Lucky Luciano

i disagree that it is ridiculous. first, i am in the dark as to how much a payment is paid to players and what the scale and determination is to arriving at a fixed sum. do you have any model examples that have been paid out to professional athletes and how they have implemented payments to players on this? it would seem logical to understand this before anyone would want to cry foul. how convenient it is that the owners and governor have failed to create a forum to bring out the facts and chose to tag this to a hidden bill for the state budget. i believe workman's comp/disability does not give you the full amount of money as it relates to your full salary but is determined by a formula percentage (i could be wrong on this). but, even if it is at the full amount i am still in the camp that this law is just. EXAMPLE: let's say you work at minimum wage in the fast food industry for 3 or 4 years as a youth. as an adult you decide to go into a trade as a union pipe fitter. you pass your tests and work as an apprentice for 2 years until you get certified as a pipe fitter. you work as a full fledged union fitter for 1 year and are injured on the job and become incapacitated. what should your workman's comp pay you? most of your life you worked for minimum wage. is that what you should be compensated for the rest of your life? minimum wage benefits? is that what YOU would accept? in your definition, it was your CHOICE to go into this higher risk job.why should you get paid that higher rate for the next 30-40 years of your life? you knew that being a fitter was certainly more dangerous of an occupation than the minimum wage fast food worker. THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: when does the labor clock start on a professional athlete? what counts as time and effort leading to the final results of your profession? in most instances it started as training and hard work in a pre-high school timeframe. if so, that implemented at the LEAST an 8 year window of training, hard work and hard knocks to even GET to the point of being drafted by an NFL team. this was all non paid work in which you personally gave up your time and effort and in the mean time were physically assaulted in the profession you hoped to achieve. so let's see... if you were drafted at age 20 and were incapacitated in the NFL after a 12 year career you were in the '"workforce" per se', of your profession for TWENTY YEARS. that is a vested commitment in nearly any viable company or corporation for a pension. even IF you were injured the first year in the NFL you have already at no expense to the NFL corporate put 8 YEARS with no salary and no benefits into your career. you are an even rarer percentage rate of individual that the 1% billionaires who hired you. your specialty puts you in a class of individuals in which you are one out of 1696 players in a population of 7.5 BILLION people. you are a rarer commodity than the cheap billionaire bastards that hired you by FAR. shouldn't you be compensated as such?

they ARE NOT average joe's. AGAIN, name ANY OTHER NON MILITARY PROFESSION that the employees are subject to blunt force trauma as a job requirement. CAN YOU? YES it's a choice for players to decide on this career. it's ALSO a choice for the owners if they don't like paying damaged players workers comp to SELL their freaking teams to someone who IS willing to pay this built in cost to operate. simple as that. if the NFL corporate doesn't like and can't live with this practice or procedure then just flat out dissolve the NFL so they do not have to pay these 'unfair' allotments of money!!! FINALLY......... if you really want ANY sympathy from me for these poor mistreated owners, have them open up their financial tax forms/records/books to the public and let's see just how much they are being unfairly treated having to pay former players who are permanently disabled. think they would be willing? give the mccaskey's a call and ask them. keep us informed on your progress.

quite possible. it may have turned out to be the field goal. i don't remember and don't have it taped to review.

yea, i do. in fact the nfl allots compensation to the franchises for these instances. that said, tell me of ANY other profession where you are paid to literally destroy your body and take physical abuse day after day (other than the military and they are getting a pittance of what they really deserve). these are not the 'electrician or welder' scenario working class hero they want to implant in peoples minds. it's not like joe schmoe can say... hmmmm i think i will become an apprentice and train to be a professional football player when i graduate from high school. there is nobody else in the world can do what they do so to compare them as such is so ridiculous as to be laughable. these are gifted people who have worked nearly their entire lives to reach this level of athlete. to expect them to be compensated like a cook at burger king flipping burgers when they become incapacitated is purely greed on the owners part. these owners make billions, i repeat... BILLIONS. off of these people. the owners and the league understand this and accept it as business expenses before they are ever drafted or acquired to play for their teams.

