LT2_3

As DBDB pointed out, a few hundred empty seats spread out over the stadium probably looks no different on TV than the folks in line to buy beer. BF2K's point was about how upset he gets when he sees all those empty seats on TV. That really never occurs unless the weather is really bad - and even then, it's the season ticket holders that don't feel like braving a subzero windchill and not the tickets sold by a broker. There ARE alot of guys outside the stadium selling tickets, but as Madlith pointed out, you're taking a chance on fake tickets that way. I also wouldn't blame all the professional ticketbrokers either. I know guys with several sets of season tickets. One guy has 3 different pairs of tickets. He sells them to his friends at face value +10% most of the time, but he sells 2 pair above value for hot games to cover the cost of ALL the tickets. There are games late in the season where no one is interested and he has empty seats because nobody really wants to sit in the brutal cold.

It's one release and it's first come, first serve. Regulations regarding ticket resale are a legal thing that varies from state to state. Coming up with standardized rules is impossible. Actually, lawmakers prefer them being sold online without regulation than more being sold outside the stadium. Not to nitpick, but there are rarely any empty seats. When there are empty seats, it usually has to do with really bad weather on gameday - that and the only time I can actually remember any was the New Years eve game that got switched to primetime at the last minute. I would still suggest going to a ticketmaster location to buy your tickets at noon cst July 12th. It's a saturday, so I'd plan to be in line by 10am cst. Find a location here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/h/stateselectt...m_retail_header As for the popularity of GB tix, that will never decrease because the cheeseheads drive down to watch the game in person. In 2001, a buddy and I were offered $600 apiece and turned down the offer. I also think the prime-time games will sell out more quickly than 12:00 games.

Where are you getting online from? If you're in the chicagoland area, I'd suggest going to a ticketmaster outlet and getting them from there. If you're not, you may be screwed. They give priority to credit card numbers with billing addresses in the chicagoland area. Personally, I have a 2 pronged attack process. My buddy is going to stand in line at the ticketmaster the morning they go on sale, and I'm going to sit at home with 3 computers logged into ticketmaster at once trying to get tickets to different games. We'll be happy with any that we get.

Well obviously it depends on his offers. From what I've read, he's already visited with SOME teams and talked parameters a little bit, but he's waiting until after his workout. The way I see it for different time periods regarding KJ signing a deal: Now until June 28th - he's not signing nothing - unless he gets a great deal from someone he's already visited with that is willing to pay to keep him from working out. June 29th - July 15thish - This is when he's going to look to sign a multiyear deal. Early enough that he can make a full TC. If he doesn't get those types of offers, he may wait until a RB gets injured in camp. I think it's at that point that he would consider a 1 year deal if that's all that's available. My biggest thing against KJ signing a 1 year deal is that teams wouldn't want to sign him to a 1 year deal. Because contracts aren't guaranteed, teams have no reason to sign guys to one year deals. All they have to do is put in roster bonuses that don't get paid if they are released. That way the team literally has the option of what to do. The only time players want a longer deal is if it increases their guaranteed money - giving them more security. So in this case, I think a team would want at least a 3 year deal so they can keep the guy around for somewhat cheap if he pans out, and I think Jones would want the security of the signing bonus of a 3 year deal. Worst case scenario, if Jones signs a 3 year deal with a modest signing bonus and gets injured again, he could easily sit year 2 of a deal on IR. If he gets injured on a 1 year deal, he simply becomes a FA when his deal expires and probably doesn't get a salary that year because he isn't under contract. I'm not against KJ signing a 1 yera deal with us, I just don't think it's likely because I don't think a front office would want a 1 year deal, and I don't think Jones would want one either.

When it comes to KJ, his entire schedule is dependant on his workout scheduled for June 28th. Nothing is going to happen between now and then. That's when his negotiations will really start with ALL interested teams and his first preference won't be a 1 year deal.

