A little less than two weeks ago, LeBron James went on television to announce that he was leaving his home town of Cleveland and going to play with two of his buddies on the Miami Heat. Since that moment it has been endlessly debated – not just his move but the manner in which he informed the world. I don’t need to add to that debate as every possible position has been staked out at this point and there really shouldn’t be anything left to say.

Especially since Michael Jordan weighed in yesterday and basically called LeBron a pansy. I’m paraphrasing.

Last Tuesday, George Steinbrenner died. While it shouldn’t be shocking that an ill 80-year old died, especially one with such a fondness for calzones, we still had to hear about it for about 24 hours straight from our friends and YESPN. Sorry ESPN. Sometimes I can’t tell the Yankees network and ESPN apart.

While George’s passing and LeBron’s Decision seems to have nothing in common, outside of the relentless over-exuberance of ESPN, I think they do. I think LeBron’s ego-fest on TV was the most straight-forward example of a phenomenon that seems to signal the end of a sports ownership best exemplified by Steinbrenner.

In the sports world, where for years a small group of powerful, rich, old (and mostly white) men held all of the cards, the world has flipped upside down. The power has come to the people.

Today, it is not the owners that truly rule the sports landscape. It is the players. The workers have risen up and revolution is at hand. Maybe all of that hysterical fear-mongering at Fox News was right about the US turning into a socialist state.

The Three Amigos now playing in Miami are the best example of this of course. D-Wade, LeBron and to a lesser extent Chris “Ringo” Bosh, held the basketball world captive while they pretended to debate and decide where they wanted to play. Billionaire owners came to Akron to kiss the ring of King James and begged for him to sign with their squad. Have we ever seen owners grovel like this before?

Of course, any time there are free agents, they are wined and dined and recruited but it tends to be equal parts wooing and vetting by teams. Not this time. Owners came to see LeBron and danced for him like monkeys.

There was no vetting by these teams. No physicals (remember LeBron’s mysterious sore elbow last spring that so impacted his playoff performance? Once free agency started that disappeared faster than a bottle of bourbon at Dan Gilbert’s house). Nothing. If James had anointed one of these teams as his chosen destination, they would have accepted him with open arms – even if he mowed down half the population in a shooting spree on his way out of Cleveland.

SIDEBAR:  One question that can never be answered because no one would admit: how do the owners of the Clippers, Nets and Knicks feel now, realizing that LeBron lacks killer instinct to lead a championship team? Knowing he just wants to be one of the boys and not feel the pressure to carry a team, is he less attractive to other teams? These teams were willing to sell their souls for LeBron. Now that it turns out he would rather be a sidekick, than the greatest of all time is there actually relief for some of these teams?

While LeBron is the most egregious example of the power shift in sports, he is not the only one.

It is July, so that means Brett Favre is playing his annual “will-he, won’t he” dance. In the process, he holds an entire team hostage. The Vikings essentially have to prepare for 2 seasons at the same time: the 2010 Season With Brett and the 2010 Season Without Brett. Unwilling to pressure the redneck diva, they can only wait and see just like the rest of us. Did the Vikings go out and get a free agent quarterback in the off-season (since they are convinced Tarvaris Jackson is not the answer)? No. They wouldn’t want to offend Brett. So, instead we are less than two weeks from training camp starting and the Vikings aren’t sure if their starting quarterback will even play this season.

Obviously after last season the Vikings are a hot pick for the Super Bowl (you know “assuming…”) but I ask you has any Super Bowl team ever had their head coach travel to the hometown of their quarterback just to find out if he might/maybe/pretty-please could let them know if he will play this year?

What a long time since 2008, when the Packers, tired of Favre’s annual flip-flop, named his successor, whether he was coming back or not.

While LeBron and Brett are the most obvious and painful examples of the new power structure they aren’t alone.

Raja Bell turned down an offer from the best team in the NBA to play for the Utah Jazz. Maybe he has a thing for choirs and ski slopes. 

Ochocinco and T.O. have their own TV shows. This despite T.O. not currently even having a team to play for.

