Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Yahoo launches mayoral trash talk in fantasy football league
Get ready for the smack talk as Yahoo is launching a fantasy football competition among 11 U.S. mayors.
Former NBA star Kevin Johnson, who is now mayor of Sacramento, is among the competitors in the head-to-head league. The mayors will compete weekly based on the statistics of National Football League players they draft. Other mayors involved are from Buffalo, New York; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Oakland and San Francisco, California; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Tampa, Florida.
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, a lifetime Green Bay Packers fan, is already putting on his game face: “Winning is the only thing.”
In fantasy sports, fans, including the mayors, select real athletes for make-believe teams and compete based on statistics compiled in the real games. Fantasy sports of all kinds are played by millions of Americans, generating about $1 billion in annual revenue.
Cornett said he will be very involved with his team, but has tapped his 30-year-old son to act as his team’s general manager. His only rule? No Minnesota Vikings.
The Yahoo fantasy football season kicks off Sept. 10, but no date has been set yet for the mayors’ live draft.
The winner of the mayoral league will earn $15,000 for the local nonprofit sports program of his or her choice, while fans, starting Aug. 13, can earn their city another $15,000 donation by voting for their city. The mayoral league can be followed online.
Is Michael Vick an asset or a liability for NFL?
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick’s prison sentence followed by house arrest for participating and bankrolling a dog-fighting operation officially ended on Monday July 20.
It took exactly one night for Vick’s name to be once again embroiled in controversy. Vick’s Virginia-based lawyer Lawrence Woodward denied reports that his client spent his first night of freedom at a Virginia Beach strip club. “It is absolutely, categorically false,” Woodward said.
Two dancers at the club, who identified themselves as Tropical and Tara, told reporters they saw Vick and NBA free agent Allen Iverson there Monday night.
Throughout Vick’s legal ordeal, the NFL seemed content to toss all the controversy into the hands of the legal system. Now that Vick is out of the proverbial dog house, all eyes are on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Shortly after regaining his freedom, Sports Illustrated and other media outlets, quoting anonymous sources, reported that Goodell and Vick’s agent, Joel Segal, secretly met in New Jersey.
It was then reported that the NFL had granted Vick a conditional re-instatement that includes a four-game suspension. NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello quickly went on Twitter to announce that “despite what ESPN says, commish has made no decisions on MVick.”
First let me make one thing clear, that I in no way condone the actions for which Michael Vick served time, but he did serve his time! It seems to me that we in this self-righteous American Society can always find it so easy to judge someone else; when in fact the majority of us have done something in our lifetimes that we probably would not want to be made public information! It is time people, that we all get real and stop being so hypocritical and judgemental of others; Even Michael! Michael Vick is just another product of a society and culture that has not only existed but also been cultivated in this country for far too long! Just in case you have forgotten, let me remind you that “Slavery” is still alive and well in America and it is evident in the fact that the sports franchise owmers can take a young boy who has never fully understood what it means to be a man. I mean a “Godly Man” and suddenly thrust millions of dollars into his pockets and expect him to suddenly act as though he is use to having that kind of financial clout! Suddenly going from driving an “Old Hoopty” to being able to afford the most over-priced “Touring Vehicles” on this planet, with just the stroke of a pen! Then the people who come into the arenas where they plow their trade sit patiently waiting to unleash the inner-hatred that they truly have for them; at their first misstep or display of behavior deemed inappropriate by this hypocritical society in which we live! Yes, Micael Vick made lots of mistakes in judgement; but the biggest mistake was not within his control and that is being born poor and Black in America! I know you are now saying: “Oh, here we go with the Race Card again”; but I did not create the “Race Card” America, you did and whether or not you are willing to admit it “Racism” is still very previlent in the fabric of our society! If you don’t believe me, just watch Fox News sometimes and you will see it clearly unless you are just blind or totally ignorant! So Michael, God forgives you and I do too!
Should NFL give Vick a second chance?
Should a man, having paid his debt to society for a crime he says he regrets, be forbidden from resuming a career at which he excels; a career for which his crime in no way disqualifies him (in the way that an embezzlement conviction might disqualify an accountant)?
This is the question National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell will have to answer when Michael Vick files his reinstatement papers.
The former star quarterback with the Atlanta Falcons was released on May 20 from the Leavenworth, Kan., prison where he served nearly two years for his role in bankrolling and participating in a dogfighting ring.
Until his sentence is up July 20th, Vick will be under federal surveillance at home while he works a $10-an-hour construction job and pursues reinstatement in the NFL where big bucks are usually a sure bet.
In a country where atonement for transgressions and redemption are popular religious themes, the gifted NFL running and passing quarterback is seeking absolution from one of his harshest critics: the Humane Society of the United States. In a blog posting, Wayne Pacelle, CEO for the Humane Society of the United States, announced that the group would work hand in hand with Vick to help eradicate dogfighting among youths.
“If this is simply a self-interested ploy to rehabilitate his image or return to football, we will find out soon enough, and we will repudiate it. But if Michael Vick is sincere, then we can, we must, use his story to advance our broader mission—saving lives and ending dogfighting,” Pacelle said.
Now that Michael Vick has served his prison sentence and secured the endorsement of the Humane Society, do you think the NFL should re-instate him?
I am disappointed that I cannot watch my Colts play tonight because our family has boycotted watching any team the Eagles play. I hope they lose every game this season. But I guess a bunch of testosteroned guys don’t care who they play with.
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Resident Left Field Expert
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that is so great!