The doctor says the diagnosis is isolated systolic hypertension - and it sails right over the head.
The mechanic explains the recall is due to improper casting of the steering lock bar, which is a component of the interlock system - and it goes in one ear and out the other.
The anchorman says National Football League, $9 billion, lockout, mediation, litigation and appeal - and we're listening because we know somehow it all means no football. But we need to hear this in plain English.
And so, we need Andrew Brandt.
Former Green Bay Packers vice president, salary cap manager and negotiator, player agent, World League general manager - Brandt draws upon nearly three decades of experience in all of those fields to help him in his latest career venture:
Decoding the legal strategies and rulings of the NFL lockout. Brandt boils down the legal jargon into digestible terms.
"I know people are frustrated, angry and bored with the labor dispute, but I tell them to take a deep breath and realize this is all part of the process," said Brandt. "It is a negotiation, no more and no less. The courtroom wins and losses are merely ways of tilting leverage to one side or the other in the eventual negotiation of a new CBA."
Officially out of the NFL for three years now, the 50-year-old Brandt no longer has the edict of solving the league's problems, just explaining them. He does that in three ways:
With columns for National Football Post, a website he cofounded in 2008. Staffed with former front-office personnel men, agents and players, the site offers firsthand insight to the NFL game and the business behind it.
With instruction, teaching sports law and negotiations at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He's also done seminars in Chicago and Indianapolis.
With analysis on ESPN.
Brandt identifies June 3, when a ruling is expected on the NFL's latest appeal, as the next major event for the lockout.
"If the NFL loses the appeal, then they're paying players, business is open, they're under temporary rules and they need to forge a new deal," said Brandt. "If the players lose the appeal, they're locked out indefinitely and missing paychecks and they'll need to make a deal.
"At the end of the day, when it comes to negotiations, I always believed: Never let your adversary become your enemy. Unfortunately, I think that's happened a couple of times in this negotiation. There's been a bit of lack of trust. Or a lack of honest and open communication. Hopefully it's all just part of a process."
When it comes to haggling out deals, Brandt feels right at home.
After Georgetown University Law School, Brandt worked for ProServ in Washington, assisting agent David Falk with NBA and NFL players, including Michael Jordan, Boomer Esiason and Patrick Ewing. He was there when Nike began the Air Jordan phenomenon.
"It was a great experience. We had some remarkable negotiations, which I learned a lot," said Brandt.
After six years, Brandt left to try something different. In 1992, at age 31, he became the general manager of the World League's Barcelona Dragons. Brandt wasn't just running a team. He was introducing a new sport to an unfamiliar fan base.
"They cheered at the wrong times, they did the wave the entire game," said Brandt.
There were only 100 tickets sold for opening night in Montjuic Stadium, site of the 1992 Olympics, which holds 55,000. So Brandt asked a well-known soccer GM in Barcelona whether he could put his football team on their field at halftime to pique interest.
The GM just wanted to make sure the fans could still smoke cigarettes.
They could and it worked; 18,000 showed up for the Dragons' opener.
"Our first touchdown, our tight end broke three tackles on a seam pass. There was polite applause," said Brandt. "The kicker kicks the extra point - and they go nuts."
After a year and a half, the World League disbanded and Brandt went back to being a player agent, this time for Woolf Associates in Boston.
He picked up an unknown kicker, Adam Vinatieri, became friends with client Matt Hasselbeck and worked with Ricky Williams as his agent for baseball while he pursued him as a client for pro football.
Titletown comes calling
Then in 1999, the Packers called out of the blue. Ron Wolf, Green Bay's general manager at the time, had just lost coach Mike Holmgren and executive Mike Reinfeldt to Seattle.
"Ron wondered if I would switch sides," said Brandt. "I made a life decision between chasing Ricky Williams and moving to Green Bay. We decided the lifestyle of an agent - now we had young children - was not conducive to our family."
For the next nine years, Brandt negotiated all player contracts and managed the Packers' salary cap as vice president of player finance and general counsel.
"It was a little different going from Matt Hasselbeck's agent to being a manager on the other side of the table in Green Bay," said Brandt. "And then, of course, I was the one who told him he was traded."
Under Brandt, the Packers managed to keep their salary cap position healthy and strong. He was a valued cap expert and negotiator who never mortgaged the future of the Packers.
Two focuses
"It was always important to me to play for the present and the future," said Brandt. "I did not want our team to be struggling out of salary cap jail like we saw from other franchises."
That meant he had to resist constantly restructuring quarterback Brett Favre's contract, he said, to give the Packers short-term relief with long-term ramifications.
"I had seen the consequences of what happened to teams when their franchise quarterback either retired, was released or was traded," said Brandt. "I was adamant about not putting ourselves in that position and always structured our bigger contracts with that in mind."
When Packers president and CEO Bob Harlan retired at the end of the 2007 season, Brandt was a candidate to replace him. When the Packers went with Mark Murphy instead, Brandt and the Packers parted ways in February 2008.
"It was a good time for a change, for both the Packers and myself," said Brandt. "I had been there nine years; we had just hosted the NFC championship; most players were under contract for a while. I was caught in a web between the football and administrative sides of the organization. Feeling as though I was a senior executive and should apply, I put myself out there - warts and all - for the CEO position, and they decided to go another way.
"In the midst of the search process I was told I would no longer be reporting to Bob Harlan but to Ted Thompson. Ted and I once shared an office, got along well and had the same philosophy on team-building, but I think the CEO selection process made things difficult to continue in the role I had.
"I'm happy for all their success and stay in touch with many people in the organization and the community. The Packers are a true national treasure."
Brandt worked as a consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles 2009, helping with free agent and rookie contracts. He has since consulted other players and agents on contracts. But he was being pulled in a different direction.
Career change
While Brandt was an undergraduate at Stanford, a professor had told him he had the writing gift, but Brandt hadn't pursued it. Brandt launched into the high-risk, low-reward world of online sports journalism.
