Lockout Lifted!...for now

Federal judge Susan Nelson officially lifted the lockout in favor of the players union.  This should be the end of the lockout and a 2011-2012 season is definite right?  Unfortunately no.

The NFL filed for an appeal shortly after the ruling, questioning if Nelson exceeded her jurisdiction.  Later on the NFL filed a motion for an expedited stay, which means the NFL wants Nelson to freeze her ruling until the appeal process plays out.

The players are legally able to show up at team facilities, but they still can not negotiate with the coaching staff or with the front office.  Free agency and contract negotiations are also not permitted yet.

I am very optimistic about a 2011 season now that the political entities are in favor of the players.  Hopefully within these next couple months we will know if there is or not an NFL season.

The meaning behind the game

When people think of football, they normally think of the high school captain that shoves people into lockers and picks on everyone.  Some think of the game as a barbaric activity that only dummies play.  Well let me tell you otherwise.

When done correctly, the game of football can mature an individual to levels that not even a strict parent can.  When taught correctly, it can form coach-to-player connections almost equivalent to a father and his son, not to mention the brotherhood and the companionship amongst the players.  Football also gives people an outlet of frustration; instead of fighting people on the streets, you can hit somebody on the football.

Many people think it's a game of violence and nothing more.  I'm sorry for those who feel that way, because football is much more than just that.

Da'Quan Bowers works out for NFL Scouts

     After a knee injury that kept him out of the NFL Combine, former Clemson defensive end Da'Quan Bowers impressed scouts at Clemson's NFL pro day on Friday, April 1st.  Bowers was kept out of the combine due to surgery on his torn meniscus on his right knee.  He impressed scouts with his quickness off the ball, but his 40 yard dash time was on the slow side, running a 4.96 second 40 and a 4.94, when he's usually in the low 4.8s.

     Bowers was a projected 1st overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft before the combine, in which LSU defensive back Patrick Peterson is now projected to go first overall.  There is now discussion if Bowers will even go in the first round at all.  Bowers led the nation in sacks with 15.5 and also had 67 total tackles. 

     In my opinion, Da'Quan is one of the most impressive freak athletes that I have ever seen play the game, if you take into consideration that he is 6'5 and almost 300 pounds.  I am positive that once his knee is completely healthy again, Bowers could end up being the next Reggie White of the game. 

Patrick Peterson

A Cleveland Browns fan sues NFL for lockout

Every fan across the United States is upset with whats been going on with the NFL lockout underway.  Well one fan decided to stop complaining and actually take action

Ken Lanci, a Cleveland Browns season ticket holder, filed suit against the National Football League stating that the lockout is violating his contract to buy tickets through his personal seat license.

The suit is asking for $25,000 from the Browns on both breach of contract and bad faith counts and more than $25,000 from the league and its teams for alleged contract interference.

Good for him.  It's about time somebody decided to step up and show the NFL what's what.  We are all biting our nails over the potential of not having an NFL season.  Although I don't think it will sway the NFL owners to remove the lockout, it definitely should be an eye-opener, as i'm pretty positive more lawsuits should follow. 

Injuries in the game

You are an extremely lucky individual to play a sport and NOT get any type of serious injury.  Throughout PeeWees and Pop Warner ball and even high school ball I've never substained any type of serious injury.  That all changed on October 17th, 2009. I fell on my left wrist ackwardly while trying to get to the quarterback.  It didn't help that a 350+ offensive lineman fell on top of me either.  At first, I thought it was just a sprained wrist.  After the swelling or the pain did not go down, I went to the orthopedist and he recommended an MRI. 

The MRI found that I have torn ligaments all throughout the wrist and tiny bones were moved all around.  I need a major surgery to repair all the ligaments that were damaged.  After 4 hours of surgery, 3 months in a cast, one surgical screw and a surgical pin and 2 casts later, my wrist still isn't completely healed.  It may be stiff like it is for probably the rest of my life. 

Fortunately for me that was the only major surgery that I've ever had.  And I would love to keep it like that.

Hang Cleans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXsRyrddc3E

Hang cleans are the most important lift that all athletes should do for whatever sport.  It is one of the hardest lifts to do, but when do properly, it is the most fat burning and most cardiovascular lift there is out there.  It helps strengthen grip, legs, glutes, hips, hamstrings, arms, pretty much all major muscle groups. 

