Usually, two groups of people that one would never sit at the same dinner table, maybe not even invite to the same party are agents and sports franchise owners. The agents’ job is to make as much money as they can for their client (at a 10% or more fee for themselves). Owners are trying to keep as much money as they can. Overall, in this salary cap era, teams’ front offices are like professional jigsaw puzzle solver – put together a quality team with all the parts fitting in the frame.
Agents are stereotyped as being arrogant know-it-alls who often believe that they know better than the front office folks. This is often self-serving – “everything will be fine if you just play [my player].” (One of the worst offenders is Scott Boras, who lambasted the Cubs for not bringing up Kris Bryant at the start of the season when, by leaving him in the minors two weeks, get to keep his rights for another year.) However, you never see an agent take a position with a franchise; until now.
Arn Tellem is among the most well-known and powerful agents in basketball, but the 61-year-old vice chairman of Wasserman Media Group announced that he will step down from his position and join the Detroit Pistons organization. Tellem will become the vice chairman of Palace Sports and Entertainment, which is the group that owns the Pistons. He reportedly will be working directly with owner Tom Gores, but head coach Stan Van Gundy is said to retain his responsibility as primary decision-maker on personnel moves.
Tellem is one of the major players in the agent business, with clients a mile long, but from all quotes that I have read, Tellem is ready for a new challenge, and the Pistons, decades removed from their glory “Bad Boys” years, have been a moribund franchise.
There are several questions in this move. First and foremost, what will happen to Tellem’s clients? Some could opt to continue being represented by Wasserman Media Group, are these players and coaches now “free agents?” Will the Scott Borases and others like him start using their shark-like salesmanship on the clients?
Plus, will the Pistons have a leg up on some of the more talented players because they were Tellem’s clients? Will the Pistons suddenly become more adept at salary cap management under Tellem’s guidance? And, while agents have made similar moves before, Tellem is in a different bracket. . If he succeeds with the Pistons, will other agents and teams be tempted to make similar moves?

One thing is certain about sports – age and injuries are cruel to athletes. Even the greatest athlete must succumb to the ravages of age. Debilitating injuries are always one lay away for any athlete, but as one ages, the odds of a major injury increase exponentially.
Tennis is a cruel master/mistress – great players start losing matches that they used to win just a year or two before. This week, one day after Roger Federer lost at the French Open, 9-time champion Rafael Nadal was defeated. Nadal lost to Novak Djokovic, who is the number 1 player in the world, so its not a surprise that Nadal lost. But losing 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 at a tournament and on a surface that Nadal has dominated for over a decade (he had won nine of the past 10 titles and 39 matches in a row) is almost unheard of.
Djokovic has defeated Nadal six of the last seven meetings between the two players, solidifying his grip on the number 1 ranking. Federer is currently ranked number 2, but he hasn’t won a Grand Slam since 2010. Brit Andy Murray is ranked third, but he has only two Grand Slam titles to his name – Wimbledon in 2013 and the U.S. Open last year (and he’s still alive at Roland Garros this year).
It appears that Djokovic has now ascended to the throne of the men’s game, where he’ll preside by himself if he wins the French Open. What is sad is that the game’s best rivalry appears to have tipped in favor of Djokovic, and Djokovic has now done something the great Federer never accomplished—beating Nadal at Roland Garros.
I do hope that Nadal isn’t done. Federer, as great as he was, seems to just be hanging on, a distant contender for another Grand Slam, but the key word is distant. Murray is very good, but not at the highest level consistently. Maybe some of the younger guys are ready to move into the spotlight. Tennis needs it because there is nothing worst for the sports and its fans when the number 1 player in the world is virtually unchallenged. Remember the times when Martina Navratilova and then Steffi Graf were so much better than everyone else that tennis became boring.
Men’s tennis already suffers from the technological improvements that have made serves so fast as to be almost unhittable and rallies are extremely short if they occur at all.

