a question of the lower level teams want it more, they have nothing to lose while the bigger teams treat the contest as a cupcake game. It's a tried and true method of the I-A teams, schedule lower level games to bolster you're own records while granting the "little guy," with some prime-national exposure, or embarrassment. Bottom line, they don't take the game seriously.
But they should and some are taking notice. Last week the Big East extended an offer to my alma mater, the defending FCS Champion Villanova Wildcats, to move up to the next level and join the football side of the conference (most other Nova sports including basketball are already part of the Big East). Villanova probably won't join as it'll require too much change to the athletic landscape on campus but at least the big boys are starting to realize that there's a lot of talent and excitement to be had at I-AA.
Odds are though most I-A teams will continue to schedule games against the lower level assuming it'll be an easy win and while most times that's true, I'll still advise those teams to not be so quick to assume an easy victory.
What I will do is guarantee that team's like Michigan (after an epic loss to Appalachian State) and now Virginia Tech will never make that mistake again.
All Hail the FCS!
The tyranny of Division I-A is over!
Ok, so maybe its not. But after the "little guys," from James Madison University, a small school in mid-Virginia, upset supposed national title contender Virginia Tech this past weekend it's clear that it doesn't always matter how big your football program is or how much money you have; at the end of the day football is football, there are winners and losers and sometimes the loser is going to be the "better team."
I've always felt that Division I-AA teams were always looked on with a sort of casual indifference by the experts, too good for Division II but not good enough to be classed with the so-called elite. But more and more it's proven that the I-AA teams can be just as good as the I-A teams if not better.
Maybe it's a question of the lower level teams want it more, they have nothing to lose while the bigger teams treat the contest as a cupcake game. It's a tried and true method of the I-A teams, schedule lower level games to bolster you're own records while granting the "little guy," with some prime-national exposure, or embarrassment. Bottom line, they don't take the game seriously.
But they should and some are taking notice. Last week the Big East extended an offer to my alma mater, the defending FCS Champion Villanova Wildcats, to move up to the next level and join the football side of the conference (most other Nova sports including basketball are already part of the Big East). Villanova probably won't join as it'll require too much change to the athletic landscape on campus but at least the big boys are starting to realize that there's a lot of talent and excitement to be had at I-AA.
Odds are though most I-A teams will continue to schedule games against the lower level assuming it'll be an easy win and while most times that's true, I'll still advise those teams to not be so quick to assume an easy victory.
What I will do is guarantee that team's like Michigan (after an epic loss to Appalachian State) and now Virginia Tech will never make that mistake again.
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