Olympic great Phelps produces stroke of genius (Reuters)

05 Oct
2012

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps from the U.S. watches his drive at the 13th hole during the second round of the Dunhill Links golf championship in Kingsbarns near St Andrews, Scotland October 5, 2012. REUTERS/David Moir

ST ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) - Olympic great Michael Phelps is known for the excellence of his swimming strokes but will now gain recognition for his putting stroke after sinking a 150-foot effort at the Dunhill Links pro-am. The American's drive at the downhill, 337-yard par-four sixth hole at Kingsbarns, one of three courses being used at this week's tournament, finished just short of the green and he jumped with delight after rolling in his eagle putt on Friday. "A 50-yard putt!", exclaimed Phelps who has won 22 Olympic medals including 18 golds. ...


Tags: , Dunhill Links, , , Kingsbarns, Olympic great Michael Phelps, Olympic great Phelps, Olympic medals, , recognition, stroke, stroke of genius,
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Golf-Olympic great Phelps produces stroke of genius (Reuters)

05 Oct
2012
ST ANDREWS, Scotland, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Olympic great Michael Phelps is known for the excellence of his swimming strokes but will now gain recognition for his putting stroke after sinking a 150-foot effort at the Dunhill Links pro-am. The American's drive at the downhill, 337-yard par-four sixth hole at Kingsbarns, one of three courses being used at this week's tournament, finished just short of the green and he jumped with delight after rolling in his eagle putt on Friday. "A 50-yard putt!", exclaimed Phelps who has won 22 Olympic medals including 18 golds. ...
Tags: , Dunhill Links, , , Olympic great Michael Phelps, Olympic medals, , Phelps, recognition, , stroke, stroke of genius,
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Process vs. outcome, and why metrics can’t make it on fourth down

03 Oct
2012

"You can say a lot of things about me as a coach, OK? I'm sure you do, and so do a lot of other people. But I'm just telling you something -- one thing I'm not, is scared. Are we gonna go for it on fourth down every time we have it at our own 20-yard line? No, I'm not saying that. But I'm not afraid to go for it if you guys give me the confidence. And that's the way I felt about this yesterday. I felt better about us going for it than I did about giving them the ball back.

"But I'm telling you -- if we call this, you'd better [bleeping] get it."

That was New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, the day after his team beat the Atlanta Falcons, 26-10, in Week 3 of the 2009 season. In the third quarter, Belichick called for a handoff to Sammy Morris on fourth-and-1 from the New England 24-yard line, a strategy that could have blown up in Belichick's face had Morris not converted the first down. Morris gained 2 yards on the play, Belichick was a genius, and the crisis was averted.

About two months later, the Patriots were facing the Indianapolis Colts, when Belichick seemingly lost his mind -- the hubris of this man!!! -- and tried to convert a fourth-and-2 from his own 28-yard line with a little over two minutes left in the game. The Tom Brady pass to running back Kevin Faulk was true, but Colts defender Melvin Bullitt stopped Faulk short. The Colts scored a last-second touchdown on their final drive, and won, 35-34. Everyone in the world had an opinion on Belichick's decision, and most of them were negative.

It was a season in which the Patriots fell short of the Super Bowl -- the New Orleans Saints beat the Colts in the NFL championship that year, in part due to a successful onside kick called by head coach Sean Payton to start the second half. Due to the proper execution on one risky play, Payton managed to straddle the fine line between clever and stupid, as Nigel Tufnel might say.

In truth, when you ask the NFL's decision-makers about risky moves, it's not about the difference between genius and idiocy; it's about the divide between process and outcome.

Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders started studying these trends long before Belichick went for it and failed, and Payton went for it and succeeded. As he recently wrote on Deadspin, he's analyzed NFL risk management approximately "eleventy-billion times." He most recently did so in response to the gambit taken by Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera, who chose to punt from the 50-yard line last Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons with a 28-27 lead, and 1:09 left the game. The ball was downed at Atlanta's 1-yard line, and if you could have stopped the game there, Rivera would have been a genius. However, the Falcons drove down the field with no timeouts, and Matt Bryant booted a winning 40-yard field goal with five seconds left.