It isn’t a question of why players are now the Ari Gold’s of the NFL, but rather what took so long? Ask any advertising company and they will tell you it is players, not teams that drive sales. Who do you think is more important to Nike and the NBA – LeBron or Dan Gilbert? If you have to ask, maybe the Heat colored LeBron Witness t-shirt already available on NBA.com will help you figure out the answer.

Both the NBA and the NFL have used individuals to drive the leagues growth – marketing players more than teams. So, is it any wonder that these same players, the ones the leagues put on a pedestal in the first place, now call the shots more than some anonymous rich guys? Especially in a post-Goldman Sachs/Bear Stearns world where rich guys are always the enemy. Unless they became rich because they are really good at sports, of course.

No one ever praised the Packers community based ownership structure when they went to the 2008 NFC title game. No, it was the sole result of the gunslinger under center. Should the team be surprised when that same player suddenly sees himself as above the team?

Even today, the potential 3^rd string quarterback for the Broncos has his own signature shoe and the fastest selling NFL jersey. This for a guy that literally has no accomplishments at the pro level and most likely won’t see more than a handful of snaps for his team; though in this instance his team feels almost coincidental to the legend.

All of this revolution will inevitably end in backlash. We sit here today a year from potentially having no football or basketball seasons as both leagues face a re-negotiation of their collective bargaining agreements. With unprecedented costs (i.e. record breaking salaries) and lower revenues thanks to lower ticket sales and the slowly recovering economy, the owners of these teams are going to negotiate hard for concessions from the players. Team owners don’t become wealthy enough to buy a team without having the force of will to get things done their way. You can expect the cold hard boot of ownership to make a strong statement in next year’s negotiations. All of this newly discovered power for the people may not last as long as you can say ‘Mikhail Prokhorov’.

There is one alternative to the return of harsh dictatorial owners beating back the newly discovered liberties by players: a player-owned team.

Players are certainly getting rich enough to afford owning a team. Think of the contracts that D-Wade, Bosh and LeBron are signing with Miami. Imagine instead, they pooled that salary into ownership. Like an actor taking a percentage of ticket sales, players could for the first time have a stake in the success of the franchise. Not only would they be more incented to make decisions in the best interest of the team but can you imagine a team not having to pay its best players in addition to generating profit for its owner? The teams cost structure would be hundreds of millions dollars less than every other team. That allows for signing more players or helping offset the cyclical nature of sports revenues.

Now, I am sure there are at least 47 different clauses against this in both the owner’s agreements and the player union agreements but why? How does this hurt the game?

Building two-way loyalty between a player and his team? That is a revolution any fan can get behind.

Steinbrenner couldn’t have picked a better time to head to that great, big ballpark in the sky.

Not since the Jay Leno show was mercifully cancelled earlier this year has a TV channel broadcast a monument to a single man’s ego like it will on Thursday evening when LeBron James makes his announcement as to which team he will choose to pay him tens of millions of dollars over the next five or six years.

I guess this is how it had to end. People have been arguing and debating about this for months. Teams have been re-shaping their roster for years to give themselves the best opportunity to bid for his services. What no team can ‘win’ in this sweepstakes is the one thing that fans really want in a player: their heart and soul.

In his Bachelor-esque ego trip through the free agency process over the last few weeks James has shown his true colors. He is a mercenary. He is in this solely for himself. Fans and teammates of every team in the NBA be damned.

LeBron looks at this process as an opportunity to define himself and his legacy. He can become a global icon by going to the biggest stage in the world in New York; can win multiple titles by joining the Bulls or (somehow) subjugating his ego and joining the all-star team down on South Beach; or he can re-write the statistical record books and become the King of the Midwest by staying in Cleveland (where, not-so-coincidentally he will also earn the biggest paycheck).

However, I think this whole process has turned him into something else entirely: Brett Favre.

Much like Brett, I get the feeling that after years of carrying an underachieving team, LeBron has warmed to all of this attention. Where Brett found an annual off-season retirement kept the media watchdogs glued to his every lawn mowing, this summer LeBron has found that every thought and whisper generates more media mentions than the entire Lohan family in a year.

