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The Dolphins for their own sake should just play all their games on the road.
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Union to players: Save pay, NFL lockout’s coming
By JIMMY GOLEN, AP Sports
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP)—NFL players might be socking away their paychecks soon to get ready for a lockout that could cost them their entire salary in 2011.
The pro football players’ union has advised its members to save their last three game checks this year in case next season is canceled. In a letter to the players that was viewed by The Associated Press, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said the union’s “internal deadline” for agreeing to a new collective bargaining agreement has passed.
“It is important that you protect yourself and your family,” he wrote in the letter, which was dated Wednesday.
FILE - This Nov. 7, 2010, file photo shows New England Patriots offensive tackle Matt Light watching from the bench during an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns , in Cleveland. The NFL players' union has advised its members to prepare for a lockout it expects to come in March, telling players to save their last three game checks this year in case there is no season in 2011. The one-page letter on NFLPA stationery said the union expects the lockout to come on March 4, and that players should work with their advisers to prepare for an impending lack of income. It also said the league is planning to cancel the players' health insurance. Light, one of the teamss player representatives, said players understand the nature of the business but the threat to cancel health insurance is different.
NFLPA spokesman George Atallah declined to elaborate on what effect the passing of the self-imposed deadline would have on negotiations, saying the letter was an “internal communication.”
But copies were strewn across a table on Saturday in the New England Patriots’ locker room, where they were visible to players, reporters and team officials. After a reporter asked players about the letter, a Patriots spokesman flipped the copies face-down.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello called the news of a deadline “disappointing and inexplicable, especially for fans.”
“We hope this does not mean the union has abandoned negotiating in favor of decertifying and litigating,” he said. “We are ready to meet and negotiate anytime and anywhere. But it takes sustained effort and shared commitment to reach an agreement. One side can’t do it alone.”
About an hour after telling the AP, “We don’t comment publicly on our internal communications with players,” Atallah did just that on Twitter.
“Today’s memo to NFL players was an internal deadline to prepare, not for CBA negotiations,” he wrote, following up with two more tweets: “The NFL knows that we have exchanged correspondence and met regularly,” and “To spin this as an end to the NFLPA’s negotiating is dumb. Perhaps the outrage can be directed towards preventing a lockout.”
The NFL has not missed games due to labor strife since 1987, when the players went on strike and the owners continued the season with replacement players. But the prospect of a lost season in 2011 intensified when owners opted out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2008, saying they could not make a profit if required to give almost 60 cents of every $1 in revenue to the players.
Smith has said that he believes the owners opted out with the goal of locking the players out. The NFLPA’s home page features a “Lockout Watch” that counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the CBA expires on March 3.
The one-page letter on NFLPA stationery said the union expects the lockout to begin March 4, and that players should work with their advisers to prepare for an impending lack of income.
It also said the league threatened to cancel the players’ health insurance.
The union said it would file a grievance to contest a cancellation of health insurance, noting that the CBA promises players their health insurance would continue “through the end of the Plan Year in which they are released or otherwise sever employment.”
Patriots offensive lineman Matt Light(notes) said players understand the nature of the business, but the threat to cancel health insurance is different.
“You’re going to cancel somebody’s health insurance and maybe they’ve got a baby that’s due in the offseason?” said Light, who is one of the team’s player representatives. “Yeah, it gets personal.”
Aiello said that there would be no interruption of health care, because of the federal COBRA law that allows employees to continue coverage at their own expense.
“This means that no player or family member would experience any change in coverage for so much as a single day because of a work stoppage,” he said. “The union surely knows this and there is no excuse for suggesting otherwise.”
Light said he is doing his best to educate his teammates on how to prepare.
“They’ve got to look at it like they’re going into a period in which they are going to change their financial situation,” he said. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen. But if you’re going to go a year without getting paid, you need to prepare accordingly.”
Under the deal agreed to in 2006, the players’ share of designated NFL revenues is set at 59.6 percent. The owners opted out beginning next season, arguing they have huge debts from building stadiums and starting up the NFL Network that make it impossible to be profitable.
The two sides met last month and said they made “some progress” on proposals involving an 18-game regular season and limiting offseason workouts.
But players have gone public with their case in recent weeks, briefing Congress on the job loss and other economic impacts of a lockout and even drafting letters for lawmakers to send to the league. Using many of the same studies the NFL relies on when trumpeting public subsidies for new stadiums, an economist commissioned by the union estimated an average of about $160 million in local spending and 3,000 jobs would be lost in each league city if the full 2011 season were wiped out.