Schatz on the decision:

The old school will say that Rivera made the right decision because rookie Brad Nortman launched a spectacular punt. The Panthers downed it on the one-yard line; the only way the punt would have been better was if the Atlanta returner had fumbled it away. Because of that great punt, Rivera's decision didn't actually end up hurting Carolina's win probability—at least according to those league-wide statistical models. (Remember, personnel matters: Carolina was still stuck isolating [safety Haruki] Nakamura in deep coverage against Roddy White, one of the five best receivers in the league.)

But you don't judge decisions based on results; you judge them based on process. When Rivera made the decision, he didn't have a magical crystal ball that told him Brad Nortman was going to land the punt on the one-yard line. Nortman easily could have put the ball in the end zone for a touchback—just like he did when punting to New Orleans in a similar situation near the end of Carolina's Week 2 win.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but Atlanta won anyway.

"It comes down to this," Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, who fumbled on the play before the punt,  told me on Wednesday. "In any franchise, owners own, coaches coach, and players play. As a player, I'm supposed to do what my coaches tell me to do. He felt that he wanted to kick the punt, and I was all for it, and that's what we did. I shouldn't have fumbled to put our team in that type of situation to begin with. If I wouldn't have fumbled we get a first down and that game is won. Any way you look at it, it could've been a lot of things that went our way at the end, but they didn't. Coach Rivera always says, 'in a game where you play good enough to win, you play just as good enough to lose.'"

Rivera told me that each conversion opportunity is different, and that probability is a subliminal factor at best. "It's rule of thumb," he said of the punt in question. "If you're at the 50-yard line and you get [the first down], it's a great decision. If you don't get it, all they have to do is go 35 yards and [kick the field goal]. And excuse the expression, but it's dumbassed.

"We make light of it, but think about this -- what happened in the Super Bowl three years ago with New Orleans vs. Indianapolis? They onside-kicked it, but what would have happened if the Colts recovered, and scored the very next series? Now, everyone's going, 'Oh, why would you do that?' It's a calculated risk, and if you feel it's what you've got to do, great. But remember, if it doesn't work, everyone says, 'Oh, by punting, you decrease your opportunity to win.' Yeah, but guess what? If I go for it on fourth down and I don't make it, I decrease my opportunities to win, too, don't I?"

So the metrics should tell you, I said somewhat flippantly, that if the other team is going to go 99 yards down the field and win the game, you shouldn't punt from midfield. Where was THAT metric when coach Rivera needed it, I wondered?

"That's what my thought was," he said. "If we kick the ball inside, and they have to go 99 yards to score a touchdown ... we have to kick it and take our chances. That's the decision I made at the time, and I'd probably do it all over again. It's one of those things. I see all these statistics coming out, and we have to be careful. What happens is, for those other 160 plays in the game, what do the statistics tell you then?"

And, I hypothesized to Rivera, if a coach starts to focus on the outcome as opposed to the process -- if he puts himself at the schematic mercy of the things he can't control -- that's where he gets lost.

"I think so -- I mean, you've got to look at the whole thing. A couple years ago, there was another coach who went for it against another team [referring to Belichick against the Colts] and didn't make it, and the inverse happened. Everyone says "Oh, don't forget what happened with coach Belichick -- he tried to go for it, and he didn't get it.' You give the ball to Peyton Manning in that spot, and Indianapolis wins.

"So, it's one of those things. It's a great decision if it works, and I guess that's my point, I guess if we had punted, and they had to go 99 yards to beat us, and we'd stopped them, it would have been a great decision, I guess."

Pete Carroll, whose Seahawks play the Panthers this Sunday, told me of his own risk-management debacle. "The best one I hate to remember is in the USC national championship game against Texas. It was fourth-and-1 1/2 at about the 38-yard line. We ran the same play we had been successful with 18 straight times in the season, the back-side end got in, knocked us down, we fell short, and we didn't make it. There were a number of reasons to go for it: One, we were really good at it. Two, if we make the first down, we take a knee and win the game. We didn't want them to get the ball back. All of those factors go into it.