The National Football Post draws an average of 2.5million to 3 million page views a month.
Living in suburban Philadelphia brought his wife, Lisa, back home, but she still keeps tabs on the school she helped found, the Wisconsin International School in De Pere.
Best of all, there's time for his boys: Sam, 14, and Max, who turns 9 on June 3.
It's not clear whether working for National Football Post - and peeling back the curtain on the NFL business - would be a help or hindrance toward getting back in to the NFL.
But when asked whether he wants to get back into the NFL to run a team, Brandt sounded content for now.
"You never say never, but I'm certainly happy doing what I am doing now," said Brandt. "Even though I am somewhat busier than I was when I was with the Packers, I still have time for my boys. And I see teaching as a way of giving back. I certainly know it's not curing cancer, but it's a way of sharing a lot of practical experiences with students."
As for looking forward during this football drought, Brandt offered one more pitch for deal-making, as this has been his very nature all along.
"If the Eighth Circuit upholds the lockout on appeal - which I expect them to do - the NFLPA has to look in the distance and see a future of an indefinite lockout," Brandt said. "I would hope their strategy would turn to deal-making instead of litigating.
"And I would further hope that the NFL would not use that leverage in an unreasonable way.
"There is a deal to be made here; one that will not look much different than what was being discussed on March 11 when negotiation turned to litigation." This article was written by Lori Nickel and appeared in The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
viernes, 3 de junio de 2011
If there's no pro football, can the sun come up? - Ingles
Tuesday is Day 77 of the NFL lockout. If you don't care or you forgot about it because you're having fun Down the Shore or you're busy living life, that apparently makes you a terrible person. It might even mean you're anti-American or a terrorist or a thug looking to rob an unsuspecting rube.
You might think that's madness. I think it's madness, too. There are people, however, who evidently believe it, and some of them have even managed to say it on camera with a straight face or write it down without adding, Nah, just kidding, that's madness.
The NFL has always taken itself seriously. It's big business, and that's what big businesses do. But the lockout has somehow overinflated the sport's already bloated sense of self-worth. During the labor dispute, the NFL has morphed from America 's favorite league to something - according to the hyperbole - that's the most important anything in the history of everything.
I'm waiting for Harold Camping to predict that if the NFL doesn't return, the rapture will go down in September. Pretty sure that's next.
In the interim, plenty of other ostensibly reasonable people have been more than willing to raise the crazy quotient in the absence of offseason football. Who knew that workouts in shorts and helmets were directly linked to rational thought?
Most recently, Ray Lewis - you may remember him from such public productions as Baltimore Ravens football games and "I didn't stab anyone" court appearances - went on ESPN to implore the NFL and the players to come to an agreement because, he said, the lockout affects "way more" than owners and athletes.
"Do this research," Lewis said. "If we don't have a season - watch how much evil, which we call 'crime,' watch how much crime picks up, if you take away our game. . . . There's too many people that live through us - people live through us. Yeah, walk in the streets the way I walk the streets, and I'm not talking about the people you see all the time."
According to FBI reports, crime tends to drop in September. Lewis no doubt believes that's because the evil love to tailgate on Sundays, and if anything can get criminals to come together it has to be fantasy football. Still, the FBI reports point to more crime in the summer because the days are longer, the weather is better, and schools are out. Seems like specious reasoning. They're the country's top cops, but if they knew what they were talking about, wouldn't they be on SportsCenter?
Either way, linking football to crime prevention is fairly benign compared to those who think the NFL has something to do with acts of terrorism and/or patriotism. NBC's ProFootballTalk.com ran this headline not long ago: "Bin Laden's death could raise stakes in the lockout." From the piece:
"The finality that has come from the completion of the protracted mission to capture or kill bin Laden makes it even more important that the NFL properly commemorate the 10th anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history. . . . With bin Laden gone, September 11, 2011, will have an even more powerful impact on our country, and the sense of indignity to the American people resulting from a lockout that wipes out the 9/11 games will escalate."
ProFootballTalk.com's non sequiturs and loops of difficult-to-follow logic were traced by ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio. He sent this e-mail to ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike in the Morning, and it was read on air:
"Now that bin Laden is dead, the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is going to be a day of somber national reflection," Paolantonio wrote. "The NFL better make sure there is football that day. Empty stadiums on that day now will be an unsettling example of greed and selfishness."
Well, yeah, empty stadiums would be a fairly obvious symbol of greed and selfishness, but what that has to do with remembering and mourning what happened 10 years ago is anyone's guess. Americans everywhere will observe the anniversary with proper respect regardless of whether or not they have 12 pregame beers in the parking lot before heading past the ticket-takers to watch grown men in uniforms tackle one another.
Aside from the bizarre thought process, I'm curious about something else: How did PFT and Sal Pal stop themselves from employing the old "If there's no football, the terrorists win" construct? The self-control there is astounding.
And on and on it goes. (This next part in sotto voce.) With Memorial Day weekend upon us, how are we expected to honor our veterans and their fine service if players aren't allowed to report to team facilities and get in early-morning workouts? And what of the Fourth of July? The absence of meaningless football mini-camps will undoubtedly be seen by someone somewhere as an insult to the Founding Fathers. It might even counterfeit the Declaration of Independence.
Pray for the Republic. These are dark days indeed. (source Philadelphia Inquirer)
You might think that's madness. I think it's madness, too. There are people, however, who evidently believe it, and some of them have even managed to say it on camera with a straight face or write it down without adding, Nah, just kidding, that's madness.
The NFL has always taken itself seriously. It's big business, and that's what big businesses do. But the lockout has somehow overinflated the sport's already bloated sense of self-worth. During the labor dispute, the NFL has morphed from America 's favorite league to something - according to the hyperbole - that's the most important anything in the history of everything.
I'm waiting for Harold Camping to predict that if the NFL doesn't return, the rapture will go down in September. Pretty sure that's next.
