Promote your business or product on 700level.com. For
more information about advertising with us CLICK HERE!

Since a career-ending injury could happen on any play, and there are no guaranteed contracts, a player without many other life skills could potentially see a fortune disappear at a moment's notice.

Hello Byron Evans.

I can sympathize with the mentality, though acting like a baby to get your way is very off-putting.

That may be, but since it worked for T.O., why wouldn't every player do it?

The owners would have to all agree not to give in to these tactics, but since one will always give in to it to get an advantage, they'll continue to work.

Rosenwhore may be a slimeball, but he does get results.

Do players hold out of camp in any other sport? If the sport weren't so damn physically taxing then you would see a lot less of these disputes I'd have to believe.

I HAVE to threadjack for a second, with Bell vs. Rudi, because Bell's explanation has more holes than Reid's favorite dinner plate:

Former Lions running back Tatum Bell denies that he stole anything from new Lions running back Rudi Johnson.

“I ain’t no thief,” Bell told the Detroit Free Press in a phone interview regarding Johnson’s contention that Bell stole two bags while Johnson visited the team facility on Monday. “I ain’t never been one, and I ain’t never going to be one.” (Doesn’t that technically mean he is a thief, he has been one, and he will be one again?)

Bell claims that he thought Johnson’s two Gucci bags belonged to former teammate Victor DeGrate, whom the Lions had released on Saturday. Bell says DeGrate had asked Bell to retrieve his backpack.

“I didn’t have a clue,” Bell said. “I wasn’t thinking or nothing at the time. I just grabbed the backpack and grabbed the other bag. It wasn’t in nobody’s locker or nothing like that. It was just sitting right there by the computers. . . . So I grabbed them and put them in the car.”

Bell claims he took the bags to a friend of DeGrate’s. He later was contacted by the team, and learned there was video of him taking Rudi’s bags.

“I said, ‘If you look on film, I wasn’t in no hurry or nothing. I was just going about my day,’ ” Bell said. “I tried to talk to Rudi yesterday, but he was pretty upset, so I let it go. So now it’s that I’m being a thief. I come to found out that the bags weren’t whose I thought they was. It was just an honest mistake, man.”

So how did the bags come back without the stuff in them?

“I didn’t go in the bags,” Bell said. “I didn’t open up no bags. I don’t have his stuff.”

Johnson maintains otherwise, and he claims that he doesn’t accept Bell’s explanation. “If anybody’s got some Perry Ellis boxers for sale,” Johnson said on Wednesday, “you know where they came from.”

So, apparently, they’ve agreed to disagree.

“I asked [Johnson]. I said, ‘What do I need to do to clear my name?’” Bell said. “I asked the organization, ‘What do I need to do to clear my name? What do I need to do to reimburse Rudi? What can I do to help?’

“But ain’t nobody saying nothing to me. They’re just stuck on the fact that I’m a thief. I’m like, ‘You all know me better than that.’ I ain’t never been in no trouble. You know what I’m saying? I ain’t never, ever, ever been in no situation like this. I’m just trying to clear my name.”

Rudi says that socks, underwear, and credit cards were missing, and his money clip was found minus the money.

But yeah, he ain't no thief.

If the sport weren't so damn physically taxing then you would see a lot less of these disputes I'd have to believe.

No, it's really the guaranteed contracts that keep other sports players quiet (for the most part). Doubt many of these situations happen if they got all of their "balloon payments".

Guaranteed contracts in football would settle a lot of disputes. It would also crush the model that's been successful.

Wait!


"I have learned"...


That Brown and Lito (LEE-TOE) have 'kissed and made up".



That is all....

Where do you think this locker room drama all starts? Do you think that it's the players' egos, the front office's brutal look at the bottom line, or the agents?

Hard to tell exactly where it starts, but it's obvious who keeps it going.

Look no further than the media.

After all, they keep coming back to Lito for more asinine quotes because there is a readership hungry for information, but there are few stories to report, especially in this milquetoast regime. They need to find *something* of interest.

I really can't fault the media because they are giving us exactly what we want. No one opens the Daily News and hopes to read a story about the new Mormon backup guard who has never done anything wrong in his life. If we all couldn't care less about Lito and his bank account, no one would bother reporting this stuff.

Also, a huge portion of the blame falls on the shoulders of the GM. If Reid had the balls to say to Lito, "Look, you are behaving like a petulant child, and everything you do is really transparent. FYI, 'transparent' means see-through. You signed a contract and you have to live with it. The fact remains that while you are a good player, you are injury-prone. If you shut your mouth, play well, and stay healthy this year, some team will make a reasonable trade offer for you, and you can try to get a new contract from them. Otherwise, if you and your little agent keep acting like attention-starved, selfish little brats, you ain't goin' nowhere," that would resolve the situation.

This scenario is exactly why it's messy to have the coach also serve as the GM. Players can hate the GM and play well, but hating the coach isn't typically productive.

The owners would have to all agree not to give in to these tactics, but since one will always give in to it to get an advantage, they'll continue to work.

Rosenwhore may be a slimeball, but he does get results.

Depends...so far this off-season, Rosenwhore has been in charge of the following big negotiations:

- Lito
- Anquan Boldin
- Chad Ocho Cinco

How many strikes until you're out?

