When the bottom drops out of the market

This week's Sports Illustrated includes an article about Edgerrin James and the fact that the Colts franchised him instead of giving him a long-term deal. All NFL players want that one big deal that includes the eight-figure signing bonus. Since most NFL contracts aren't guaranteed, the signing bonus is peace of mind in two ways. It's a ton of money, which sets a player up, and his posse if necessary, and it makes it very hard for the team to release said player without taking a massive salary cap hit.

Edgerrin James and Shaun Alexander, two of the top running backs in the NFL, both got franchise tenders instead of the expected long-term deals. A few years after the Dolphins traded two first-round picks for Ricky Williams, no NFL team was interested in giving even a second-round pick for these Pro Bowlers.

My main question is this: How did teams get so smart so quickly? When the Titans signed Eddie George to the uber extension after the 1999 season, it was a no-brainer. After the 2003 season, when George had no tread on the tire, the team had to take a considerable cap hit to let him go. Running backs age rapidly, and NFL general managers are turning into fantasy football players, in that younger is always better, and in their case cheaper.

It's all about who you know

I went to a networking meeting last night. My networking skills are like Ryan Leaf's football-throwing skills. At least I have some upside in that regard.

What's a networking meeting like? A large group of people get together in a room, exchange business cards, and give their 30-second elevator speech. It's a quick summation of what you do and what you'd like to do. Mine goes something like this: "My name is Zach Law. I'm a technical writer by trade but my dream job is to be the guy who holds the wires up on Jeff Fisher's headset during Titan games."

My dream job would be to write on football full-time. I don't want to be a team's beat reporter because that would involve too many interviews with naked 300-pound guys who can bench press three of me. Right now I have to get by on writing football-like articles from time to time.

The worst thing about networking is that people assume that you're unemployed. There's nothing wrong with having a job, but when I say that I have a job the other person generally gives me the stink-eye. It's not quite the same as going to a speed-dating event when you have a girlfriend, but it can feel that way.

Mark Buerhle started the All-Star game. That's all well and good. He got rocked by the Royals. Can you see Roger Clemens getting rocked by the Royals? John Smoltz? Ok, so the Sox were due to lose to the Royals after sweeping them to date. It just sucks losing to them, and their waddling 'ace' Jose Lima.

Titans camp opens on Friday. This is the time when I wish our downstairs condo wasn't obscured by so many trees, making the purchase of DirectTV impossible. We have to make due with basic cable, and no NFL Network. Considering how many hours of TiVo'd programs that we've watched this summer I don't know if I could keep up anyway. I'd like to see how Pacman Jones does on the field because he's been struggling off the field. I'd also like to find out if Jeff Fisher was blowing smoke with his RBBC comment regarding Travis Henry and Chris Brown. Fisher's always run one RB into the ground but he never had a twosome like this. It will be interesting to find out of Tyrone Calico, Jacob Bell, and Tank Williams are healthy.

My New England Patriots Team Overview is up today. Here are a few tidbits that didn't make the article:

Now that the Patriots 'own' the NFL, they're trying to take over the world. They were the first team Web page to have a Chinese site. Owner Robert Kraft 'accidentally' slipped a Super Bowl ring in Russian President Vladimir Putin's pocket. If this were a game of Risk, the Patriots would be on their way to an easy victory.

Some Patriot fans can't get their heads around the team's success. One fan sent an e-mail saying that the NFL conspired to keep the Pats' Super Bowl DVD off the market. The three DVD sets commemorating the Patriots' Super Bowl wins have sold like crazy. I don't know how this guy didn't get the memo.

My theory is that before the Patriots went on this crazy winning streak, their fans were like Chicago White Sox fans, only they generally showed up to games. There was a lot of unrequited love until recently, and the idea of being on top of the league does not compute. I doubt it ever will.

Ebay madness

I sunk to a new personal low today. I bought coupons on ebay. This comes from the man who once bought food on ebay. That purchase was a 100-count box of Pria Carb Select bars. The bars sell for $1.50 at the store, and that’s on sale. The box cost me $30, including shipping. Sure, the bars were expired, but how do you tell if a protein bar is expired these days? I did abandon the box about 2/3 of the way through but I got my money’s worth.

The coupons were for my new addiction, Eclipse mints. I couldn’t find a 100-count box of them on ebay. The mints cost about $1.50 (see a trend here?) a box, which I think is robbery. So I went to ebay and purchased 20 $1 off coupons for less than four bucks. This is a cottage industry that I think has upside. Buy a ton of Sunday papers, clip like mad, then post on ebay. Watch the money roll in. I could see a solid profit per paper, assuming that someone wants to buy 20 coupons for kitty litter. Hmm, we are kind of low on litter.

