We started with ESPN’s John Clayton who was gracious enough to give his opinion while taking a small break from his television reporting duties. He said the deal is close and made his prediction:

Sports agent Tony Agnone pressed that complete information and time to process it is a must before the players can even think about voting.

Yahoo! Sports’ Jason Cole offered a great analogy when he said that a premature vote by the players would be like buying a house without it going through inspection.

Mark Maske of The Washington Post had just returned from covering the meetings in Atlanta where the NFL owners approved the labor deal the players had yet to see. He joined us and gave his best estimate on how the players may proceed.

And finally, Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal joined the show and voiced her frustration over the poor information and speculation over when this deal will possibly happen.

Supposedly, there was supposed to be some announcement from Tiger Woods yesterday. A press conference was supposed to be held. And then, well, Tiger being Tiger……basically the media got it wrong and there would be no such thing. The only news out of Tiger camp was the landing-place for his agent, who left longtime employer IMG Golf in May of this year.

But there was Tiger news on the Twitter front. His agent found a new home. This was broken by Liz Mullen:

Breaking–Mark Steinberg, agent to Tiger Woods, has joined Excel Sports Management, agency founded by NBA agent Jeff Schwartz.—
Liz Mullen (@SBJLizMullen) July 11, 2011

And later on within the hour, Darren Rovell posts the same information. Although you cannot tell here, it was at least a good 10+ minutes after Liz Mullen’s tweet. Not exactly breaking news in the Twitterverse……

BREAKING NEWS: Tiger's agent Mark Steinberg joins agents Jeff Schwartz & Casey Close at Excel Sports Management—
darren rovell (@darrenrovell) July 11, 2011

…which prompted an immediate response from Bryan Fischer.

@darrenrovell It was broken by @SBJLizMullen several minutes ago.—
Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) July 11, 2011

And Liz Mullen re-tweeted this confirming that “she” broke the news.

Tiger Woods agent Mark Steinberg confirms @SBJLizMullen report that he is joining Excel Sports Management group—
Mike Buteau (@MikeButeau) July 11, 2011

This little scenario just struck me as odd; one of those things that piques your curiosity. Nothing more than that. Just interesting. Hard to tell what’s breaking news anymore on Twitter. Just the world we live in now with social media.

CadChica Sports

Memorial Day. A time to remember the men and women who have served our country, giving the ultimate sacrifice: their lives. Many people looked at this day as just another barbecue day. But, the meaning is far greater. I would be remiss in not acknowledging what this day truly is about before beginning this blog. I am thankful for what they did which allows me to live in this free country. Thank you to their families as well.
God bless you all.

It was truly a Memorial Day unlike any I’ve experienced in recent times. With the advent of Twitter, I am exposed to more sports information than ever before. For this fan, that’s phenomenal on the one-hand but absolutely heart-breaking in another. Knowledge is good. But, knowledge without wisdom is aimless information. The amount of information was great to read about but yet, saddening because of the type of information it was. Boy were there two doozies of stories today in the Twitterverse that I’m still sorting through my thoughts as I type this.

Early on today, news broke that Ohio State University head football coach, Jim Tressel, had resigned amidst a swirl of allegations regarding his football program and an NCAA investigation. Talk about a jaw-dropper when you first wake up. Yes, I expected it to happen….but eventually, not this soon.

Some early Twitterverse reaction:

Colin: I'm not sure these big programs in college football CAN win without bending the rules for the best players!—
Colin Cowherd (@HerdOnESPNRadio) May 30, 2011

I feel numbed to the # of major programs/coaches/players committing violations. #hardtoshocknow—
Joe Schad (@schadjoe) May 30, 2011

Tragic day for Jim Tressel and Ohio State. It doesn't appear that things are over. I wish the best for Jim, Ohio State and their future.—
Mike Leach (@Coach_Leach) May 30, 2011

RT: @PRguy312 The hope was to bury the news over a holiday. Poor PR tactic w/twitter, 24hr news. Hope OSU gets hammered 4 this.—
Liz Mullen (@SBJLizMullen) May 30, 2011

Ohio State fans react to Jim Tressel's resignation – http://bit.ly/OSUFans—
CBS Sports (@CBSSports) May 30, 2011

Right about the same time this was going on in the Twitterverse, FIFA head-honcho, Sepp Blatter held a news conference today. This was to address the ‘allegations’ against several FIFA big-wigs, including him. News of these allegations came out last week. An investigation was begun. Lo and behold, the investigation was completed quicker than a fire breaking out at Dodgers stadium. Basically, Blatter stepped up to say: “I’m clean!”.