"When coach Belichick went for it, he knew that he [would have been giving] the ball back to Peyton Manning. So, let's win the game here, instead of trying to win the game over there. There are a lot of things that are going on -- the flow of the game and all that."

Process in the game, outcome after the fact. We can use all the metrics in the world to try and forecast what will and should happen, but as with most things, trying to close the gap on that great divide is like saying you can build a bridge out of thin air. Saying that it can hypothetically be done is one thing -- putting your neck on the line and walking that imaginary bridge is quite another.

Tags: , , , , , New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, , punt, ,
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The NFL lost a legend on Tuesday with the passing of Steve Sabol, the Emmy Award-winning president of NFL Films who battled brain cancer over the last 18 months. Sabol was a central figure in how we all — fans, players, coaches — came to see the National Football League.

Sabol co-founded NFL Films, working as a cameraman and writer before eventually taking over "the family business" from Ed Sabol, his Hall of Fame father.

As the NFL mourned his passing, those who knew and worked with Sabol reflected on his life, his work, and his impact on the game he loved.

"When you walk around the NFL Films library, I call it a working museum because each picture on the wall has a Steve Sabol symbolic memory to it. He put each picture there and every day you're reminded of his genius, his talent, his unbelievable passion for football. I would love passing him in the halls and we would stop and have a five-minute conversation about the history of the league, comparing an old player to a new player. He was just an amazing mind in terms of football and a creative genius. Every day when I walk into that office, I take a picture and try to post it on Twitter because they're unique; they're situated in a setting that he wanted them to be situated in. It's a huge loss for all of us in the NFL family because he was truly part of the creative process that made this league so great." — Michael Lombardi, NFL Network

"When you go into NFL Films and you're around Steve Sabol for any amount of time, you find out that the NFL is not a job, it's not this big powerbroker; it's a celebration of sport, it's a celebration of athletes, it's a celebration of accomplishment and achievement. If you look at all of the Emmys on the wall, if you look at all of the pictures, you look at the history of our game, it is a celebration of what the National Football League is all about." — Sterling Sharpe, former NFL wide receiver, current analyst with the NFL Network

"Steve had amazing passion for the game of football and everything he did at NFL Films reflected positively on the coaches, players and administrators of the National Football League. For the last 22 years, Steve has been a great inspiration to me and was instrumental in my development as an NFL analyst. I will never forget how positively he impacted every person he came in contact with, not just in the football world. You would be hard pressed to find a single person that would have a negative word about Steve." — Ron Jaworski, former NFL quarterback who has worked as an NFL analyst for ESPN and has worked out of the NFL Films offices for years.

NFL Films pioneered the sports television industry's use of "mic'd" players and coaches. Former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci, now of the NFL Network, discussed that process.

"I think I could speak for a lot of coaches, and we all sort of went through the same thing with Steve. I'll never forget the first time that I got asked by Steve to be wired as the head coach of the 49ers. I was very reluctant to do that; I had never been wired before. I said, 'OK I'll do it but I don't want the team to know that I'm wired, let's keep this secret.' He said we have you covered. I was wired up before the game in a private room, the cameras were never close to me; they were on the other side of the field. He said to me just be yourself; don't even think about us, coach the game and then we'll take the wires off when it's all over with. You know how emotions fly during the game and I probably did some things or said some things that I didn't want aired. I remember calling him the next day and said you have to do me a favor, I think I might have cursed or something like that on the sideline; can you not air that please? He said, 'Coach, remember we are not here to make you look bad, you're going to have to trust us; we're here to promote your team, to promote the National Football League and you can trust that we will always, always be on your side and make you look as good as possible. We'll have some fun with this.'…He became like a brother that way; you trusted him so much. Every coach trusts him and NFL Films and that's a general statement around the league. Players and coaches trusted that they would always do the right thing and make you look good." -- Steve Mariucci, former NFL head coach and current NFL Network analyst

"Totally revolutionized it. I am sure he would say if you had to pick one — a kind of turning point — the way they [NFL Films] documented the Ice Bowl game between the Packers and the Cowboys was just perfect with John Facenda's voice. Because the game did have an epic quality to it; it wasn't an exaggeration. It was a game of such high drama and had a certain mythic aspect to it to begin with. Then they heightened it and captured it and that was that the turning point.

