NFL Thread

[ganesh]

So, Brady v NFL at SCOTUS then?

[topanga]

I hope the Supreme Court doesn't waste its resources on this case. Several appeals courts have already denied his appeal. 

[AimingforYoko]

I seriously doubt SCOTUS will hear the case.  He should just accept that in this case, Goodell beat him. It's not the end of the world.

[Minneapple]

I want SCOTUS to hear the case. I think it'd be hilarious. The best use of the American justice system.

[Ohwell]

I would seriously be down with it if Ruth Bader Ginsburg could tell both sides to stop wasting her time and fuck off.

[rallymantis]

I've been looking for an ESPYs thread, to no avail.  So I just wanted to say, Yay Eric Berry!!  You are the Comeback Player of Kansas City, the NFL, the ESPYs, and my heart.  I bawled through the intro, his speech, all of it.  What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mightymightygood man....

[ganesh]

I really hope it goes to SCOTUS. The NFL needs a reality check. 

[topanga]

24 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I really hope it goes to SCOTUS. The NFL needs a reality check. 

But do you have to use my (our) tax dollars to do that? 

[ganesh]

I'll pay your share and mine. Corporations can't avoid due process and subject their stakeholders to arbitrary damages. 

[mojoween]

The NFL suspending Brady for four games due to an arbitrary rules decision has no effect on me.  Using my tax dollars to go to the Supreme Court and taking time away from something more important?  That's what I would have a problem with.

[Minneapple]

18 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I would seriously be down with it if Ruth Bader Ginsburg could tell both sides to stop wasting her time and fuck off.

I'd pay good tax dollars to see it happen. 

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

I'll pay your share and mine. Corporations can't avoid due process and subject their stakeholders to arbitrary damages. 

Except the players signed the collective bargaining agreement that allows Goodell to determine their punishments. The Supreme Court has ruled over and over that if you sign your rights away knowing what you're signing away, then stfu. This includes things like First Amendment rights (why people can't write tell-all books after signing nondisclosure agreements and the like).

[DrSpaceman73]

Best thing the players can do is take away Goodell's power in the next collective bargaining agreement.  They aren't winning this case, right or wrong (and I think its somewhere in between)

I honestly don't think anyone outside the Pats organization and fans who hate Brady and the Pats, like myself admittedly, care about this anymore.  The goal by the other owners was to drive a wedge between Goodell and Kraft.  He protected them, in my opinion, pretty well following Spygate, they continued to push the envelope as much as possible and like cheat in whatever way they could for several years and this was in the line in the sand where the other owners and the competition committee just said enough, it has to end.  4 games for what he did I do think is over the top, but its more about the message and how much the league was going to tolerate from here on out. 

Just change the punishment sequence and agreement in the next CBA though, and the players need to quit whining about it.  You don't get to focus on money, money, money in the CBA, ignore this problem and then complain about it later and say how unfair things are.  This was AFTER Bountygate even with the last CBA, they still didn't change things.  Yes Goodell has too much power.  I am not a big fan of his.  But its the players and the union's fault.  They gave him that power by ignoring the problem so long.  If he is SO BAD (and, in truth, he likely is), then why didn't you push this point harder when you negotiate the league-union rules? 

The union sucks in the NFL, all there is to it.  They are great at fighting these things after the fact and challenging decisions handed down, but what they need to do is change things so this doesn't keep happening in the first place. 

 

That being said.......just a few more weeks to preseason ball.  Can't wait.  I hate this summer lull post NBA and pre-NFL

[topanga]

22 hours ago, ganesh said:

I'll pay your share and mine. Corporations can't avoid due process and subject their stakeholders to arbitrary damages. 

I get your point, but didn't the CBA give Roger Goodell the authority to hand down arbitrary punishments without due process? Yes, there has been at least once instance when a court said he exceeded his authority (Ray Rice), but three courts have said he that he didn't overstep his bounds in the case of Tom Brady. 

[DrSpaceman73]

Brady won't appeal to SCOTUS, posted on his facebook account. 

Now just change this whole process in the next CBA so we don't have to do it all again. 

[AimingforYoko]

2 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Brady won't appeal to SCOTUS, posted on his facebook account. 

Now just change this whole process in the next CBA so we don't have to do it all again. 

[Rick Kitchen]

Now Brady can put this pettiness behind him, and concentrate on the important things -- speaking in support of his buddy Trump at the Republican Convention, like he was initially rumored to be doing (especially since Tim Tebow says he was never supposed to speak there).  They have so much in common - hot foreign wives, privileged backgrounds ...

