NFL Football: New CBA Goodies!

Heyyyy!!!!! The NFL is back! While it was beginning to look better a couple weeks ago, the long wait is officially over with, and now we don’t have to pretend to like the CFL, whew…. I guess college football could have held us over, but while that certainly would work in basketball (NBA doesn’t hold a candle to the NCAA as far as regular season entertainment) the NFL is the elite of elites and everyone that has ever loved the egg shaped ball with laces can take a deep breath and get excited for pro-ball.

Over the next month the staff at LL.com will be making up for lost time, getting right down to it and providing a nice draft kit for you fantasy football junkies. We’ll also preview some of the season and get to making some picks when the time comes. I hope you’re ready for sound advice in all regards!

For now, I’d like to explore a couple of the great new pieces of the CBA (collective bargaining agreement – you know, that thing that everyone in the league, evil or good, fought over for the last 4 months). There’s also a couple things that aren’t so great – but hey, you win some you lose some.

The poor get richer! Whaaaaaatttt??? That’s right, usually it’s common place to concede that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Usually, that’s the case – but when it comes to the players making the league minimum in the NFL (Which actually composes most of the league) the minimum just got a little bigger – and it will continue to get bigger. 55 grand per year might not sound like a lot, but, shoooooot, that’s way more than I make!!!!

Rookies lose hold on the hold outs! This is probably the greatest part about the new CBA for the fan. There won’t be rookie holdouts – there’s basically a set price that rookies drafted in certain spots will get paid, with percentages (much lower percentages) of current contracts going to each draft pick. The days of 70 million dollar contracts for over-hyped 1st round quarterbacks are gone, as are the long holdouts, as are the extra fees for sports agents, and extra money for those guys. In fact, even the 3% that goes to agents is going down to 2% – this can’t be any greater!!! Get to camp on time, rook, clock’s a tickin’!

Holdouts were so dumb, that’s one thing the NBA got right!

Less Practice? It looks like the players really put the kibosh on the old fashioned hard nosed football practices – their promised schedules are splattered with days off, non-padded practices, no 2-a-days, no more than 3.5 hours on the field per day (4.5 for training camps), and free ice cream every Tuesday and Thursday.  It’s looking cushy until you realize they have to run into Ray Lewis once a year (twice for all Steelers, Browns, and Bengals) – though I think those teams get a little bonus every time the famous LB draws snot bubbles…Seriously though, no 2-a-days? These guys made rules that they could only work 4 hours a day at most – that’s awesome – I should do that! Wait, I do do that….

Cap the Cap, under the cap, a doo-rag maybe? The new 120 million cap is a little smaller than 2009, but hey, what’s really cool about the cap is the 89% rule. That means that teams under the cap have to at least spend 89% of the 120 million cap on their roster. If they don’t, that leftover money will be added up and dispersed throughout the roster – so if the owner is being super cheap, he just ends up paying everyone else more money – Al Davis hates this, I can promise you that – and therefore, we should all love this! (Al hates puppies, soft things, gummy bears, nectarines, walks on the beach, good movies, laughing, beating hearts, and angels – see….)

There are a ton of things involved with the new league rules, the CBA I mean – but those are my highlights – and I couldn’t be happier!

NFL Football in 2011!!! Fantastic!

2011 NBA Draft: Top 25 Player Rankings

2011 NBA Draft Rankings – TOP 25

As it’s well understood, the best college basketball players don’t always make the best NBA players. This is my Top 25 rankings of the current former NCAA players in the NBA Draft Class, based on how I believe they’ll perform in the NBA.

Since I don’t just read off some list, and haven’t really seen the foreign players play, I don’t feel good about including them in this list. I know I’ve read great things about all of them, but I have to rank the guys I’ve actually seen play. That being said, Enes Kanter looks like the real deal, and I’d have a tough time ignoring him at the top of the draft. A couple other big time foreign talents like Jan Vesely and Jonas Valanciunas look to make a splash in the lottery as well. But I’m sticking to what I know.

At the top of my list is star potential/starters all the way to the bottom where I think guys will stay on NBA rosters/get some tick.  It’s my projectile big-board, so to say. I’m betting my bankroll that you’ll see some surprises on here, and hold me to them down the road.