A very small sampling of reaction today:

Another statement.. Jack Warner says "Today I regained some hope in power of truth and transparency" after being cleared of Triesman claims.—
Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) May 30, 2011

What did Bin Hammam get for agreeing to get out of Fifa race? Wrist slap from investigation? Qatar keeps World Cup '22? Has to be something.—
Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) May 30, 2011

"Crisis, what is a crisis?" Perhaps Blatter has never heard of Jim Callaghan and his fate. @tariqpanja question is dismissed with rudeness.—
John Brewin (@JohnBrewinESPN) May 30, 2011

#BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut #BlatterOut—
New FIFA (@changeFIFA) May 30, 2011

FIFA's Blatter faces testy Press conference, losers temper and says 'no crisis' amid corruption scandal: http://bloom.bg/mRqIOw—
tariq panja (@tariqpanja) May 30, 2011

In no way can these few tweets represent the reaction to both of these stories in the Twitterverse today. I did not include reaction from any of the Ohio State fans today; some of them not so nice but understandable. Nevertheless, here is my take.

Regarding Tressel: It seems an appropriate time to bring this quote into the conversation:

Matthew 10:26 “…for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and nothing hidden which shall not be known.

No matter who you are, your position in society, or where you come from, I believe all things hidden will come to light sooner or later. The brighter the spotlight, the more scrutiny you are under. And if you falter, it will not be a pretty sight; not in today’s media.

Full disclosure here: I was never a Jim Tressel fan. Not an Ohio State fan either. Never have been. I am a Pac-10 gal; grew up going to Arizona State football games. I am also a college sports fan, football and basketball. I’ve never met the man but I’m not foolish to believe that any person is as perfect as people make them out to be. I did not trust the media persona of Jim Tressel.

Tressel did something wrong and tried to cover it up, according to the “timeline“. If you believe Sports Illustrated’s article by George Dohrmann and David Epstein released today, it’s not as is this was the first time for Tressel. This type of behavior allegedly has gone on since his Youngstown State days, over 10 years ago. 10 years ago and it’s just now coming to light.

Matthew 10:26 “…for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and nothing hidden which shall not be known.”

We all make choices in life. I don’t always make the right choice. Lord knows I try to but I don’t. And I live with those choices, both good and bad every day. I’m human. Tressel is human. He made his choices, and he has to live with them; consequences and all. And so does Ohio State and it’s fans. Which reminds me of one more bible verse:

Proverbs 16:18: Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall.

Regarding Blatter: One does not become head of an organization like FIFA without a little arrogance in his make-up. Arrogance with a capital A is how I view Sepp Blatter. Webster’s defines arrogance as:

 showing an offensive attitude of superiority : proceeding from or characterized by arrogance

When asked about the FIFA crisis, Blatter’s response was: “Crisis? What crisis?” If that doesn’t sound like a man of arrogance to you, I don’t know how else to convince you. Corruption, back room handshakes, have long been associated with FIFA. One only need Google “FIFA corruption” and you’d get a pretty good idea of where things stand.

With the next FIFA presidential vote scheduled for Wednesday and Blatter is now running unopposed, it seems as though it is business as usual. Which it is as of this writing. He will most likely get elected and corruption will continue. (For more insight, please follow @changeFIFA. Great, great insight, links and follower-suggestions on this whole situation).

Be that as it may, change is possible. Money talks, people listen right? It may be all well and good to put pressure on each country’s Football Association, the money behind FIFA, I believe, is ultimately the sponsors.

Unhappy with Fifa? Tell the Fifa sponsors: @CocaCola @Sony @McDonalds @adidasUS @Hyundai @CastrolUSA—
Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) May 30, 2011

As Grant Wahl said, let the sponsors hear about your displeasure with the current state of FIFA affairs. However, when push comes to shove, in the world of football (soccer), change is okay unless “it’s my team you’re talking about”. I had posed a question earlier on Twitter, truly legit, as I didn’t know the answer. My question was how many of the top clubs have Adidas as the maker of their kits. I didn’t know the answer.

Come to find out there are quite a few, including, so I’m told, the entire MLS. Okay. My next question posed was, are fans willing to not “buy” their team’s jerseys if Adidas is the one that makes them? If they already have a jersey fine, wear it. But if a fan truly wants change, is that want enough to not support the company that makes their team’s jersey? Umm….I’m guessing no.