as i stated, these calls were nit picky calls that happen all the time during games that are not called. that said, the one ball was uncatchable the second also. if this were the bears offense there would not have been any flags and especially on the 2nd call. it was brady obviously dumping the ball off YARDS short to avoid a sack not even close to any receiver.

and just when the mccaskey's 'thought' the rumors of their being CHEAP were being put to rest they shoot themselves in the foot to save pennies. the law they want to pass, with the help of THEIR lobbyists and the governor, is BS. it's just another land grab by greedy owners and the corporate NFL who consider their employees replaceable meat suits. they don't just want all the pie, they want the pan it was baked in too. the rebuttals and justifications for passing this law are just calculated red herring's planned and planted by the PR leg of these franchises and corporations to appeal to idiots whose visual (in this case mental) depth perception is comparable to ray charles. if these were viable and just laws, why tack them nearly unheard of to the state budget to try and sneak them through?

you are correct. the era's are apple and orange comparisons. the nfl changed all the rules to the game in favor of the offense especially the passing game. where the tackles can line up. the holding on nearly every play is evident compared to the past. in the past there would be holding calls on nearly all the linemen on every single play. in the past you could not grab the jersey and hold on. as soon as your arms came out to wrap a player it would have been a flag.

the drive where the pats made their first TD... there were two instances where the drive stalled and they should have had to punt. it was third down and 9 or 10? in each instance. brady throws incomplete passes and then comes the flags. on the replay you are correct in a sense. there was MINOR holding but it should NOT have been called in reference to the rest of the officiating going on. one flag if you wanted to be VERY nit picky. two flags and it was a give-me drive by the officials that turns out to have been the difference in the game. this seems the MO of officiating in the nfl. give early questionable calls and makeup calls later in the game to the other team to 'appear' unbiased. it seems like no big deal at the time but in reality it IS a big deal. it gives the team they choose to favor riding time and momentum.

atlanta... complete chumps. had the game won twice and pissed it away. in reality, i find it hard to believe any coaching staff is that stupid. a field goal signs the pats death warrant and they do the SAME thing twice in a row and end up punting? smells like week old dead fish. again, the refs determined the outcome of this superbowl. the first TD was due to the refs giving the pats TWO golden penalties to give them the first touch down. subtract that and who wins?

i believe he just had groin surgery and might not be healthy enough for buffalo to cut him before the big money in his contract takes effect. how that effects his status i don't know. he is an interesting thought although his size is a concern. he is only 6'.

copy and paste the link in google or whatever. hit search. the page link will come up on the search links page. copy the HEADLINE off of the search engine page to that link. paste THAT in the search window and hit search. it will then bring up the headline page on a search page. then click on that and bingo. seems complex but it isn't. let me know if it works for you.

if this were a non salary cap league like it used to be then it could turn out fantastic. but with the cap i just do not see how we can pay other top tier money position players and do this (especially the top player, QB, you hope to obtain). sure, in the near future it would be a great addition but it hurts our team in the long term in many ways. defensively: we can't assume floyd is a bust possibility at this juncture or that garrett is going to be a can't miss player. there have been many 'can't miss' players who never transitioned into the nfl. in today's league you have to have at least one very good to elite DB preferably at the corner position. offensively: you MUST have a very good to elite QB to succeed more than one season's anomaly. to make this position the keystone you have to have a very good to elite LOT (unless he is a lefty) not to mention the rest of the offensive line must be at the least good to very good. without them your keystone player is minimized or ends up on IR. what of the very good to elite WR to make our offense work? we faced that dilemma this past season with jeffry tagged. running backs seem to have dropped in value leading to the cap but TE's have taken their place. even so neither are cheap per se'. if someone can tell me how to pay elite players on both sides of the ball needed to win more than one lucky superbowl i surely would be willing to change my mind on this garrett. otherwise if no QB, LOT or CB are worthy of this high a pick for future consideration then try to trade down as i have stated in previous posts and let someone else use their multiple picks on garrett and we gain ammunition for next years attack to move up in the draft for that elite QB.