Top 25 Draftees

1. Kyrie Irving – Irving was a blur when he played this season. He played so well that despite missing 3/4s of the season, he’s still considered the top pick in the draft. I don’t know how much better I think he is than Williams (or Kanter, for that matter) but I would take my chances with a great kid with a good basketball IQ, a solid jumper, and speed to burn. He’s impressive in just about every area, reliable, good size and safe; tough to beat that with a top talent.

2. Derrick Williams – I know Derrick Williams is supposed to be an undersized 4 or an oversized not quick enough 3, but all I see is a damn good basketball player that has a great shooting touch from anywhere on the floor and the athleticism to impress at the next level. I see him as an athletic and taller/longer version of Paul Milsap. Maybe he’s not as crafty, yet, but he’s still a starting power forward that can open up the game in a lot of different ways, running the floor, helpside defense, and spreading the floor with a nice touch from long range.

3. Klay Thompson – Thompson might be the biggest surprise on my list. Nobody has him as a Top 3 player in this draft. It could be because I’m on the West Coast and have seem Klay play many times, but that usually works against they hype for me. Not with Klay, however, who was easily the best player in the Pac-10. I don’t think he’s getting near enough credit. He might be the best shooter in the draft, has great size, and plays the game smart. He will fit in any offense because he doesn’t need to dominate the ball to be good and he can help any team with his ability to shoot and be natural cog in any offense.

4. Jimmer Fredette – Jimmer is an amazing player, and while I’m not quite on board with the NBA guys who’ve been saying that Fredette is going to be a star in the NBA, I’m certainly closer to that belief than the one going around claiming he’s too small and slow for the league. He’s fast and stout, and he’s not short by any means. He can score on anyone, and if he gets in a spot where he can have the ball in his hands, he’s going to be good. I can’t wait to watch him prove critics wrong at the next level.

5. Kemba Walker – Kemba Walker is a winner, he plays at NBA speed, and he understand angles and one of basketball’s most underrated talents, how to draw a foul. Walker is always thinking, always finding ways to catch the defense off guard and I think he can be a solid small defender (not useless like Nash or Ridnour or Carmelo Anthony). Kemba hits big shots all the time. If LeBron had his huevos, the King would have a couple rings by now. He’s very quick and his 1 on 1 game could impress at the next level if he gets the chance to handle the ball. If he gets stuck as a Ben Gordon type player that only gets to come in for minutes at a time and jack shots, well, he’ll be like Ben Gordon. Hopefully he gets option A.

6. Brandon Knight – Knight scares me a little bit, but just because Kentucky seemed like the perfect fit for him, and still sometimes he disappeared. He’s a smart player, though, and is as athletically gifted as any guard in this draft. He really can shots when he’s on, and plays at an NBA speed with nice size.

7. Chris Singleton – Singleton seems like a better version of Keith Bogans or any other shooting guard that excels as a defensive player that doesn’t kill you on offense. Singleton is a much better offensive player than Bogans, but his length and athleticism also project as a very good defensive presence on the defensive end of the floor. I wouldn’t be stunned if Singleton turns into a starter during his first year, or at least is a key contributor to a good team. Players that help you evenly on both sides and don’t need the ball in their hands are quite valuable.

8. JaJuan Johnson – Imagine if Marcus Camby didn’t get injured very often and he could shoot. Johnson has that kind of upside. Johnson is longer than his height insists, and at 6’10” he’s no shorty anyway. He can really shoot the ball, and he plays smart. If he’s 75% of what Camby is as a help defender, he’s easily a Top 10 player in any draft. I don’t think he’ll be drafted as such, but I don’t see why he’s being ignored in that capacity.

9. Kenneth Faried – Faried can come in and rebound well at the NBA level. He has a contagious motor, and will be a great option on a young team (because his effort will motivate others to get after it) or an old team (because his effort will be needed). He may be just 6’8” and doesn’t quite have that power game yet, but he has a decent jumper touch, and his timing and anticipation are assets.

10. Marshon Brooks – Brooks can really fill it up. People like to say that he won’t be able to score like that in the NBA, but I don’t know why he won’t. He has solid size for a shooting guard, his 7’1 wingspan is amazingly long for his 6’5” frame and he’s improved his field goal shooting each of his 4 years in college. This last year he finished at 48% from the field and  34% from long range. He’s a lanky scorer who will help any team that needs points off the bench. He might very well be a Top 5 talent from this draft, he has so many good aspects of his game. I just feel more comfortable with him at 10.

