My First NFL Game

It was Oct 16th 1960. I was thirteen and this was my first NFL game. The guy running over the Cowboys is the great Jim Brown. He had a pedistrian day with only 25 yards rushing. He was not needed that day because the Brown won the game 48-7.

There was only one reason I was there and that was my mom. Dad wanted to go to the game but mom insisted if he went he take my brother Larry and me. In those days you could buy one adult ticket(end zone)and get up to five kids in free.

Looking at the empty seats you can see why they did the promotion. Not many people watched the Cowboys in those days. They played at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park. I wish I could tell you a lot about the game but the fifty years have dulled the memories. I do know that is when I fell in love with the NFL and to this day it is my favorite sport. The Cowboys are my favorite team not named the Longhorns.

There Will Be a Lockout In 2011

The reason the Cowboys and other teams are not going all out in free agency is a lockout is all but assured for 2011..

The owners want more of the revenue..Under the current collective bargaining agreement the players get 60% of the revenues..The owners want that capped at 50% and they want a rookie salary cap..

The owners have already opted out of the agreement..that's why there is no cap this season..The biggest problem..say the owners..is the revenue levels have fell to all time lows for owners..In a not too distant past the owners averaged about 10% profit on all revenues..Now it is down to 5-7% and the small market teams are really feeling the pinch..They are the driving force behind this move. They are locked into a revenue stream that is only going down.

Take a look at New Orleans and Indianapolis..The state of Louisiana had to pay the Saints 186 million in 2001 to keep them in town though the 2010 season..Due to the economy that deal would be hard to do today..There is no money available to keep the Saints in town..They may be forced to leave the city..

In Indianapolis the taxpayers funded Lucas Oil Stadium to the tune of 87%..The other 13% was covered by the sale of the naming rights for 120 million..It looks like the city is already needing a bail out..Revenues anticipated to be over fifteen million over the cost of operating the stadium have fell below the break even level to the tune of over ten million a year..

Even large market teams are falling on hard times. The new Giants stadium has been unable to sell nearly half of the club seats or over 5K a game. They also have only sold half of the over 200 suites..This from a team with 140K people on their season ticket waiting list..They are just too expensive..

The dirty little secret is the NFL teams have insurance..They signed an agreement with Direct TV that pays them one billion dollars a year..The agreement runs from 2011-2014 and here is the kicker..They are guaranteed to get that money in 2011 even if there is a lockout..So each team will receive appx 30 million and have zero expenses..Most will lay off employees and cut expenses to the bone..

All NFL fans should enjoy this season and a Super Bowl at the new Cowboys Stadium..It may be the last time we will see the players for quite some time..I already hear rumors of the owners using replacement players..This could get ugly and last a long time..

Cowboy's Season Predictions

The Dallas Cowboys have the fourth toughest schedule in the NFL. Follow along as I pick the games, week by week.

Week 1...@ Washington..It is opening weekend and a Sunday night game. The NFL once again did the Cowboys no favors. It will be close but the Cowboys should win this one.

Week 2..Chicago..This should be an easy win. The Cowboys have too much offense for the Bears..

Week 3..@ Houston..Tough game. The Texans have gotten really good. They have a good young QB and Wr..Plus Mario Williams is a legit threat on defense..I have this a toss up but I think the Cowboys will win late..

Week 4.....Bye

Week 5..Tennessee..The Titans have a great defense but not enough offense..Dallas wins to go 4-0

Week 6..@ Minnesota..Farve plays = Cowboys Loss........No Farve = Cowboys Win

Week 7..NY Giants...Cowboys get revenge for being swept by the Giants last season..Cowboys Win

Week 8..Jacksonville...The Jaguars have no defense or offense to keep the Boys from really kicking ass..Cowboys win big

Week 9..@ Green Bay...Tough game..The Packers have beefed up their defense and have one of the best QB'S in the league..I see the Cowboys losing a close one

Week 10..@ NY Giants...Cowboys lose two in a row..Critics go nuts and fans want Romo traded,Phillips fired and JJ to seel the team..Just the way it is in Big D..

Week 11..Detroit...Just what the doctor ordered..A large dose of whoop ass on the Lions..Cowboys huge win..Kitna plays the 4th quarter..

Week 12..New Orleans..Dallas shows the Saints why they should be glad they didn't get the Boys in last seasons playoffs..Dallas wins a close one..

Week 13..Indy wins a close one..Note..If the Cowboys win this game it bolds well for their Super Bowl chances

Week 14..Philadelphia..New QB..same beating only a different year..Cowboys win..

Week 15..Washington..By now the Skins are regretting the signing of Donovan McNabb..Cowboys win and sweep the Skins

Week 16..@ Arizona..All Star QB/Gone..All Star WR/Gone...Arizona's chances of winning against the Cowboys...Gone..Dallas wins easily..