This is a video of me performing a set of 225 for 4 during the summer of 2009.  I have been doing hang cleans since I was a freshman in high school.  It took me a long time before i got the hang of it, but it is probably one of my favorite lifts to do.   

NFL Lockout?

If you haven't heard the news yet, let me be the first to inform you.

On Friday, March 11th, the NFL owners have locked out the players for the 2011-2012 season.  However, there maybe still some hope.

On that same day the NFLPA decertified from the league and they can now file antitrust lawsuits against the NFL and hopefully they can prevent the owners from locking out the players. 

This whole lockout issue is the owners fault hands down.  They opted out of the original collective bargaining agreement in 2008 and they don't want to split the revenue of 9 billion dollars 50/50.  i applaud the NFL players for trying to have a season.  It shows the fans that they truly aren't about the money or the glory.  They love playing the game just as much as we love watching the game. 

Lifting

Weightlifting plays a huge part in preparing for any type of sports season, but especially football.  There are four main core lifts that are performed by football teams all across the country; bench press, power clean, squat and deadlift.  In this photo, i am performing a set of deadlift for reps.  The deadlift help strengthen glutes, hamstrings, quad muscles, lower back, and it also helps your grip. 

NFL Lockout Looming

     As the collective bargaining agreement between the National Football League Player's Association(NFLPA) and the owners of the football teams come to an end on March 3rd, the potential of a lockout for the 2011 season becomes less of a doomsday scenario and more of a reality.  Fortunately, the NFLPA and the owners have agreed to meet everyday next week to see if they can get a new deal done before the deadline.

    Now for those of you who have not been following this potential crisis, let me fill you in on the whole thing.  The owners want an 18 game season instead of a 16 game season, a salary cap for the rookies, and increase in drug testing.  The players union want increased healthcare because more injuries are possible in an 18 game season.  In my opinion, 16 games is just the right amount in a normal season.  It also forces the players to give up something for each of the scenarios.

     I hope to God that a deal gets done ASAP.  With no football next year, I might cry.

My team to win Super Bowl 46 is.......

The New York Jets!  I'll admit, they are my team, and this is one of my favorite hoodies to wear for that reason.  They came close in back to back years, and I have a feeling that if there is a season next year, the Jets are going to take is all the way next year. 

The Super Bowl in Review

   Overall, this years Super Bowl didnt seem so special to me.  When I was younger the Super Bowl was one of my favorite days of the year (with the exception of Christmas and my birthday), but this year, it just seem like another football game.  Lets take a look at the events that went on before the Super Bowl, the commercials, the halftime show/Star Spangled Banner disappointment, and the actual game itself.
   The week before the Super Bowl is supposed to be any host city's dream.  Everyone from everyone comes from each part of the country to enjoy the festivities in the nice warm weather where the Super Bowl is often played.  This year in Dallas, the temperature averaged around between 25-40 degrees each day.  Not your typical football weather.  There were even a couple people injured due to a chunk of ice that fell from the roof of the stadium.  Not very exciting.  Overall, stuff like that shouldn't happen during Super Bowl week.
   The commercials I thought were clever this year.  Not too funny, but clever.  My favorite was with the beaver in the Bridgestone Tires commercial.  Here is the commercial down below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBUcG7xZB-g

  Now, lets talk about the entertainment with the National Anthem and the halftime show......HORRIBLE.  How could anyone think that Christina Aguilera was a good choice for the singing of our National Anthem?!  Even if she didn't screw that part up, the rest of it sounded horrible.  Next time NFL, get a true patriot who can sing the song right.

   The Black Eyed Peas halftime show sucked.  The only cool part was the guys in the light up suits and Usher coming out of nowhere.  As for that, it was below par.  Fergie, you can't sing for the life of you.  Just stick to background singing.

  As for the actual game, I thought it was a very good game.  Two teams that deserved to be in the worlds biggest game came to play I thought.  But in the end, the Green Bay Packers had a little more heart, and i felt like they had a little bit more to prove with all the injuries that they had to overcome. 
   As a Super Bowl experience, I'll give it a C.