11. Kawhi Leonard – Leonard is a nice prospect with explosive jumping ability, a great motor, nice timing, and very long arms that make up for his 6’7” tweener 3 or 4 man size. I think the NBA has proven that there is plenty of time for tweeners to succeed. Kawhi could grow into a great player, but I watched him disappear in games, and while he was on a very strong team where he wasn’t relied upon to be the only guy, I just don’t know if he has that great player upside in him. I hope so, though, he’s fun to watch.

12. Alec Burks – There are a lot of guys I liked better as college players, but Burks seems like a perfect fit for the NBA game (that being said, I think just about every rule change the NBA has to make it different than college basketball, stinks – but that’s a different fight). Burks is a long and athletic slashing guard that has streaks where he scores effortlessly. He finishes very well, shoots free throws well, and really only struggles from deep – and I think that’s a fixable offense, but he’ll need to fix it.

13. Marcus Morris – Morris definitely has an old-man game as a big man. He’s a little undersized and isn’t going to out-jump anybody for rebounds. He can face up and hit jump shots for days, and has worked hard on his perimeter shooting. He can certainly spread the floor as a stretch 4, and while he might not be an ideal size, he’s still 6’9” with a solid motor and a good enough rebounder. I especially like his fade away from the block. I don’t know if he’ll be good enough to get that shot in the NBA, but he sure used it effectively in college.

14. Charles Jenkins – You may not have heard much about Jenkins, rocking the Hofstra blue during his college days, but the 6’3” combo guard can fill it up, that’s for certain. He averaged 19.7, 20.6, and 22.6 points per game respectively over his final three years in college. His three-point shooting percentage went up every one of his final three seasons, going from 31% to 41% to 42% his final year. He’s a very good free throw shooter as well, and while some aren’t certain that he’s more than an undersized 2-guard, I think Jenkins has starter possibility as a late 1^st round pick. I understand that he’s scary because he was a one-man show at a small college, but I think he has the basketball IQ needed to know when to share.

15. Reggie Jackson – I’m loving this kid right about now. I’m not sure he’s ready to come in and lead a team, Hoops-IQ-wise, but if he’s in the right situation where someone is working with him, he’ll eventually get there – then that team will have a 6’3” point guard that is freakishly long and athletic (7’ wing span). He has a very good floor vision, something that is tough to teach. I’ve struggled with where to put Jackson, even thinking about moving him into the lottery – and I’m still unsure he’s not higher than this. Somebody might end up with a steal here.

16. Jordan Hamilton – Like many 20-per-game guys in college, Hamilton’s shot selection can be a bit poor, but that’s nothing a good coach can’t fix. He’s a solid scorer, flashing a very good jump shot with deep range. He can handle the ball well and run the floor effectively. He may take bad shots, but he’s a solid passer. What I like most about Hamilton is his aggressiveness – he certainly doesn’t seem afraid of the moment, and works hard on the floor.

17. Tobias Harris – Harris gets the tweener label, but like I’ve mentioned, tweeners have a spot in the NBA. He shoots the ball well, is an unselfish teammate that isn’t afraid of big moments. He handles the ball well with a good brain for the game, and doesn’t hurt you in any one area on the court. He might not be a lock down defender against any one position, but I think he could guard 3s alright, and man up against 4s in some cases. The elite players at both positions will get the best of him, no doubt, but I’m not ranking him in the Top 3. He’ll help a team.

18. Josh Selby – As a 6’3” shooting guard, I’m not sure Selby is a Top 15 player and I’m not sure that he isn’t. If he can prove to be useable as a point guard, he’ll be alright. He kind of reminds me of Tony Douglas, a little bit, and that’s interesting because a handful of mock drafts have Selby headed to New York. He’s not a pure point, but his long-range stroke and solid jump shot should transfer well. He should make up for his lack of size by being a strong and quick plus defender. His attacking/slashing style could make him a better NBA player than a college guy. Still a work in progress.