Week 17..@ Philadelphia..Dallas is playing for home field advantage and the Eagles are playing for a high draft pick..Dallas sweeps the Eagles..

The NBA Is Hard To Win!

I was watching the NBA playoffs and still getting over my illness from the Mavericks losing in the first round. I got to thinking, it sure seems the same teams win all the time. I wanted to go back and see if this was accurate and from there decided to compare the "Big Four" of North American sports.

I found out a few things to make my argument seem..on face value..not look true. In the last four years the NBA has had four different champions. Seems pretty normal,but it still didn't answer all my two main questions. Are the same teams always winning and how do the four pro sports relate to who wins?

• Some Eye Opening Stats..From the Last 20 Years

NBA...4 teams have won 16 of the twenty titles..Lakers(6)..Bulls(6) and Spurs(4)..Total number of champions..7..so all the other winners have only one championship each..The problem with the NBA is apparent..Strength of schedule is not weighted. Good teams are playing the same schedule as the bad teams..The NBA has a lottery and it is so tilted to avoid a team tanking the end of season that the worst team in the league has never gotten the first pick in the draft..

NHL...The league in the last 20 years has had 4 different multi-championship winners..Detroit(4)New Jersey(4) lead the pack. The league has had 10 different winner in 20 years. Since the lockout year of 04-05 there have been four different winners. They have imposed a hard cap and between the two seem to have increased teams chances of winning.

MLB...The league has had eleven different winners in the last 20 years. The Yankees lead the way with 5 titles. There have been three other multi-winners but all are tied with two. Baseball is the only sport in the USA that has relief from anti-trust practices. They have no salary cap and no weighted schedules. The Yankees lead baseball every year with dollar spending amounts that sometimes are 4 or 5 times higher than some last place teams. Still the Marlins with very low payrolls have won 2 world championships. Baseball is a head scratch-er and I would welcome some advice on this sport.

NFL..The league has had 14 different winners in 20 years. Pete Rozell..past commissioner..was all about parody..Boy did he succeed..Two teams..Dallas/3 and New England/3 are leading the pack. The league has seen a different team win the Super Bowl in the last 6 years. I believe the NFL has figured parody out. They have a draft where the worst teams get the best players and a weighted schedule. In each conference some games are played where the division winners play each other and the last place teams play each other. The league also benefits from teams only playing only one playoff game. The chance to have an upset is greater with all playoff games being game sevens. The Super Bowl is also played at a neutral site.

It is pretty amazing(to me) that the league with the largest roster(NFL) has the most chance for an individual team to win a title. PLUS..The league with the smallest roster(NBA)has the least chance. Just saying!

Cowboys Moves and Rumors

The Cowboys started slow but on Wednesday made a bold move..They cut veterans Michael Hamlin and Flozell Adams..The moves save the Cowboys nearly 13 million in cap space.

Rumors have surfaced about the Cowboys having interest in the Ravens mountain of a left tackle Jared Gaither..He is 6'9"..340 lbs and is only 24 years old..He is a restricted free agent and was only given a second round tender..Meaning the Cowboys can sign him and give up their second..or..make a trade, which makes more sense..Gaither became available when the Ravens drafted their RT of the future Michael Oher..the guy the movie "Blind Side" was made about..

Michael Hamlin has been a disappointment since the Cowboys signed him to a new contract worth 39 million in 2007..Following a career high in tackles(102) and interceptions(5) in 07 he came back in 08 with 92 tackles and only 1 interception..Last year he missed games and saw his number slip to 35 tackles and no ints in 10 games..

For now the Cowboys seem to imply they have faith in Allen Ball..I think that is smoke screen..Ball had 15 tackles in 10 games..while playing limited time..I can't believe the Cowboys would turn over a valuable position to a guy who has show nothing..I think the Cowboys will draft a safety or possibly look to last seasons fifth round pick Michael Hamlin(no relation)..

There has been speculation the Cowboys may also not be done..Terrance Newman is do to make 9 million next season..Do the Cowboys have the gonads to release TNew and play Scandrick opposite Jenkins? Probably not but Newman has had a history of injuries..although he was relatively healthy last season..Can he get through another season?

The Cowboys announced that Roy Williams is going nowhere yet they have been said by people in the know to have interest in drafting a wide receiver..They brought in Dez Bryant(WR Ok State) and JJ Taylor/Dallas Morning News said he believes that was not a smoke screen, the Cowboys do have a serious interest in Dez..

There is one other thing..The Cowboys released Adams and Hamlin to allow them to try and sign on with another team..The team was under no obligation to do this but it once again shows why Jerry Jones is so respected by his players..However..other teams have no such obligation..There will be releases of big names in June..Most roster bonus' are due in June so there is no real need to do anything until after the draft..Do the Cowboys have some inside information, like say a agent telling them that their guy will probably be available? I don't know but it is very possible..Plus players have a way of communicating through other players to the Cowboys..Friends talk!