In the interim, plenty of other ostensibly reasonable people have been more than willing to raise the crazy quotient in the absence of offseason football. Who knew that workouts in shorts and helmets were directly linked to rational thought?
Most recently, Ray Lewis - you may remember him from such public productions as Baltimore Ravens football games and "I didn't stab anyone" court appearances - went on ESPN to implore the NFL and the players to come to an agreement because, he said, the lockout affects "way more" than owners and athletes.
"Do this research," Lewis said. "If we don't have a season - watch how much evil, which we call 'crime,' watch how much crime picks up, if you take away our game. . . . There's too many people that live through us - people live through us. Yeah, walk in the streets the way I walk the streets, and I'm not talking about the people you see all the time."
According to FBI reports, crime tends to drop in September. Lewis no doubt believes that's because the evil love to tailgate on Sundays, and if anything can get criminals to come together it has to be fantasy football. Still, the FBI reports point to more crime in the summer because the days are longer, the weather is better, and schools are out. Seems like specious reasoning. They're the country's top cops, but if they knew what they were talking about, wouldn't they be on SportsCenter?
Either way, linking football to crime prevention is fairly benign compared to those who think the NFL has something to do with acts of terrorism and/or patriotism. NBC's ProFootballTalk.com ran this headline not long ago: "Bin Laden's death could raise stakes in the lockout." From the piece:
"The finality that has come from the completion of the protracted mission to capture or kill bin Laden makes it even more important that the NFL properly commemorate the 10th anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history. . . . With bin Laden gone, September 11, 2011, will have an even more powerful impact on our country, and the sense of indignity to the American people resulting from a lockout that wipes out the 9/11 games will escalate."
ProFootballTalk.com's non sequiturs and loops of difficult-to-follow logic were traced by ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio. He sent this e-mail to ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike in the Morning, and it was read on air:
"Now that bin Laden is dead, the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is going to be a day of somber national reflection," Paolantonio wrote. "The NFL better make sure there is football that day. Empty stadiums on that day now will be an unsettling example of greed and selfishness."
Well, yeah, empty stadiums would be a fairly obvious symbol of greed and selfishness, but what that has to do with remembering and mourning what happened 10 years ago is anyone's guess. Americans everywhere will observe the anniversary with proper respect regardless of whether or not they have 12 pregame beers in the parking lot before heading past the ticket-takers to watch grown men in uniforms tackle one another.
Aside from the bizarre thought process, I'm curious about something else: How did PFT and Sal Pal stop themselves from employing the old "If there's no football, the terrorists win" construct? The self-control there is astounding.
And on and on it goes. (This next part in sotto voce.) With Memorial Day weekend upon us, how are we expected to honor our veterans and their fine service if players aren't allowed to report to team facilities and get in early-morning workouts? And what of the Fourth of July? The absence of meaningless football mini-camps will undoubtedly be seen by someone somewhere as an insult to the Founding Fathers. It might even counterfeit the Declaration of Independence.
Pray for the Republic. These are dark days indeed. (source Philadelphia Inquirer)
United they still stand - divided they're sure to fall - Ingles
So far, there's no indication that a great deal of players are under enormous financial pressure and getting so antsy with the lockout that they are ready to storm the doors of the NFL's Park Ave. headquarters or the NFLPA's office on 20th St. in Washington demanding that a deal gets done.
This is not a strike, so there is no picket line for the players to cross. This is not 1987, so there will be no replacement games to entice them back to work. This is a lockout, so it's not up to them to call it off.
And even though the lockout is reaching its three-month anniversary, it's still only late May and other than players missing out on their workout bonuses, the big money doesn't start rolling in until the regular season opens in September.
So the complaining hasn't really started yet.
But it will.
The NFL won a stay by a 2-1 vote in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis of the April 25 court ruling that had granted a preliminary injunction to lift the lockout. Now those same three judges will hear arguments Friday from the owners and players on the NFL's appeal of the preliminary injunction.
Based on the wording in the stay ruling by the judges siding with the league, the NFL is expected to win the appeal. A decision is anticipated within the next month. If the players pull off the upset victory, the lockout is over. But if the league wins, the lockout stays and it gives all the leverage to the owners.
Either way, I think negotiations will resume in early July and I've said all along that I think this nonsense ends Aug. 1, just in time for training camp.
But it's completely logical to believe there will be some kind of player revolt in August if the lockout is still in place, if there's still no sign of an imminent agreement and it becomes apparent that regular-season game checks will be missed.
It's just a question of how many players will speak up and who they are. The pressure will be on NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith to keep the players together. The strength is in their unity.
The owners can afford to think long-term, even though shutting down a $9.3 billion-a-year industry doesn't help those making big mortgage payments on those big new stadiums. The players have short careers and have to think in the present. And any money they lose will not be made up.
One former player who is keeping a very close watch on the labor situation thinks the players have it in them to hold it together. But I asked him what he thinks the player mindset will be on Aug. 1 if there is no deal.
"I think there will be increasing concern. To deny that is to deny the obvious," he said. "I still think De (Smith) and his staff and the player reps have done enough in communicating why the players are in this position that they are in. They may have to do more as the time approaches."
In 1987, superstars such as Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Randy White and Howie Long crossed the picket line. But with current superstars Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees being three of the 10 named plaintiffs in the players' antitrust lawsuit against the owners, the former player I spoke believes that will help keep the players unified.
"If Peyton Manning isn't the Joe Montana of his day, then Tom Brady is. Drew Brees is the same caliber guy," he said. "Some of the biggest stars of the game have taken a very pro-player position."
But will players making $10 million or more a year be able to pacify the players who rely on their checks to make ends meet? Until now, there's been a handful of players calling for a resumption of negotiations, but there is not the player revolt that took place in 1982 and 1987 and crushed the strike.
