Edgerrin James Retires

It has been reported by Sportscenter that Running Back Edgerrin James has decided to retire.  The 32 year old is ranked 11th overall on NFL's all time rushing list.

James was drafted 4th overall in 1999 by the Indianapolis Colts after attending the University of Miami.  Edgerrin James was entering this next season as a free agent and last played in 2009 for the Seattle Seahawks.  

James led the league in rushing during his first two seasons and with 9,226 rushing yards, holds the colts team record for most career total yards rushing.  James was the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1999, was a 4x Pro Bowl Selection, as well as a 4x All-Pro Selection.  Edgerrin James ends his career with 12,246 rushing yards, 4.0 rushing average, and 80 rushing TDs.

FOOTBALL'S BACK

After 132-days of being locked out football owners, players, and fans were happy when the press conference was held today to announce that the owners and players had reached a deal.  Owners unanimously voting to approve the deal on Thursday 7/21/11 and fans were hoping that the players wouldn't be too far from behind him. It was a little disappointing on Thursday once it was announced that the players had not voted on the current deal and would wait until they met today.  Representatives/lawyers worked all weekend for the NFLPA looking over the collective bargaining agreement to make sure that everything panned out and the players wouldn't be compromising anything they wanted.

After working all weekend, NFLPA executive committee and 32 player representatives unanimously approved the 10 year Collective Bargaining Agreement today.  Now that the lockout is over, today teams were able to go to a 90-man roster and the free agent list was distributed to teams.  Tomorrow players are able to return to their teams' facilities and teams can also begin speaking with unrestricted free agents.

The lockout ended and the players are headed right back to work.  10 teams will report Wednesday, 10 teams will report Thursday, 10 teams will report on Friday, and the last 2 remaining teams, the Jets and Texans, will report on Sunday.  Teams will have about 2 weeks of training camp before preseason begins, although the Hall of Fame game between the Bears and Rams has been cancelled due to the ongoing battle during the lockout.

Upon the announcement that the lockout was over, fans took to twitter to express their excitement that football was back.  Now all I can say now is Are you Ready for Some Football?

LET THE SEASON BEGIN...

Japan Upsets USA

After a thrilling win over Brazil in the quarterfinals the momentum of the Women's World Cup was leaning towards the ladies of the United States of America.  Going into today's game Japan had not beaten the women of the USA soccer team in the past 25 games.  The game came down to the wire and end the end the lack of defense by the US led to a Japan victory over the United States.

Coming up on the end of the game the US went up 2-1 in overtime and was looking to have the World Cup in there hands until Japan's Homare Sawa scored a goal off of a corner kick with three minutes left which brought the game to a 2-2 tie.  After America's Shannon Boxx, Carli Lloyd, and Tobin Heath failed to convert the first 3 penalty kicks for the United States, Japan went on to defeat the USA  3-1 on penalty kicks.  The United States were unable to pull off another amazing victory like they did on penalty kicks against Brazil in the quarterfinals and the Japan took home the win.

USA's Lloyd stated, "Deep down inside I really thought it was our destiny to win it.  But maybe it was Japan's."

The victory comes after the Japanese have been dealing with hardship and pain in their country after the deadly and disastrous earthquakes earlier this year.  Japan became the first Asian country to win the Women's World Cup.

For more on this story and stats check out www.espn.com

Yao Ming Retires

After missing the entire 09-10 season and only playing 5 games this past season, 7-foot 6-inches Houston Rocket Yao Ming has decided to retire from the National Basketball Association.  Ming was drafted #1 in the 2002 NBA draft to the Houston Rockets and has spent his entire NBA career with the Rockets.  Ming missed the entire 09-10 season due to surgery to repair a broken bone in his left foot.  After fans were so excited to see him return last season he was only able to play 5 games before suffering from a stress fracture in his ankle. Yao Ming entered this offseason as a restricted free agent but since has decided to retire.  Ming was an 8 time NBA All Star and averaged 19 PPG, .524 FG%, and 9.2 RPG over his career.  

John Mackey Passes at age 69

Pro football tight end Hall of Famer John Mackey passed yesterday July 6, 2011.  Mackey played collegiate ball for Syracuse University and was drafted into the NFL in 1963 going 19th in the second round.   Throughout his 10 seasons in the National Football League, Mackey played for the Baltimore Colts (1963-1971) and the San Diego Chargers (1972).  During his years in the league Mackey caught 331 passes for 5,236 yards and 38 touchdowns and changing the views of the tight end position in football. With his impact to the tight end position in football he was the 2nd player elected to the Hall of Fame as a tight end, behind Mike Ditka (1st tight end elected to Hall of Fame).  John Mackey was the former president of the NFL Player Association and will always be remembered as maybe the greatest tight end to play the game of football.

"John Mackey was like a running back playing the tight end position...  Mackey is truly one of the greatest tight ends to play the game of football." ~Mike Ditka

Lockout after Lockout

With the NFL lockout going well over 100 days and training camps scheduled to begin in almost three weeks, labor negotiations continue and owners, players and fans are hoping that the two sides will come to a decision soon.  Players are continuing to conduct players only workout sessions to stay in shape hoping that they will be back to football soon. The major concern of the negotiations is trying to figure out how to agree on the division of revenues for the $9 billion business.  Besides the division of revenue there are other issues that needs to be panned out since the old collective bargaining agreement expired March 11 and the league is in need of a new CBA.

Following the footsteps of the NFL the NBA has also now entered a lockout.  Beginning their negotiations between the owners and players a week after the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA championship, the two sides were hoping to make a decision before the CBA expired Friday July 1.  With no success in the negotiations the NBA has now entered a player lockout and caused a halt in free agency, as the two sides are further a part in agreeance than the NFL has ever been throughout their negotiations.  David Sterns, NBA commissioner stated "We didn't see any options," after the two sides did not come to any decision on Thursday.  The NBA says that 22 of the 30 teams are unprofitable and the league lost about $300 million dollars last season even though they had a $4.3 billion revenue from last season.  The NBA owners wants to cut the 57% of basketball revenue that the players receive, establish stronger salary cap, reduce guaranteed contracts and lock players into a 10-year Collective Bargaining Agreement.  On the other hand the players offered to cut revenue gain to 54.3% and give up $500 million in revenue for 5 seasons, in which the owners declined their offer. Adam Silver, NBA Deputy Commissioner, stated "NBA wants a system where all 30 teams are capable of being competitive and compete for championships."

It's looking like the NFL may come to a decision really soon, *crosses fingers*, as the commissioner did meet with rookies last week to discuss the business of the league, but the NBA players and owners are looking as far a part as ever.  Some believe that one of the reasons the NBA is so far apart is due to the owners being divided as well.  It's going to be a long journey for the NBA as it seems like the NFL is finally coming to the end of theirs after over 3 months of negotiations.  It would be a really touch year for not only owners and players but also fans who are hoping and praying they do not have to go a year with the NFL or the NBA.  *Stay Tuned*