1822

15mn/season is still nuts for Flacco, unless my sense of QB salary scale is totally discombobulated. Otoh, the money he’s asking for - 19mn/season - is like Mark Sanchez contract levels of idiocy. So in terms of satisfying my sense of schadenfreude: ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease!

Here is an alternative way of looking at things: assuming the Ravens tell him to fuck off, who else in the league will pay him 19mn/season? Or even 15mn/season? I can’t think of anyone, which makes me think Joe Flacco’s agent didn’t do so well at introductory micro when he was in college.

Does anyone know anything about that Ravens’ cap situation? The profootballtalk article makes it sound as if a gigantor Flacco contract would severely hinder them capwise, but I don’t follow such things closely enough to evaluate that sentiment’s veracity.

1823

The franchise tag would actually be worse for the Ravens in terms of cap space. In fact, they’d have to clear some serious space just to use it. It’s in their best interest to sign him to a contract that shifts his cap hit to later years. Flacco is the right guy, in the right place and time this offseason; he has Baltimore completely by the balls.

1824

Instead of ProBowl maybe players could get to promote their own pastimes?
Dogfighting presented by Michael Vick.
Fencing presented by Ray Lewis.
Advanced driving presented by Leonard Little.
Glove fitting by you-know-who.

1825

Chinese condiment application by Kwame Harris! (Too soon?)

1826

You’re not wrong. $15 mil would put him at top 3 or top 5 QB money. Eli is making around $15 mil so I can’t see him getting much more than that. Unless he become Peyton Manning and stays perfectly consistent and maintains this level of play he isn’t getting $20 million. $15 mil is a bit high but not far from the realm of possibility given the QB-starved nature of the league. I’m sure the Browns, Cards or any number of other dismal franchises would entertain the idea of overpaying him given how bad their luck at getting a QB has been over the years.

1827

I believe Flacco will receive something more along the lines $16-$16.5 million a year. How that contract will be structured, its length, and which percentage will be guaranteed remains to be seen. Making comparisons to existing contracts like Eli’s is almost useless here, because it’s not about what Flacco’s real value is, it’s about his perceived value and the current demand for quarterbacks. Flacco will not settle for a $15 million a year deal because he will get better offers from teams with more cap space than brains.

1828

You know Sanchez is terrible when the Jets are actually floating the idea of giving JaMarcus Russell a chance at the job.

1829

ohpleaseohpleaseohplease!

1830

If Flacco isn’t going to get a Drew Brees level contract, he can at least get Drew Brees level endorsement deals, right?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/joe-flacco-signs-gummy-bear-endorsement-deal-193617486--nfl.html

1831

NEW ORLEANS – Chris Culliver, a second-year cornerback for the 49ers, reportedly made disparaging comments about homosexuality in football during an interview with a radio-show host Tuesday at the Super Bowl’s media day.

Culliver told Artie Lange that gay teammates would not be welcome in the locker room, according to quotes posted by Yahoo! Sports.

“I don’t do the gay guys man,” Culliver said. "I don’t do that. No, we don’t got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do.

“Can’t be with that sweet stuff. Nah … can’t be … in the locker room man. Nah.”

Culliver suggested that homosexual athletes keep their sexuality private until 10 years after they retire.

A 49ers spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

Go Ravens.

1832

Stupid of him to say especially considering the team and city he plays for. But is it all that surprising? He is just stupidly saying what many other NFL players may think but are just smart enough to keep quiet about it. As much as society has been open to accepting it now, the sporting world will probably never be as accepting of it.

1833

Somehow he managed to go out of his way and be explicitly stupid about the topic. His attitude may be common in the NFL locker rooms – don’t know – but other players seem to handle the topic a bit better.

1834

The issue of gay players is complicated. I played football from junior high through college. During that stretch, 1986-1994, there were no openly gay players on any team I played on. It turns out that I played with at least one gay guy (probably more, just going with statistics)…this one guy that had a locker next to mine in high school was/is gay.

I always thought he was gay but back then we teased people in juvenile ways and thought nothing of it, when I was in high school I hadnt really applied a thought process to sexuality and gay guys were fags and just weird. I dont know if I thought it was a choice back then (I certainly dont now), but it was different, we had no openly gay students in high school, it was not anything we were exposed to and it was just something you didnt think about much. A man that liked other men was different and gay and a fag, end of story.

Anyway, I thought he was ‘gay’ at the time because he would stare at himself in his mirror and just spend a female-like amount of time on his personal appearance, working on his hair and what not. And if you borrowed his brush or mirror or deodorant or cologne he would flip out. So of course that’s what people did, take his brush and comb their pubes and shit. Or steal his hair dryer (no one else had a hair dryer) and hide it for a while. But still I didnt really think he was attracted to men, just that he was ‘gay’. He dated girls back then.

Fast forward to today, I think most people understand that sexuality is not a choice but still…locker rooms are full of naked dudes. And if you are a naked dude in a locker room and there is a gay guy in there, it changes the dynamic. All of a sudden, there is a person in there that may be interested in you or your junk, whereas you are not interested in him or his junk. And that is a situation that I think most people would be uncomfortable with.

1835

I played football in high school, and I would concur with olaf. In high school it would probably be a bit of a awkward situation. We all know how kids are in high school, let alone how the jocks can be. Culliver is a black young man from the inner city who has been a star athlete all his life; a product of his environment. The way I took his comments was he just doesn’t want to think about, doesn’t want to know about it. Ala the military’s previous don’t ask, don’t tell policy. Hopefully he’ll live and learn and understand why he’s wrong.

1836

It’s kind of sad that it’s this guy’s Super Bowl week and the thing he’ll be remembered for(if he’s remembered by anyone) is some weird anti-gay rant that really isn’t even relevant to anything going on. It’s not like this is the first Super Bowl with an openly gay QB or something.