Football can be kind of serious, of course a violent, sport and has sort of a whole different atmosphere around it. NFL Films always made a point to find the humor in it, the goofiness in it, the blooper reels, the little asides from someone who was mic'd on the sidelines tosses off. It was just really funny in the heat of battle. They humanized it by sometimes taking it down from Mt. Olympus and just making it funny." — Bob Costas

"Young kids in this business, we really need to understand the impact that Steve Sabol had. We lost a great pioneer a few days ago in Art Modell; now we lose another one. These men had a vision to do something great, and the beautiful thing about what they were doing, it wasn't for them. They had a vision to expand; to expand our league, to expand our game, to expand our brand. I promise you one thing they will always be remembered by is their great name…Steve Sabol's name, we will not be able to mention NFL or NFL Films without Steve Sabol's name…He was one of those people that we have to learn from; we have to research what pushed him, what pushed him to the edge to say, 'This is what I want to do and this is how I want to expand' because his vision was incredible." -- Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis

"I am deeply saddened by the passing of my friend Steve Sabol. Every time I saw him, he brought a quick smile to my face. He was happy everyday on the job for a simple reason — Steve was a man who loved pro football and loved making movies about it. He and NFL Films have long been unparalleled in their craft and for that reason millions of us will forever owe Steve a huge thank you." — Chris Berman, ESPN

The Sabol family has requested that any donations be sent to the Jefferson Foundation for Brain Tumor Research, c/o Lindsey Walker, 925 Chestnut Street, Suite 110, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

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Milan Lucic re-ups with Boston Bruins for $18 million over three years

15 Sep
2012

The Oprah of contract extensions continues to cross off items on his 2013 summer to-do list. Milan Lucic is the latest forward to benefit from Peter Chiarelli's proactive General Managing, signing a 3-year, $18 million extension just ahead of the expiration of the CBA.

It's just under a $2 million raise on the contract Lucic will run out this year (hopefully). It makes Lucic the highest-paid forward on the team.

You could see this deal coming from a mile away. After Chiarelli locked up Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand to extensions worth $4.5 and $5.75 per year, it didn't take a genius to predict Lucic was going to come in above them.

After all, if you want to get the most out of those two deals -- and Chiarelli has to, since they're probably both a little inflated -- you want Lucic in the line-up.

Having a guy like Lucic on the ice makes other forwards feel nigh invincible. Who's going to mess with you when it means this dude's on his way over to mess back? Marchand and Seguin aren't big guys, but they'll always play bigger, grittier, and more confident hockey so long as Lucic is around to inspire confidence and model toughness.

And that's the second thing: Lucic may not be the sole reason the Bruins' are considered the league's toughest team, but he's one of the main ones. He hasn't just developed into one of the game's premier power forwards -- he's become the template. Every team in the league aspires to have a guy like him.

It's tough to put market value on a guy that's in a class all his own.

All that said, the Bruins' contract situation is getting silly. That's $70 million Chiarelli has shelled out in the last week alone, pushing the team to $57.35 million committed to the 2013-14 season already. And that's with nearly $10 million coming off the books in goal. Sure, they're going to remain contenders for awhile, but any changes to the salary cap coming out of this new CBA and the Bruins are going to find themselves in some real trouble.

Tags: , , , , expiration, , , , Milan Lucic, , , the Bruins, Tyler Seguin
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Lames: Mile High disappointment expected for Peyton

04 Sep
2012
by in General

Each week the Noise highlights 10 bold names who he believes are destined to torpedo your team leave egg on his face. For those playing the Lames home edition, each player must be started in at least 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues to qualify. As an accountability advocate, results, whether genius or moronic, will post the following week using the scoring system shown below. If you're a member of TEAM HUEVOS, post your Week 1 Lames in the comments section below.

