JStarr

Let him sit out. No way you make a running back, with all the abuse they take in a game, the highest paid player. "Sure..here's your 30 million...oh you broke your leg and are out for the season?" Let him sit out as long as he wants. When those paychecks don't come in, he'll come crawling back and accept whatever you offer Quarterbacks break legs, too. (See: Brady, Tom.) Co-sign on damshow's point. If a QB holds out, it's a greedy bitch move because as the "face of the franchise," he can make up whatever he's missing out on via endorsements as long as he's got a spoonful of charisma and has never killed animals for sport. Plus, as a "leader," he's letting the entire team twist in the wind while he bitches about how many zeros are on his check. For a RB, however, you take that aforementioned abuse AND you're easily interchangeable. Get what you can while you can, before the pounding adds up. It's up to the GM's and owners to decide just how irreplaceable they think a RB is, so it's a delicate game. In the Titans' case, they're 3-13 without CJ, so it's up to them on how much leverage they think they have.

Over/under on number of "fuck you"s Be accumulates by draft's end: 12. Here's #2. Fuck you. I guess I'll have to bank on Tony Homo being a player this year (and stealing LL's potential hookup): Miles Austin, WR, Cowboys

Second Round Matchups: Baseball: (1) Frank/Jamie McCourt v. (5) Arnold Johnson --Both their opponents actually, y'know, won stuff. Steinbrenner did damn well for himself once he learned to shut up and just write checks. Love the kids over at Pinstripe Alley, they either blocked out the '80s or aren't old enough to get into bars yet. (3) Marge Schott v. (2) Jeffrey Loria --The Rays were pretty irrelevant for their entire first decade and change, which doomed Naimoli. While Glass is a tightwad, it's hard to compete with actually putting a pillow over a team's proverbial face and smothering it the way he did with the Expos. Hockey/Soccer: (1) Tom Hicks v. (4) Atlanta Spirit --Glazer's a douche who spends other people's money, but at least he wins with it. Hicks is a douche who spends other people's money, and doesn't win with it. (3) Harold Ballard v. (2) Bill Wirtz --Shepherd was a short-term failure, and Pocklington's lack of worth was tied totally into his handling of the Gretzky trade. These two angry old bastards have an entire lifetime of antisocial behavior to draw on. Football: (1) Dan Snyder v. (4) Mike Brown --There, DMN, Al lost. LOLCINCINNATI. So, here we have a guy who splashes cash on his players and pisses on everyone else against a guy who just pockets everything not bolted down. (3) Bob Irsay v. (7) Norman Braman --Irsay was a jackhole to everyone affiliated with the Colts until the move. Braman pulled a major upset, mainly because the few votes I got seemed to be coming from Ravens fans. Basketball: (1) Donald Sterling v. (4) James Dolan --Pure evil v. cataclysmic incompetence. The Maloofs could easily be Sterling times two in about 10-15 years if they get to move to Anaheim. (3) Chris Cohan v. (2) Ted Stepien --Both these fools liked to make a ton of moves just to say that they were trying to get better. Votes are still appreciated, because this thing's getting seen out until the bitter end.

Pac-12/Big Ten won't give up their Rose Bowl match up and excluding teams outside the power conferences won't work either (say "hello" to Notre Dame and soon to be Texas). Funny enough, the Big Ten and Pac-12 sound like they're about to shit and get off the pot regarding the whole "plus-one" idea. Florida State seems like it'd be a great bet to join, but Florida's going to spit nails at the idea of giving FSU another recruiting advantage. Same with Clemson and South Carolina. North Carolina, WVU, or VT would actually expand the footprint, without honking off any of the current membership. UNC's a real longshot, since they'd be loath to break up the basketball rivalry with Duke, but they'd be even better all-around additions than FSU or Clemson. Missouri would do the same, but it's hard to imagine them ever really being able to compete in SEC football. Of course, it's hard to imagine aTm doing much better than 8-4 any year themselves, so meh. Besides, there's really nothing that forces the SEC to keep the divisions balanced. They may just stick with adding one.

Final link of the first round, to the hockey/soccer bracket. This'll probably be the one somebody gives me shit over. In hindsight, maybe someone like Ridsdale or even a second dose of James Dolan would have made a better fit than Charles Wang.

Sorry. (On the same note, a belated fuck you to Starr for stealing Ray Rice.) How exactly can I steal what was left on the table? If anyone should be giving me shit, it's Damshow. I must say, though, I was surprised that you left him for me, and I smiled while I made that pick. (And I was thisclose to taking DMN's well-wishes on myself and snagging Run-DMC. But, y'know, LOLOAKLAND and all that.)

Just when I think it's time to get away from the RB-heavy strategy, you all face-rape the QB crop AND take away the only two receivers I'd draft this high. Ah, well: RB LeSean McCoy, Eagles.

Was wondering that myself, and presto, there's a site dedicated to just such a question. The totals listed on there is pre-Smith's $2M, so they appear to be down to less than $3M available. Not leaving a whole lot of room to give DeSean any kind of raise, so maybe they're not all that concerned about him walking after all.

Link to the basketball bracket. This one probably has some of the most delightfully clueless jackholes ever. Sterling, Cohan, and even Stepien, who was so bad in just three years that he actually provoked rules changes.

Amy Trask. Link to the football bracket, including the stories about Al. Writing about these things teaches you a lot about finding facts. If I'm going to put my name out there on these pieces, I need to know what I'm writing about. If I'm all LOLOAKLAND, it's because they've earned it, not because it's "cool" to hate on the Raiders or whatever. I put Al against Mike Brown precisely because of what Al's contributed over the years, giving him a matchup he'd be very likely to lose, since Mike Brown has had absolutely no redeeming value over the years. Still, Al's last true genius move may have been snagging Bo Jackson after Tampa Bay fucked up signing him. Looking at it from the outside, I'd be pretty embarrassed if my team's owner was becoming known primarily for suing coaches, alienating his best players, drafting speed freaks and going 5-11. (Read what's written, and you'll notice that I praised some of the recent speed freaks for looking like solid players so far.)