[xaxat]

Soooo, rich guy buys rich guy plaything is the new standard for getting a statue.

Nope, no ego involved there at all.

[King of Birds]

Dennis Green, the former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals coach, passed away Thursday night from complications of cardiac arrest, according to his family. He was 67.

As a Vikings fan ... 1998 was OURS. F'ing Falcons.  RIP Dennis.

[AimingforYoko]

RIP Dennis. Damn, that '98 loss was painful.

Now, how most people will remember him:

[mojoween]

2016 can just quit it any time now.  

[Minneapple]

1998 was the worst.

I still love Randy Moss' impression of Denny.

http://fansided.com/2014/11/11/randy-moss-nails-hilarious-dennis-green-impression-video/

RIP, Denny.

[twoods]

How sad. Always liked him as a coach.

[xaxat]

It's official. Tom Jackson is retiring from ESPN. 

I always liked his work. And, even though Berman annoys me to no end now, I really enjoyed the two of them on the old version of NFL Primetime. 

[topanga]

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

It's official. Tom Jackson is retiring from ESPN. 

I always liked his work. And, even though Berman annoys me to no end now, I really enjoyed the two of them on the old version of NFL Primetime. 

Tom Jackson is 65? He doesn't look it. I'll miss him--I've always enjoyed his happy-go-luck-take on football. Though he's a good analyst--he doesn't sugar-coat his criticisms; he just knows how to say things nicely, if that makes any sense. 

Edited August 3, 2016 by topanga

[mojoween]

I was so sad when I saw that alert from ESPN.  NFL Countdown is the only pregame I watch and it's going to be unrecognizable this year.  Tommy was always there to calm down Cris and Key.

[Popples]

Back in May, there were reports that Chris Berman was leaving, but then his agent shot them down. I wonder if there was a blind item that a longtime Countdown host was leaving and everyone just assumed it was Berman, not Tom Jackson.

[DrSpaceman73]

I don't normally watch the HOF inductions but I did tune in for Marvin Harrison, being a Colts fan.  ANd just wanting to see him talk for once. 

Not a great speech but he did OK.  Had Peyton and Edge there in the stands. 

[topanga]

9 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

I don't normally watch the HOF inductions but I did tune in for Marvin Harrison, being a Colts fan.  ANd just wanting to see him talk for once. 

Not a great speech but he did OK.  Had Peyton and Edge there in the stands. 

Yeah, he walks softly and carries a big gun. 

[mojoween]

I would have loved to watch Favre go in live but you know, the Olympics are on.

[merylinkid]

the speeches were more emotional than usual this year.   Kevin Greene saluted all our service men and women.   Orlando Pace talked about his kids a lot and what great people they are.   Eddie Bartolo, Jr. just caused me to lose it completely when he told the story of his daughters driving to San Francisco to meet up with Joe Montana during the World Series in 1989.   Tony Dungy was Tony Dungy.   I changed the channel to Lavantula 2 rather than watch Favre's babbling.

[mojoween]

ESPN alerted me that Favre's speech was beginning so I turned it over.  It was very a Favre speech.

I cannot believe he is only four years older than I am.

[nowandlater]

11 hours ago, mojoween said:

ESPN alerted me that Favre's speech was beginning so I turned it over.  It was very a Favre speech.

I cannot believe he is only four years older than I am.

Favre is *younger* than Gwen Stefani, Jennifer Aniston, Ice Cube, Paul Rudd, Matthew Perry, Dave Grohl, Peter Dinklage Zach Galifianakis and Jason Bateman.

Also, we may think of Peyton Manning as old, but he is 2 days younger than Reese Witherspoon, 1 day younger than Keri Russell and about 2 weeks older than Candace Cameron (DJ Tanner) from Full House

Well, at least Favre made it worth the wait. (And didn't go over an hour.)

 

Edited August 7, 2016 by nowandlater

[xaxat]

I didn't realize how much change ESPN's studio crew had undergone until I saw Berman with Charles Woodson, Randy Moss and Matt Hasselbeck. 

Moss is already trying to get someone fired.

[merylinkid]

Hall of Fame game cancelled.    The field was unsafe.   Player safety is important.   But damn, I was so looking forward to football again.

[mojoween]

How is the field unplayable, exactly?  It's not like this game was a surprise.

