Stribbers thank departed staff members
I'm going take a brief step away from the sports world for this story.
It pays tribute to those who have lost or left their jobs in the last three years due to the Star Tribune's financial struggles. The ad states that 1,000 of the Trib's then-2,000 employees have lost their jobs since January of 2007. That's unbelievable.
Posted by: Goethe on 2/09/2010 at 10:06 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: minnpost, newspapers, star tribune
Multiple lockouts loom in 2011
Did NBA commissioner David Stern really send a photocopy of his middle finger to the players union? Of course not.
But reportedly, the owners' proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement garnered about that kind of reaction from the union.
As Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski writes, both sides seems to be heading toward a 2011 lockout.
That begs the questions: Could the NBA and NFL have simultaneous lockouts that year?
What's all the arguing about? The usual, of course. The owners want more of the pot than thety got in the recent CBAs. The players have no interest in relinquishing that.
Who's right? Nobody, really. Because if there's one thing we've learned from the NHL's current state, it's that a lockout is not the answer.
Forget about the players' strike in Major League Baseball in 1994. Canceled World Series aside, that league recovered at a much quicker pace than the NHL did from their last work stoppage. In fact, in my opinion the NHL has not recovered.
Pro hockey was completely canceled in the 2004-05 scheduled season. Commissioner Gary Bettman wanted a system that tied league revenue to players' salaries with a salary cap. Competitive balance is a noble cause, after all. But the players did not. The sides couldn't come to an agreement, and poof! There goes the season.
Prior to the lockout, I considered the NHL to be one of the "Big Four" major sports in this country. But since, there's no doubt it's fallen beneath pro golf and NASCAR on the average sports fan's radar. Sure, regionally, people love the Minnesota Wild. But look at the state of the league as a whole. Multiple teams - mostly in the southern part of this country - are failing.
I might be linking things that aren't connected. But maybe if there is no lockout, some of these teams are experiencing financial bliss. And maybe the NHL and ESPN agree to a TV deal, rather than having the sport played on a second-rate sports network. Who knows?
But the NFL and especially the NBA should look to the NHL as a lesson that continues to be learned from.
Posted by: Goethe on 2/08/2010 at 10:56 PM | Comments (4) | Permalink
Tags: basketball, football, hockey, nba, nfl, nhl, sports
Godfather of the snownami
I heard KFAN's Dan Barreiro talking about this so I thought I'd post it.
"Shovel! Drift! Shovel! Drift! AAAAHHHH!!!!!!"
Posted by: Goethe on 2/08/2010 at 4:24 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Tags: dan barreiro, kfan, snownami, sports
My favorite Super Bowl commercial
No surprises from this Chicago Bears fan:
And, the original:
Posted by: Goethe on 2/08/2010 at 10:52 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink
Tags: football, nfl, sports, super bowl
The difference a couple plays can make
The New Orleans Saints' victory in the Super Bowl on Sunday was considered an upset by some. I suppose technically it was just by looking at Vegas odds, even though we're talking about two teams that were the No. 1 seeds in their conferences.
Maybe the Saints did steal victory from the jaws of defeat. But as is often the case in the National Football League, their win over the Indianapolis Colts can be traced back to two plays.
The first was the onside kick to open the second half. I thought it was a great call, which I know is like saying a hit-and-run was a bad call when the guy lines into an unassisted double play. But I liked the timing of it. And with Peyton Manning going against you, whether the field is 40 yards or 90 yards, he's always got a good chance of scoring against you. So why not take a shot?
I didn't like Sean Payton's decision to go for it on fourth down in the second quarter down 10-3, and I said so before it failed when he called a run play. But the onside kick? That I liked. The Saints recovered the ball after it bounced off the hands of Indianapolis Colts special teamer - and former Minnesota Vikings receiver - Hank Baskett.
Then, there was the Tracy Porter interception of Manning with under four minutes left. That return for a touchdown put the Saints up by two touchdowns, which is a pretty insurmountable deficit for even a guy like Manning to face. That was an awfully atypical play for Manning. Let's face it: It was not a good throw at all, though you have to give credit to Porter for reading that route and stepping in front of it. It's very easy to drop into prevent defense at that point, but he took a chance.
And it's those types of chances the Saints have been taking all year. You've heard of the "bend but don't break defense? Well, this defense bends and breaks regularly, but among all of those breakdowns are a few key turnovers to shift the balance in their favor.
Posted by: Goethe on 2/07/2010 at 11:56 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink
Tags: colts, football, nfl, saints, sports, super bowl, vikings