Can the players force Smith back to the bargaining table? Will that uprising come? "I think the vast majority of the players will stick together," the former player said.
But he says it will be inevitable that some players will start speaking out, just as some owners have become more chatty recently about the need to get a deal done. And with all the social media avenues to get a point across, he is concerned that even if a few speak out that it will appear that the "entire 1,800 will pack up the tent and call it a day," when that won't be the case. "The squeaky wheel gets a lot of oil," he said. (source New York Daily News)
This is not a strike, so there is no picket line for the players to cross. This is not 1987, so there will be no replacement games to entice them back to work. This is a lockout, so it's not up to them to call it off.
And even though the lockout is reaching its three-month anniversary, it's still only late May and other than players missing out on their workout bonuses, the big money doesn't start rolling in until the regular season opens in September.
So the complaining hasn't really started yet.
But it will.
The NFL won a stay by a 2-1 vote in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis of the April 25 court ruling that had granted a preliminary injunction to lift the lockout. Now those same three judges will hear arguments Friday from the owners and players on the NFL's appeal of the preliminary injunction.
Based on the wording in the stay ruling by the judges siding with the league, the NFL is expected to win the appeal. A decision is anticipated within the next month. If the players pull off the upset victory, the lockout is over. But if the league wins, the lockout stays and it gives all the leverage to the owners.
Either way, I think negotiations will resume in early July and I've said all along that I think this nonsense ends Aug. 1, just in time for training camp.
But it's completely logical to believe there will be some kind of player revolt in August if the lockout is still in place, if there's still no sign of an imminent agreement and it becomes apparent that regular-season game checks will be missed.
It's just a question of how many players will speak up and who they are. The pressure will be on NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith to keep the players together. The strength is in their unity.
The owners can afford to think long-term, even though shutting down a $9.3 billion-a-year industry doesn't help those making big mortgage payments on those big new stadiums. The players have short careers and have to think in the present. And any money they lose will not be made up.
One former player who is keeping a very close watch on the labor situation thinks the players have it in them to hold it together. But I asked him what he thinks the player mindset will be on Aug. 1 if there is no deal.
"I think there will be increasing concern. To deny that is to deny the obvious," he said. "I still think De (Smith) and his staff and the player reps have done enough in communicating why the players are in this position that they are in. They may have to do more as the time approaches."
In 1987, superstars such as Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Randy White and Howie Long crossed the picket line. But with current superstars Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees being three of the 10 named plaintiffs in the players' antitrust lawsuit against the owners, the former player I spoke believes that will help keep the players unified.
"If Peyton Manning isn't the Joe Montana of his day, then Tom Brady is. Drew Brees is the same caliber guy," he said. "Some of the biggest stars of the game have taken a very pro-player position."
But will players making $10 million or more a year be able to pacify the players who rely on their checks to make ends meet? Until now, there's been a handful of players calling for a resumption of negotiations, but there is not the player revolt that took place in 1982 and 1987 and crushed the strike.
Can the players force Smith back to the bargaining table? Will that uprising come? "I think the vast majority of the players will stick together," the former player said.
But he says it will be inevitable that some players will start speaking out, just as some owners have become more chatty recently about the need to get a deal done. And with all the social media avenues to get a point across, he is concerned that even if a few speak out that it will appear that the "entire 1,800 will pack up the tent and call it a day," when that won't be the case. "The squeaky wheel gets a lot of oil," he said. (source New York Daily News)
An inside look - Ingles
Sione Pouha was tired of answering the same questions everywhere he went this offseason.
He heard them in stores. At his kids' school. Even at the dinner table.
“Everybody was asking two general things: ‘What's up with the lockout? What are you doing with no football?“’ the big New York Jets defensive tackle said. “I was kind of like a broken record. So, I thought to myself, ‘Dude, what am I doing? I can just show them.“’
So, Pouha (BO-oo-ha) grabbed a video camera, got a film crew together and started rolling on a behind-the-scenes series that fans can subscribe to for free on his own YouTube channel. The 4-minute preview for the Life of a Lock Out series has gotten more than 1,500 views since it was posted a week ago, and the first full-length episode airs Wednesday.
“I would call it a low-budget reality series,” Pouha said with a big laugh. “It's not quite ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians.’ It's the non-football life of a football player and what they do during the lockout.”
The preview shows clips of Pouha working out and getting a visit from teammate Nick Mangold, hanging out in Times Square in Manhattan and waiting to reward a Jets fan with tickets to the home opener — when and if that happens — and singing in the kitchen with one of his daughters.
“I thought it would be awesome to give people, kind of like a reality show, a chance to see what we do other than on the fields,” he said. “A lot of people just see us on Sundays and obviously that's what we get paid to do, but we have adventures and have families and take our kids to school and do homework and that sort of stuff.”
But, would fans really care? The 32-year-old Pouha is one of the more under-the-radar guys on a team filled with headline-making personalities. But he got all the confirmation he needed that night in Times Square when fans flocked to him.
“You see them and it's like they're dehydrating (without football),” he said. “It just looked like they were absorbing it like a dry sponge. That's when you understand, as a player, how much energy the fans give to you. It's like, ‘Wow!“’
Pouha, who had a career-high 59 tackles and two sacks last year while filling in for the injured Kris Jenkins for the second straight season, is not alone in trying to keep fans entertained. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has begun posting videos and pictures on his Facebook page of things he's doing this offseason, such as his “Jets West” camp with some offensive teammates in Southern California and his recent appearance on NFL Network. Safety Emanuel Cook is also starting his own YouTube channel, and several Jets players are active on Twitter.
Pouha began thinking about his project in early May, when “the flakes of the idea” came to him. Three weeks ago, he decided to go ahead with it and called a camera crew that shoots commercials for his business venture, Bula Beverage — a kava root-based Pomegranate-flavored soda which hit stores in the West and Southwest a year ago. The crew showed up a week later and the cameras have been shooting ever since.