Well, when we start talking about the type of contract we want these potential RBs to sign, we have to consider what they would be likely to accept and at what point in time. The only RB out there that I would be really interested in would be K Jones - at this point in time. However, I don't think that he would want to sign a 1 yr deal - at least at this point in the offseason. If any of the guys currently available are STILL available in mid August, I could see them accepting a 1 yr deal at that point. However, the problem is that we would probably have to offer at least a 2 year deal at this point in the offseason. I see a need for another RB unless we're planning on AP spelling Forte. I think that whatever plan they develop, they need to bring Forte on a bit slowly so he doesn't hit the proverbial "rookie wall" after having had 15-20 rushes per games for the first 12 games. That's what Indy did with Addai. They would alternate a larger number of carries with fewer early in his career. His carries went 7, 16, 3, 20, 13, bye, 11, 17, 18, 13, 13, 24, 16, 11, 8, 15, 21 for a grand total of 226 carries his rookie season and an average of 14 carries per game. He split carries with Rhodes with carries of 16, 14, 14, 15, 20, bye, 13, 3, 4, 14, 9, 15, 12, 8, 19, 2, 9 for 187 carries. That's awesome for a rookie and I think a well planned distribution to bring him along slowly. So, to get K Jones signed before TC, I think we would have to offer him a 3 year deal with maybe $4 mil in signing bonus, with salary escalators it he hits certain parameters based on games active for and rushing yards. It would be a base contract of 3 years $7 million or a max deal of 3 years $17 million. I think that's a contract that Jones would sign. It would also allow the team to release or trade him with tolerable consequences after 1 year if he's not that good and Forte is awesome. That would allow us to "rent" him for a year for $5 million - but allow the cap hits to be spread as 2.33 mil, 1.33 mil, and 1.33 mil if we only keep him for 1 year. That sounds reasonable to me because I'm not too hip on AP having most of the carries early in the season to get Forte acclimated and prevent him burning out at the end of the season when we will need him for the playoffs.

LOL - I'll try to keep that in mind. I guess I was still in my "writing for work" mode. Quick joke: What do light beer and making love in a canoe have in common? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . They're both effing close to water.

Really? In my version of the man-law book, it says to use the right word in context. On an aside though, it's a bit ironic that the whole "man-law" thing was started on a light beer commercial, but in my "man-law" book, real men don't drink light beer unless it's for medical reasons.

If you are talking about Olivea, it was reported that he agreed to terms with the Jets, but hasn't signed yet. People speculating about Bentley doesn't make it so either. I have to wonder how strong his leg is that had the staph infection. He may be healthy enough to play, but that doesn't mean he's going to play at his previously probowl level. What's the point of obfuscating? Because it undermines negotiations. If Lovie says we aren't signing a RB, that puts us in the best bargaining position. If he ignores the question, the media will read into it that he didn't deny that they will sign someone and it will be out there weakening bargaining position. If he says we want to sign someone, he kills bargaining position.

This has been Angelo's MO all along - being a draft driven team. Now as for not signing another RB, that was Lovie's quote - not Angelo's. It's also smart for the HC not to undermine bargaining position. I would also add that in the article from the mothership, Mayer says this: So while Lovie's quote indicates that they intend to not sign one at all, I think that's reading into it a bit just for something to talk about in the offseason. Also, if anyone hasn't noticed, teams aren't signing players other than draft picks right now. This is the wait and see portion of the offseason. Front offices are on vacation and agents are trying to gauge the market. The basic fact is that we aren't going to sign anyone over the next few weeks unless Kevin Jones rocks his workout when he finally has it. It also wouldn't surprise me if Rueben Brown signs with us right before TC. He's been very supportive of the franchise in the media when he didn't have to say anything at all.

League 3 for me

Where is the FF thread?

We're really arguing over semantics at this point I suppose. I think this is a case where we can both claim to be right. BTW - Wikipedia can be a good source for general knowledge stuff, but it's not written by professionals that worry about absolute accuracy - not that the media is either.................. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2916083

I'm not convinced he won't get picked up on waivers. His salary this year is 820k and 1.05 mil next year. That's cheap for even a backup RB. Also any team picking him up can release him before the season and take no cap hit at all. I really think that SOMEONE will pick him up on waivers if only so they can kick the tires during TC.

Just to clarify, Tank WAS arrested. Also, he did a blood test and not a breathalyzer. The team released him after his arrest and before the results came in and the charges were dropped.