the dolphins had a very good offensive line. that said, marino killed the bears with his quick releases. we kept blitzing and couldn't put the hit on him enough to stop them from manhandling us. this was one of the few instances that i recall buddy ryan was outcoached. Paul M. Banks, August 23, 2013 http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-sports-m...rino-bears-842/ “Looking back on it, we got off to a good start, and what we did is we took our normal base offense and took our tight end out of the game and moved Nat Moore in and spread it out a little bit, and they stayed in their same type of defense, so they had linebackers trying to cover Nat Moore, and when they blitzed they had to bring a safety down.” “So that kind of helped what we did offensively, I hate to say it, but it’s as simple as that,” Dan Marino summarized. Dan Marino was known for having one of the quickest releases the league has ever seen, so he was one of the very few passers adept enough to beat the Bears blitz packages. In short, he was fast enough on the trigger to get past the blitz and exploit one-on-one mismatches. And with Moore, the Dolphins had a WR on LB mismatch to complement the “Marks Brothers” at wideout beating the Bears corners and safeties.

i'm sorry but that is a huge gamble unless you figure in 4 years we have a cheap qb to offer a contract, a cheap LOT to offer a contract, cheap CB's and LB's or any other player who might be good enough to be considered all-pro or pro-bowl material (although i guess if we do have those types of cheap contracts coming up we will be picking in the top 10 again anyway). in this cap era you can't, i repeat can't, dump that much money into the 'same' position and not expect your team to suffer from lack of supporting quality players. that leaves, at least to me, the ability to financially support one all-pro pass rushing DE, possibly one all-pro cover CB and throw in another POSSIBLE defensive all-pro player at the remaining positions. after this you can best hope for good to very good players you have acquired through the draft playing out rookie contracts. now take into account your offensive salary cap restrictions. QB and WR along with LOT are some big ticket items. where are you going to find the cap money to pay them? finally... to me you are hopefully picking in the top 10 rarely. this SHOULD be a cornerstone to the foundation of your franchise for 10 years. to draft a player there you know you can't support and will not last past his first contract is madness.

i have to completely disagree with your assessment. with TWO contracts coming do nearly at the same time there is just not enough money in the cap to do this. pass rushing DE's are one of the highest paid players in the nfl with the exception of franchise qb's. you would virtually pauper your defense and more than likely your offense as well. in today's world, no, it would bust your franchise and it's possibilities to be a consistent contender for a real shot at a title. if this were pre cap times then it would be a nice proposition which might work although if you want a reality check look no further than the 85 bears defense. we had 2 HOF defensive ends not to mention HOF quality linebackers. the type of offense run today is very similar to what the dolphins did to us in that season with marino. it's the quick release that will negate a pass rush and put the burden on your linebackers and defensive backs. thus the importance of quality corners. in today's defense does that mean we go with mediocre linebackers and defensive backs? your safeties would be just 'good' at best in this scenario and probably even less quality for your linebackers. this also means you are fielding bottom of the barrel cornerbacks. good to elite cb's get nearly if not more money than a DE does. it would be nearly impossible to pay a franchise quality quarterback and certainly franchise quality LOT's along with him if you put that much money in two similar positions on your defense. are you suggesting we go with a mediocre offensive line yet again? if you are forced to let one of these high quality DE's go then you 'literally' wasted a top 5 or 10 pick. it's a recipe for disaster for another decade.

i am not familiar enough with a 3/4 defense to yet understand how the players compare to those in a 4/3. that said.. if this garrett is playing in a similar position as floyd and both are supposed pass rushers how can we afford both? there is no way if floyd pans out like we expect/hope that this franchise can give the kind of money garrett and floyd will demand when both their contracts come due. that would make it 2 franchise quality pass rushing (DE?) contracts due nearly at the same time. so IF we go the garrett route, and he is a similar position player as floyd, how can we justify two top ten picks at the same position two years in a row knowing we will have to release one of them due to cap restrictions in 3-4 years just when they reach their prime?