“Usually around this time, fans are excited and buying rookie jerseys and everyone's starting to set up their fantasy teams and welcoming in their new acquisitions through free agency,” he said. “None of that's going on right now, so I thought I'd give fans something to watch.”
Using Bula's marketing budget to pay for the crew's expenses, all Pouha needed was to run it by his wife, Katie.
“She thought I was crazy, kind of,” Pouha said, laughing. “My wife was kind of like, ‘What are you going to think of next?' It's crazy because this is kind of against my nature. I'm not really the kind of guy who goes and has a Web page. It's kind of like out of character, but at the same time, I don't know what's come over me.”
His family is originally from the South Pacific island kingdom of Tonga, and this will allow relatives and friends there to keep up with the Pouhas.
“You get access at any time,” Pouha said. “It's free and you can find it anywhere around the world.”
There will be shots of him and the rest of the Jets' defensive linemen when they get together soon for position workouts, but not all the footage will be filmed by the crew. Pouha will use his own camera and produce vlogs — video-style blogs — that will be included in each episode. He took his camera back home to Utah for Memorial Day weekend, and will introduce fans to his mother, and even take them on some private moments, such as when he visits his father's grave site. Pouha stopped cutting his hair last season in tribute to his father and has also started growing a beard, but fans will have to tune in to find out why.
He'll give demonstrations on Polynesian cooking, and if the lockout is still going on, he'll take the fans on a video tour of Tonga. He might go down to Miami to hang with friends Koa Misi and Paul Soliai, who play for the Dolphins. There will also be games in which subscribers can win prizes, and Pouha will answer questions from Twitter followers.
“People will be like, ‘Oh, he doesn't just two-gap. He multitasks and these guys really juggle a few things more than football,“’ Pouha said, laughing again.
He already has over a hundred hours of footage and plans to post a new episode every other week. While Pouha hopes the lockout ends soon so he can get back to work, that doesn't mean the video series will then end.
“We'll start it off with Life of a Lock Out, and then when that's done, we can change it up and do something else,” Pouha said. “I feel like we'll have a lot of stuff, even throughout the season. It's fun for me and it'll be fun for the fans.” This article was written by Dennis Waszak Jr. and appeared in The Globe and Mail.
He heard them in stores. At his kids' school. Even at the dinner table.
“Everybody was asking two general things: ‘What's up with the lockout? What are you doing with no football?“’ the big New York Jets defensive tackle said. “I was kind of like a broken record. So, I thought to myself, ‘Dude, what am I doing? I can just show them.“’
So, Pouha (BO-oo-ha) grabbed a video camera, got a film crew together and started rolling on a behind-the-scenes series that fans can subscribe to for free on his own YouTube channel. The 4-minute preview for the Life of a Lock Out series has gotten more than 1,500 views since it was posted a week ago, and the first full-length episode airs Wednesday.
“I would call it a low-budget reality series,” Pouha said with a big laugh. “It's not quite ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians.’ It's the non-football life of a football player and what they do during the lockout.”
The preview shows clips of Pouha working out and getting a visit from teammate Nick Mangold, hanging out in Times Square in Manhattan and waiting to reward a Jets fan with tickets to the home opener — when and if that happens — and singing in the kitchen with one of his daughters.
“I thought it would be awesome to give people, kind of like a reality show, a chance to see what we do other than on the fields,” he said. “A lot of people just see us on Sundays and obviously that's what we get paid to do, but we have adventures and have families and take our kids to school and do homework and that sort of stuff.”
But, would fans really care? The 32-year-old Pouha is one of the more under-the-radar guys on a team filled with headline-making personalities. But he got all the confirmation he needed that night in Times Square when fans flocked to him.
“You see them and it's like they're dehydrating (without football),” he said. “It just looked like they were absorbing it like a dry sponge. That's when you understand, as a player, how much energy the fans give to you. It's like, ‘Wow!“’
Pouha, who had a career-high 59 tackles and two sacks last year while filling in for the injured Kris Jenkins for the second straight season, is not alone in trying to keep fans entertained. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has begun posting videos and pictures on his Facebook page of things he's doing this offseason, such as his “Jets West” camp with some offensive teammates in Southern California and his recent appearance on NFL Network. Safety Emanuel Cook is also starting his own YouTube channel, and several Jets players are active on Twitter.
Pouha began thinking about his project in early May, when “the flakes of the idea” came to him. Three weeks ago, he decided to go ahead with it and called a camera crew that shoots commercials for his business venture, Bula Beverage — a kava root-based Pomegranate-flavored soda which hit stores in the West and Southwest a year ago. The crew showed up a week later and the cameras have been shooting ever since.
“Usually around this time, fans are excited and buying rookie jerseys and everyone's starting to set up their fantasy teams and welcoming in their new acquisitions through free agency,” he said. “None of that's going on right now, so I thought I'd give fans something to watch.”
Using Bula's marketing budget to pay for the crew's expenses, all Pouha needed was to run it by his wife, Katie.
“She thought I was crazy, kind of,” Pouha said, laughing. “My wife was kind of like, ‘What are you going to think of next?' It's crazy because this is kind of against my nature. I'm not really the kind of guy who goes and has a Web page. It's kind of like out of character, but at the same time, I don't know what's come over me.”
His family is originally from the South Pacific island kingdom of Tonga, and this will allow relatives and friends there to keep up with the Pouhas.
“You get access at any time,” Pouha said. “It's free and you can find it anywhere around the world.”
There will be shots of him and the rest of the Jets' defensive linemen when they get together soon for position workouts, but not all the footage will be filmed by the crew. Pouha will use his own camera and produce vlogs — video-style blogs — that will be included in each episode. He took his camera back home to Utah for Memorial Day weekend, and will introduce fans to his mother, and even take them on some private moments, such as when he visits his father's grave site. Pouha stopped cutting his hair last season in tribute to his father and has also started growing a beard, but fans will have to tune in to find out why.