Peyton Manning, Den, QB (65-percent started)
Matchup: vs. Pit
Deep down if you really believe Manning, nearly 20 months removed from taking his last regular season snap, will suddenly display vintage form against the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers defense, the Noise has a pallet of snake oil available for purchase. Full disclosure, I fully expect Manning to finish inside the QB top-12 this season, but early season expectations need to be tempered. As witnessed in preseason play (2:3 td:int split), he still needs to knock off the dust. Concerns over his lost arm strength have been greatly exaggerated, but don't be surprised if he relies on a dink-and-dunk style out of the gate, which plays perfectly into the hands of the Steelers. Pittsburgh may be aging in areas, but it's constrictive nature hasn't waned. It shouldn't be a surprise. Coordinator Dick LeBeau is a genius. And, when healthy, Troy Polamalu is seemingly omnipresent. Last year, despite injuries in key areas, Steely McBeam yielded a league low 5.6 yards per attempt and just 34 pass plays of 20-plus yards. Under the primetime lights, expect Manning to be mystified.

Fearless Forecast: 23-36, 263 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 19.2 fantasy points

DeMarco Murray, Dal, RB (91-percent started)
Matchup: at NYG
Because of  the high number of uncertainties at running back, Murray, sharpied in as the 'Boys primary rusher, experienced a major value spike in late drafts. Consistently going in the mid-second round over the first 2-3 weeks of August, he vaulted into the back half of Round 1 in a predominant amount of 12-team leagues, particularly PPR formats. The gushy feelings were justified. He's an explosive and versatile rusher who should net 18-22 touches per game. But don't expect the rising star to shine at the Meadowlands. The Giants' defensive strength is clearly in the trenches. Bookends Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyiora have always sniffed out the run incredibly well and man-eating tackle Linval Joseph is coming off a tremendous camp. Overall, the Giants' 4-3 is shaping up to be one of the league's stingiest. Look for it to feast on Dallas' very suspect offensive line, handicapping the rusher's value. On opening night, think of Murray only as more of a low-end RB2 in 12-team formats.

Fearless Forecast: 18 carries, 72 rushing yards, 3 receptions, 16 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns, 11.1 fantasy points

Frank Gore, SF, RB (77-percent started)
Matchup: at GB
For much of the preseason, Gore resembled a sloth with an uncontrollable thyroid condition. He looked chunky, slow and Betty White-old. Though he remains atop the depth chart, he is far from the only game in town. Kendall Hunter, who was spectacular this summer, is breathing down his neck. Meanwhile, the Football Frankenstein Brandon Jacobs could poach goal-line touches and LaMichael James third-down work. It's a complicated backfield. Gore should net roughly 15 touches in his 2012 debut, but the matchup is far from favorable. Green Bay, which took a step back defensively last year, is out to regain its once sterling reputation. The defensive backfield is still littered with questions, but, up front, the Packers should regain their mojo. Clay Matthews is one of the league's finest run defenders. And B.J. Raji and A.J. Hawk should ramp it up after a disappointing 2011. Last year, the Pack conceded 4.5 yards per carry at Lambeau. Expect that number to drop dramatically starting Week 1. Gore "The Snore" is about to make a cameo.


Fearless Forecast: 16 carries, 58 rushing yards, 2 receptions, 9 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns, 8.2 fantasy points

Mike Wallace, Pit, WR (89-percent started)
Matchup: vs. Den
Last week, Wallace finally penned his name on the dotted line after the Steelers front office refused to waver on its sign or sit stance. Now in uniform and back in the classroom, he's quickly absorbed much of Todd Haley's playbook. But memorizing plays and executing them on the field are two entirely different animals. Champ Bailey is also a concern. Though the corner voted for Grover Cleveland, twice, he is still one of the league's preeminent shadows. A year ago, the Broncos allowed a mere 17 pass plays beyond 25 yards, the fourth-fewest in the NFL. Meanwhile, Bailey and fellow DB Chris Harris, ranked inside the top-15 in coverage according to Pro Football Focus. Yes, Wallace is a go-route guy, but without a single rep in preseason play, rust will be visible. And don't forget how the Champ clamp limited him in the playoffs last year (3-26-0). For one-week only, consider alternatives.

