TEH OFFICIAL 2014 NFL SEASON Thread

[Bob]

Horse place needs better calculators.   

[RVR II]

U.S. senators send letter to Goodell
Updated: May 22, 2014, 11:56 AM ET
ESPN.com


50 U.S. Senators Urging Redskins Name Change
Darren Rovell discusses the letter sign by 50 U.S. senators urging the NFL to change the Washington Redskins name.

A letter signed by 50 U.S. senators urging the league to change the Washington Redskins name was sent on Thursday to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The letter draws a parallel between the NBA's no-tolerance policy regarding the racist comments made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and asks the NFL to act similarly.

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has been steadfast in his stance that he will not change his team's nickname.

"Today, we urge you and the National Football League to send the same clear message as the NBA did: that racism and bigotry have no place in professional sports," the letter said. "It's time for the NFL to endorse a name change for the Washington, D.C. football team.

"The despicable comments made by Mr. Sterling have opened up a national conversation about race relations. We believe this conversation is an opportunity for the NFL to take action to remove the racial slur from the name of one of its marquee franchises."

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has opposed the name change, and his team has launched its own public relations campaign issuing comments by Native Americans that continue to support the name.

The NFL has stood behind Snyder and issued its own response Thursday to the news of the senators' letter.

"We have not received the letter, but the NFL has long demonstrated a commitment to progressive leadership on issues of diversity and inclusion, both on and off the field," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement. "The intent of the team's name has always been to present a strong, positive and respectful image. The team name is not used by the team or the NFL in any other context, though we respect those that view it differently."

The Oneida Indian Nation, a tribe located in upstate New York that has been pushing for the name change through a national "Change the Mascot" campaign, applauded the senators' formal action while continuing to stay on its message.

"Washington team owner Dan Snyder and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell have claimed that using the R-word epithet somehow honors native peoples, but it is quite the opposite," Oneida Nation CEO Ray Halbritter said in a statement. "The R-word is a dictionary defined racial slur."

Halbritter said that the Redskins name is not a term of honor but "a malicious insult."

Jackie Pata, the executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, also weighed in Thursday.

"The NFL is a global brand," Pata said in a statement released through Oneida. "But it wants to contribute to the positive image of the United States across the world rather than callously promoting discrimination against Native Americans, then it must stop promoting this slur and finally change the name."

The letter to the NFL was signed only by Democratic senators and was not signed by Tim Kaine or Mark Warner, the two Democratic senators from Virginia.

[Bob]

So only democrats were asked to sign this and two nearby were too chicken to sign?

Weak

[RVR II]

So only democrats were asked to sign this and two nearby were too chicken to sign?

Weak

Probably too 'thin skinned' with a streak of yellow to make a difference

[RVR II]

NFL suspends Daryl Washington
Updated: May 30, 2014, 1:36 PM ET
ESPN.com


Arizona Cardinals inside linebacker Daryl Washington will be suspended for the 2014 season for again violating the league's substance abuse policy, the NFL announced Friday.

Linebacker Daryl Washington had 81 tackles, three sacks and two interceptions last season, after having missed the Cardinals' first four games for violating the league's substance abuse policy.

Washington, whose suspension begins immediately, missed four games last season for a previous violation.

"It's completely unacceptable that Daryl has once again put us in this position," Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said in a statement. "We all know what the consequences are and will deal with them.

"From a personal standpoint, our hope is that this suspension will give Daryl the opportunity to accept the necessary help and guidance to get his life back on track, and we will certainly support him however we can."

Washington also was facing another suspension for violating the league's personal conduct policy after he was arrested last May on two counts of aggravated assault after an alleged confrontation with his ex-girlfriend.

He pleaded guilty to those charges in March and was sentenced to one year of supervised probation in April.

In 12 games last season, Washington was third on the team with 81 tackles (59 solo), three sacks and two interceptions.

"As it pertains to our team, our approach is the same as it's always been: next man up," Keim said in the release. "... One player's absence is another's opportunity. That approach has served us well in the past and we will rely on it now."

I would think that the Cards would cut him from the team after that..

[Bob]

Oh, I am SURE he has learned a lesson and will be fine person after this.........

[RVR II]

Don't know why they just don't make this permanent....

NFL: It's Super Bowl 50, not L
Updated: June 4, 2014, 2:16 PM ET
ESPN.com


The Roman Empire has fallen.

The NFL will announce on Wednesday that Super Bowl 50 will be graphically represented using numbers instead of Roman numerals, which the league has been using since Super Bowl V in 1971.