[ebk57]

2 minutes ago, mojoween said:

How is the field unplayable, exactly?  It's not like this game was a surprise.

I'm told the paint on the field congealed and became tar-like.

 

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

[AimingforYoko]

I'm sure the players are just crushed.

[merylinkid]

They painted the logo on midfield and the end zones today.   They used the wrong paint.   It turned to tar.   Playing on it would have been dangerous.   It's preseason, so it was easy to cancel.

The Hall announced a full refund for tickets.

Some non-starters were probably hoping for a chance to shine.  

[Mountainair]

I'm not entierly disappointed because I was going to flip between football and the olympics and now I don't have to bother but I was actually looking forward to watching some football! I even broke out my new Carolina Panther paper plates for my four year olds birthday party today in honor of football season starting (he wanted a Paw Patrol party and panthers have paws, right?)

I know it was just pre season but it was a little more than that because it was the Hall of Fame game. Fans are out tickets and a game. For some people it's the only game they might have had the chance to attend.I agree that players should not be subjected to terrible field conditions but I have  seen some pretty shitty field conditions where the games aren't cancelled. It all just seems a bit weird to me.

[nowandlater]

Damn. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say I'm disappointed that I won't see QB Joe Callahan start for the Packers tonight.

[Haleth]

10 hours ago, Mountainair said:

I know it was just pre season but it was a little more than that because it was the Hall of Fame game. Fans are out tickets and a game. 

I surprised my husband and son with tickets to both the enshrinement and game.  Had to buy them off of Stub Hub so they were pretty pricey.  I'll get the face value back, but we also lose the cost of an extra night at a hotel and the meals they could have skipped by coming home yesterday instead of today.  

Incidentally, the crowd wasn't told that the game was cancelled until 8pm, long after everyone was in the stadium.  I'm sure many people were keeping up to date as my family was with social media, but for those who weren't getting tweets and texts it must have been a shock.  Great way to start the season.

[Moose135]

13 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Incidentally, the crowd wasn't told that the game was cancelled until 8pm, long after everyone was in the stadium.  I'm sure many people were keeping up to date as my family was with social media, but for those who weren't getting tweets and texts it must have been a shock.  Great way to start the season.

I have a photographer friend who was there to cover the game, and around 7:15, she posted on FB about getting ready for the game to start.  I flipped over to ESPN, and they were talking about the game being cancelled and had it on the scroll.  I replied back to her, saying I saw it on ESPN.  She said "I'm standing right next to the booth where they fixed the field!"  It was past 7:30 when she found out, about the time the HOF director was on ESPN talking about it.

[Fukui San]

So, they waited until the day of to paint the field. They used a paint that didn't dry fast enough. Then they blasted it with so much heat the rubber melted. Then they tried to "fix" this by applying a hazardous paint thinner.

I'm convinced that no one in the NFL Ops department never so much as received better than a C- on any science course.

[Artsda]

I don't understand how it wasn't until close to game time they realized it wasn't playable. They let all those fans go and sit there when hours before news was leaking that it would be cancelled.

[stealinghome]

Ah, the crackerjack management of the NFL under Goodell continues.

I'm obviously glad that they didn't let the players play in unsafe conditions, but I really feel the NFL should do more for all the fans that were at the game than just refund face value on the tickets. I know giving everyone affected a free regular-season ticket is a pipe dream, but really, there must be something else the NFL can do to offset the disappointment.

[Moose135]

58 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

So, they waited until the day of to paint the field...

From what I remember hearing them say on ESPN last night, the HOF ceremony was held on the field Saturday, although the field was covered.  They got the field cleared (seats, covers, etc.) late Saturday night (around Midnight, I think) and the paint was to fix areas damaged by all of that.  The rest was a fiasco, but in fairness, they didn't simply wait until the last minute to paint the field.

[xaxat]

All of this talk about unplayable conditions reminds me of this classic Steelers game.

[DrSpaceman73]

Its a cliché anymore, but seriously.......

You play ONE GAME A YEAR in this stadium, and its not ready? 

I was initially mad about this because I didn't get to see the Colts play, but much rather it be cancelled and not have anyone injured.  Just have to wait an extra 6 days to see them this year. 

[stealinghome]

Hee. "Literally, you had ONE JOB!"

[Haleth]

And there was a concert on the field Fri night, so there wasn't time to repaint until after the enshrinement ceremony.  The whole thing is a lesson in incompetence.

StubHub emailed me and will refund the entire purchase price plus fees, so I can't complain about that.