The most popular horse race in the United States is the Kentucky Derby. People watch the race for many reasons: a harbinger of spring; the hats and fashions; and of course, the race. I think people watch it out of tradition. I avoid the hours of pre-race banter (much as I avoid the hours of Super Bowl pre-game); I turn the television on near race time, watch the two minutes of the race, then go back to what I was dong before.
The same cannot be said for the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, even though it is the most important race of the three. Why do I say that? People are interested in whether the Kentucky Derby winner has any shot at the Triple Crown, which means that the horse must win The Preakness. If the Derby winner loses, the Belmont is a meaningless afterthought.
The fact that there have only been 11 horses to win the Triple Crown in over 110 years of history is what makes these races compelling. In a day when horse racing is nowhere near as popular as it was even when I was growing up, the Triple Crown is a quaint throwback to an earlier day. Add to the hype is that there hasn’t been a Triple Crown winner in 37 years since Affirmed, it makes the Belmont “must watch” television. If the Derby winner loses the Preakness – no one cares about the race.
So far, American Pharaoh is this year’s hopeful, having won the first two jewels and is the prohibitive favorite in betting so far. The post positions for Saturday’s race were announced today and the 3-5 morning-line favorite American Pharoah, who will start from post No. 5 at Belmont Park. This race will only have eight total horses, with the top perceived threat to upend American Pharoah’s Triple Crown bid in Elmont, New York, being Frosted, who sits at 5-1 at the morning line and will line up in the sixth post.
The Belmont is very interesting since it is so much longer than the other races, which will make it hard for any horse to win it. It should be interesting.

The NFL always plays one or two games in London each year, which is quite the curiosity with games starting at early in the morning in the U.S., meaning that the biggest NFL fan can watch football for over 12 hours. Unfortunately, the NFL has brought over some stinker games across the pond: either a good team against a not-very-good one; or two bad teams. The British don’t know any better, it is a novelty to them.
As such, the match-up hasn’t exactly been a ratings monster for the television networks that run the NFL. This year, the league announced that this year’s London snorefest will be October 25th between the up-and-coming but not exactly top tier Buffalo Bills and the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars. It actually makes sense to have Jacksonville play in London since the economy and bad football teams have helped depress home attendance (I know because on the NFL Sunday Ticket, my television is set to the Game Center channel where one can watch up to 8 games simultaneously, but if the game doesn’t sell out, it can’t be shown on that channel – and let me tell you, there have been a few of those blacked out games from Jacksonville – not that anyone was clamoring for them).
So, while the game will be broadcast locally to Buffalo and Jacksonville, anyone who cares outside of those areas will only be able to watch the game on the Internet, on Yahoo. The league announced that it had chosen Yahoo as its partner for the free broadcast, starting at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
I’m sure there will be a couple of people who have nothing better to do logged into this turkey. I don’t think I’ll be one of them.

I think the ultimate topper to most people after the arrests and indictments filed against numerous FIFA officials last week was the unmitigated arrogance of FIFA, especially its President Sepp Blatter. Last Friday, FIFA held its elections and Blatter won reelection on the first ballot and Blatter defiantly took office saying that he could not control all of the underlings in FIFA, even as investigations remain ongoing to see if Blatter could be caught in similar wrongdoing.
I don’t know what happened, but suddenly today, Blatter announced that he will step down as head of world soccer’s governing body but only after the organization’s executive committee organizes a fresh vote “for the election of my successor.” There is no word as to when a new election would be scheduled, but that it should be before the next World Congress in May 2016. However, a new election cannot be held for at least four months according to FIFA rules, according to Domenico Scala, chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee (who has to be the most corrupt or incompetent audit committee chairman in history).
Speaking in Zurich, Blatter said the reforms he has tried to implement over the years have not been enough. “I felt compelled to stand for re-election, as I believed that this was the best thing for the organization. That election is over, but FIFA’s challenges are not. FIFA needs a profound overhaul,” he said. “While I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football — the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at FIFA.”
Reportedly, FIFA spends $30 million per year just on travel, and convicted former General Secretary of FIFA for North America Chuck Blazer who reportedly wore a wire in meeting with FIFA officials which has led to the indictments kept an apartment in Trump Tower in Manhattan just for his cats (thanks David Rubin for the story). I have very little doubt that Blatter is as dirty as a beach at low tide; its only a matter of time before he gets tied into the corruption.
The bigger story is if true reforms will be implemented. Between the indictments and the story on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel last year on how many soccer players took money to throw games, it seems that soccer is much closer to professional wrestling.

