Wednesday. March 9, 2011
The Clackamas Print 7
lackamas: Home of Champions
Contributed by Tracy Swisher
Contributed by Tracy Swisher
ckamas’ Melair Holterhoff is guarded in one of Clackamas’ NWAACC Tour-
t games against Lower Columbia Community
3- Clackamas’ Paul Walter shoots the basketball in the team’s 63-86 NWAACC Tounan-
ment. loss to Tacoma Community College on March 7.
eon March 7.
e Clackamas wrestling team brings home the 2010-2011 National
pionship while in Spokane, Wash, on Feb. 25-26.
4- Coach Josh Rhoden looks on as one of his Cougars wrestles against Northern Mon
tana State during the season. The Cougars went on to win Nationals
to theclackamasprint.com to check out how the men’s and women’s basketball teams did in the NWAACC tournaments last weekend.
L still in danger of 2011-2012 lockout with NFLPA
By Robert Morrison
Sports Editor
ere we go again. The NFL and the
NFL Player’s Association, have yet
to reach a Collective Bargaining
ft I wrote a lot on the subject in an
I ^temi and not much has changed as far
■^emcnt goes. However, some things
B^ed as fer as talks and meetings.
■i"o sides have met on numerous occa-
I
sions the last couple of weeks but have yet to
reach any sort of establishment with the CBA.
The two sides have, however, twice extended
the deadline to when the CBA must be made.
That alone is encouraging when no one thought
talks would last as long as they have already.
The sides are still so far apart on an agreement
that reports are saying there might be an exten
sion yet again. The current deadline is 5 pan.
EST on Friday, but the last two deadlines have
come with the two sides agreeing on week
extensions.
Many reports say that the owners of the
NFL teams will attend this week’s negotiations.
This could be good or bad with the CBA. The
owners obviously don’t want a lockout because
they would lose tons of money from multiple
sources. On the other hand, they might not want
the players to gain as much power as they want
to gain or make as much money as the NFLPA
is trying to agree on. The owners will get to
be present and find out how close these talks
really are.
Among the topics that are still being dis
cussed in the CBA are the potential of more
games added to the NFL season. Neither side
seems to be against it but the NFLPA would
want more things to change such as adding
another bye week for each team. The “bye
week” is the weekend, without a game, that
every team gets at some point in the regular sea
son. This topic and others involving the amount
of games could also hinder the amount of time
it takes to get a deal done. The NFL wants the
regular season to go to 18 games and reduce the
preseason by two.
Another topic at talk is the franchise tag. One
side likes how the format is and the other has
talked about getting rid of it all together. The tag
is when a team can elect to keep a player instead
of letting him leave for free agency. Often it is
used when a good player and a team can’t reach
an agreement on a long-term deal.
Tags are usually only one year unless they
sign a long term deal. Each franchise tag player
also has to sign a tender with the team, often
making more money than they were making.
Each team gets one franchise tag. A rookie wage
cap has also been discussed along with benefits
fix* retired players.
If no deal is made then the NFLPA would
pursue an antitrust lawsuit which would lock
the players and put a lockout on the NFL for
next season or until a deal can finally be made.
Neither side has got to the point of going to the
lawsuit just yet Why would anyone want to
shut down a league that makes nearly $9 million
a year? According to ESPN, the last two Super
Bowls were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 among
most-watched TV programs in U.S. history.
I say make a deal already. It has been months
since I last wrote on this topic and still no agree
ments have been met The two sides are still
far apart Both sides are losing money as they
speak The NFL loses money every month
the CBA isn’t established. If the CBA isn’t
established by the season and regular games are
missed, the NFL will lose about $400 million
a week in revenue, according to ESPN. Can’t
we all just get along? Everyone would be better
off if we could. As a NFL fen and speaking for
the thousands of fens of this great American
sport, please just get to an agreement already.
You guys are just wasting time. No NFL= No
one is happy.