The 2011 NFL CBA Problems Is Settled

The NFL is back. Yes, after the 132 day lockout it ended yesterday when the 32 players reps voted 32-0 to accept the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.It started back on March 12th when the owners locked out the players. The owners and players meet through June and July. The owners voted 31-0 on Thursday to accept the CBA the Raiders didn't vote and the Player Reps accepted it yesterday. The only game missed by this is the Hall of Fame Game. The season will start on September 8th like planned. The deal is for the next 10 years and will expire after the 2020 season. The NFL will make between 12 to 16 billion dollars over the next 10 years. The salary cap will be $120,375,000, but the teams must spend at least 99 percent in cash meaning not in deferred payments this season. Also the teams will have to spend 89% of the cap (107.1 million). Teams also will be allowed to go over the cap by about $3.5 million this season, and they can borrow $3 million in cap room from a future year. The are 7 teams over the cap. The Raiders (14.9 million over), Cowboys (13.9 million over), Steelers (10.3 million over), Giants (6.1 million over), Vikings (4.3 million over), Colts (1.8 million over) and Ravens (1.8 million over). Today players can start signing players, Thursday the can start cutting and on Friday free agency will start. With the new CBA Rookies will be payed a lot less. Cam Newton who was the #1 overall pick will get 22.03 million dollar contract, a lot then Sam Bradford who get 50 million last year. Minimum is going up 10-12% based on how long you've been in the League. The Franchise Tag will stay the same, teams will be able to Franchise Tag a players as many times as they wish. Training Camp will open tomorrow with the Ravens, Jaguars, Broncos, Raiders, Chargers, Cowboys, Eagles, Cardinals and Seahwks. Thursday the Dolphins, Patriots, Bengals, Steelers, Chiefs, Redskins, Lions, Falcons, Buccaneers and 49ers. Friday the Bills, Browns, Colts, Titans, Giants, Bears, Packers, Vikings, Panthers and Rams. No one on Saturday and the Jets and Texans on Sunday. The first game are set to play on August 11th. No one will have to worry about a lock-out in the NFL until 2020.

Recap of the 2011 MLB All-Star Game

The 2011 MLB All-Star Game was played on Tuesday. The National League beat the American League 5 to1. This is the first time since 1996 that the NL as beat the AL twice in a row. The AL won every from 1997 to 2009 expect for 2002 where they tied. This game is important because who ever wins the NL win have home field in the World Series. The team with home field in the World Series the last 25 times as won the World Series 20 times. One odd thing that happened was they were a lot of replacements players. Normally there is 66 All-Stars between both Leagues but this year there was 84 which means there was 18 replacement players. I thought the AL was probably going to win and the game was going to be really close. The NL started Roy Halladay and he pitched 2 innings without allowing a hit. Then Cliff Lee came in a had 1 and 2/3 of hitless ball by then Gonzalez and the AL was up 1-0. The AL almost went up 2-0 but Bautista was thrown out at home. In the bottom of the fourth after Beltran and Kemp were singled, Fielder came up and homered to make it 3 to 1 NL. In the 5th Ethier singled to scored Weeks to make it 4 to 1. In the 7th the NL got a run when Sandoval grounded into a double play and Pence scored. The NL had 9 hits to the AL who had 6. C.J. Wilson got the lose for the AL, he gave up the Fielder homerun. One fun thing Clippard got the win only pitching 1/3 of an inning and Brian Wilson got the save pitching 2/3 of an inning. Normally pitcher have to pitch 5+ innings to get the win.

Derek Jeter's 3000th Hit

Derek Jeter finally got his 3000th hit of his career on Saturday. In the game Jeter when 5 for 5, which was the most hits he had in a game all year long. He entered the game at 2998 hits needing 2 hits to become the first Yankee ever to get 3000 hits as a Yankee. He lead off the game and got the hit to get to 2999. Then in the 3rd inning it happened. Jeter hit a homerun to deep left field and that was his 3000th hit. The guy who caught Jeter's baseball that he hit wanted to give it to the Yankee to give to Jeter. Even though he didn't have anything in return the team gave him memorabilia and tickets. That Jeter's 3rd homerun of the season. He helped the Yankees beat the Rays 5-4. He increased his batting average from 72 for 280 which is .257 to 77 for 285 which is .270 which is a crazy 13 point increase. I think will will retire after his contract end after the 2014 season if he pick up the extension. He would be 40 after the 2014 season.  He will probably after this year not play Shortstop anymore and move to DH or into the outfield. I think Jeter will end with about 3500 hits. Which would put him around the 5th most hits all-time, his life time batting average is .3126 which is 83rd all-time. Derek will easily be a Hall Famer when he retires. He is a 5-time World Series Champ, a 12-time All-Star, he has 5 gold gloves and 4 silver sluggers. He is also a Rookie of the year in 1996 and World Series and All-Star Game MVP in 2000. Also most hits in a Yankee uniform and the Yankee's captain since 2003.