19. Kyle Singler – Singler’s offensive game might be too streaky for him to be a crunch time player night in and night out, and examples of his struggles against better athletes aren’t difficult to find, but Kyle does a lot of things right – he shoots the ball pretty well, and should stretch the floor for teams with heavy ball handling/driving point guards. He makes the right plays a lot. He’s a team guy that works his A off, and his basketball skills are good enough to make him a reserve in the league. Reminds me a little bit of Josh Howard coming out of college, but with a more polished offensive game, and maybe a little less athleticism – but pretty close!

20. Jon Leuer – Leuer is super athletic, easily more-so than either of the Morris brothers. He’s longer, and while he may not be stronger, he certainly has room to grow into that body. Leuer seems to have a game tailored for the NBA – he looks like a nice player in a pick and roll, shoots the ball well, can really run the floor, and can post up and score on the block. It doesn’t look like he’ll be picked in the 1^st round, but it wouldn’t stun me if he got major minutes early in his career.

21. Tristan Thompson – Thompson could be a Top 5 pick, and I get it. He’s super long and athletic. He has a great motor, some versatility in his offensive game, and good timing as a helpside defender on the other end. He can also handle the ball alright, though I don’t expect him to be relied upon for that. As many have said, he has solid all around tools – I just don’t know how that transfers to the next level because I haven’t seen him be great at any one thing. He’s an NBA body with NBA athleticism, however, and he’ll have a spot in the 1^st round.

22. Jamie Skeen – People knock Skeen for his age (he’s 23, so a year older than other seniors), lack of great quickness/explosion (he doesn’t play above the rim like many NBA-level players), and injury history (he’s had a knee surgery). But that all seems ridiculous because he’s very efficient at what he does do, and he played amazing basketball in the NCAA tournament. Skeen is a very good stretch 4, he’s a good shooter from long range, and proved to be a clutch player in big games.

23. Nolan Smith – I don’t know how Smith doesn’t get more love. He’s not an ideal size for a shooting guard, but he’s 6’4” and an underrated athlete. He shoots the ball well (and like all Dukies, can be very streaky from deep) – hitting 46% of his shots and over 34% from the 3 point line every single season of his 4 years at Duke. He gets to the rim well and sets up his teammates. He’s a very good defender, and I don’t see how he doesn’t find minutes at the next level.

24. Shelvin Mack – These last 3 guys were all guys that held it down in college, stepped up in huge moments, and became leaders of very good teams. Shelvin Mack might have been the biggest big time guard of the bunch – he hit some amazing shots and never once showed a shy side on the floor. There has to be a place for that guy somewhere, and I’d say the chance of 1 of the last 3 guys on this list end up sticking and contributing on an NBA roster is damn near 100%.

25. Isaiah Thomas – Thomas may be small, but he’s very explosive and showed he can run the point at a high level. The cool thing about playing at UW was that they really didn’t run anything, just ran around looking for Thomas to create and pass to super athletic players that finished near the rim. Sounds like his college days prepared him perfectly for the NBA. Thomas is streaky, but he can score. He makes up for his lack of size with great angles and ability to put up perfectly timed shots in the paint. He may go in the 2^nd round, but he’s a Top 25 guy from the college ranks.

Celebrities Pick their March Madness Favorites

By Scott Matthews

March Madness, properly known as the NCAA Tournament, is officially upon us, and if you’ve given up all hope of picking the best bracket, why not do what everyone else seems to be doing these days, and that’s listen to what the celebrities have to say.

I don’t necessarily agree with that philosophy, but I’m willing to listen to what they have to say.

The Syracuse Orange, who are at 25-1 to win the NCAA Basketball Championship, have a lot of backers. When Sports Illustrated asked 19 celebrities who they think will win it all in the Big Dance, Heidi Klum, model and host of Project Runway, was just one of several celebs favoring the Orange.

“Syracuse! I think Orange is the hot color right now and I love Otto, their mascot,” Klum said.

Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban, who should know how to pick a winner judging by how well his Mavs are doing in the NBA this season, is also a fan of the Orange.

“They played in the toughest conference and I think match up well with the other top seeds and the rest of their bracket,” Cuban said.

For what it’s worth (quite possibly nothing) Kara DioGuardi, the singer/songwriter who was an American Idol Judge and now serves as executive vice president of talent development at Warner Bros. Records, likes Syracuse, as well.

And that’s not all, as far as Orange backers (do these people actually watch College Basketball?). Model Brooklyn Decker (wife of tennis star Andy Roddick) also has Syracuse making it to the Final Four.