Ummm yeah - I have to wonder if AP used me as their source - not from here but from my numbers published elsewhere. The Trib and Suntimes have been WAAAAYYYYY off on their numbers. As for rotoworld, they don't know WTF they are talking about. They must have misunderstood something written somewhere. Got any links to those stories?

When players get up front money in the form of a signing bonus, the player gets all the money upfront, but the cap hit for it gets spread out equally over the term of the contract. So, if a player gets a $10 million signing bonus on a 5 year contract, their cap hit each year is their salary + 2 million in bonus amortization. Now, if a player is released prematurely, any remaining unamortized bonus money has to be accounted for and accellerates to the cap year in which the player is released - unless it's after June 1st in which the current year's amortization applies, and the remainder hits the following year. In Benson's case, we still have 2 years at 2.55 million to amortize. Against this year's cap, we will save his $810k salary for a net dead cap hit of roughly $1.7 million and a dead cap hit of $2.55 million next year. The way I would explain it would be like leasing a car for 5 years, not liking the car after 3 years and returning it so you can't use it at all, but still having to pay 75% of the cost of keeping it.

No, him getting picked up changes nothing against our cap.

OK - I changed my comment from "Nazi" to "Are you of an extremely right wing politcal group that doesn't believe in civil rights?" Better?

A raging alcoholic? Naw, not a raging one. btw - I don't appreciate the personal attack. Isn't that against the rules? Don't you know better? Should you be banned from the board for breaking the rules?

If you've only had one drink and think that you (and everyone around you too) are sober, yes you should refuse. Read more here about how they are inherently inaccurate: http://www.drunkdriving-california.net/blo...cohol_test.html Here's another one that talks about how the machines can often be inaccurate against how they are supposed to work: http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/InTheNews...1090949560.html So yeah. If you've even had only one beer, you should refuse to take a BAC test.

Obviously you have never discussed this with an attorney. Every attorney I've ever spoken with on the subject says to refuse the BAC test even if you only had 1 drink and it was hours ago. Breathilyzers are notoriously inaccurate and blood samples can be corrupted too. They say that in EVERY circumstance, you should refuse and take the statutory suspension. I suppose that in your world, that only celebrities should take it everytime because celebrities vs. the cops is a spectator sport. The actual interests of the people involved must be irrelevant.

Edit .......... Wow. Just wow. Are you of an extremely right wing politcal group that doesn't believe in civil rights?

Jason, the field sobriety test is on video tape this time. The officer says he failed, and Benson's attorney said he did very well on it. At the least, it sounds like a pattern of Police taking a guy in for any old reason once pulled over because field sobriety tests are so ridulously subjective. I would even believe that the Police aren't treating Benson differently than anyone else, but that doesn't make it right either. It reminds me of several stories I've heard from people where they were taken down to the station for a breathilyzer when they hadn't been drinking. One was a designated driver with an attitude, the second was a bartender that reeked of alcohol because it was on his clothes, and the third was a guy with a stuttering problem. The standard for the police to bring someone in for testing has gotten out of hand because it has surpassed speed traps for generating local income for police departments. One thing I read online lately regarding BUIs is: "If you have spent a long day in the sun and on the water, chances are you may appear to the officer as being under the influence. Your red eyes, wobbly gait, and lightheadedness from dehydration can all be mistaken for alcohol consumption." I'm not suggesting that Benson will be joining MENSA any time soon, but it's still within the realm of possibility that he's not in the wrong for anything other than not having the sense to keep from getting behind the wheel of a car at that time of night even if he's legally sober.

There is no difference based on when he's released or traded at this point. Either way, we still owe for $2.55 mil per year over then next two years for his unprorated signing bonus. For this year's cap hit we would subtract his $820k salary this year for a net cap loss of $1.725 million cap hit, but next year would be a pure $2.55 mil dead space cap hit for him. From a numbers perspective, we should give him one more year to make it or not. These legal issues are a distraction, but that doesn't change the numbers. We'd be much better off paying the extra $820k to keep him and see how he does than save the $820 and spend even more than that replacing him at this point. But that's JMHO.