NFL Not Making Progress With Player's Union The NFL players association is telling agents to negotiate contracts as if no new labor deal will be in place during free agency. Union executive director Gene Upshaw finished the latest bargaining session today without hammering out a contract extension. Upshaw sounded pessimistic that a contract can be settled before the free agent signing period begins next Friday. One player effected by a lack of a labor deal is the New England Patriots' Adam Vinatieri's future. The kicker could get a chance to test free agency after the team declined to name him its franchise player. The designation would have forced the Pats to commit to a one-year, three million-dollar offer to Vinatieri. Without the tag, the team won't be compensated if he signs with another team.  
Wednesday, February 22, 2006 Same will apply for Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, as the three are set to participate only in physical and psychological examinations, and the individual team interviews. Leinart and Bush are set for actual work outs on USC's pro-timing day, set for April 2 at USC and is expected to draw representatives from virtually every team. 2006 NFL Draft will be held April 29-30. The Houston Texans have the first draft choice of the first round. - Young Won't Work Out At NFL Combine (MSNBC) - Work Will Come Later For Leinart, Bush, Young (Los Angeles Times)
The Arrival Of Bonds While Manny Waiting Game Continues - Barry Bonds Arrives At Giants' Camp (ABC News) - Manny Given Permission To Report March 1 (ABC News)
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - Mets' Franco Eyes Making History At 47 (Houston Chronicle)
Park The Bus In The Booth The former Steelers running back prides himself on his honesty, and promises to tell nothing but the truth when he starts his NBC job as a studio analyst for "Football Night in America" Sunday nights. working the pre game show with co-hosts broadcaster Bob Costas and former NFL wide receiver Cris Collinsworth. - Bettis Ready To Speak His Mind In TV Gig (Miami Herald)
Bonds To Retire Soon...Maybe Barry Bonds might retire after this season. Or, maybe not. The San Francisco slugger gave differing accounts over the weekend, first saying this year would be his last--no matter whether he hits the 48 home runs he needs to break Hank Aaron's record. He followed this up by being a no-show for the first day of Spring Training. - Bonds To Retire At End Of Season, Report Says (MSNBC)- Bonds Not Sure (NorthJersey.com) - Giants Await Bonds For Spring Training (USA Today)
Friday, February 17, 2006 The WBC runs from March 3-20, and Steinbrenner has four big named Yankees playing hooky to be there. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon are on the U.S. roster, and Bernie Williams is on Puerto Rico's preliminary roster. - Steinbrenner Not a Fan of World Classic (Washington Post)
Oklahoma State & Indiana Prepare For New Coaches Two big time college basketball programs are making the adjustment to the idea of new leadership. Oklahoma State basketball coach Eddie Sutton was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol today, a week after tests showed his blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit following a car crash. The 69 year old coach is seeking treatment for an alcohol problem, and is officially on a medical leave of absence from the school. He's fifth on the NCAA Division I career coaching wins list with 794. Indiana Hoosiers 's basketball coach Mike Davis has announced his resignation, effective at the end of the season. Mike Davis has had a very rocky and very verbal relationship with school officials and the Hoosier fans. - Oklahoma State Coach Sutton Charged With DUI (SI.com)
Wednesday, February 15, 2006 This season, look for more opportunities for minor league prospects to make there presence known with 30 Major Leaguers getting a pass from playing ball Florida & Arizona to participate in the World Baseball Classic next month. - Major League Baseball's Spring Training Page (MLB.com)
Monday, February 13, 2006 - Hogwired.com Calls Hog Fans (Northwest Arkansas Business Journal)
Good Or Bad: Which News Do You Choose For Team USA? Injury has claimed Figure Skater Michele Kwan hopes of finally earning Olympic gold, while poor performance lead to losses by Skiers Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves and Short track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno. Trying not to get lost in the shuffle of bad news was the Gold medals wins for speedskater Chad Hedrick and snowboarder Shaun White. The U.S. currently leads the Gold Medal Count with three, but total medal count currently belongs to Norway, followed by us (The U.S.) and Russia with 5. - U.S. Winter Olympics Coverage (Yahoo! Sports)
Thursday, February 09, 2006 Bryant scored 32 points and dished out a season-high nine assists as the Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak with an 89-78 victory last night over the Houston Rockets. - Nike Plays Ball With Kobe Again (Forbes) - Bryant Fancies Passing In Lakers' Win (Inside Bay Area)