He'll give demonstrations on Polynesian cooking, and if the lockout is still going on, he'll take the fans on a video tour of Tonga. He might go down to Miami to hang with friends Koa Misi and Paul Soliai, who play for the Dolphins. There will also be games in which subscribers can win prizes, and Pouha will answer questions from Twitter followers.
“People will be like, ‘Oh, he doesn't just two-gap. He multitasks and these guys really juggle a few things more than football,“’ Pouha said, laughing again.
He already has over a hundred hours of footage and plans to post a new episode every other week. While Pouha hopes the lockout ends soon so he can get back to work, that doesn't mean the video series will then end.
“We'll start it off with Life of a Lock Out, and then when that's done, we can change it up and do something else,” Pouha said. “I feel like we'll have a lot of stuff, even throughout the season. It's fun for me and it'll be fun for the fans.” This article was written by Dennis Waszak Jr. and appeared in The Globe and Mail.
Not all players suffer equally - Ingles
While the NFL players and owners remain at an impasse in negotiations, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said some players are suffering more than others as a result of the work stoppage.
"If you combine rookie free agents that aren't able to sign with a team right now and the veteran free agents, you're talking over a thousand guys that literally don't have a job right now but have NFL talent," said Brees, who has been one of the players' leading voices during the labor dispute. "Those are the guys that are really struggling right now. There have been a few comments by guys out there, Ray Lewis, Wes Welker, Reggie (Bush), 'Oh yeah I love this (time off).' Well, yeah, you're an established player, and you've been getting a big paycheck here for a long time, so you really have nothing to worry about.
"But think about the thousand-plus others that make up the majority of this league, that don't have a job. There's a lot of uncertainty in their life and their families. It's tough for those guys. I hope people understand that. I mean, we're not asking people to feel sorry for us, but this is just the situation we're in. How do we make the most of it? Well, each team just stick together and take care of one another." This article was written by Mike Triplett and appeared in The New Orleans Times-Picayune.
"If you combine rookie free agents that aren't able to sign with a team right now and the veteran free agents, you're talking over a thousand guys that literally don't have a job right now but have NFL talent," said Brees, who has been one of the players' leading voices during the labor dispute. "Those are the guys that are really struggling right now. There have been a few comments by guys out there, Ray Lewis, Wes Welker, Reggie (Bush), 'Oh yeah I love this (time off).' Well, yeah, you're an established player, and you've been getting a big paycheck here for a long time, so you really have nothing to worry about.
"But think about the thousand-plus others that make up the majority of this league, that don't have a job. There's a lot of uncertainty in their life and their families. It's tough for those guys. I hope people understand that. I mean, we're not asking people to feel sorry for us, but this is just the situation we're in. How do we make the most of it? Well, each team just stick together and take care of one another." This article was written by Mike Triplett and appeared in The New Orleans Times-Picayune.
An opportunity for horse racing - Ingles
Horse racing has two peak periods in the public eye during the year. The first is now for the Triple Crown of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. The other is for the two-day Breeders' Cup in the fall.
This autumn there is potential for a different media and fan dynamic because of labor unrest in the NFL and NBA. There is a possibility the start of their regular seasons could be delayed -- or worse.
If that happens, horse racing will be competing with other sports to help fill the void. That scenario could play even stronger in Las Vegas, where race and sports books rely heavily upon the NFL. I suspect those dollars typically bet on pro football will still be in play some way, somehow. It would be interesting if horse racing was made attractive enough to capture some of that action.
A standoff between owners and players in both leagues will create ill will among fans. Who can sympathize with either side in a strike between billionaires and millionaires? Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas once told one of his clients, Eugene Klein, then owner the San Diego Chargers, that one of the benefits of owning top racehorses was after a good season the horse won't hold out for more money.
An opportunity like this might not come again, so let's hope there are some creative horse racing minds at work.
¡ PREAKNESS STAKES -- Is Preakness winner Shackleford a better horse than Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Animal Kingdom? I doubt it, but he was a better horse at Pimlico on Saturday. Shackleford earned his victory by showing a resolve that was missing in the deep stretch at the Derby. You really test the heart of an athlete when the gas tank is empty but you still find more to give.
The Belmont Stakes is June 11, and it remains to be seen if Animal Kingdom and Shackleford will go on to New York. It is a lock there will be a full field of fresh-faced newcomers laying in wait. Thus the very real probability of three different winners of the Triple Crown races.
This could be another year in which the Haskell at Monmouth Park and the Travers at Saratoga will go a long way toward crowning the 3-year-old division champion. And before calling this generation of 3-year-olds a bunch of slowpokes, let's see how they fare against older handicap horses in the fall. This article was written by Richard Eng and appeared in The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
This autumn there is potential for a different media and fan dynamic because of labor unrest in the NFL and NBA. There is a possibility the start of their regular seasons could be delayed -- or worse.
If that happens, horse racing will be competing with other sports to help fill the void. That scenario could play even stronger in Las Vegas, where race and sports books rely heavily upon the NFL. I suspect those dollars typically bet on pro football will still be in play some way, somehow. It would be interesting if horse racing was made attractive enough to capture some of that action.
A standoff between owners and players in both leagues will create ill will among fans. Who can sympathize with either side in a strike between billionaires and millionaires? Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas once told one of his clients, Eugene Klein, then owner the San Diego Chargers, that one of the benefits of owning top racehorses was after a good season the horse won't hold out for more money.
An opportunity like this might not come again, so let's hope there are some creative horse racing minds at work.
¡ PREAKNESS STAKES -- Is Preakness winner Shackleford a better horse than Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Animal Kingdom? I doubt it, but he was a better horse at Pimlico on Saturday. Shackleford earned his victory by showing a resolve that was missing in the deep stretch at the Derby. You really test the heart of an athlete when the gas tank is empty but you still find more to give.
