Goodell ‘disappointed’ HGH testing hasn’t begun

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday night that he’s optimistic that testing for HGH can begin this season but that he’s “disappointed” with the slow movement by the players’ union.
“We’re completely focused on that. We think it’s the right thing to do,” Goodell said. “We agreed to it. We think it’s the right thing to do for player safety, we think it’s important for the credibility of the wholesale jerseys game, we think it’s important as a message to kids who not only play our game, but play any game. You shouldn’t be taking performance-enhancing drugs and HGH is certainly something we need to be testing for.”
The league and NFLPA tentatively agreed in the contract that ended the lockout to implement testing for human Cheap nfl jerseys growth hormone. But the union had to approve testing procedures and has not done so, saying it wants more information.
“I’m disappointed. Never discouraged,” Goodell said. “It’s something we agreed to. We had talked about it for well over a year. It wasn’t something that came up at the last minute. It’s important for us as the NFL to continue to be the leader for sports, and that includes performance-enhancing drug testing. We’re proud of our program, but clearly this aspect of the program, meaning HGH testing, needs to be implemented, to make sure you have the best program in sports.”
Goodell said he doesn’t think the NFL will need Congress to intervene.
“Again, we agreed to it, so I’m hopeful we can all live up to our agreements and get it done,” he said.
“I respect the fact we want to have a valid test. We didn’t initially wrap our arms around this test when it was created in 2004, but there’s seven years of history, a lot of science, a lot of medicine is behind it. And we’re comfortable that this is a valid test. We respect the fact that the players’ association wants to have confidence in that, too. They have access to all the information we have and should be in a position to be able to be confident in that.”
The commissioner made his comments before attending a benefit dinner for the Huntington’s Disease Society of America San Diego chapter.
On the subject of concussions, Goodell said everybody who’s on the field needs to be aware if a player needs medical attention.
Last week, the NFL told its game officials to watch closely for concussion symptoms in players.
The move came after San Diego guard Kris Dielman sustained a head injury against the Jets and later suffered a seizure on the team’s flight home from New York.
“That’s something that we believe is the responsibility of everybody who’s on the field, whether you’re a coach, medical professional, other players or officials,” he said. “If you see somebody you think needs medical attention, safety is a priority and they should make sure the right medical attention is given, which means just alert the team and let the medical professionals make those decisions. We’re not asking them to make any medical decisions.
Goodell said he’ll meet with San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders on Thursday for an update on the Chargers’ attempt to get a new stadium built. The city expanded Qualcomm Stadium for the Chargers in 1997, but the team began a campaign for a new stadium in 2002.

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N.B.A. Needs Drastically Different Approach

The N.B.A. has exported its product to every corner of the world. The league, more than any other, has made rock stars out of its players, who are among the most recognized athletes on the planet.
But by missing one innovation — forging a true partnership with its cheap jerseys players — the league threatens to choke its growth. Commissioner David Stern likes to talk about partnership, but in the rough-and-tumble world of stalled labor negotiations, the fundamental relationship is anything but.
Shame on the league for not pushing for true partnership, but shame on the players for not insisting that equity in the league become a nonnegotiable plank in the labor talks. Instead, the currently stalled negotiations have involved the same wage-based scuffles between employer and employees: we give you a piece of the pie, and we’ll fight over the size of the slice every few years.
The N.B.A. and the players are engaged in another season-threatening Cheap Basketball jerseys battle over the distribution of what has become about $4 billion a year in revenue. This is not what a partnership looks like. If the N.B.A. and the players were actually partners, with players having an ownership stake in the league, we might be watching basketball instead of owners against players, owners against owners and players against player.
The concept of players’ equity would probably be met with great resistance from the owners and take years to work out. But given the tangled state of current negotiations, why not strategize now for the next contract?
“There’s not a better time than now,” said Steve Stoute, the founder and chief executive of Translation Consultation and Brand Imaging. Stoute works closely with entertainers and athletes, including Jay-Z and LeBron James, to help Fortune 500 corporations extend the companies’ marketing reach. He has written a book, “The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy.” He thinks that players — like many star actors — should have been negotiating for equity stakes a long time ago.
He pointed out that in James’s involvement with Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, Cannondale Bicycles and a new company, Sheets, which sells energy gel strips that include caffeine, James’s services are used for little up-front money in return for future payoffs.
Athletes would be open to that arrangement with franchises “if ownership and value and equity are discussed,” Stoute said.
“They’re asking for a piece of value,” he said. “Players will take less money and get a percentage of the value based off their contribution; they invest by taking less money in advance. Sandra Bullock takes less money up front in ‘The Blind Side’ but gets a huge back end. It’s apples and oranges in the arrangement but not in the concept: the more you invest, meaning the less you take up front, the more you get as a result of success.”
In the end, the N.B.A. would benefit because players would be sharing the risk. Under the current system, owners take all of the risks; players, whose contracts are guaranteed, take very few.
Under an equity arrangement, players would give up some of the money that is now guaranteed. In return for smaller guarantees, players would receive a share of the league’s profits — including a percentage of profits from the sale of N.B.A. franchises.
Taking less guaranteed money would be a risk for the players but would have a big upside. And the equity model would help sports owners — and the overall health of the league — because players would have additional incentive to maximize their efforts, on and off the court, and understand how onerous, long-term contracts and franchise-hopping can hurt their teams.