Fearless Forecast: 4 receptions, 35 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns, 6.5 fantasy points

DeSean Jackson, Phi, WR (73-percent started)
Matchup: at Cle
After taking a mental vacation last year, Jackson enters 2012 focused and motivated. With a cushier bottom line and a tarnished image, he is out to prove he again belongs among the game's receiving elites. However, the Chihuahuas are slated to leave the Eagle grounded. Joe Haden, suspended four games after testing positive for Adderall, is currently in the appeals process, which should drag on beyond Week 1, making the shutdown corner available for the opener. If that scenario unfolds, Jackson will likely be in for a frustrating afternoon. A season ago Cleveland yielded just 43 pass plays of 20-plus yards, the second-fewest in the league. More impressively, Haden's assignments hauled in just 49.4-percent of their intended targets. Yes, it's possible the corner could stick on the more rounded Jeremy Maclin, but Sheldon Brown and Dimitri Patterson, both above average in coverage last year, are no pushovers. Add that to Jackson's one-dimensional makeup, and it could be a quiet week for the mouthy receiver.

Fearless Forecast: 3 receptions, 27 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns, 4.9 fantasy points

BONUS WEEK 1 LAMES

TEAM HUEVOS PICKS OF THE WEEK
Each week one fortunate guest prognosticator will have a chance to silence the Noise. Following the rules stated above, participants are asked to submit their "Lames" (1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 D/ST) by midnight PT Mondays via Twitter @YahooNoise. How large are your stones?

Can't get enough Andy Behrens, Brandon Funston, Scott Pianowski, Dalton Del Don and "The Noise?" Listen to The Fantasy Freak Show (Now on iTunes) every Friday at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET on Yahoo! Sports Radio

Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
• Bold NFL predictions for Fantasy Football '12
• Rory McIlroy lets Tiger know he's No. 1 — and plans to stay there for a while
• Houston offensive coordinator resigns after stunning loss to Texas State
• omg!: Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dead at 54

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Who do you trust to fix NHL revenue sharing: Owners or the players?

21 Aug
2012

The single most overrated victory in collective bargaining between the NHL's owners and players will be in the "public relations war", because one side never had a chance to claim victory.

The owners won the last lockout, implementing a salary cap system they wanted and giving the players 57 percent of the revenue cut. They then spent the next seven years circumventing their own rules before attempting to cut the players' share down to an even split, with justifications ranging from "hey, basketball did it!" to crying poverty for teams whose own foibles — bad contracts, arena deals and transactions — have caused their ills.

Frankly, the owners lost the trust of the fans and media that supported them in 2004-05. They also don't have a clear ideological rallying call as they did back then, when "saving the game" wasn't necessarily just a hyperbolic mantra but a viable goal.

So the players went into the CBA negotiation having already won the PR war — hell, the NHL couldn't even successfully hang the death of realignment on them.

Donald Fehr and the NHLPA aren't taking anything for granted in winning the popularity contest. They're measured and cohesive where Bob Goodenow's union was hair-trigger and permeable. They've used media surrogates and social media outlets to hammer their opponents. Their first "alternate" proposal was as reasonable as the NHL's was extreme; offering solutions to pressing issues that seemed, at face, like a jumping off point for a settlement.

Chief among them: Revenue sharing. Reading a Donald Fehr proposal without meaningful revenue sharing would be like seeing a Dane Cook concert without hearing anyone else's jokes. The only mild surprise was the lack of a luxury tax for teams that exceed to cap — perhaps sensing that it's a non-starter for the NHL.

But you know who else proposed an increase in revenue sharing?

The NHL, in its opening proposal.

But this is what happens when you've already lost the PR war, and when your concepts are crushed under the weight of flawed ideas: The NHLPA offers a revenue sharing plan that's celebrated like a New Year's baby, and the NHL's own plan — which they believe is the better plan — is summarily ignored.