Pulling the trigger

The Travis Henry deal proved one thing to me. The experts may be kicking the Titans' corpse, but the franchise believes it can compete this year. There's no reason to trade for a proven running back, and possibly sign him to an extension, unless the Titans expect to be much better than 2004. It's even sweeter that the Titans 'stole' Henry from the Jaguars, who now say they would have offered a 2006 second-rounder for the former University of Tennessee running back.

Does the signing of one player make the Titans that much better in 2005? Of course not. What it shows is that the front office is willing to do what it takes to get a player that the team needs. Even without an extension, the Titans paid 1.25 million and a third-round pick for security in the running game. With four out of five offensive line starters returning and a healthy McNair, the sky's the limit for the offense this year. Let's not talk about the defense for a minute.

Now the debate is on. It's more of a big deal for fantasy footballers than real footballers. Titans fans just want the best guy to get the ball at the right time. Fantasy footballers want either Chris Brown or Travis Henry to get the majority of the carries. Why is that? Because people who play fantasy football are insane. The ideal situation for fantasy-football freaks would be 32 starting running backs on 32 teams. There would be no third-down backs and no one would steal goal-line carries. Then again, think about how boring that would be. Imagine this tedious football month without talk of Priest Holmes/Larry Johnson, Michael Bennett/Mewelde Moore, and the logjam in Carolina.

The White Sox juggernaut continues. A four-game sweep in Cleveland proves that the division race is all but over. That's one way to erase the painful sweep at home against the As last week. There are rumors that the Sox are talking trade with the Marlins. They're looking at A.J. Burnett, although the trade would have to include Mike Lowell and his big contract. With Buehrle, Garcia, and Garland pitching so well, do the Sox need another starting pitcher? One advantage to getting Burnett is that another team wouldn't get him. It's doubtful that Burnett would be anything other than a second-half rental as he will be a free agent in 2006 and the Sox have free agents of their own to consider.

Take your black eye and stick it where the sun don't shine

Gary Sheffield said that Derek Jeter not being in the All-Star game was a 'black eye for baseball'. Wasn't it the fans who voted Scott Podsednik as the 32nd American League all-star? There might be more Yankee fans in Chicago than White Sox fans, yet our little guy that could made the team over Captain Intangibles. I think it might mean a smidge more for Podesdnik to get his one at-bat in the eighth inning tonight as opposed to Jeter, who probably could use the three days off.

Besides, Yankee fans will get plenty of coverage when their team plays the Red Sox this weekend. After a couple of days covering the entire league, the baseball establishment can pay attention to the only two teams that matter. It's going to be really sad when one of these teams misses the playoffs.

Mark Buehrle is the American League starter. Sure it took Roy Halladay's leg getting cut in half in his last start for it to happen, but it did. In a year in which the Sox have their best team in almost half a century, it makes sense that home-field advantage in the World Series goes through Buehrle for an inning or two.

Barring some kind of natural disaster, my dad will join the AUFL this year. One of the original owners can't make it, and we're trying to have every owner make it to the live draft this year. Last year two owners had to send a proxy list, and that was just wrong. You'd think that I'm dragging my dad into the league for easy money. Since we don't play for money and my dad's already in two leagues with me already, this is not the case. I took special pride in beating my dad in the AUBL playoffs. Sure, it was just fantasy baseball, but it counts in the standings. Bring it on, OBL.

Flexibility

In 2004 the Tennessee Titans signed Jarrett Payton as a free agent. He had a solid but unspectacular career at the University of Miami. He earned a starting spot when Frank Gore tore the second ACL in his college career. Most experts thought that he was selected solely for his name. After all, Jeff Fisher played with his dad.

When Payton joined the team, trainers quickly figured out that he was one of the least flexible professional athletes in history. Payton couldn’t touch his toes. A year on the practice squad prepared him to earn a spot on the Titans’ 53-man roster this fall.

Today I ‘graduated’ from physical therapy. The bottom line? I need to get more flexible. The more flexible I am, the less likely I am to get injured.

I do need to get back into shape. I focused on the back the last time I did weights and was sore for two days. Saturday’s return to the football field resulted in three days of soreness. And you know what? It’s worth it. It’s 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity, or in Atlanta, a typical summer day, and we’re having fun.