The draft this year is spread out over three days..The first round will be on Thurs/April 22..followed by rounds two and three on Fri/23rd..The fourth through seventh rounds will be on Saturday..I think this will make the second and third round choices most interesting..Teams will have the overnight to make deals..

Finally with no salary cap this season..I expect a lot of draft day trades..Usually the NFL doesn't have many traded because of the cap implications..With that being gone, teams can take on debt or get rid of debt without any cap implications..With no maximum there is the other part, there is no minimum teams can spend..It is going to get crazier as the draft and June 1st approach..I for one am going to enjoy all of it..

Update:...Seems there is a rumor out of Miami..The Miami Herald is reporting that the Dolphins and the Cowboys are talking about a trade..The Dolphins would send Dallas the number 12 pick in this draft to the Cowboys who would send them the number 27 pick and Marion Barber..
Bill Parcells has always loved MBIII and the pick makes sense from both teams standpoint..Could the Boys be looking at safety?(Earl Thomas)..or..could a WR(Dez Bryant) be their possible target?..Stay tuned..

The New Dallas Mavericks

Presently the Mavericks are in the midst of a twelve game winning streak. They sit 2.5 games behind the Lakers for the best record in the NBA Western Conference. They currently have the third best record in the NBA. All this with their starting and backup center out with injuries and Jason Terry out with a broken orbital bone in his cheek bone.

The Mavericks made the best trade in the history of the franchise over the All Star break. They acquired two starters for two non-starters. This on a team that was already on pace for a fifty win season. It was such a steal that even Kobe Bryant said "I hate the trade".."It just got harder to win." Now those are the type of words I like to hear from one of our rivals. Well we are now rivals because since the trade the Mavs are 12-1. With the loss coming in the first game out of the break and on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder. One of those wins was against the Lakers.

The Mavericks are in the best position since 2006 to have the number one seed in the Western Conference. It will not be easy but besides having a better team than before the trade deadline, they also play the easiest schedule in the NBA. They have no more back to backs and play less winning teams than any other team. They have finished the season series against the Lakers and have one more game against the Denver Nuggets and that is in Dallas. A win and the Mavs will have the tie breaker against the Nuggets.

In a couple of weeks the Mavericks will have all their players back and match up against any team in the NBA. I have no idea if this team can win a title but none other than Dirk Nowitzki thinks this is the best Mavericks team he has been on. That includes the team that lost in six games in the NBA finals against the Miami Heat. I just know it is going to be hard to beat this team four times in a seven game series. If the season ended today the Mavericks would play the San Antonio Spurs. It would be nice to send the Spurs home for the second year in a row but the Mavs true test will come against the Lakers or Nuggets.

Nineteen games remain of the regular season. The Mavericks play a total of ten games against team with winning records, but only three of them(Portland twice and Memphis)are on the road. They have no games left against the East. If the Mavs go 16 and 3 they will win 60 games again. It may take that to secure the home floor advantage throughout the Western Conference portion of the playoffs. '

Things are indeed looking up for the Mavericks and their fans. Life is good and to top it off Dirk has been named the Western Conference Player of the Week the last two weeks. Jason Kidd has had a number 15 triple double and Roddy Beaubois has been unleashed on the NBA. All this while Caron Butler has been a Robin to Dirk's Batman and The Matrix has been amazing. Go Mavs.

Miles Austin..The Cowboys..The Poison Pill Clause

Jerry Jones is playing a game of chicken with wide receiver Miles Austin. Austin is a restricted free agent and the Cowboys will put a 1st and 3 rd tender on him. That means if Austin signs with another team the Cowboys have two options.

One they can match any offer. Two they can let him walk and receive that teams 1st and 3rd round draft pick, in this draft. The Cowboys had to put a monetary figure on the tender of a little over three million. Jerry is betting on another team not signing Miles. I ask myself, would Miles Austin be a first round pick if he were in the draft. I feel the answer is an over whelming yes. So to add a 3rd round pick is to me, no big deal.

Well you say, the Cowboys can simply match the offer. Well yes and no. This is where the "Poison Pill" can be written into a contract. The tactic has been used before and has been ruled to be perfectly legal. The event started with Steve Hutchinson who was a RFA with the Seattle Seahawks. Well enter the Minnesota Vikings, they signed Hutchinson to a contract but they inserted a clause. A poison pill clause. It simply stated if Hutchinson plays more than four games in a season, in the state of Washington, Steve would have to be the highest paid player in the league. The Seahawks went nuts, filed a grievance and as I stated before, they lost.

Could some team, willing to give up a 1st and a 3rd sign Miles and insert this clause. I think a guy like Daniel Snyder, owner of the Redskins, would love to stick it to the Cowboys. He would set up a win win situation and the Cowboys would be left to scramble.