The good news for us: They both want expanded revenue sharing to teams that don't currently qualify for it.

The bad news for us: They have significantly different theories on how to effectively accomplish this.

Fehr suggested that "the players partner with the financially stronger owners to help stabilize the industry and assist the less financially-strong ownership groups."

Part of that stabilization would come from the players capping their salary escalation for three years at an incremental 2-percent rate, before reverting back to 57 percent of the revenue in an optional fourth year.

But it was the NHLPA's suggestion to "fix" the current revenue sharing model — and expand it to more "have-nots" than are currently served by it — that had outlets like The Sporting News calling Fehr's gambit "a stroke of genius."

This probably had the NHL jumping up and down, waving its arms and wondering what it had to do to share in that genius. After all, it was proposing the same broadening of revenue sharing as the players were, but getting none of the adulation.

The Globe & Mail was one of the few to notice:

In addition to the paper work the owners turned over, they also made their first proposals on revenue sharing. There is some revenue sharing in the current agreement, which expires Sept. 15, but the players are expected to demand much greater revenue sharing between the NHL's wealthy and poorer teams in the new agreement.

The NHL's revenue sharing plan was pushed aside by Fehr upon arrival: "We haven't evaluated the changes from current revenue sharing to determine whether we think it's the appropriate thing to do or if it misses the mark in some respect," he said.

The current model for the NHL's revenue sharing has the teams in the bottom half of the League-wide revenues eligible for revenue sharing. Which means if you're in the top 15 revenue-generating teams but are playing through a mountain of debt — hello, New Jersey Devils — you aren't eligible under the current system.

According to NHL sources, the League has proposed that the system will be opened up to any team in the NHL that might require revenue sharing, and not just the bottom 15 revenue generators.

Essential to that broadening of the system: Dropping the current CBA rules that prohibit teams in big media markets — 2.5 million TV households or more — from being eligible for revenue sharing. In theory, teams like the New York Islanders, the Devils, the Anaheim Ducks and the Dallas Stars that should logically qualify for revenue sharing would be eligible under the new model.

As David Shoalts of the Globe & Mail detailed earlier this summer, the NHL's revenue sharing system is tangled and baffling.

Part of that confusion comes from a "clawback" system that incentivizes teams to maximize their local revenue streams — if they hit certain growth targets, usually at a rate above the League's average revenue growth, then they qualify for a larger share of the revenue. If they miss the targets … they don't.

The NHL intends to loosen those restrictions and make it easier for teams to qualify for a larger share of revenue sharing.

Now, if the NHL expands revenue sharing, that means it needs a bigger pot to draw from, right?

Where oh where might that money come from … a TV contract? Nah, not as big as the NFL's or the NBA's.

Ticket sales? Nah, that's already the financial lifeblood of the entire League. The NHL Guardians Project? Uh, yeah, about that …

Oh, that's right: It'll come from a reduction in player salaries and reallocation of those funds by the NHL's revenue-generating big market teams.

Which is how you convince teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers — all opponents of expanded revenue sharing in the past — to buy into a new system: By taking from the players to broaden the current system, without draining more dollars from the big market teams already subsidizing the Phoenix Coyotes of the world.

As James Mirtle wrote in July:

"Bettman and Co. believe they will have far more luck prying $200- or $300-million out of the players than the big moneyed teams, the owners of which feel they've given up enough of their advantage by agreeing to a cap, some limited revenue sharing and greater parity."

The players and owners agree that revenue sharing needs to be strengthened, but the devil's in the details.

Using a 12-percent revenue-sharing figure that was calculated by Justin Hunt, a sports attorney in Columbus, OH, the New York Times figured that the owners' portion of revenues came to $1.42 billion last season, and at 12 percent the shared revenue among struggling teams that qualified would have been $170 million.

The League believes its current system, and the expansion of that system, would lead to the "meaningful" revenue sharing both sides desire. The NHL estimates that its revenue sharing would increase by 30 percent under its proposal.