The Belmont Stakes is June 11, and it remains to be seen if Animal Kingdom and Shackleford will go on to New York. It is a lock there will be a full field of fresh-faced newcomers laying in wait. Thus the very real probability of three different winners of the Triple Crown races.
This could be another year in which the Haskell at Monmouth Park and the Travers at Saratoga will go a long way toward crowning the 3-year-old division champion. And before calling this generation of 3-year-olds a bunch of slowpokes, let's see how they fare against older handicap horses in the fall. This article was written by Richard Eng and appeared in The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Bucs' Freeman leads the charge - Ibgles
Buccaneers tight end Kellen Winslow planned to work out in San Diego this offseason until quarterback Josh Freeman gave him a call.
Freeman was organizing his own practices during the NFL lockout and requested Winslow's presence in Tampa. There would be no pay. There would be no coaches to give instructions. There would be no trainers to tape them up. There would be no cold tub after practice. There would be no facility to watch film.
Winslow's response to Freeman reflected the respect he and other teammates have for their leader.
No problem.
"There is no question he is the leader of this football team," Winslow said.
Freeman began working out in April with running back Cadillac Williams and former Bucs receiver Michael Clayton at the IMG Academy in Bradenton. As the lockout lingered and more team-organized workouts were missed, Freeman took it to another level.
He found a facility in Tampa willing to host his daily workouts, and asked teammates to practice with him. The plan was to lift weights for 90 minutes and then hit the practice field for an hour or two, depending on what Freeman wanted to accomplish that day.
Receiver Micheal Spurlock flew in from Mississippi. Backup quarterback Rudy Carpenter flew in from California. Right tackle Jeremy Trueblood flew in from Indiana. Receiver Arrelious Benn flew in from Washington, D.C.
At times, more than 30 Bucs players have attended Freeman's daily workouts. Even former Bucs tight end Alex Smith, who played with Cleveland last season, usually attends.
"It was definitely necessary," Freeman said. "With a young team, you've got to get together. You've got to get this work in. It's good. It was a great week. We had a couple of guys get in from Cali. We hit the weight room hard and the field hard. It's real good."
Coach Raheem Morris heard about Freeman's practices and was not surprised.
"I'm fired up for Freeman," Morris said. "That's the type of leader we brought here and I had no doubt in my mind he would be doing that type of thing. It's not shocking to me. It's kind of expected from the standpoint of business as usual for that guy."
Freeman was more the type to mind his own business when Tampa Bay made him a first-round draft pick in 2009.
The Bucs already had quarterbacks Byron Leftwich, Luke McCown and Josh Johnson. Leftwich and McCown were battling to be the starter, while Johnson was in his second season. Freeman was the odd man out and forced to follow Tampa Bay's other leaders.
"His first year when he came in, you could tell he was wet behind the ears a little bit," Winslow said. "He was just raw."
After Tampa Bay began the season 0-7, Freeman made his first start in the season's eighth game. He led a surprising 38-28 victory against Green Bay, throwing for 205 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Yet, it was during a loss the next week when he earned Winslow's trust.
Freeman helped erase a 13-point deficit at Miami. He led a go-ahead drive, running for 14 yards on first down and throwing to Winslow four times. Cadillac Williams scored on a 1-yard run to give the Bucs a 23-22 lead with 1:14 to play. The defense collapsed and the Bucs lost, 25-23.
Yet, that loss is when Freeman earned the leadership role on his team.
"We were driving the ball and it was like an 'Any Given Sunday' moment," Winslow said. "He was like, 'This is what I'm talking about. Let's go. It's us or them.' I was like, 'All right, this is the dude right here.' "
Freeman did not fully embrace his leadership role until last offseason. He and Greg Olson, Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator, began watching film daily and the quarterback made it his goal to have an impact in 2010.
"By the time we got to the offseason, I took it upon myself to have no reason not to be a leader," Freeman said. "I wanted to take that role upon myself. You have to step in and do the work. As a leader, you have to clean up your yard before you start talking about other people's yards. I made sure to have all my stuff in order.
"I was hoping to put a good product on the field. Guys followed that. If I'm not playing good football or taking care of business, how can I be a leader? I just feel like it's my job as a quarterback to take care of business."
As Freeman became more comfortable and confident in his abilities, he also learned how to get the most out of each teammate.
"Certain people react to leadership in certain ways," Freeman said. "If somebody busts a route, and I'm just giving you an example, if it's Kellen, he draws motivation from you getting loud and getting in his face and that's good for Kellen.
"You might have a guy like Mike (Williams). He and I are on the same page, so if one of us messes up, there is really nothing that needs to be said. I know that I messed up or Mike knows that he messed up."
Freeman was able to lead effectively in 2010 because he rarely made mistakes. He became the first quarterback younger than 23 to lead his team to a 10-win season since Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. Freeman threw for 3,451 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions, and established himself as Tampa Bay's go-to guy because of his late-game heroics.
Seven of Freeman's 13 career victories are fourth-quarter or overtime comebacks, including an NFL-best five last season. With only 25 career starts, he is tied for the most fourth quarter/overtime victories in a player's first two seasons, matching Indianapolis' Peyton Manning (seven in 31 games) and Denver's Jake Plummer (seven in 25 games).
"Leadership for Josh is natural," Bucs fullback Earnest Graham said. "He's a leader because of how poised he is, how talented he is. Respect comes to him. It's not something that he really demands. It just happens by way of him being calm in tough situations.
"To be honest, I've been around for a long time and for us to win as many games as we did last year, we had a team, but we had Josh Freeman on the field, as well. A lot of games are decided in the fourth quarter. There is a lot of parity in the NFL and what you do on those last couple of drives in the NFL will determine it all, and Josh Freeman stepped up. We had other guys, of course, who had to catch balls and run balls, but having Josh Freeman is putting this franchise in good hands for a while."