Brett quickly became addicted to the spotlight and soon started to believe his own hype: he was bigger than his team or the game. This led into his downward spiral of spotlight addiction to the point he has become a running joke even to his most ardent followers: the boy who cried retirement.

In his bouncing from team to team, retirement press conference to comeback press conference, Brett turned himself into a joke but also turned most of the country against him. Gone was the good old boy from Mississippi that ruled a small northern Wisconsin town. He had been replaced by an ego-maniac in constant need of attention and praise.

It is easy to see LeBron slowly fall into this same trap. After the constant LeBron-watch over the last year, can you imagine LeBron simply going back to Cleveland and continuing to lead what is essentially the same team to the same early-round playoff exit for years to come? To maximize his Cavs contract he would sign up for 6 more years. That is the prime of his career – will he really spend it on mediocre teams in the Midwest while his buddies down in Miami start piling up titles or his older rival, Kobe, out in LA continues to put more championship rings between himself and LeBron in the race to be heralded as the ‘greatest player of his generation’.

No chance.

Even if he takes the money, it is hard to see LeBron not wanting to maintain this media glare. Like a Kardashian he is going to get addicted to the bright lights. When they shut off in a week and move on to the next story (ironically, probably back to Mississippi) how long will he go before craving it again?

A lot less than 6 years.

And in the process he achieves the same result as the Wrangler-clad one down in Hattiesburg; he kills the affection of fans everywhere and demonstrates what is most important.

Me, myself and I.

Sometimes it sucks to be a sports fan.

The Fourth of July is many things to many people. To some it is a day off of work and an excuse to drink beer and barbeque. To some it is a chance to celebrate the last time Americans liked the French more than the English. To others it is their chance to legally enjoy that pyromaniac tendency without risk of an arson conviction. But to me it is something else entirely. The dawn of a New Year.

I recognize that scientists and annoying know-it-alls will tell you that summer just started a couple weeks ago, but for me, July 4^th is the beginning of the end of summer. The 4^th of July is the last day where football season is a distant, hazy mirage. Starting tomorrow the new football season starts to take form and become a recognizable shape. Even if still as fuzzy as a road sign at night when I am not wearing my glasses.

NFL two-a-days start in less than a month. My fantasy draft is a month and a half away. The first college football game is 2 months away. Basically our football-less days are almost at an end. We are closer to watching NFL players dance in the End Zone than dance on a reality show.

In the heat of July with the World Cup winding down and baseball games the only distraction in a dreary sports landscape, you may not believe me. But just look at these signs of football in the world around us:

• Peyton Manning is already showing up with Justin Timberlake in a new commercial for Sony. Sadly, doesn’t end with Timberlake stealing Peyton’s 3-D glasses and returning them for a game-clinching touchdown.
• Brett Favre, presumably jealous of the attention being paid to another former drug addict/media whore named Diego Maradona, has begun his annual “will-he, won’t he” dance with the media – playing catch with high school kids in Mississippi. Let me save everyone in the media a lot of time and effort. He is playing. Stop with the breathless updates, please.
• I am currently watching a Hard Knocks marathon on NFL Network, reacquainting myself with the comedy of the 2007 Kansas City Chiefs and the joys of Mrs. Brody Croyle wearing a tight shirt. One thing I can guarantee is that the Chiefs season absolutely featured more clips of the head coach working out than we will see this year with the New York Jets and head coach Rex Ryan.
• Michael Vick and his friends are in trouble again after a shooting at Michael Vick’s birthday party. This is only news in that for once Vick and his cohorts this time took on victims that could fight back. It is also news that the Eagles are reportedly not interested in releasing Vick. So for those keeping track at home, in Philadelphia being the leading citizen in the city for a decade gets you released. Having a snitch shot at your birthday party gets you a signing bonus.
• On the sports radio in Seattle this past week; talk had turned to the UW football team and their Heisman candidate Jake Locker. For those of you not on the west coast who aren’t familiar with Jake Locker he is much like Tim Tebow. The difference being with a rumored 4.3 40-yard dash Locker is much faster, not being slowed down by the weight of his own self-righteousness.
• Speaking of Tebow, if we are still a month away and are this obsessed with Timmy what is going to happen when the games actually start? If for no other reason than this you know Brett Favre will return. You think his 12-year old girl like need for attention would allow another quarterback to hog the media spotlight? As Ochocinco would say: child please.