It's a one-year break, said Jaime Weston, the league's vice president of brand and creative, done simply because the "L" isn't as pleasing to the eye.

The NFL will break from tradition and go without a Roman numeral on the Super Bowl 50 logo. However, order will be restored for Super Bowl LI in 2017.

"When we developed the Super Bowl XL logo, that was the first time we looked at the letter 'L,'" Weston said. "Up until that point, we had only worked with X's, V's and I's. And, at that moment, that's when we started to wonder what will happen when we get to 50?"

Weston said her team has been working on the Super Bowl 50 logo since April 2013, having gone through 73 versions. At some point along the way, it was concluded that having the "L" stand alone didn't work.

The league has made two logos for the game, which will take place on Feb. 7, 2016, at Levi's Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers. Both the national and regional logo feature the "50" in gold, serving to call attention to the game's golden anniversary as well as the game's location in the "Golden State."

The logos also feature the Lombardi Trophy, which has been part of the Super Bowl logo since 2010, when the league went to a more generic, standardized look. The regional logo includes Levi's Stadium as well as notable San Francisco landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid.

"We think what we have makes a very powerful statement for the NFL brand," Weston said.

As part of the final testing of the logos, including how the gold would play, the league looked at them on Wilson game footballs and even painted a logo on the playing surface at Candlestick Park last week.

Following the conclusion of Super Bowl XLIX, which will be played at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona on Feb. 1, 2015, the league will embark on a campaign to play up the 50th anniversary. The NFL will go back to using Roman numerals for Super Bowl LI in Houston in 2017.

The league started using the word "Super Bowl" for the third game in 1969. The league filed to trademark the term two months later.

[Bob]

This Il Duce is pleased and the dead Il Duce is upset.

[RVR II]

Maybe its time to start taking bets on a new team name..

In Landmark Decision, U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team
JUNE 18, 2014 AT 9:49 AM UPDATED: JUNE 18, 2014 AT 11:01 AM

"In Landmark Decision, U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team"

CREDIT: AP

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled six federal trademark registrations for the name of the Washington Redskins, ruling that the name is "disparaging to Native Americans" and thus cannot be trademarked under federal law that prohibits the protection of offensive or disparaging language.

The U.S. PTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued a ruling in the case, brought against the team by plaintiff Amanda Blackhorse, Wednesday morning.
"We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered," the board wrote in its opinion, ">which is here.

"The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board agreed with our clients that the team's name and trademarks disparage Native Americans. The Board ruled that the Trademark Office should never have registered these trademarks in the first place," Jesse Witten, the plaintiffs' lead attorney, said in a press release. "We presented a wide variety of evidence – including dictionary definitions and other reference works, newspaper clippings, movie clips, scholarly articles, expert linguist testimony, and evidence of the historic opposition by Native American groups – to demonstrate that the word 'redskin' is an ethnic slur."

"I am extremely happy that the [Board] ruled in our favor," Blackhorse said in a statement. "It is a great victory for Native Americans and for all Americans. We filed our petition eight years ago and it has been a tough battle ever since. I hope this ruling brings us a step closer to that inevitable day when the name of the Washington football team will be changed. The team's name is racist and derogatory. I've said it before and I will say it again – if people wouldn't dare call a Native American a 'redskin' because they know it is offensive, how can an NFL football team have this name?"
The Trial and Appeals Board rescinded the team's trademark protections in a 1999 ruling that was part of a case filed in 1992. A federal court later overturned the ruling on appeal due to a technicality that the plaintiffs say has been fixed in this most recent case.

The team will almost certainly appeal the case, and it will be able to keep its trademark protection during appeal. Losing the trademark would not force the team to change its name, but it would allow anyone who wanted to use "Redskins" on merchandise or through other means to do so, which could cost the team — and, because of the NFL's revenue-sharing model, other NFL teams — "every imaginable loss you can think of," as the team's lawyers argued in the original case. For that reason, the trademark has long been thought of by opponents of the team's name as the easiest avenue to changing it.

[RVR II]

Report: Bills 'expect' to sell for more than $1.1B
NFL
July 21, 2014 9:51 am ET


The value of professional sports franchises are through the roof these days and anyone looking to sell is feeling especially excited after the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers for an astounding $2 billion.

After Ralph Wilson died, the Bills are up next. And ESPN's Sal Paolantonio reported on Monday morning the Bills "expect" to sell for "more than $1.1 billion."