Freeman plans to call teammates soon and inform them about his next practice. He expects, eventually, to have full participation if the lockout continues. They likely will give their leader the same reply Winslow did.
No problem.
"He's the dude. I'm not leaving him," Winslow said. "If it's my decision, I'm never leaving him. I want to play with him until he retires. I wouldn't want to play with anybody else." This article was written by Anwar S Richardson and appeared in The Tampa Tribune.
Freeman was organizing his own practices during the NFL lockout and requested Winslow's presence in Tampa. There would be no pay. There would be no coaches to give instructions. There would be no trainers to tape them up. There would be no cold tub after practice. There would be no facility to watch film.
Winslow's response to Freeman reflected the respect he and other teammates have for their leader.
No problem.
"There is no question he is the leader of this football team," Winslow said.
Freeman began working out in April with running back Cadillac Williams and former Bucs receiver Michael Clayton at the IMG Academy in Bradenton. As the lockout lingered and more team-organized workouts were missed, Freeman took it to another level.
He found a facility in Tampa willing to host his daily workouts, and asked teammates to practice with him. The plan was to lift weights for 90 minutes and then hit the practice field for an hour or two, depending on what Freeman wanted to accomplish that day.
Receiver Micheal Spurlock flew in from Mississippi. Backup quarterback Rudy Carpenter flew in from California. Right tackle Jeremy Trueblood flew in from Indiana. Receiver Arrelious Benn flew in from Washington, D.C.
At times, more than 30 Bucs players have attended Freeman's daily workouts. Even former Bucs tight end Alex Smith, who played with Cleveland last season, usually attends.
"It was definitely necessary," Freeman said. "With a young team, you've got to get together. You've got to get this work in. It's good. It was a great week. We had a couple of guys get in from Cali. We hit the weight room hard and the field hard. It's real good."
Coach Raheem Morris heard about Freeman's practices and was not surprised.
"I'm fired up for Freeman," Morris said. "That's the type of leader we brought here and I had no doubt in my mind he would be doing that type of thing. It's not shocking to me. It's kind of expected from the standpoint of business as usual for that guy."
Freeman was more the type to mind his own business when Tampa Bay made him a first-round draft pick in 2009.
The Bucs already had quarterbacks Byron Leftwich, Luke McCown and Josh Johnson. Leftwich and McCown were battling to be the starter, while Johnson was in his second season. Freeman was the odd man out and forced to follow Tampa Bay's other leaders.
"His first year when he came in, you could tell he was wet behind the ears a little bit," Winslow said. "He was just raw."
After Tampa Bay began the season 0-7, Freeman made his first start in the season's eighth game. He led a surprising 38-28 victory against Green Bay, throwing for 205 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Yet, it was during a loss the next week when he earned Winslow's trust.
Freeman helped erase a 13-point deficit at Miami. He led a go-ahead drive, running for 14 yards on first down and throwing to Winslow four times. Cadillac Williams scored on a 1-yard run to give the Bucs a 23-22 lead with 1:14 to play. The defense collapsed and the Bucs lost, 25-23.
Yet, that loss is when Freeman earned the leadership role on his team.
"We were driving the ball and it was like an 'Any Given Sunday' moment," Winslow said. "He was like, 'This is what I'm talking about. Let's go. It's us or them.' I was like, 'All right, this is the dude right here.' "
Freeman did not fully embrace his leadership role until last offseason. He and Greg Olson, Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator, began watching film daily and the quarterback made it his goal to have an impact in 2010.
"By the time we got to the offseason, I took it upon myself to have no reason not to be a leader," Freeman said. "I wanted to take that role upon myself. You have to step in and do the work. As a leader, you have to clean up your yard before you start talking about other people's yards. I made sure to have all my stuff in order.
"I was hoping to put a good product on the field. Guys followed that. If I'm not playing good football or taking care of business, how can I be a leader? I just feel like it's my job as a quarterback to take care of business."
As Freeman became more comfortable and confident in his abilities, he also learned how to get the most out of each teammate.
"Certain people react to leadership in certain ways," Freeman said. "If somebody busts a route, and I'm just giving you an example, if it's Kellen, he draws motivation from you getting loud and getting in his face and that's good for Kellen.
"You might have a guy like Mike (Williams). He and I are on the same page, so if one of us messes up, there is really nothing that needs to be said. I know that I messed up or Mike knows that he messed up."
Freeman was able to lead effectively in 2010 because he rarely made mistakes. He became the first quarterback younger than 23 to lead his team to a 10-win season since Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. Freeman threw for 3,451 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions, and established himself as Tampa Bay's go-to guy because of his late-game heroics.
Seven of Freeman's 13 career victories are fourth-quarter or overtime comebacks, including an NFL-best five last season. With only 25 career starts, he is tied for the most fourth quarter/overtime victories in a player's first two seasons, matching Indianapolis' Peyton Manning (seven in 31 games) and Denver's Jake Plummer (seven in 25 games).
"Leadership for Josh is natural," Bucs fullback Earnest Graham said. "He's a leader because of how poised he is, how talented he is. Respect comes to him. It's not something that he really demands. It just happens by way of him being calm in tough situations.
"To be honest, I've been around for a long time and for us to win as many games as we did last year, we had a team, but we had Josh Freeman on the field, as well. A lot of games are decided in the fourth quarter. There is a lot of parity in the NFL and what you do on those last couple of drives in the NFL will determine it all, and Josh Freeman stepped up. We had other guys, of course, who had to catch balls and run balls, but having Josh Freeman is putting this franchise in good hands for a while."
Freeman plans to call teammates soon and inform them about his next practice. He expects, eventually, to have full participation if the lockout continues. They likely will give their leader the same reply Winslow did.
No problem.
"He's the dude. I'm not leaving him," Winslow said. "If it's my decision, I'm never leaving him. I want to play with him until he retires. I wouldn't want to play with anybody else." This article was written by Anwar S Richardson and appeared in The Tampa Tribune.
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