Making fun of Tebow and Favre already? I am definitely ready for football to get here.

Today the NFL powers-that-be voted to change the overtime rules, so that in the postseason, the loser of the OT coin toss will still be granted one posession if the winner of the coin toss scores only a field goal.

Obviously, there is only one man to thank.

No, not Roger Goodell silly. Though his support and lobbying helped gain the number of votes required to pass the measure, Roger is merely a foot soldier to the real power behind the NFL.

Brett Favre.

After massive out-cry from the press that their favored son was never given an opportunity to throw yet another game-ending NFC championship interception, it finally became convenient for the NFL to recognize the long-held truth that field goal kickers are better today than they were when the OT rules were put in place thirty plus years ago.

Goodell has been in the commissioner’s office for almost 4 years. The statistics for improved accuracy of field goals and the impact of moving the kick-off spot back 5 yards have been availble for longer than that.

The only difference between a year ago at this time and today – beside Obama’s finally passing some legislation – is that Brett Favre failed on the biggest stage and helped shine a spotlight  on the problem for his media apologists to rail against.

In this view, Brett didn’t throw away the NFC Championship when he threw that interception in the final minutes that ended what should have been the game winning drive for the Vikings. No, it is the arcane OT rules that kept Brett from the Super Bowl.

I have long joked about the massive crush many in the media harbor for the Wrangler-wearing, gun-slinger from Mississippi. But never did I imagine the NFL would actually change the rules to help off-set his inevitable post-season failure.

Mea culpa, Brett. I shall never doubt your power again.

A year ago, I wrote the below post regarding the ridiculous correlation between being named to the Pro Bowl and making the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I have decided to re-post since it was lost in the H1N1 outbreak that hit the site in June and is something valuable to remember as we approach this weekend’s game. It is also a humorous post to re-visit in hindsight, for a couple reasons: 1 – Note the appropriate level of skepticism relative to Favre’s “retirement” – a valuable lesson when listening to any announcements this time of year; 2 – This may also represent the last positive thing ever written about Jay Cutler on this site.

Another note before we dive in. With no game this week (the Pro Bowl does not count) this will be the first in a series of recycled posts. Most likely you didn’t see these posts the first time, so as NBC once said, they are new to you. Plus they are all (sort of) still relevant. You will just need to mentally insert new examples and pop culture analogies. I would never re-post anything that makes me look a fool that doesn’t know anything about football. Those go immediately to the trash pile.

It’s All Just Suppositions

On which she has based her suppositions. It’s all just suppositions.

- Smith Keen, The Pelican Brief

It seems only fitting that we face the meaningless Pro Bowl just a week after the newest NFL Hall of Fame class is announced. Why is it fitting you may ask? What does a meaningless game/excuse for NFL stars to get pampered for a week have to do with being given an ugly mustard yellow jacket and a bust created by the blind girl from Lionel Richie’s Hello video on a steamy day in Canton, Ohio?

Well, for no apparent reason, someone has decided to equate the repeated presence at one as criteria for being invited to the other.

This would seem on the surface to be a legitimate rationale. An invitation to the Pro Bowl is meant to signify that a player is one of the top at his position in the game. Repeated invitations recognize the greats of all time.

At least that is what THEY want you to believe (they know who they are). But how much of a Pro Bowl invitation is based on performance and how much is based on reputation?

Just look at this year’s squad invited to Honolulu. Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington are both sitting at home (though those homes are in Miami and San Diego, so you can’t feel too bad for them) while Jay Cutler and Brett Favre were invited to Hawaii. Cutler started the season with a series of good performance in high profile games (8 TDs, 2 Ints, 3 wins) and Favre put up a couple huge games in leading the Jets to an AFC East lead at mid-season. So, when Pro Bowl voting was completed in early December, these two had made their impressions. Nevermind that both teams would collapse and fail to make the playoffs, in large part due to the turnover fetish of each quarterback. When the Pro Bowl votes were tallied a couple high profile wins with good performances (think Favre throwing 6 TD passes against the Cardinals), can trump a solid if unspectacularly consistent season leading a team to wins.