Then there’s Patrick Dempsey, the actor known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd (“McDreamy”) on the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, and for film roles in Sweet Home Alabama, Enchanted and Made of Honor.

“I’m picking Georgia Tech,” said Dempsey, currently the co-owner of IndyCar Series team Vision Racing and Dempsey Racing, “because my Mazda Dempsey Racing teammate Joe Foster went there!”

Ok, right.

Actually, forget the celebrities. Didn’t you take the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, after all, that was as good a reason as any.

Scott Matthews is a highly respected handicapper with more than 20 years experience picking winners in College Basketball. Check out his free daily picks at www.smpicks.com or by calling toll-free at 1-888-777-5104.

Fixing the NBA: Keeping Stars at Home

Maybe I know nothing about true fanhood, because I am from a place where bandwagon-jumping originated – but I believe the people who think the new NBA collective bargaining agreement should be centered around a “franchise tag” are missing the idea. I don’t think basketball needs that, and I think football needs less of it. I may be on the side of the players, here, but I think it’s fair that they get to make their own decision where to play after serving for 5 years on the team that drafted them. It’s their team’s job, during that handful of seasons, to convince them to stay. But I think there’s a way for me to be happy (because I think the franchise tag is BS) and for you tag-promoters to be happy (because you want teams to be able to keep their stars) and all it comes down to is how the NBA allocates their contract differences.

I want the best of both worlds, which makes me, well, a bit of a douche bag, I guess. Expecting to have your cake, and your pie, and eat both of them – that’s usually trouble – and impossible. But I think it’s perfectly fair for a player to pick his new home when his contract is up. I also believe there should be a rule set in place to help prevent this from happening so everyone and their mother doesn’t go to beautiful Minnesota and form a power team in Timberwolves’ jerseys. Right now, obviously, the rule in place isn’t good enough.

This dual-happiness could happen by making the difference between what a “home team” can pay a player much greater than what a new team can pay the player. Like I said, I’m no expert on the NBA contract guidelines, but from what I believe, a home team can give the player raises of 10.5% per season on their extension instead of the customary 8% raise per season – and they can offer a 6th year instead of the maximum 5-year deal a new team can offer. But if the player is traded, those raises and contract years are exactly the same, because with the trade of the player also go the player’s Bird Rights (Bird Rights only go to a player who plays for at least 2 years – Early Bird Rights – and 3 years – Full Bird Rights). Those Bird Rights are what allow for a team to go over the cap to sign their own player, and also offer that 10.5% and that 6th season. You follow?

As for the contract, it’s not that big of a difference, and most teams will take something in a sign and trade so that they get assets in return for losing their star – a win/win of sorts. But it’s not a win/win at all – and that’s why people are complaining about their star players running East toward bigger markets. I think sign and trades should be greatly reduced or abolished all together – if you eliminated the chance that the player could get paid the same amount of money while playing for a new team, there’s a smaller chance that player decides to bust out of town. Who wants to leave guaranteed money and years on their contract?

To further convince a player to stay, I think a hometown team should be able to pay their players 25% more than a new team could. And I think that 25% extra shouldn’t count toward that home team’s salary cap. That second part allows the team to build around it’s star even if they are a small market/small city team. And a new team would have to put in 3 years with their new player before that player qualified for any of that home team discount stuff. Is your average player willing to take 25% less per season for three seasons? Probably not. Will the 25% of the contract not going on the books help a small market team stay competitive by signing extra pieces to fit around their star? Probably.

Let’s dive into a hypothetical, because they are so much fun… So let’s say this summer, James could have made 16 million a year staying in Cleveland and just 12 million a year moving to Miami. What do you think his choice would have been then? And by the way, the Cavs would have been able to do more with their money, because only 12 of that 16 would go on the books.

You could make this rule “only for max deals” or you could do it for every contract in the NBA. But I think that whole claim that “I’m not just playing for the money” would be tested if they couldn’t possibly get paid as much money going somewhere else. Especially if it was a considerable chunk of change – I feel like now it’s only 1 million a year or something (which is a lot to me, probably you as well, but when you’re making 65 million in 3 years writing for a small internet sports site, now are we?). As is, there usually isn’t a difference because the player leaves via a sign and trade and makes just as much money as he would have staying at home.

