Will Landon Donovan Cash-in after the World Cup?

According to an article on the Yahoo Sports website Sunday, Landon Donovan is being heavily scouted by Barclay's Premier League team Manchester City. City is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. Landon Donovan is one of his top choices for a roster spot on the team.

Donovan would likely make double what he is making playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS. According to Yahoo, his current salary is $2,127,777.78 for the season. Since there is more money in both the EPL and in the pockets of the Sheikh, he would easily be a much wealthier man making that jump.

In doing so, he would join other recent signees such as Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor (who joined from Arsenal), Argentina forward Carlos Tevez (who joined from Man United) and Brazil forward Robinho (who left Real Madrid). Man City is also reportedly about to sign Spanish midfielder David Silva according to the British press.

The transfer fee would like be about $12,000,000 that would be evenly split between the Galaxy and MLS according to Yahoo.

New King of Sports Streaming?

How big of a business is streaming live sporting events to the American populace? Ask ESPN and CBS. According to an article in the NY Times, ESPN claimed that the recently played World Cup match between the United States and Algeria was the most watched sporting event over the Internet with about 1.1 million unique visitors during the match.

That sounds like quite a lot right? Not so fast. The first round double OT NCAA Tournament game between Brigham Young University and Florida drew 1.15 million unique visitors over the course of the game says CBS Sports. ESPN appears to have erred. They are now grasping at straws saying "the United States victory over Algeria was seen by an average of 328,000 viewers a minute, while the N.C.A.A. game was seen by just over 200,000."

Semantics. There is a much bigger point to be made here, sports streaming is an expanding market with the proliferation of broadband Internet in the US and can only grow larger. This provides yet another targeted demographic for advertisers to take advantage of in an era where TV advertising becomes less relevant every time someone plucks a Tivo off of Amazon.com or signs up for their cable/sat/tel co provider's DVR service.

As is stated on the website's FAQS, ESPN3.com carries over 3,500 live sporting events a year. They range from NBA, MLB, and college sports to niches like cricket, rugby, soccer and Australian Rules Football. Each event provides an opportunity that allows ESPN to market as an advertising vehicle for companies looking to reach their target demographic.

CBSSports.com, by comparison, streams only specific events like the Masters and the NCAA tournament. Other networks don't have the built up streaming capabilities of ESPN3 and will not for what appears to be a while. The major sports leagues in this country MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL all have their own streaming packages. Select national games are allowed to be streamed by ESPN (MLB, NBA) and NBC (NFL) but their is no rival to ESPN3 in the US.

It reaches over 53 million homes and 20 million college students through agreements with TV providers and free access to every college campus in the nation. Soon it will reach the roughly 20 million Xbox Live Gold subscribers with free access as well. It is unparalleled in terms of reach and offerings.

It's a safe bet that it will soon have the most streamed sporting event even though it has yet to reach that high water mark. It's less a matter of if than it is when. Hopefully that when will be a result of the USA advancing through the World Cup.

NFL QB Mark Brunell to File Chapter 11

Mark Brunell, most recently the backup quarterback for the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, has told the Florida Times Union he is filing for bankruptcy protection after multiple bad real estate investments.

In his long and productive career spanning 17 seasons and 4 teams he has earned over $52 million. His most success came as the starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 1995 until the third game of the 2003 season. He made the pro bowl 3 times (96, 97 & 99) and led the Jaguars to the AFC title game in 96 and 99, losing both times.

During his time with the Jaguars he formed Champion LLC, a real estate partnership, with then Jaguars players Joel Smeenge and Todd Fordham. The properties they invested in during the height of the real estate bubble did not retain their values when it burst and the partnership faced multiple lawsuits over loan defaults.

Brunell kept the partnership afloat making loan payments from his personal funds in hopes they could reach a resolution with creditors. He told the Times Union via email: "The timing of the group’s real estate acquisitions at the height of the real estate market, in hindsight, clearly was not good...In the end, we couldn’t and I am no longer able to shoulder this burden.”

John Wall's Lottery Ticket

With the number one pick in tonight's NBA Lottery Draft, the Washington Wizards are expected to select John Wall, the guard from Kentucky. In doing so, they will make Mr. Wall a very rich young man. Though Reebok has already made him wealthy with a 5 year-$25 million endorsement deal with two of his own shoe lines, it is his play for the Wizards that will eventually make him fantastically wealthy.

If history is a good barometer for what type of money Wall can expect, he should do alright. The last 5 number one picks signed the following rookie contracts:

2009: Blake Griffin (LA Clippers) 3 years, $16,071,840 (RealGM)
2008: Derek Rose (Chicago Bulls) 3 years, $12,961,200 (HoopsWorld)
2007: Greg Oden (Portland Trail Blazers) 3 years, $12,529,100 (MyNBADraft)
2006: Andrea Bargnani (Toronto Raptors) 3 years, $12,097,100 (HoopsWorld)
2005: Andrew Bogut (Milwaukee Bucks) 3 years, $11,665,000 (NBA)

According to HoopsWorld, this year's rookie scale contract is broken down as follows:

1st year: $4,286,900
2nd year: $4,608,400
3rd year: $4,929,900
4th year: $6,216,603 *estimate: Option year, must increase salary by at least 26.1%

John Wall will live a very comfortable life unless he turns into Latrell Sprewell. Enjoy your night Mr. Wall, the rest of your life begins in the morning.

