NFLPA Elections Upcoming…

Sometime in the next couple of weeks, the NFLPA’s Board of Player Representatives will meet with the union’s Executive Committee for the purpose of electing an Executive Director. DeMaurice Smith is the incumbent in that position and has been there for a six-year term. The 32 player reps – one from each team – will elect the new Ex.Dir. and the requirement is that one candidate must get 17 votes. The last time the players elected an Ex.Dir., there were 4 candidates; this time there are 5. It is possible there may need to be multiple ballots.

Not surprisingly, DeMaurice Smith is one of the candidates. The other 4 – along with what seems to be their main selling point to the players as a candidate are:

    James Acho: He carries the endorsement of the NFL Alumni Association which may or may not be a good thing given that the previous players and the current players do not agree on all sorts of issues. From what I have read, Acho seems to favor an 18-game schedule with 4 exhibition games too and expanded healthcare coverage for all players into their retirement.

    Sean Gilbert: The former defensive lineman wants to sue the NFL in a collusion case and thereby render the current CBA null and void. He wants an increased minimum salary and eligibility for free agency after only 3 years in the league. He too favors an 18-game schedule but with a reduction to 2 exhibition games.

    Andrew Smith: He is an attorney who has served as a legal advisor to an NFL team for several years. He believes that the league has “cooked the books” and is not reporting all of its revenues thereby artificially lowering the salary cap from where it ought to be and he believes that the team training staffs ought to be part of the NFLPA. He too is open to consideration of an 18-game schedule.

    John Stufflebeem: He was a punter for the Lions many years ago and also served in the US Navy rising to the rank of Vice Admiral. His candidacy here emphasizes his ability to negotiate to get things done and in so doing to advance the cause of the players in the NFLPA.

I find it interesting that 3 of the 5 candidates here are open to the idea of an 18-game schedule. I think it is also interesting to note that two candidates (Sean Gilbert and Andrew Smith) believe that the current CBA works to the disadvantage of the players and they would seek to change it in fundamental ways. Six years ago, DeMaurice Smith won this job as a dark horse candidate; might that happen again?

In another NFL-player-related occurrence, I read that Michael Sam will participate in Dancing With The Stars this year. I am sure that exactly no one will be surprised to learn that I will not watch even a moment of that programming. Nonetheless, I find it interesting that Michael Sam would choose to do this. I would presume that Sam continues to want to make an NFL roster. Last season he made it through the Rams’ training camp until the final cut and then spent much of the season on the Cowboys’ practice squad. While that is not the same thing as “making a team”, it would indicate that it is not out of the question that he might make a team this year.

And that is why Dancing With The Stars seems odd to me. I understand that there is a degree of athleticism involved in dancing but it does not seem to me that working on one’s samba skills is as likely to earn one an NFL roster spot as working on one’s pass rushing skills. Obviously, I am missing something here; I’ll just stay tuned to see how it all plays out.

MLB announced some changes for this year with the intention of speeding up games. Last year, games averaged over 3 hours and many dragged on for close to 4 hours. This year, batters have to keep one foot in the batters’ box and while there is not going to be a pitch clock in MLB, there will be one in the minor leagues. There will be efforts to speed up games by having players ready to start play as soon as the commercials are over between innings and relief pitchers will be “on a clock” to get into the game and get back to action. None of these ideas is offensive to me; each will help to speed up baseball games so long as these changes are enforced on the field. However, I have another suggestion:

    One of the things that happens more than once in a while in late innings is the relief pitcher who comes in to face one batter and one batter only. If that happens in the middle of an inning that means there will have to be two pitching changes in that one half-inning. A pitching change could take as much as 5 minutes – although many are effected in less time than that.

    One way to shorten the game would be to change the rule and require any pitcher who enters a game to face a minimum of 2 batters – or even 3 if you wish. (Oh, and by the way, any intentional walk issued by a pitcher does not count as a “batter faced”.)

This rule change should obviate at least a few of the late-inning pitching changes in games and every one of them that is avoided shortens the games.

Finally, here is a gem from Dwight Perry’s Sideline Chatter column in the Seattle Times:

“Comedian Argus Hamilton, on the latest Alex Rodriguez apology for lying about his PED use: ‘If Alex Rodriguez’s word were any more worthless, his portrait would be displayed on Greek government bonds.’ ”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………