As a result, three years from now, we are going to be led to believe that these were 2 of the best 3 quarterbacks in the AFC this year. Ignore Chad Pennington and Philip Rivers leading their team to the playoffs, rookie ‘Bert’ Flacco managing his team to the AFC title game and Big Ben surviving repeated beatings to win a Super Bowl. Thus when you hear about Brett Favre being eligible for the Hall of Fame and they are discussing his many accomplishments, I am sure you will hear something along the lines of “Favre is a ten-time Pro Bowler, including in his final season with the Jets.”

[NOTE: This represents the wishful thinking that Favre actually does retire this season. But despite my recent gambling binge, even I wouldn’t put money on that.]

Consider Cutler versus Rivers. Two young quarterbacks helming AFC West rivals. Cutler has now made a Pro Bowl over Rivers but Rivers has led a team to the AFC title game and led the league in passer rating this season.  Yet, some would label Cutler as having a better season (and being a better player) simply because he got voted into the Pro Bowl.

[NOTE: I can’t believe I just made an argument for Rivers over Cutler either. Who is this guy? I must be getting sick. I need to get back to my blatant Broncos homerism. OK, how is this: Cutler is such an outstanding talent that the other Pro Bowl quarterbacks are afraid of his talent. How afraid are they? Peyton Manning tried to kill Cutler this week. There I feel better.]

Despite these injustices, I wouldn’t normally get too worked up about players not getting invited to a worthless boondoggle in Hawaii (especially when a lot of them don’t even want to go). The problem I have with the Pro Bowl system is that Hall of Fame resumes are built on Pro Bowl invitations, a shakier foundation than the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

As a player’s reputation grows thanks to making a Pro Bowl, they then get closer to making even more Pro Bowls. String enough Pro Bowls together, regardless of your team’s performance and you are a Hall of Famer.

Don’t believe me? Check out this list of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees. What is one of the first criteria noted? Is it stats? No. Is it wins? No. Is it Super Bowl rings? No. It is Pro Bowls. A voting process that everyone agrees is ridiculous. 

So, we have Hall of Fame voters using the even less informed opinions of fans, players and coaches (who are usually a little busy to watch a lot of other players each Sunday) as the basis for deciding who is enshrined as the greatest of the greatest.

All of this isn’t meant to disparage any of this year’s inductees specifically, rather the circular logic of all of it.

It also isn’t meant to explain how Shannon Sharpe was passed over this year. 3-time Super Bowl winner and all-time leading receiver for tight ends at his retirement (and 8 time Pro Bowler) isn’t worthy of enshrinement? His biggest mistake seemed to be playing the majority of his career for the Broncos, Given the dearth of Broncos in the Hall despite being the second most consistently successful NFL franchise of the last 3 decades, Hall of Fame voters seem to believe Denver is just the southern most outpost of CFL.

Shannon’s mistake was valuing winning over impressing fans. I suppose when Tony Gonzalez appears on his first Hall ballot he will easily make the Hall thanks to his 10 Pro Bowls. That is much more impressive than Shannon’s 3 Super Bowl rings, one for each of Tony’s playoff appearances (and losses).

Of course that is just a supposition.

I can’t say I am too surprised about the rift currently erupting in the Vikings locker room. In fact, I think I even warned this experiment was doomed for failure.

 Don’t believe me? Check this out.

 Please note also, the unprovoked (yet eerily prescient Jay Cutler jab).

 I may not have gotten every detail right (who knew Marvin Lewis would turn the Bengals around?) but it seemed pretty obvious months ago that this was not going to end well. A guy like Favre is just not programmed to be a cog in the machine and at the end of the day, regardless of the details, this comes back to one underlying issue: Favre wants to be a bigger part of the offense than the coaches want him to be.

 And we haven’t even gotten to the inevitable opening round playoff loss yet.