There is nothing more ridiculous than sports cities that try to keep opposing fans from buying tickets to away games. With the Stanley Cup Finals about to begin between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa team officials are trying various means of keeping Chicago fans out of their arena.
Blackhawk jerseys will not be allowed in certain sections of the stadium and reportedly, ticket requests are being limited to Florida zip codes. In hockey, Nashville and Columbus are among the main perpetrators of similar policies, especially concerning the Hawks. Of course, this has gotten bigger over the past seven years, when the Blackhawks became a powerhouse in the league, winning two Stanley Cups and playing for a third, but it’s not at all unheard of.
Chicago fans and Detroit fans have regularly taken the 5 hour drive between the two cites and watched games at the other’s venue. Back in the day when the Blackhawks were lousy, it did sound like a Red Wings home game, but Bill Wirtz wanted every dollar, so there they were.
It is annoying to have tons of opposing fans in your stadium (as I can tell you from years of attending Northwestern Football games at Dyche Stadium/Ryan Field against Wisconsin, or Michigan or Ohio State) but you have to just suck it up, or get more of your fans to attend the games.
Of course, we have seen violence between fans, most horrifically the San Francisco Giant fan who was beaten and disabled by Los Angeles Dodger fans. Public safety is always the primary concern, but if your market isn’t big enough to fill your stadium (much like Northwestern), you just have to suck it up. All the Tampa front office has done is boost the secondary market for Finals tickets. You know that Floridians with no interest in hockey will buy tickets and look to sell them, and if the buyers happen to be Blackhawks fans, the money spends the same.

George Lynn Cross was President of the University of Oklahoma from 1943-1968, the longest tenure of any administrator at the school, but he will always be best known for his quote “I would like to build a University of which the football team could be proud.”
The changing face of college athletics including the apparent inevitable prospect of student athletes getting paid could make big time college sports like football and basketball too expensive for small schools. To that end, earlier this year, the University of Alabama-Birmingham announced that despite the first .500 season in recent memory, the school would not continue its football program.
Of course, this is the South and we are talking about football, so I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised when UAB president Ray Watts announced this week that the school would reinstate its football program. “Our students, our alumni, the city of Birmingham and now many community members have stepped up with commitments to cover that $17.2 million operational deficit. That’s why we’re in a position today to make this decision.” But all isn’t completely rosy at UAB. College Sports Solutions reported that bringing back football (along with the rifle program and women’s bowling, which had also been cut) would mean the school would operate at a $3.165 million deficit. Sports Solutions reported that bringing the sports back would “‘foster much goodwill and stimulate a substantial amount of spiritual and financial support from alumni, donors, ticket holders, friends, students, faculty and the community’ in addition to ‘positive national attention to the university.'”
The school cut football after its best season in quite some time, as new coach Bill Clark led the team to a 6-6 mark and bowl eligibility. Average attendance also doubled in 2014, an indication that the program may be sustainable even as it looks to compete with the iconic programs in the state, Alabama and Auburn. Still, UAB football will probably never be a national power like its SEC neighbors, but it appears that the school found enough reason to believe bringing back the program wouldn’t be as financially unfeasible as previously thought. It appears the program should be able to sustain itself—or at least come close—going forward.
Like so many stories like these, there are positives and negatives to this. First, one has to wonder if the elimination of football was just a shock-tactic to get alums and the area to put some money into the UAB program? If that is the case, of course, it may be a short-term solution, especially if, like the kid who cried wolf, UAB does this every few years.
To the young men who want to play football, if they use this as a means to an education – great? However, UAB isn’t a red carpet ride to the NFL either. Plus, possible injuries and head trauma make football a cautious proposition at best. But I believe that the alums got what they wanted – the return of football.