For Damon, Making Up Is Hard To Do Former Boston Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon is hoping to mend his relationship with fans who months ago adored him. Damon ran a full-page newspaper ad thanking Red Sox nation inside the sports section of The Boston Globe on Wednesday, reading, "Many thanks to the great fans of New England and the city of Boston. It was a privilege and an honor." Damon signed a free agent contract with Boston's bitter rival, the New York Yankees, in December. - Damon thanks Boston fans (TSN.ca)
Michaels Traded For "Rabbit," Reunited With Free Agent Maddenn In exchange for letting Michaels out of his contract with ABC Sports and ESPN to allow him to continue his football partnership with John Madden on the new Sunday NFL on NBC, NBC Universal sold ESPN cable rights to Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups, granted ESPN increased usage of Olympic highlights and sold to The Walt Disney Company the rights to "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit," a character in silent cartoons made by Walt Disney from 1927-28. Disney is the parent company of ABC and ESPN. - Michaels Traded from ESPN to NBC (E! Online)
Wednesday, February 08, 2006 Starting with the new ESPN Monday Night Football telecasts for next season. Play-by-play will be handled by Mike Tirico, with color commentary coming from Washington Post columnist Kornheiser and former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann, the only holdover from ESPN's Sunday Night Football crew. Al Michaels is trailing John Madden, who moved to NBC to cover there new Sunday night broadcast. Michaels jump from ABC means a shuffle in there NBA Basketball broadcasting lineup. He will be replaced by Mike Breen. And Fox's head man at the football desk James Brown is returning to the place where he made his network start and back to his roots. Brown CBS to host the network's NFL pregame show and work as a play-by-play announcer for NFL and college basketball games. - 'Monday Night Football' Gets Innovative With Kornheiser (San Jose Mercury News) - Michaels Out At 'Monday Night Football' (ABC News) - Lure Of Basketball Brings Fox's Brown To CBS (USA Today)
Tuesday, February 07, 2006 And then we have the gamblers who are just waiting for the next big bet, and the MGM Mirage Casino in Las Vegas is happy to oblige. The casino has already listed the Indianapolis Colts as next year's favorite to win next year's Super Bowl XLI (which I hope makes 41). The bookmakers are giving the colts 4-1 odds. The Seattle Seahawks are the favorite in the NFC at 5-1. Same odds go to the New England Patriots, winners of three of the past five Super Bowls, at 5-1. As for the champion Steelers, they and the Carolina Panthers are both listed at 6-1.
Olympic Host Will Get Record Viewers While Depleting City Coffers What these games will not do is make a profit immediately. Turin city officials expect the Winter Olympics to cost their town about 49 million dollars, which has pledged to fill the gap. Opening ceremonies for this year's winter Olympics is Friday.
Monday, February 06, 2006 But their were a total of three MIA for the roll call. Former Miami Dolphin Jake Scott was traveling in Australia, Pittsburgh Steeler Terry Bradshaw wanted to stay home with family, and the San Francisco 49er and the only three-time Super Bowl MVP Joe Montana...well, here's well the report gets interesting. The NFL reportedly provided basic amenities for their appearance, such as plane tickets, car rental and game tickets. On top of that was $1,000 for incidental expenses while in Detroit. Montana apparently wanted $100,000, and refused to be a part of the show when his demands were not met. Bradshaw also is rumored to have wanted more money. He has denied these reports - 3 MVPs Missing From Super Bowl Tribute (MSNBC)
Friday, February 03, 2006 More statements from the commissioner include a renewed committed to keeping the Saints in New Orleans, support for continued instant replay, the chances of playing a 2006 regular-season game outside the US being close to nil, and that the only way Los Angeles would get a team would be through expansion, which is not very likely as it would give the NFL an odd number of franchises. - Tagliabue unhappy with CBA progress (Sports Network)
A Light Session Of Super Bowl Mouth Running In response, Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens calls Porter's comments "ridiculous." But to be fair, Porter's words were actually a response to Stevens' remarks about running back Jerome Bettis getting a lot of the press with him playing in his home town of Detroit for what is possibly his last professional football game. Stevens basically said it was a nice news story, but its too bad that Bettis' team is going to lose. The Steelers get the chance to see if they can back up Porter's talk this Sunday. Pittsburgh remains a four-point favorite in Super Bowl 40.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006 While the NFL would like the Saints to play all there home games next season in the dome, tHe NBA isn't quite as commited. At least not yet. The league is hoping the Hornets can return to New Orleans full-time for the 2007-08 seasonand is negotiating to bring the N-B-A All-Star game to that city in 2008. But it has been announced that the team will play 35 of its home games in Oklahoma City next season. The other six will be played in New Orleans. - NFL, At Saints' urging, kicks in $20 million for dome repairs (Times Picayune) - Hornets to return to Oklahoma City for most of 2006-07 season (SI.com)
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