Or we could just have super teams like baseball does and everyone can root for the underdog while people in Miami, New York, and LA all become hated by everyone else in the USA. We don’t need Franchise Tags in the NBA. We need to get rid of the sign and trade BS and reward players for staying in their drafted homes.

NFL: players union could be closer to deal thanks to TV cash ruling

By Scott Matthews

The NFL Strike, or lockout, will start tonight unless there is a huge, last-minute change of course in the negotiations.

National Football League owners and players are still talking, still working on a labor deal less than 24 hours before their collective bargaining agreement expires at Midnight Eastern Time on Friday. They are trying to avoid a shutdown of the biggest pro sports league on the planet and the United States’ most-watched television sport.

If you doubt the seriousness of this issue, and the desire of both sides to come to an agreement, look at the critical mass that has gathered for the final two days of talks. For the first time, NFLPA president Kevin Mawae is there, as is New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees. Also on hand is pretty much every NFL owner and the entire owners’ labor committee.

The big news yesterday was a federal judge, David Doty, delivering a key ruling in favor of the players, one that took away what the union had called unfair leverage for team owners in the heated negotiations.

CBS, NBC, FOX and ESPN are currently paying more than $20 billion to broadcast NFL games. Late Tuesday, Doty agreed with the NFL Players Association that the league could not collect more than $4 billion in TV revenue that would be due whether there’s a lockout or not. The NFLPA argued successfully that the league structured TV contracts in 2009 and 2010 knowing owners would be guaranteed money even with no games in 2011, and that the move violated an agreement that NFL Owners must make good-faith efforts to maximize revenue for both the league and players.

“The record shows that the NFL undertook contract renegotiations to advance its own interests and harm the interests of the players,” Doty wrote in the ruling.

Now, some would think this just drives an even bigger wedge between the two sides. But the way I see it, it actually improves the chances of getting a deal done. NFL owners love money more than even most people, and this ruling means they cannot count on the cash to keep flowing during a lockout. For the first time, they will be in the same position as the players. There is no way this will do anything but put more pressure on the NFL to get a deal done.

And what do you know: suddenly, after this ruling, we heard a word that had not been uttered before in these talks: extension.

Get Free Daily Picks from expert handicapper Scott Matthews by calling toll-free 1-888-777-5104 for a recorded message, or by checking out www.smpicks.com.

NFL Lockout would hit Las Vegas hard

By Scott Matthews

A little under $87.5 million was wagered on Super Bowl XLV at Las Vegas sportsbooks, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. And bettors did better than they have in years, as sportsbooks profited a mere $724,176 combined.

Still, the amount bet was up from the $82.7 million wagered last year. And normally, Las Vegas does very well on the big game, its best year coming in 2005, when bettors wagered more than $90 million and the books made more than $15 million in profit.

But the NFL means a lot more to the bottom line in Las Vegas than just the money wagered on the sport. The Super Bowl is pretty much the busiest single day of the year in Las Vegas, with some reports saying almost 300,000 people flocked to the city in the days leading up to Super Bowl XLV. That represents millions and millions of dollars spent on hotel rooms, in restaurants, and, of course, in casinos.

So if the NFL owners and players cannot reach a new deal on a collective bargaining agreement before the March 3 deadline, and if a subsequent lockout or strike cancels even part or all of next season, Las Vegas will lose – big time.

The interesting thing about it, though, is that as much as anyone involved with the NFL wants to avoid a disruption to the season, many in the league would secretly be happy to see Las Vegas suffer at its expense.

While Las Vegas loves the NFL, the feeling is not mutual. The NFL makes it very clear it wants nothing to do with the gambling mecca – not even its advertising dollars.

You will never see an ad for the city, let alone any casinos, anywhere near an NFL game or broadcast – not on TV, not at stadiums – no where. The NFL goes out of its way to keep even the slightest hint of Vegas away from anything to do with its games. Advertisers are not even allowed to show the Las Vegas Strip, even from a distance, in their ads.

The NFL, in fact, has a specific rule that prohibits “ads for specific hotels, casinos and other institutions that house gambling.”

So Las Vegas will be hoping and praying for an NFL season in 2011-12, but if there isn’t one, it won’t get any sympathy from NFL headquarters.