AP Offensive player of the year

And the award goes to........Tom Brady, Quarterback of the New England Patriots.  What a shocker, huh?  I don't know how this guy does it, but every year he is always up in the ballots as the best offensive player in the NFL.  Let's take a look at his stats:
3900 Passing yards
36 Touchdowns
4 Interceptions
111.0 Passer Rating

The stat that pops out at me the most is the interception total.  Only four?!  To me, that's remarkable.  In every game it's the team that turns over the ball the least is the team that is most successful, and Brady's the reason why the team had the best regular season record at 14-2

The Pro Bowl......a complete waste of time

Today is the NFL's all-star game, or "The Pro Bowl."  The game is held every year in Honolulu, Hawai'i, with the exception of the 2010 game in Miami, FL.  To me, the game is a waste of time.  Unlike the all-star games in the MLB, NHL, and NBA, the winners get to host home field advantage in the finals.  Since the Super Bowl is always held at a neutral site, the game seems to have no purpose whatsoever.  It's just a game with players that don't even try because they don't want to get injured in a pointless game like this.  So whenever you see commercials about getting hyped for the Pro Bowl, you gotta ask yourselves this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFZrzg62Zj0

Susquehanna Football

Gotta rep the team colors.  SU football.

Training

This is me getting ready for the 2010 football season.  I am performing a pass rush move to help myself get passed offensive lineman to get to the quarterback.  NFL players train year round so they can reach their ultimate goal, the Super Bowl.

The status of Jay Cutler

Like as I said in my last post, Cutler left the game in the 3rd quarter with a knee injury.  Reports came out today that he suffered a sprained MCL, and that he would need surgery to fix it.  It was the coaching staff's decision to keep Cutler from the game and put in QB's Todd Collins and eventually Caleb Hailey. 
Monday morning he was slammed with critics, with such things saying that he had money betted on the Packers, he's not mentally tough, etc.  I started to believe so too, until i heard of his condition of his knee, and that he did not pull himself on his own.  It didn't do much help that he had a quarterback rating of 31.8 against the stiffling Packers defense. 

Cutler has been critized throughout his career as being not mentally tough and having negative body language on the field, as if he wasn't interested in playing the game.  So when millions watching the game on Sunday that he wasn't coming back, everyone assumed that he was pulling a Paul Crewe.  Only the Chicago coaching staff knows the severity of his condition, and if they truly believed Cutler couldn't go back in, then he couldn't go back in.  No sense in sending your player out there if he can't give you the best chance to win.

NFL Championship Weekend in Review

What a crazy weekend in football.  Quite possibly the best weekend of football every year, with 4 very good, very talented teams in the Chicago Bears vs. the Green Bay Packers, and the New York Jets vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers.  But in the end, the teams that will be playing each other in Super Bowl XLV(45) will be the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Green Bay has made a case for themselves to be the favorites for the Super Bowl after beating Philadelphia on the road and blowing out top seeded Atlanta at the Georgia Dome.  Aaron Rodgers, who has easily looked like the MVP of the playoffs, didn't have his best game against the Bears, but did enough to help his team win 21-14. 

The Packers got touchdowns from all over the place, on runs by Rodgers and running back Jason Starks.  The last touchdown came on an interception return by none other than B.J. Raji, the 6-2, 340 pound nose tackle.  The game was sealed by a Sam Shields interception from Bears Quarterback Caleb Hailey(Cutler was knocked out early, more to come from my next blog).

The Jets of New York come into Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers, and right off the bat, it looked like a black and yellow blowout.  Running back Rashard Mendenhall ran all over the Jets, with over 120 yards rushing, with 95 of them coming in the 1st half.  The offense for New York could not by any means get going, as they were down 24-3 at the half. 

They mounted a comeback to cut it down to 24-19, but the Steelers were able to run out the clock to take their 8th Lamar Hunt championship trophy and look to battle for their 7th Super Bowl victory, which would lead the NFL.

Steelers, Packers, like as said by Dick Vitale on ESPN, "Vince Lombardi is looking down smiling at this Super Bowl event."

Welcome!

Welcome everyone!  I am here to give you the "fill," about the NFL(National Football League).  The purpose about this blog is to share and talk about the news and the recent issues swirling around the NFL today.

My name is Andrew Sayler.  I am 20 years old and I'm a Sophomore at Susquehanna Univeristy in Selinsgrove, PA.  I was born and raise in Ramsey, NJ, and ever since i was little i had a football in my hand.  My closets would be filled with numerous amounts of football jerseys that i would wear religiously everyday.  I've been playing football since i was 8 years old, and i continue to do so at Susquehanna, where I am a defensive lineman.

Please leave your opinions about my current issues as they are much appreciated.  Thank you!