 

Pujols arrives in Miami to meet with Marlins

All week, the Marlins have courted some of the top talent on the free-agent market. On Friday, the biggest name of the class came to town. Albert Pujols, accompanied by his agent, Dan Lozano, arrived in Miami cheap jerseys to meet with Marlins officials, a source confirmed. Pujols is expected to tour the Marlins’ new ballpark and be in South Florida for the weekend.
Team officials are entertaining Pujols on the day the franchise is officially being renamed the Miami Marlins. On Friday night, the team will have a naming ceremony, complete with the unveiling of its new uniforms and logos. It will be streamed live at www.marlins.com.
Hosting Pujols, who is coming off a World Series championship with the Cardinals, is yet another busy day in what has already been a frantic week for the Marlins. In recent days, the Marlins gave left-hander Mark Buehrle and shortstop Jose Reyes Baseball jersey the tour of their 37,000-seat, retractable-roof ballpark.
Also on Thursday, a contingent from the team, including owner Jeffrey Loria and manager Ozzie Guillen, traveled to the Dominican Republic to give Cuban-born center fielder Yoenis Cespedes a private workout.
Cespedes, who defected from Cuba last summer, is regarded as big league ready. The 26-year-old is expected to be declared a free agent later this month. While the Marlins are pursuing Pujols, the team isn’t sure the slugger is set to leave St. Louis. A source told MLB.com that the Marlins feel signing Reyes and Cespedes is a more likely scenario than Pujols.
The Marlins are not expected to finalize any major signings until after the new collective bargaining agreement is completed. Reyes’ visit went very well, and there is a feeling within the organization that the shortstop may be ready to leave the Mets to join the Marlins. And with the strong Cuban community in Miami, Cespedes is a natural fit for the Marlins.
Also, Guillen, who managed Buehrle with the White Sox, is pushing hard for the left-hander. The feeling about Pujols is it will be a business decision and cause the Marlins to have to make the slugger the highest-paid player in the game. The courtship of Pujols also is expected to take a while. The Marlins may be first looking to see if they can secure Reyes, Cespedes and/or Buehrle. If that doesn’t happen, their attention then could turn more seriously to Pujols.

 

Nickelback teams up with United Way for annual Thanksgiving halftime show

Nickelback will take the stage for the 2011 United Way Thanksgiving Halftime Show during the first game of the NFL’s tripleheader when the Detroit Lions host the Green Bay Packers at 12:30 p.m. ET. The game and halftime show will be broadcast live on FOX.
“We are honored to perform at the United Way Soccer uniforms halftime show on Thanksgiving Day,” commented Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. “We always love playing in Detroit, our fans there have been tremendously supportive of us through the years and we can’t wait to come back and celebrate an exciting day for the Lions and the city of Detroit.”
In addition, American Idol Season 10 runner-up Lauren Alaina will kick off the game in Detroit with the national anthem. She will be joined by PLAY 60 youth ambassadors from the NFL Youth Education Town — Boys & Girls Club at the Dick & Sandy Dauch Campus in Detroit, a United Way agency. The PLAY 60 youth ambassadors will then help form the fan tunnel during player introductions.
The halftime show, highlighted by Nickelback’s performance, aims to inspire viewers to LIVE UNITED®, United Way’s call to the Cheap nfl jerseys public to get involved in the community by focusing on the building blocks of life: education, income and health. Now in its 38th year, the United Way/NFL partnership connects NFL PLAY 60 with United Way’s 2018 goal to get 1.9 million more young people healthy and active.
Designed to tackle childhood obesity, NFL PLAY 60 brings together the NFL’s long-standing commitment to health and wellness with partner organizations like United Way. PLAY 60 is also implemented locally, as part of the NFL’s in-school, after-school and team-based programs. Since the program was launched in 2007, the NFL has committed more than $250 million to youth health and fitness through programming, grants, and media time for public service announcements. The NFL and its teams have built more than 100 NFL Youth Fitness Zones and organized more than 1,500 PLAY 60 youth events since the campaign launched.
“We’re grateful to Nickelback for donating their time and resources to the United Way Thanksgiving Halftime Show,” said Tracey Holmes, NFL partnership director at United Way Worldwide. “Nickelback is demonstrating how they LIVE UNITED® by giving something back during the holiday season.”
This is the 13th year that United Way has worked with the NFL on the Thanksgiving Halftime Show to inspire NFL fans across the country to get engaged in their communities. Previous performers at the Thanksgiving Day Halftime Show have included Detroit-native Kid Rock, Mariah Carey, Bon Jovi, Mary J. Blige, John Mellencamp, Enrique Iglesias and the Goo Goo Dolls. It takes hundreds of people from throughout southeastern Michigan volunteering their time and talents to deliver the 10-minute show, which is produced annually by sports/entertainment company e2k.
Nickelback, one the biggest rock bands in the world with sales of over 45 million worldwide, has sent 18 singles rocketing onto various Billboard charts, have won three American Music Awards, a World Music Award, a People’s Choice Award, 12 JUNO Awards and earned five Grammy Award nominations. Nickelback was the first band in Nielsen BDS history to send five singles from one album onto the CHR charts. The band has had over 132 million You Tube video plays, has almost twelve million Facebook likes and have sold over five million concert tickets making them one of the top live acts in the world. The Nickelback song “Burn It To The Ground” was the third-most played song at major league sporting events for the 2009-2010 season.