Get Free Daily Picks from expert handicapper Scott Matthews by calling toll-free 1-888-777-5104 for a recorded message, or by checking out www.smpicks.com.

March Madness a huge cash cow for Las Vegas, TV networks and NCAA

By Scott Matthews

March Madness is almost here, with Selection Sunday slated for March 13, and for Las Vegas and online sportsbooks, it’s almost like the Super Bowl lasting for a month.

March Madness is second only to the Super Bowl in terms of sports betting, with Las Vegas casinos alone looking to rake in somewhere over $100 million in March Madness bets during the NCAA Tournament.

Of course, that’s a drop in the bucket when online sportsbooks and other betting sources are taken into account. All told, it’s estimated that about $2.5 billion is wagered on March Madness matchups.

While separate, accurate figures for March Madness betting are hard to come by, Basketball Betting in general is huge for Las Vegas. In 2009, the total amount bet on basketball in Las Vegas sportsbooks was $802.5 Million, with casinos keeping $38.2 million of that.

And it’s not just the sportsbooks that make a killing on the NCAA Tournament, it’s the rest of the city as well. Just like for Super Sunday, thousands of bettors and fans make their way to Vegas from the time the Big Dance begins through to the Final Four and the NCAA Championship Game.

In March last year, every major hotel was virtually sold-out, and remaining rooms normally priced at $200 to $300 per night were going for $500 and up.

March Madness is also huge for the NCAA. The main broadcaster, CBS, pays the NCAA more than $500 million – a half billion – annually, which represents more than 90 per cent of the NCAA’s annual budget.

And even going by three-year-old numbers, March Madness represents a ratings bonanza for CBS. According to the Nielsen Ratings, “136.8 million unique TV viewers tuned in to at least one minute of NCAA Tournament coverage on CBS” for the 2008 tournament .

This is not just College Basketball. This is big business.

Scott Matthews is a highly respected handicapper with more than 20 years experience picking winners in College Basketball. Check out his free daily picks at www.smpicks.com or by calling toll-free at 1-888-777-5104.

NFL strike would cost NBC, CBS, FOX a lot of money

By Scott Matthews

Now that Super Bowl XLV is in the books, with the Green Bay Packers beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 at Cowboys Stadium, all the attention in the NFL turns to the possibility of a players’ strike.

Moments after Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was named Super Bowl MVP, it became apparent that Super Bowl 45 could be the last American pro football game anyone sees for awhile. The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement expires on March 3, giving the owners and players a little more than three weeks to negotiate a new agreement.

There is a lot of money at stake for a business that reportedly generated $8 billion in revenue in the 2009-10 season. And there doesn’t have to be a full player’s strike or lockout for the losses to start adding up. The Wall Street Journal reported that the National Football League could lose $1 billion if there is a strike or lockout after March 3 – even if the entire 2011 season is played.

And one industry that will be severely affected by any kind of disruption of the 2011 season is television. The NFL is easily the most watched televised sport, and the rights to broadcast games can make or break the fortunes of the networks, whether it’s NBC, CBS, FOX or ESPN.

Last fall, 28 of the top 30 television programs – that’s TV shows of any kind – were NFL games.

Interestingly, the deals for NBC, CBS and FOX expire after the 2011 season.

And for proof that TV ratings for the NFL are as strong as ever, and in fact growing, you need only look back a few days. This year’s Super Bowl is officially the most watched TV program in American history, with more than 111 million people tuning in. Super Bowl XLV marks the fourth straight year the game saw an increase in viewership.

The NFL hasn’t had a work stoppage since 1987, when owners used replacement players for three games, and everybody – the league and the TV networks – took a beating. They don’t want to go there again.

Check out expert handicapper Scott Matthews at www.smpicks.com or call 1-888-777-5104 and receive his free daily picks.

Brad Childress OUT: About Time!

I have no disdain for Brad Childress as a person. I don’t know him, never talked to him, and I’ve never talked about him in that regards. He probably hosts a nice Thanks Giving dinner, enjoys long walks on the beach and good movies, just like you and me. He might even think South Park is intelligent humor, who knows? But to be a head coach of an NFL Football team is not about how you are as a person, but how people respond to you. For Brad, that’s never been his strong suit, and in the end that got him.