first let me qualify this... i do not watch college ball anymore due to the crap from the BCS (or whatever it is called) and the BIG 10 garbage mess they created by adding a ridiculous amount of teams that can't even play each other in a regular season, along with the 'you have to pay and subscribe to BIG 10 network' in order to watch your local/state college team. it's total BS!!!! that said: i am still saying YES to drafting a QB at #3 IF that player looks to be a franchise quality player. this does NOT mean that the qb drafted has to be ready to start in the NFL this season or even next season. if it takes 2 or even 3 years for us to have a FRANCHISE quality quarterback i am more than willing to wait. i am sick and tired of us drafting qb's who are questionable just so they can qualify to start sooner. it hasn't worked for us and odds are it won't unless we get lucky. nothing will destroy a franchise quicker than to rely on 'luck' rather than building solid foundations. i am also tired of trading down for more draft picks when we should have been trading UP for the most important player on your team. NOW... if the people who evaluate qb talent for this franchise really determine that this draft class does NOT have that franchise quality talent for the future then i would try to trade down ONLY if i can get the team we are trading with their first round pick this year and their first round pick NEXT year. i don't care if we get anything else in return. i want to be able to trade UP with 2 FIRSTS next season to get that qb who IS a franchise prospect without bankrupting our franchise like we did for cutler. if it's determined that no qb is worthy of a franchise possibility and we can't trade down for what i stated above then put me down as my 2nd choice at the 3rd pick for a CORNERBACK. there is no way that a safety can compare in value to a shut down cb and anyone who believes this is dreaming. a shutdown corner not only takes away the other teams #1 receiver it gives our FREE SAFETY the chance to double up with our #2 corner for shut down coverage on that side. this in turn gives our defensive line the extra time to disrupt/sack the opponents qb. here are the TOP 4 values in any draft. QB first and foremost, then it's a grab bag for LOT, CB or pass rushing DE.

what i would do... IF the QB class (or even a killer LOT) looks strong NEXT year i trade down in the first round near the mid or even further in this draft. i take for that trade the teams first this year and their first next year. i then have 2 probable mid round or better first round picks next year to move up to get that primo position filled in the draft. i gamble on where the trade team is going to finish out the 2017 season and make the trade with the team with the projected highest pick in round 1 for next season. any other extra picks this season is a bonus.

peanut always had good games against moss peanut in truth was his nemesis. he was drafted to counter moss and the big receivers from green bay and did a really excellent job on the larger WR's throughout his career. peanut was one of the best #2 cb's ever.

with the selections you put up i went qb and cb. i would like to know if you meant these two choices to be for the first round option or overall. the left tackle option would also be there if you meant for this to be in the top five picks in the draft where we pick. if there was a LT stud and the QB's were an uncertain value i would have to go with a shut down CB or a stud LT. if there were no true studs in those three positions i would seriously consider trading down only if someone were to give us NEXT years first round pick. that way next year if the QB class looks good we could throw 2 first round picks out there to move into the top 5 again. that said, somewhere in the first 3-4 rounds you have to think of a RT in the mix although not in the top 10. this could also change depending upon if whitehair could project to become an ABOVE AVERAGE tackle if you moved him there. everyone seems to want a TE in those rounds. i just don't see that as a valuable pick for us in those slots. i think that brown has potential to be a starter for us. the guy has great hands.

this guy is waaay small. at 5'6" and 179 lbs. i just don't see this guy as a pro rb. he would be crushed by the bigger players in the nfl as a back and doesn't have the elite speed to outrun competition. that said, the only way i 'could' see this guy is as a possible return man. he has the moves and enough speed to MAYBE succeed fielding punts or kickoffs. now THAT would be interesting to see.

well lets hope he never leaves michigan. this guy is completely nuts.

uhhhhh... if this happened it would seriously be a bad thing. we dump players who are trouble so WHY hire a criminally stupid, documented thief and cheater for a head coach? i don't want to win that bad to hire garbage like him. stay with the group of coaches we have at least one more year.

yea and i'm not so sure that is a good idea either. this guy and staff seem to be able to get good results out of our string of nobody QB's. unless we find a proven, can't refuse this guy quality OC that looks like he will be around for a number of years, it may be best to let loggains have another year. we don't need another OC who is gone in a year or two. we need consistency. consistency and more consistency.

if true, this would set this team back 1-2 years minimum. you are right, it doesn't make ANY sense. we $h!t can our standard 4-3 defense and draft/acquire FA's in the previous 2 years to play in a 3-4 after picking up one of the few available GOOD 3-4 coaches in the league. this would be a major loss especially if we lose all the position coaches that go with him. if so, welcome to the bottom of the league/division/barrel yet again.