A couple of fans got the connection, one said it was “too early” to punish sponsors, while another reply came from an unlikely source. A trade sales manager of one of the clubs in question said “don’t penalise great Clubs that really matter to people for the sake of shisters on borrowed time. Too indirect & arbitrary”. That is the exact quote. Hmm. Anyone want to guess why he said that? 

Like I said, I believe the pressuring of sponsors is what will bring about changes in FIFA. Otherwise, the money will keep flowing both in front of the camera and in the back room deals around the world. 

To sum it up, one more tweet from Grant Wahl:

Fair points: Better to ask which is more corrupt, FIFA or college sports?—
Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) May 31, 2011

CadChica Sports

The league and the players’ union agreed Friday on a seven-day extension of the collective bargaining agreement. The CBA was set to run out on Thursday before a 24-hour extension was granted.

Federal mediator George Cohen announced the new agreement. Talks will resume Monday.

“We are continuing to work hard, to identify solutions,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “We believe that, as I’ve said many times before, that this will be solved through negotiations and that’s what we’re focused on.”

“We’ll continue to work hard, and we’ll be back next week.”

NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith also planned to speak to the media.

Both sides met for the 11th day with Cohen before settling on a plan to keep talking. If the CBA expires the owners could lock out the players, and the union could decertify to try and prevent that through the courts — something the NFLPA did in 1989.

“Talking is better than litigating,” Goodell said.

WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell reports on the negotiations

Download: haskell_nfl1w_morn_110304.mp3|titles=NFL%20Talks%20Extended%20-%20WCBS%20880%20reporter%20Peter%20Haskell%20has%20the%20story.|artists=WCBS%20880

Goodell and several league executives arrived at the offices of federal mediator George Cohen in the morning, with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire at midnight. Both groups agreed to a 24-hour extension on Thursday, with another extension on the agenda.

Smith and Kansas City Chiefs guard Brian Waters showed up about two hours later, then Smith left the building at about 1 p.m. after a two-hour stay.

“If we can make the kind of progress that you needed to make to have a further extension, that’s where we’d be looking,” NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash said before heading in to meet with Cohen. “Hopefully, we can make some progress and keep this thing going. That’s obviously in everybody’s interest. It’s been our goal all along and we’re going to just keep at it.”

[worldnow id=5627707 width=500 height=332 type=video]

If the CBA expires the owners could lock out the players, and the union could decertify to try and prevent that through the courts — something the NFLPA did in 1989.

“For all our fans who dig our game, we appreciate your patience as we work through this,” union executive director DeMaurice Smith said as he emerged from talks Thursday that resulted in the one-day extension. “We are going to keep working. We want to play football.”

Clearly, nobody should get comfortable.

Allowing the CBA to expire could put the two sides on the road to a year without football, even though opening kickoff of the 2011 season is still six months away. The labor unrest comes as the NFL is at the height of its popularity, breaking records for TV ratings: This year’s Super Bowl was the most-watched program in U.S. history. The previous No. 1 was the 2010 Super Bowl.

A person with knowledge of the talks said the 24-hour extension was to gauge the willingness to extend negotiations further. The person, who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the talks were supposed to remain confidential, said the sides were apart on economics, but have agreed on other topics. The person would not say what the two sides do agree on.

Another person familiar with the negotiations said the two sides were not expected to resume face-to-face bargaining Friday. Instead they’ll meet separately with Cohen to hash out whether to prolong the extension — and if so, for how many days.

Giants And Jets fans tell 1010 WINS’ John Montone that they can’t live without football

Download: nfl-640a-montone-w47-soc-eeversman.mp3|titles=NFL%20Lockout:%20Second%20CBA%20Extension%20'All%20But%20A%20Done%20Deal'%20-%201010%20WINS'%20John%20Montone%20reports|artists=1010%20WINS

RELATED: Giants, Jets Fans: What Will You Do If NFL Lockout Kills Season? | What Lockout? Giants Pushing PSLs, Tickets For 2011-12

Asked how much progress was made Thursday, Pash said: “You can’t measure it like that. … It’s not like a stock that you could chart on an hour-by-hour basis. There are a lot of issues, it’s complicated. People are working hard, and I think we’re just going to have to keep at it.”

They were at it for about eight hours Thursday with Cohen. The CBA was set to expire at midnight as Thursday became Friday, which would likely have prompted the first work stoppage since 1987 for a league that rakes in $9 billion a year.

Washington Redskins player representative Vonnie Holliday cautioned that the two sides are “still apart” on a pact to replace the current CBA. “I don’t see how we can be that close right now unless somebody is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat,” he said. “I just don’t see it.”