Donald Fehr believes the players' revenue sharing partnership with big-market teams would generate as much as $250 million for teams.

The NHL's concern with the NHLPA's system? That it may hurt more clubs than it helps, particularly because the players' share of League-wide revenue would remain in the neighborhood of 54 percent.

As Gary Bettman said, there's a "gulf" between the two sides after dueling proposals. Without fully knowing the numbers being considered, it's difficult to determine if the players or owners have the right approach to expanded revenue sharing. It may not even be a "make or break" issue when it comes to a work stoppage, although it's inherently tied to one that is — the players' percentage of revenues.

One thing's clear: The players own the issue right now. Their proposal was built on revenue sharing. Donald Fehr's reputation as Mr. Revenue Sharing greets him whenever he walks into a room.

In 2004, the NHL won majority support with a proposed reinvention of the system and by gaining the trust of fans that their ideology would stabilize the League's economy.

Now it seems the NHLPA have that high ground in the early stages, especially when it comes to spreading the wealth.

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Larry Fitzgerald: Take Megatron over me in fantasy … he’s got the quarterback

18 Jul
2012

It doesn't take a football genius to understand that the Arizona Cardinals' quarterback situation is very unsettled going into the 2012 season. Before the 2011 campaign, Arizona gave former Philadelphia Eagles backup Kevin Kolb a six-year, $65 million deal with $12 million guaranteed to be its quarterback of the future.

It didn't quite work out as planned. When Kolb wasn't injured, he was balky at best, and he finished his first season with the Cards with unimpressive numbers — less than 2,000 passing yards, nine touchdowns and eight interceptions in nine games. For the most part, John Skelton, a fifth-round pick out of Fordham in 2010, looked better than Kolb on the field, but his stats weren't spectacular, either. Skelton threw 11 touchdowns and 14 picks in eight games last season, but at least he gave the Cards more value for their dollar as he enters the third year of a four-year, $1.972 million contract.

Kolb and Skelton go into the 2012 preseason as equals in a quarterback battle that looks a bit like a demolition derby with two Yugos, and Larry Fitzgerald, the team's best player, has warned all fantasy football players that they may want to go elsewhere for their high draft picks. Specifically, Fitzgerald pointed fantasy players in the direction of Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson.

"Megatron and Matthew Stafford have a great connection up there in Detroit," Fitzgerald said on Wednesday's "SportsCenter."

"They put together a phenomenal year — 5,000 yards by Stafford — so I would definitely take Megatron and Matthew Stafford. They've got it going. We have some questions right now in Arizona. We've got to work training camp out to figure out who our starting quarterback is going to be. So as of today, I think that's the safe choice."

We would agree. While Fitzgerald may be the best receiver in the game from a pure talent perspective, Megatron may be the best option from a production standpoint. The Lions pass far more than they run, they do it a lot out of the shotgun (an NFL-record 68 percent of the time last season, per Football Outsiders), and Stafford is one of the best young quarterbacks in the game. We know what Fitzgerald can do with a great quarterback at the helm. We saw that when Kurt Warner led the Cards a few years back. It's been slim pickings at the position since Warner's retirement following the 2009 season.

It showed in the stats. While Fitzgerald's game tape revealed him to be every bit the threat he's ever been, he caught just eight touchdown passes in 2011, half as many as Johnson dragged in. The two players were closer in yards — 1,681 for Megatron and 1,411 for Fitzgerald — but you know how it is in today's NFL. If you don't have the quarterback, you don't have enough.

Even in an equal situation, Fitzgerald has said that he believes Megatron to be the game's best receiver. "He's at the top of the game right now," Fitzgerald said in February. "He's an extremely, extremely impressive talent."

Asked again on Wednesday, Fitzgerald backed off a bit, but came to the same conclusion. "A better receiver? I don't like to get into all that. Is he tops in the game right now, as of today? I believe so."

It's good of Fitzgerald to warn us about his own quarterback problems (and very gracious to say such nice things about Megatron), but you just know this has to be killing him. Hopefully, either Kolb or Skelton can provide him with a clear path back to fantasy greatness.

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