Childress has always dealt with players poorly. The Vikings have often under-achieved. Talent under-achieving is a tale-tell sign that a coach struggles to get the best out of his players, obviously. It’s leadership that garners respect. It was only last season, when the Vikings rallied around a wily old veteran, that the team finally played up to their potential.  But even then, there were signs that Brad had a hard time handling people. Despite his knowledge of NFL Offenses, his ability to pick talented players, and how hard he tried to come across as a players coach when wooing Brett into Viking purple, I knew there were problems with Childress when he tried to rip Brett from a game because Favre wasn’t performing up to his liking. Brett had been tossing a perfect season, as far as anybody could hope or tell, and Chilly still thought it was best to give someone else a shot. If a coach only respects his players when they’re winning, it’s really not respect at all.

No matter how smart Childress is (and he does seem to represent some evil genius in that square skull of his), no matter how moist his turkey this Thursday, and how creamy his mashed potatoes are, there was never an example present that showed he was apt in the old people-relations category, a very underrated aspect of being a head coach. Whether it was benching Tarvaris Jackson or “dumbing down” the offense for him (which is always a recipe for failure), never giving Sage Rosenfels a chance, sparring with Percy Harvin (one of the teams’ toughest players), or struggling with Adrian Peterson and his fumblitas – the fact that Childress didn’t instill confidence in the men out their fighting for him was obvious.

A leader accepts fault. A leader works hard to relate to the different personalities on a team – and he makes decisions based on those personalities, always with the team’s best interest in mind. There is no doubt in my mind that Chilly always had the Vikings best interests in tow, but all of that doesn’t matter unless you have the people-skills to lead and direct and garner respect. Childress was always quick to blame, regardless if it was an in-game situation, or a more calculated response to a question in the media. Thought out, or on the fly, Chilly was right there to give a karate kid kick to the ribs when given the chance. But isn’t that often how evil genius goes about its business?

If a player can’t trust his coach, that player has a tough time giving it his all – no matter what a player says about it. That can be cloaked if things happen to fall into place, if a strong and respected player takes on the head-leadership role. If close games become wins, and that egg-shaped ball bounces your way, that lack of people skills can be cloaked.  But when it gets down to then nitty-gritty, and it’s time to make that big decision – Childress’s teams get off the pot.

A head coach doesn’t need to be an X’s and O’s genius. He doesn’t need to have a background as a great player or a history of winning Championships. A head coach needs to find a way to make his players play better than they are. Childress can’t do that, and that’s why his Vikings failed this year. That’s why he needed to be fired, four or five games ago.

It may have taken Randy Moss speaking out to get everybody questioning Brad Childress, but inside that organization, it had to be known where the team stood on their head coach. No matter how much people get paid to do something, if they can’t get behind their boss and his decisions, it’s damn near impossible for them to be consistently productive. The season might be impossible to fix, but at least they finally got this one right.

Buffalo Wild Wings Lawn Chair Giveaway at LuckyLester.com

Hey everybody the good people at Buffalo Wild Wings contacted us and wanted to know if we wanted to run some contests on the site and we said sure, why the hell not.

The first prize that we were offered was the Buffalo Wild Wings Lawn Chair Giveaway for October, 2010 and seeing as it is so late in the month we decided to make this a simple contest. Next month we will put something together a little better and obviously football related but for now I am pleased to announce the…

”We Got An Awesome Free Lawn Chair From Buffalo Wild Wings To Giveaway So Go Like The Lucky Lester Fan Page On Facebook To Enter” contest.

The rules are real simple:

1. Click on this link here >>> http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Lucky-Lester/113477021998857
2. Then send us this message on Twitter
   @LuckyLester Dude I want that freak’n chair so I can rock my next tailgate party & oh yeah – slap Papa for luck for me!

What could be easier unless of course you ain’t a member of Facebook or Twitter yet? If that do be the case then now’s a time to go get social online.

If you refuse to get a Twitter account then simply send us an email using our contact page to let us know you “liked” our fan page.

On Sunday October 31, 2010 we will draw the winning name from all of the people who “liked” our Facebook fan page and notify them via Twitter or email.

The winner will then need to send us their snail mail address so that we can send them this awesome Buffalo Wild Wings Lawn Chair.

Good luck and keep coming back for more contests throughout the 2010 football season.

Next Page »