I just think the tactic only works depending on the player and organization. You have the opposite side of the spectrum in Westbrook, and he got his deal done.

Rosenwhore may be a slimeball, but he does get results.

Depends...so far this off-season, Rosenwhore has been in charge of the following big negotiations:

- Lito
- Anquan Boldin
- Chad Ocho Cinco

How many strikes until you're out?

Actually, there should be no negotiations even being talked about with any of these people, since they're all currently under contract. The simple fact that Rosenwhore has people believing there's something to negotiate is a victory for him.

The man is only in it for himself, so by that rationale, he has zero to lose by taking on extra clients who are already under contract. If he gets money out of one of them (T.O.), he's ahead of the game.

It's just like a kid throwing a temper tantrum. If the parent gives in once, I cannot blame the child for continuing the behavior

Nice to see Tatum Bell take advantage of his free college education.

There had to be maybe five double negatives and three TRIPLE-negatives in that article.

"This scenario is exactly why it's messy to have the coach also serve as the GM. Players can hate the GM and play well, but hating the coach isn't typically productive."

It depends on where the hate is directed... if players hate the coach because he demands a lot and works them hard that can lead to great results. Many a champion hated his coach.

But if a player hates his coach because he perceives his coach is screwing him in the wallet (because that coach also happens to be GM)... then yeah, it's a bad situation that can become detrimental to the team.

Sent out to various media outlets today:

Farewell NFL

When Free agency began this year, I had a new sense of excitement about continuing to rebuild my career in the same way that I had rebuilt my knee after my catastrophic injury in 2005. Unfortunately, what I found out was that the league did not share any of the optimism about me as an Unrestricted Free Agent that I expected. In fact, there was an overwhelming sense that there was no room for me among this year’s group of quarterbacks; whether in a starting, competing or a back-up role. No matter what I did or said, there seemed to be a unified message from teams that I was not welcome to compete for one of the many jobs that were available at the quarterback position. It seems that the stance I took in both Minnesota and Miami regarding my rights as a person and player has followed me into Free Agency.

After taking a long look at my career and my personal convictions, I have decided to begin early retirement from the NFL effective immediately. Since the beginning of training camp I was told that my opportunity would come when a quarterback gets hurt. I cannot remember the last time so many QB’s have been injured during the preseason. I have been strongly encouraged from family, friends and league personnel to continue to be patient and wait for an inevitable injury to one of the starting quarterbacks in the league. I would rather shut the door to such “opportunity” than continue to wait for one of my fellow quarterback’s to suffer a serious injury. Since I was not given a fair chance to come in and compete for a job, I would rather move on and win in other arenas of life.

The decision I made in 2006 to represent myself rather than hire an agent has been an invaluable experience. I now understand why so many people within the NFL community are uncomfortable with a player really learning the business. The NFL has become more about power, money and control than passion, competition and the love of the game. Regardless of this shift, player’s rights are still supposed to be a part of this league. Since I will not be given the opportunity to honor the memory of Gene Upshaw by wearing a patch on my uniform this year, I will instead spend some of my energy applying what he taught me about standing up for what is right and not sitting down for what is clearly wrong.

I want to thank my family and my fans for their unwavering belief in me as a person and a player. I embraced both the peaks and the valleys of the game and my career. I am a better person today as a direct result of the experience of playing in the NFL. I can now focus on the enjoyment of watching some of the greatest athletes in the world play the game I love without the distraction of waiting for those elusive return phone calls.

Thankfully,

Daunte Culpepper

Guy's a Mo, aint he?

For real, methinks he got da Gay.

remember this the next time you get the urge to organize a sex-boat trip amongst your co-workers

i do find it hard to believe that culpepper is not at least good enough to be a backup in this league. my guess is we haven't seen last of him.

on another note, was mcdougle inactive last night for the giants? didn't see his name in the box score.

Guess you missed the 15-yard roughing the kicker penalty in the first half.

ha, seriously? yeah, i didn't watch the game, and he's not in the box score i read on cnnsi.

Did you also see the dropped pass by Thrash near the end zone at the end of the game? Nice to see former Eagles helping out fellow NFC easters.

Speaking of the Skins, count Jason Taylor as yet another guy going to the Redskins just to collect a pay check.

He didn't do shit last night. His effort was nonexistent. Taylor made Cletus Manning look like Usane Bolt on that one bootleg.

i do find it hard to believe that culpepper is not at least good enough to be a backup in this league. my guess is we haven't seen last of him.

He was offered at least 1 backup spot (Green Bay, I think) and turned it down because he thought he was worth more than the vet minimum. That was by his own admission.

Guy's a motard.

ha, seriously? yeah, i didn't watch the game, and he's not in the box score i read on cnnsi.

Oh yeah, and it was the most no-doubt-about-it roughing I'd ever seen. He practically form tackled him.

Speaking of the Skins, count Jason Taylor as yet another guy going to the Redskins just to collect a pay check.

I'd wait until he was completely healthy to start saying this stuff

He wasn't COMPLETELY invisible, anyway.

And that Giants O-line is underrated.

Taylor has one foot on the jet to Hollywood.

He's finished as a "difference maker".

Brady done for the year-- being reported in several places.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53  54 55 56 57 58 59 60 
61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71