Fixed. Though I do agree that he shouldn't be here. Then go vote for Mike Brown. Of course, that's still overlooking that over the last 25 years, Al's contributed little more than chaos and mayhem. The only things Al's done in the last 25 years is move back to Oakland, watch his former coach kick his team's ass in the Super Bowl, and draft horribly. I'm sorry, that doesn't outweigh the fact that he did more for the black athlete than anyone this side of Branch Rickey, and helped force the merger. I'll give you the merger. If it wasn't for him grabbing the NFL by the nuts and saying "We're coming after your players," there would still be two leagues. As for the black athlete part, Paul Brown comes in a little bit ahead of Al. Most of the rest of the NFL was still made up of crusty old racist white guys, and Brown was bringing in Marion Motley, Bill Willis, and Jim Brown when no one else was giving those guys opportunities. The entire AFL had to be proactive in scouting the HBCU teams for talent, and Al didn't do all that much more than Hank Stram or Sid Gillman were doing at the time. The Raiders were the first to draft a black QB in the first round, sure...but then they drafted Ken Stabler in the second and told Eldridge Dickey he was going to play receiver, since, you know, black guys weren't smart enough to play QB and all. Now that's some trailblazin' right there. There's a lot more, but I know you won't bother to read any of it, so why bother?

Lots of the same guys in place, they just got paid handsomely. About their only solution is to petition for realignment. Being in with the Saints, Falcons, and Bucs is a death sentence this year. Depends on how excited you are about Cam Newton...but from the way the coaching staff is talking, the #1 receiver may be the man, the myth, the legend that is Legedu Naanee.

Fixed. Though I do agree that he shouldn't be here. Then go vote for Mike Brown. Of course, that's still overlooking that over the last 25 years, Al's contributed little more than chaos and mayhem.

All right, fine, I give up and I'll take votes here. Seriously, though, I think the pieces will turn out well worth the time to read. (Should be, I've put in a retarded amount of work on them, occasionally annoying my wife and new baby in the process.) Baseball Matchups: (1) Frank/Jamie McCourt v. (8) Wayne Huizenga (4) George Steinbrenner v. (5) Arnold Johnson (If you don't know who he is, go read. Seriously, I'd place him as a dark horse to win.) (3) Marge Schott v. (6) Vince Naimoli (2) Jeffrey Loria v. (7) David Glass Hockey/Soccer Matchups: (1) Tom Hicks v. (8) Charles Wang (4) Atlanta Spirit v. (5) Malcolm Glazer (3) Harold Ballard v. (6) Freddie Shepherd (2) Bill Wirtz v. (7) Peter Pocklington Football Matchups: (1) Dan Snyder v. (8) Ralph Wilson (4) Mike Brown v. (5) Al Davis (3) Bob Irsay v. (6) Hugh Culverhouse (2) Art Modell v. (7) Norman Braman Basketball Matchups: (1) Donald Sterling v. (8) Joe/Gavin Maloof (4) James Dolan v. (5) Howard Schultz (3) Chris Cohan v. (6) George Shinn (2) Ted Stepien (seriously, go read once this one's posted) v. (7) Michael Heisley

Angelos was last man out in baseball. It was just hard to pin down a lot of his issues in specific stories, enough to keep him in for a potential deep run. You know, if anyone ever actually votes. Which no one's done yet.

Of course, 10 points for a safety, because just how fucking often do you ever see a safety? If your defense gets one, you'll love for it to be celebrated. Oh, and just to be different: RB Ray Rice, Ravens.

4 outta 5 ain't bad, and the Bidwills may have been last one out.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/nfl/08/08/mikel-leshoure-injury.ap/index.html?xid=si_topstories Mikel Leshoure done for the year w/ a torn Achilles. Ouch. Lady Luck has a cactus up the Lions' collective ass.

At the rate we're going, Kyle Orton will be a third-round pick. He's one of my Purdue boys and all, but shit. Hard to rely on RB's anymore, it seems.

Glazer, Fat Freddie, and Tom Hicks are the three Association football guys on Thursday's bracket. The rest are hockey.

Co-sign. Unless, of course, there's a Jeter Tax. If you want to comment on him, you have to post a picture of some of his reported conquests. Pissing and moaning about Yankees always goes down a little easier with Mariah and Minka pics to gaze at.

Snyder's #1 seed. Al's a potential second-round opponent for him.

The Worst Sports Owners Tournament: Baseball Regional Okay, guys, time to stimulate a little discussion. I'm writing a series for Athlon designed around a 32-person tournament to determine the worst owner in sports history. I know there are countless other people who could be eligible, and I know there'll probably be more "XXX isn't on the list, so it loses all credibility" posts than actual votes, but if everyone could humor me and put in a ballot, it'd be excellent. The link goes to the baseball bracket. Football, basketball, and hockey/futbol go live later this week. Votes can go in one of three places: 1) on the article itself, 2) the 4 Quarters Radio Facebook page, or 3) the Athlon Sports Facebook page. Discussion here is great, but a minute to put a vote in one of those three places would be appreciated. Thanks.

The Deion Sanders Sunday Ticket commercials somehow seem to get more amusing now that he's in the Hall of Fame. Anyone else know of any HoF'ers who've dressed up as fairies for commercials? (This should go somewhere interesting.)

But the Sanchez is a huge hit with the 17-year-old girls.