Kevin Mawae Blackballed – Owners Vs. Union Conspiracy?
Published April 28, 2010 | 
Kevin Mawae is a free agent, and he’s not quite sure why. Mawae was a pro-bowl center in the 2009 Pro-Bowl. Granted, he was a backup. But still to be one of the best 6 centers in the league, he is puzzles why he hasn’t even received a single call from a team. Mawae is also the NFL Players Association President. And the owners and the players both want more money in the collective bargaining agreement that must be completed by next year to avoid a lockout.
Mawae not so subtly suggests the NFL owners may be using this as a battlefront for the new CBA. These were Mawae’s comments from a radio interview and put in a story on ESPN.com:
“I am unemployed and hoping someone will call,” Mawae, 39, told “3 Hour Lunch” on 104.5 in Nashville. “It’s kind of befuddling to me that I just came off my eighth Pro Bowl and a 16-game season and I can’t get one phone call. Continue reading
Duke-NCAA Conspiracy Theory
Published March 16, 2010 | 
There has been a lot of talk about how Duke has the easiest road to the Final Four in Indianapolis, and Kansas, the overall #1 seed, has one of the hardest. Duke has the most losses of the #1 seeds (5), all of which were on the road. Duke was also given the play-in game. Disregard the play-in game, since the first game for #1 seeds is always a joke, #1 has never been beaten in the first round. Kansas, Kentucky, and Duke all won their conferences and conference tournaments.
Here’s where the conspiracy theorists come into play. The NCAA is in its final 3 years of its lucrative TV contract with CBS (11 years, 6.1 billion). They can opt out after this tournament. They want another huge contract from either CBS or ESPN/ABC if they can match the CBS bid. CBS is losing money on the NCAA’s just like NBC lost money on the Winter Olympics ($250 million). So the NCAA wants to make sure ratings are huge this year to make sure CBS bids high and ESPN/ABC is drooling for the opportunity. It’s also the same reason the NCAA is considering adding 31 teams to the NCAA field to expand it to 96. Money. Big Money.
So why Duke?
Duke is ratings gold. Duke has always been ratings gold. There is never controversy with the Continue reading