The NFL called the figures “a fairy tale.”
New England linebacker Tully Banta-Cain(notes) said he was already squirreling away his savings in case of a lockout. Banta-Cain said he was also working on his outside businesses, which include a clothing line and a music label.
“I’m trying to prepare,” he said. “And I’m trying to establish my off-the-field businesses and make sure I can make money in the offseason.”
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Stephen HawkingComment
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Unlike the other 3 major sports the NFL has broadcasting rules and games are telecast according to where you live. I know much about that stuff but without getting into any of that.
If you have DirecTV and get the NFL package you get every game (except the nationally televised ones).
What games do you guys have today on your local stations today?
I have
1 PM - Washington at Giants (FOX)
4 PM - Dallas at Indy (FOX)
4 PM - Oakland at SD (CBS)
and of course Pittsburgh at Baltimore tonight on NBC (nationally televised)Comment
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It's an NFC weekend, but we have a home game and nothing can be broadcast opposite it. So, I'm getting three games in total...
1PM - Browns at Dolphins
4PM - Cowboys - Colts
8PM - Steelers - Ravens
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Stephen HawkingComment
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“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Stephen HawkingComment
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I had the Red Zone for free, as I'm sure everyone else did, for the first week of the season.
Don't remember it much as my son was playing football then and we were out for a good portion of the Sunday afternoon.
It's $39.95 for the season and you get to see a game only when a team enters the Red Zone correct? When there is no red zone play you get a screen with scores?Comment
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Pretty much, but they do things on the fly to keep you interested. For instance, replays of key moments or injuries. Sometimes they'll just stick with a particular game if things look to get exciting. At other times, so much is going on that they'll switch to split screens, showing two or three scoring opportunities at once!
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Stephen HawkingComment
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a friend of mine has been telling me for a year that this was coming....but i sure hate to see it
do you remember how long it took the game of baseball to recover after going on strike??
other than the fact that football is a MUCH better game...(personal opinion...no need to jump me, anyone)...I have no reason to expect that it will be any different for the NFL.“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” ~~Maria RobinsonComment
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Denver Broncos fire head coach Josh McDaniels
USA TODAY
The Denver Broncos fired head coach Josh McDaniels on Monday.
The move comes 28 games into his tenure with the Broncos, in which he went 11-17 despite winning his first six games.
Josh McDaniels was 11-17 as Broncos head coach.
No interim successor was immediately named.
McDaniels' dismissal came one week after team owner Pat Bowlen said he was not interested in making a head coaching change. Less than a day later, however, Bowlen backtracked and said he would reevaluate McDaniels after the season.
Earlier Monday, McDaniels sidestepped a question asking if he was concerned about his job security.
"I am not worried about that," McDaniels said. "I am going to coach as hard as I can because that is my job and that is somebody else's decision."
McDaniels was fined $50,000 by the NFL last month when he revealed he did not immediately report the illegal recording of a San Francisco 49ers practice when the teams played in London in October.
McDaniels accepted responsibility for his role in the illegal recording, which the NFL said was performed solely by video director Steve Scarnecchia, who was fired.
The episode drew a connection to the original Spygate controversy for which the New England Patriots -- where McDaniels was offensive coordinator before joining the Broncos -- and head coach were fined a total $750,000 and stripped of a first-round pick in 2007. McDaniels said there was no connection between the two.
His final game was a 10-6 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday that dropped the Broncos to 3-9 this season.
McDaniels is the second Broncos head coach fired in less than two years. He replaced Mike Shanahan, who was ousted after the 2008 season.
-- Sean Leahy
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Stephen HawkingComment
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The firing isn't, when you consider the team's owner rescinded a vote of confidence he gave to the coach publicly last week within 1 hour of offering it. What is strange is the timing. OK, he embarrassed the team by getting a $100,000 fine ($50, 000 for McDaniels, $50,000 for the team) for the Spygate II deal in England, and his record is really awful (11-17). But with the NFL possibly facing a lockout in 2011, who are they going to get? Now they have to promote either the offensive coordinator or the defensive backs coach, and both run crappy units. So it's not like the situation is about winning, it really looks more about saving face at this point.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”― Stephen HawkingComment
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