Under the Cap

I'm waiting for nine samples to run right now, which takes about two hours, so I got a little free time to get on here and give an update:

Everyone keeps asking me about Kent (I'm starting to think my family likes him better than they do me), so I'll let everyone know that the little girl is fine. Ok, that was harsh, he still is in a lot of pain. From what I hear, his lung hasn't collapsed any further, so with some rest and time he should be back to normal. What does suck is that he's decided to stay at home in Lanc till probably Sunday, so this whole week I've been sitting at home doing nothing, bored out of my mind. He says he'll probably be ready to go back to work on Monday, so he'll be home before then. Get better Bedpan Bitzer, I'm looking forward to your return.

With nothing going this week, I'm hoping the weekend will save me. I talked to Cuba yesterday and he said "people are invited" for Friday out at Rowan. I'm going to try to do a little campaigning with people I know to make sure that the gathering is not a bust, and plan on going out that way that night. It will be easy too since I think I'm going out to eat in Jersey after work (don't get too excited, it's just my Mom, she wants to take me out for my birthday last week). I'll plan on leaving work a little early, beating the traffic to Audubon, then picking up some Spaten for Mike on my way to Glassboro. Hopefully the good times will indeed roll.

I was relieved to hear that the NFL owners manned up last night and signed a new agreement with the players before the all-or-nothing 8pm deadline. From what I read on ESPN, revenue sharing between the owners was the big sticking point, as an increased cap would mean that the more profitable teams would have to help out the struggling or small market ones. To my disappointment, Jeffrey Lurie was one of the five big guns who was holding out along with owners like Jerry Jones of Dallas and owners from Washington and New England. The problem was that the low income teams wanted the top five teams to contribute revenue from non-ticket sales, like income from exclusive radio rights and parking that those teams take in.

I don't really think many people understood the severity and seriousness of what could have happened yesterday. Had an agreement not been reached, the most well run, successful and popular sport in America would have had an uncapped 2007 season and a likely lockout by players the following year. The NFL hasn't had a lockout since before my time, and at that time, the league was eventually saved by the installment of a salary cap. ESPN was on top of the story, but most news agencies paid little attention to the issue and it didn't seem like many people fully comprehended what might have been.

With an agreement now inked, we can look forward to the pushed-back free agency period to finally start tomorrow morning. I personally can't wait to see what the Eagles do. The new deal has increased the cap for all teams by 7.5 million, and the Eagles were one of the few teams actually under the cap anyway. Add the roll over cap room from last year, the additional 7.5, and whatever money would have gone to that bum TO that now comes back to the team...... it's looking like things will turn around very quickly for the Birds.