The AUFL draft commences in 38 days. So far I haven’t taken the time to prepare like I have in past years. My wife’s idea to have entrance music not unlike what plays before MLB batters come to the plate seems close to fruition. Should the individual owner select their entrance music, or should it be selected by the owner’s peers? So far I like the idea of the latter. We’ll see.

We got three!

Three All-Stars for the Chicago White Sox is pretty impressive. That’s until you realize that 32 guys make the roster and there are 14 teams in the American League. Paul Konerko and Mark Buehrle make their second trip to the midseason classic, while Jon Garland will make his second appearance. Garland is tied for the major-league lead in wins. He’s a candidate to start the game.

Scott Podsednik is one of the five candidates for the fan-based vote on the final All-Star. This player will, at best, get one at-bat and might play an inning or two in the field. There are two Yankees in the running. Podsednik leads the major leagues in stolen bases, but I have about as good a chance of winning the vote.

Brandon McCarthy, the top pitching prospect in the White Sox pipeline, proved last night that he’s not ready for the major leagues. Giving up five runs in three innings against the Devil Rays is a sure sign. McCarthy is still 21, and before this year pitched less than half a season in AA. We’ll let him slide for now.

It’s the most boring time of the year for an NFL fan. Although training camps begin in less than a month there’s nothing happening. The only news of note lately is Ty Law’s trip around the NFL. Someone’s going to bite and sign this guy to some serious cabbage. The Titans would have to release another half-dozen guys to get him. Shaun Alexander said that he won’t play for the franchise number. There’s no chance that he misses regular-season time. I just don’t see it. The market for starting running backs may have dried up, but Shaun Alexander is a premium player. He’s a lock to go top-three in fantasy football redrafts.

Happy July 4

Warning: No research was done in the completion of today’s blog.

So Kenny Rogers, he of the 20-game suspension by MLB, gets voted onto the All-Star team. I’m going to guess, as I’ve done no research, that two White Sox players made the team. There is home-field advantage in the World Series at stake, but still the All-Star game is virtually meaningless. The Home-Run Derby has changed from eight participants to eight players from different countries. Wow, that’s going to get me tuning in. I’m rooting for the Canadian.

Thanks to the magic of the online MLB radio package, I listened to part of the White Sox/As game yesterday afternoon. It was another feeble offensive effort by the Pale Hose. A throwing error by Mark Buerhle on a routine double-play ball let the As take the lead and eventually win the game and the series. With Damaso Marte on the DL and highly paid batting practice pitchers Kevin Walker and Luis Vizcaino getting work in tough situations, losses like this might become more common for the Sox. I don’t pay a ton of attention to box scores every day, but it seems like Frank Thomas is trying solely to hit home runs at this point. He already has nine, and is maybe a season and a half short of 500 for his career. The offense is struggling of late, and only the uber starting pitching keeps the team in games over the past week. Another bat, say at least a competent bench guy, and possibly another middle reliever wouldn’t help. An opportunity like this for the Sox isn’t going to come up very often, so they need to make the best of it.

My seven-week sabbatical from flag-football came to an end this weekend. My back held up but my legs are sore two days after the fact. Even with Atlanta’s usual 120% humidity the games are a lot of fun. Luckily there was a new guy so I didn’t get picked on. After turning 30 it’s a simple matter of paying attention to my body. For a few days I thought I was finished, and now I think I might play for another decade.

I am a little down for a couple of reasons. We just bought a Dell laptop and it’s stuck on the blue screen of death. Alison started putting software on the machine this morning and it didn’t like one of our selections. Because Windows XP Professional was installed on the computer there is no recovery disk. Great idea, guys. It took yours truly a few hours just to find the power cord when the battery died. The laptop makes it possible for us to both work at the same time.

An old friend gave me a lead on an excellent job opportunity last week. It was exciting because the job was part-time and paid more than my current full-time job. The catch was that I’d have to learn a new industry in approximately one week. I threw myself into the endeavor, and once I had forwarded the appropriate materials to my friend I waited. Two days later I sent a desperate e-mail. It was not unlike the phone call to the person with which you shared a promising date but then disappeared into the ether. It seems that my friend, who’s new with this company, isn’t doing so well in his current position and is thinking about quitting. There goes my in.

I’ve decided to be a good example and remain positive about the experience. In a week I picked up enough knowledge to speak intelligently on a completely new industry. If nothing else I can pull this information out at parties. I can bore people on a subject other than my recent fantasy-football drafts.