Even President Barack Obama weighed in when asked if he would intervene in the dispute.

“I’m a big football fan,” Obama said, “but I also think that for an industry that’s making $9 billion a year in revenue, they can figure out how to divide it up in a sensible way and be true to their fans, who are the ones who obviously allow for all the money that they’re making. So my expectation and hope is that they will resolve it without me intervening, because it turns out I’ve got a lot of other stuff to do.”

On hand Friday morning was Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy, a member of the league’s labor committee, which has the authority to call for a lockout if a new agreement isn’t reached.

The biggest sticking point all along has been how to divide the league’s revenues, including what cut team owners should get up front to help cover certain costs, such as stadium construction. Under the old deal, owners received about $1 billion off the top. They entered these negotiations seeking to add another $1 billion to that.

Among the other significant topics: a rookie wage scale; the owners’ push to expand the regular season from 16 games to 18 while reducing the preseason by two games; and benefits for retired players.

Since the 1987 players’ strike that shortened the season to 15 games — with three of those games featuring nonunion replacement players — there has been labor peace in the NFL. The foundation of the current CBA was reached in 1993 by then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and union chief Gene Upshaw. It has been extended five times as revenues soared, the league expanded to 32 profitable teams, and new stadiums were built across America to house them.

The contract extension reached in 2006 was the final major act for Tagliabue, who then retired, succeeded by Goodell. An opt-out clause for each side was included in that deal, and the owners exercised it in May 2008 — three months before Upshaw died.

Smith replaced Upshaw in March 2009.

Will 10 more days get it done for the two sides? Let us know what you think below…

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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Breaking from Hawaii: The NFLPA has elected Washington DC attorney, DeMaurice Smith as their new executive director.  Smith, an NFL outsider was considered a dark horse candidate behind former NFLPA Presidents Trace Armstrong and Troy Vincent.

Smith created a detailed business plan on how he would run the NFLPA that was more than a 100 pages long and highlighted the key issues facing the NFLPA and shared it with the NFLPA Executive Committee during his interview process, his initiative propelled him into becoming a finalist for executive director and the most powerful union in sports.

While he has no labor or employment background, Liz Mullen and Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal point out that his experience is similiar to NBA Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter and the NHL Players Association Paul Kelly. Smith was an assistant U.S. attorney and has political connections to the Obama administration and U.S. attorney general Eric Holder.  Hunter had been a U.S. attorney and Kelly was an assistant U.S. attorney.

The NFLPA’s decision to go with Smith will allow the organization to move forward with a united front and put behind the controversies that came up during the selection process.  Smith’s election and position as an outsider with no sports industry experience symbolizes a major change for an organization that had been run by NFL Hall of Fame player, Gene Upshaw for the last 25 years and indicates that the players were able to break from what was thought to be a comfort-level of having a former player serve as the union boss factor into the decision.  Smith’s election also signifies that the NFLPA was looking for someone to serve as a competent CEO that also understood the importance of understanding the political landscape and ensuring that the NFLPA had a presence.

Smith’s first order of business will be to introduce himself to the players he will represent as the union faces negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFL.  Given the timing and the need to move quickly, I would:

• Put Smith through a media training boot camp
• Take a proactive effort to introduce him to current NFL and retired players by holding a series of conference calls
• Conducting select sit-down interviews over the next week with ESPN, SI’s Peter King, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, Sports Business Journal and the NFL Network (all media outlets players are sure to be paying attention to)

More will be written over the next few days that will introduce Smith to the sports business world.

In a search process that has been marred by controversy that seems to have weakened the NFLPA and questions the stability of the organization, the new NFLPA executive director will need to tackle several key issues to restore confidence and set the tone for his leadership.  It’s why I think the new NFLPA executive director will need to have some level of experience within the business of football, which would eliminate the outside candidate DeMaurice Smith.

What’s At Stake:

• Leading the NFLPA through negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement and avoiding a potential lockout that could undermine the popularity of the sport
• Restablishing trust with today’s active players and assuring them that the Union understands their needs and remains committed to them, an issue that was questioned by a faction of players
• Repairing a relationship with retired players that had been on a vicious downward spiral in the last two years of Upshaw’s leadership  and resolving their issues, specifically related to lack of appropriate health insurance and failure to properly market retired players
• Proactively identifying and capitalizing on opportunities to generate additional revenue for current and retired players through licensing, marketing and interactive.

