Lee Tremblay

The Oakland Raiders and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha have not reached a long term deal before the deadline for the franchise tag kicked in.

Which means that Asomugha will be making 9.765 million this year and will be a free agent next year.

The Raiders will have the chance to sign him to a new contract next year, or give him the franchise tag again, which would be over 11 million dollars.

Asomugha has stated that he will not hold out, or miss any games, but it is unclear as to whether or not he will be at training camp on the 24th of this month.

It would have been extremely nice to have Asomugha signed for a long term contract, as it would solidify the cornerback position for many years to come. Instead, we are now at risk again of loosing one of the best corners in the league.

I will keep you all posted.

Tremblay

Lee Tremblay

We are in the midst of perhaps one of the greatest sports years ever!

Tiger Woods plays the US open on one leg, goes into a tie breaker with one of the biggest underdogs of PGA tour history, and just comes out on top.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have what has been concidered my many, one of the greatest, if not the greatest tennis match of all time, with Nadal finally beating Faderer for the first time at Wimbledon.

The Detroit Redwings lead by the first European captain to win a stanley cup, beat out the Pitsburgh Penguins in what was one of the best all around performances by any team in the NHL’s history.  (However I must note that Nicklas Lidstrom is NOT the first European born player to captain a team to a stanley cup win. In 1934 Goaltender Chuck Gardiner, born in Edinburgh Scottland, captained the Chicago Blackhawks to a stanley cup win. He was also the only goalie ever to do it. Also in 1938, Johnny Gottselig, born in Odessa Russia, captained the Chicago Blackhawks to their second stanley cup win. Both players were born over seas, but lived in Canada, so although they are not concidered Europeans, they were born there. (Much like Danny Heatley was born in Germany, but lived in Alberta)

The Boston Celtics ended a 22 year lapse between championships, as they beat the LA Lakers in this years NBA finals. They extend their NBA leading championships to 17.

Ryan Newman wins what many would concider Nascars best race at the Daytona 500, in what was the 50th running of the Great American Race.

Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an IRL race when she took the checkered flag at the Japan 300 on the twin ring Motegi oval raceway. Proving that women can race with the big boys too.

And then we have the NFL……………..

Ok sure the Superbowl was pretty darn exciting, and that catch was nothing less then spectacular, but the rest of what is going on trumps what happened in Feburary far far more.

We have DUIs, shootings, hit and runs, retirements followed by non retirements followed by name calling , we have holdouts, rediculous rookie signings, drug suspentions, robberies and kidnapping, and so on and so forth……

What, dare it say, is going on in the NFL????

I can take note of all of the off field issues that have plagued the NFL just this year alone (and we are only half way through it, so their could still be some dog fighting to report) and I would have to bet that there is more “junk” going on in the NFL then EVERY other professional sport combined! Heak, every other sport combined for the last 10 years compared to Just the first half of 2008 in the NFL. And I have to say that I just don’t get it!

What is so off with the players in the NFL that makes them do such stupid things?

What is it about this league that allows so many blatent acts of criminal behavior to happen?

What is wrong with the system?

Don’t get me wrong. I love the NFL. I am a diehard fan of what is quite possibly the best professional league in the world (I would have a hard time trumping Football over Hockey, but hey, I’m Canadian, Hockey is in my blood).

So lets debate STB members! Lets see if we can figure out what is going on in the NFL, and how it can be fixed. Or if it can be fixed.

Let the debate begin

Tremblay 

Lee Tremblay

With the 2008 NFL season getting ready for its debut, the Oakland Raiders are set to start training camp on the 24th of July.

As we all know, training camp is the hardest part of the season, because its the most gruelling, time consuming, and intricate part of being a professional football player. It is also the make it or break it for many players, so it is imparitive for them to shine.

The Oakland Raiders lead by second year coach Lane Kiffin are set to run much of the same format they used in last years training camp. They will do a session in the morning and then have their afternoon off, and come back for a session at night. The day will end before around 11:00pm.

What this allows, is the players to have classroom sessions set apart from drills and workouts. It allows the players time to focus on the task at hand, and not worry so much about the next step. It also takes away the afternoon heat factor, which can play havock on an athletes body.

This system was very well recieved by the players last year, and it goes a long way in helping lesson the chance of injury, due to the greater level of rest and time. It also gives the coaching staff some added options for getting the guys to work extra hard in the morning, to get the evening off, if expectations were met.

This is not the same as two a days, because it is not a double session back to back, rather it’s work, play, work, rest.

For this years off season the Raiders have some issues to deal with, and some positions to set.

What we do know about the starting lineup (Barring injury):

Offense: QB: Jamarcus Russell, TE: Zach Miller, FB: Justin Griffith, G: Robert Gallery, K: Sebastian Janikowski, P: Shane Lechler.

Defense: DE: Derrick Burgess, DT: Tommy Kelly, ILB: Kirk Morrison, OLB: Thomas Howard, CB: DeAngelo Hall, Nnamdi Asomugha, SS: Gibril Wilson, FS: Michael Huff.

What we don’t know:

Offense:

 WR: Javon Walker (injury), Ronald Curry (surgery), Drew Carter, Johnnie Lee Higgins, etc… If all goes as planned, the  top two recievers will be Walker and Curry.

RB: Darren McFadden, Justin Fargas, Michael Bush, Adimchinobe Echemandu. This position is more up for grabs then any other, because the top three are all highly likely to win the position over. I would guess that Fargas will enter training camp as the number one guy, and that should carry through to the season. However, going with a two or even three back system, is not very unlikely for Kiffins team.

T: Mario Henderson, Kwame Harris. Cornell Green. Henderson is in his second year and could make a push for that starting spot, however Harris was brought in to take that left side position. Then you have Green who started last year, but has the least upside of the three.

G: Paul McQuistan, Cooper Carlisle. The left side will be Gallery’s, but on the right  side it could be either one of the two mentioned. Carlisle started the year last year, but after injury, McQuistan took over. Both played well, and it will be interesting to see who gets the nod.

C: Jake Grove, John Wade, Chris Morris. Do you give it to the proven veteran (Wade), the oft injured (Grove), or the young prospect (Morris). Last year they went with the proven veteran (Newberry).

Defense:

DE: Jay Richardson, Kalimba Edwards. Who will play opposite Derrick Burgess? There could be about three other guys in this mix as well.

DT: Gerard Warren, William Joseph, Terdell Sands. It has been stated that Tommy Kelly will be the nose tackle, but as for his counterpart, the choice is wide open.

OLB: Sam Williams, Robert Thomas, Grant Irons. Thomas Howard will be one of the starters, and my guess is that if Williams is fully healed, he will get the other. My question is, why would they bring back Irons, if it looks like Williams has recovered fully? Tough one!

Some of the guys that I have stated as being the starters could obvously loose that spot, but again, If there are no injuries and no blowups, they should get the nod.

Let me know what you think Raider fans, and football lovers, and let the games begin!

Tremblay