"League sources tell me last night the Bills expect the sale of the team to reach more than $1.1 billion," "That's an incredible number considering Forbes magazine just valued the team at $870 million. The ownership groups looking at this team can expect to pay 20 percent more than the value of the team."

Despite the Bills being one of the lesser attractive franchises in the NFL (sorry, Bills, but it's true and it's like being one of the ugliest models at an SI Swimsuit shoot so don't get too mad), there are ample bidders for the Buffalo team.

Bon Jovi is the headliner in terms of potential owners (he's worked with a pro football team before and has endorsements from at least one current NFL owner) and Donald Trump refuses to stop being involved.

Both guys promise to keep the team in Buffalo.

"There are no shortage of qualified candidates who are ready and eager to buy into the NFL, with the leagues finances booming and its broadcast and labor situation secure through the rest of this decade," CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora wrote back in March. "For every name you hear, there are several more lurking."

Former Bills quarterback and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly's name has been mentioned with possible new ownership groups, but his battle with cancer is obviously the top priority.

B. Thomas Golisano, former owner of the Buffalo Sabres is a candidate as well. Rogers

In short? There are a lot of rich people interested in landing the Bills. (Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula and Rogers Communications could be mentioned as well. As La Canfora noted, "no shortage.")

NFL teams are printing money at an unprecedented rate these days, making it more of a smart investment than a hobby.

There isn't the rush to sell the Clippers had (lawsuits, etc.) or the Los Angeles market. But it wouldn't be shocking at all to see the Bills topple a billion dollars on the open market.

[RVR II]

Big Ben better be a good boy this season..

Ben Roethlisberger's next contract will wait until 2015
NFL

Ben Roethlisberger said Thursday that he has a "really good feeling" about the upcoming season.

That optimism is due in large part to the Pittsburgh Steelers prioritizing an improved roster over a new mega contract for their quarterback.

Team president Art Rooney II explained Friday that Roethlisberger has been informed the Steelers will not extend his contract until after the 2014 season, when salary-cap space becomes available.

Big Ben has two years remaining on an eight-year, $102 million deal signed in 2008, whereas as other key players, such as center Maurkice Pouncey and linebacker Jason Worilds, had more pressing contract issues this past offseason.

"Yes, all of those things are factors in the decision," Rooney explained, via the team's official website. "The other key thing is that Ben wants to be part of a winning team, to be in a position to compete for championships, and he understands that in order to do that we need to try to keep as many of the other players around as we can.

"So, addressing the players who are going into the final years of their contracts in 2014 makes sense. That's what he and I talked about."

Roethlisberger is willing to remain underpaid by current franchise-quarterback standards because he wants the strongest roster possible for a shot at a third Super Bowl ring.

As one of the NFL's five best quarterbacks, he is line for at least $50 million in guarantees with a $20 million annual salary on his next contract.

[Bob]

Ben will need the money to pay off all his lawsuits against him by women in bars.

[RVR II]

Ben will need the money to pay off all his lawsuits against him by women in bars.

My thoughts exactly

[RVR II]

Pete Carroll on Marshawn Lynch: It's called a contract for a reason
July 25, 2014, 5:54 PM EDT
AP

Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch is unhappy with his contract and expressing that displeasure by staying away from training camp, an approach that General Manager John Schneider says that the team isn't planning to give him another one with two years to go on the current pact.

Coach Pete Carroll echoed Schneider's comments on Friday, saying that the deal they gave Lynch in 2012 was part of the organization's long-term plan to build a winning team and that they expect Lynch to hold up his end of that contract.

"It's a contract for a reason. We made a decision and it was signed, by us and by them," Carroll said, via USA Today. "We expect them to honor their contract just as we will. We're going to honor it and we expect them to do the same."

Red Bryant, Chris Clemons and other players released by the Seahawks with time and money left on their contract would probably be interested to know that the Seahawks' policy is to honor every contract until the moment it expires, especially since they were doing Lynch one better and showing up for work before they were cut loose. USC might feel the same way about Carroll leaving the school for the Seahawks while still under contract.

Carroll's skewed view of the way contracts work is beside the point when it comes to the Lynch situation, though. Right now, the Seahawks have made it clear that they'll move on with Robert Turbin and Christine Michael before giving Lynch any more money and Lynch has made it clear he won't show up until he gets more money. Someone is going to have to change their mind if Beast Mode is going to run again this season.

[Bob]

Pete Carroll has been a shithead his entire career...........