The Final Four

The four finalists are all men with different backgrounds, experiences, strengths and paths that have led them to the final stage in the selection process.  In following the search and learning about each candidate, it appears they all have strengths that would help them lead and serve as the next executive director of the NFLPA – but which one is the best candidate?

All candidates will be able to make their case to the 32 NFL Player Representatives (one for each team) beginning on Saturday prior to a vote being held on Sunday or Monday.  The executive director will be determined by a simple majority of the 32 player representatives.  Sports Business Journal’s Liz Mullen and Daniel Kaplan do a great job in this week’s issue highlighting the candidates and process. Here is a quick synopsis:

Troy Vincent, 38 - An NFL player for 15 years that served as Union President for four years.  A successful entrepreneur, that was considered the favorite and viewed as the potential successor to Gene Upshaw until a falling out with Upshaw last March.

Trace Armstrong, 43 – An NFL player for 15 years that served as Union President for eight years. He and Upshaw shared the same agent, Tom Condon, and Armstrong and Condon both work together at CAA Sports.  Considered as the guy who is least likely to make significant changes and maintain the status quo.

David Cornwell, 48 – A former NFL counsel, agent and player lawyer that represented players on a range of issues from drug suspensions to agent disputes.  Cornwell was originally removed from consideration, but was invited back in after securing three recommendations from player representatives to be reconsidered in the process.

DeMaurice Smith, 45 – Has no sports industry experience is a former assistant United States attorney and a partner in a D.C. law firm Patton Boggs, he also worked with new U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder. He is considered a dark-horse candidate with strong political ties.

A Tarnished Process

The election marks the first time in the player union’s history that it will have a contested election and the process to find a new leader since Gene Upshaw’s unexpected passing from pancreatic cancer in August has devolved into a bad Boardroom segment on The Apprentice that has been played out in the media and sullied the reputation of Troy Vincent, a deeply religious man, winner of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, whose character had never been questioned.  The other candidates all managed to avoid any media scrutiny or questioning related to their experience and business interests.

It begs the question, why?  Why was Troy Vincent singled out?

Was it just because he has long been the frontrunner or is something deeper at play?  The accusations and questions have been relentless, ranging from an alleged attempt to stage a coup and overthrow Upshaw, questionable business dealings that could result in future lawsuits, leaking confidential NFLPA information related to player agents, to allegedly instigating a Congressional inquiry into the selection process. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com did a phenemonal job in following the allegations related to the Congressional inquiry to determine that the U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D – VA) leaked the information out of concern that his daughter who has a high paying position as the union’s Director of Human Resources could lose her job if Vincent was elected it also questions, who up until the final stages had been running the day-to-day process for a new leader and how involved were staff members in the process compared to the NFL Executive Committee and player reps.

A number of accounts makes it clear that if Troy Vincent is elected that top union officials at the NFLPA would resign or be forced out and that scenario is less likely if Trace Armstrong is elected.

Last week in an interview with Don Banks of SI.com, Terri Upshaw, the widow of Gene Upshaw said she was not endorsing any one candidate, but made it clear she thought that Troy Vincent was not the right candidate to lead the NFLPA and came across as a Trace Armstrong supporter.

The selection process has become so contentious that according to SBJ’s Mullen and Kaplan, Vincent is requesting that the vote for executive director be taken as an open roll call because he does not trust some of the NFLPA staff. On Friday, the NFLPA Executive Committee is expected to meet and decide whether or not they will hold an open roll call vote to determine the next executive director.

While it is not the ideal way to conduct a vote, given the circumstances surrounding the final stages of the search process, it seems to make the most sense to ensure the overall integrity and transparency of the vote leaving no question that the new NFLPA executive director emerges with full support of all members.

I don’t know who the best candidate will be to lead the NFLPA. Armstrong, Vincent and Cornwell all have solid NFL experience that would be assets and would help them as executive director’s and set the path for a new way at the NFLPA.  Smith is an outsider that has no sports business experience, but has similar experience having served as an assistant U.S. attorney similar to the NBA Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter and NHL Players Association Executive Director Paul Kelly.

I do know that whatever happens this weekend in Maui, the NFLPA needs to end the finger-pointing, stop negatively questioning the finalists credentials and avoid leaks to the media coming out of the election on how the process unfolded if they want to maintain any sense of credibility with the NFL, owners and sponsors.

BREAKING UPDATE:

On Thursday night, the Associated Press seemed to clear Troy Vincent of all of the most serious allegations against him.  The AP also reported that all of Vincent’s companies were in good standing and reviewed an email from Upshaw to Vincent that outlines some sort of succession plan with Vincent as his successor.