Anelka Signs Extension with Chelsea

Who needs the French national team or the World Cup? Cetainly not Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka. He signed a one year contract extension with the Blues to add on to the final year left on his current deal, allowing him to remain until 2012.

Sounding like a man relieved to escape the hell that was the French team in South Africa, Anelka said "When I first came to Chelsea I wanted to stay much longer than I did in the past with other clubs, It is a big club, you play with big players and I like this club, I like London. There is no need to move anymore and so I am very glad to sign a new contract and I know we will play in big games and win titles. I am very glad."

Adds Manager Carlo Ancelotti: "Nicolas is a fantastic player who has good technical qualities and movement. When I was coach at Juventus I wanted to buy him, so it is good now he has signed for me and I think Chelsea is his home. I look forward to working with him for one year more."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

LeBron to Knicks would add $150MM to Team's Value?

According to a report in Crain's New York Business, the signing of LeBron James could add $150 million dollars to the market cap of Madison Square Garden Inc, the parent company of the New York Knicks. Every time the mention of him signing with the Knicks comes within a wiff of the stock market, it's ticker jumps. The stock is so sensitive to the possibility of LeBron heading to NY that it jumped 12% when the Cleveland Cavaliers, his most recent team, lost their playoff series against the Boston Celtics.

Currently, the Knicks are one of the worst teams in the NBA. The past couple of years have not been kind to their fans as they shed the outsized contracts of players like Stephon Marbury, Jared Jeffries, Jerome James, Allan Houston and others that took up more space on the bench, disabled list and the payroll than they did on the stat sheet or all star team. The shedding of those contracts has provided the team with $35 million in salary cap room, more than enough to sign King James or two other top tier free agents.

For a fan base used to winning and expecting it every year this was a shock to the system. Fans stopped going to games and stopped watching the team on their MSG Network. The team disappeared from national telecasts it used to be prominently featured in just as quickly as it slid out of playoff contention.

The thought is that anyone, not just LeBron James, anyone signed to a contract representing an improvement over the current collection of players that would be on the island of misfit toys, were this a Christmas special, would represent an upgrade and cause more cash flow into the team. Higher TV ratings would mean more advertising revenue; more competitive games would mean more people in the seats at the Garden; eventually they could even raise ticket prices when they make the playoffs. A planned $850 million dollar renovation will also help bring fans into the outdated arena for at least a season. In addition to 78 new luxury suites, there will be 40% more points of sale for concessions that should add t to the bottom line.

That would be great for MSG shareholders, but signing LeBron would be like investing in an exploratory oil drilling company shortly before it makes its first big find. Currently, according to Forbes, the franchise is valued at $586 million. That value could rise as high as $736 million should LeBron come to the Knicks says Patrick Rishe, a professor of economics at Webster University and director of consulting firm Sports Impacts. This would come in the form of an immediate $10-$20 million boost in revenue and the rise in TV ratings that having the most dynamic player in the NBA on the team would provide. Not to mention that boost in advertising inside the arena because of the increased exposure of the team being on national TV again as well.

In summary, the gains would come from sponsorships, higher ticket prices, playoff games, eventual subscriber fee increases from cable and satellite operators—and rocketing ad rates on the MSG Network, the company's main source of profits according to Crain's.

Overall, according to Crain's, the company has performed reasonably well considering the difficulty of the Knicks to field a competitive team. In its first quarter since it was spun off from Cablevision Systems Corp., the new company's revenues rose 9% over the year-earlier period to $307 million. It had net income of $17 million, compared with a loss of $2 million in the first quarter last year. Its stock has risen 16% since its February debut, closing at $21.48 on Friday.

The arena bills itself as the "World's Most Famous Arena" has no real competition just yet. Not until the Nets move into the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn anyway. That's when they will need a star like LeBron to draw the crowds investors in MSG Inc will expect, new Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is playing for keeps.

Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin Endorsed before Drafted

According to Bauer's website, Tyler Seguin has been signed to an endorsement deal by the hockey equipment maker.



"When you think of hockey, you think of Bauer and it's exciting to be part of the Bauer Hockey family...to be included alongside some of the great players that are part of the Bauer roster is unbelievable. I'm really looking forward to working with the entire Bauer team in the future." Says Seguin in the press release on the Bauer Blog.

"Tyler is obviously one of the top young players in the world, but more importantly, he is a player that embodies everything that has made Bauer the No.1 brand in hockey. He's a hard working player who has demonstrated a dedication and commitment to the sport. We are excited to stand alongside Tyler as he embarks on what promises to be an outstanding professional career." Kevin Davis, President and CEO, Bauer Hockey, also adds.

Seguin is expected to join Bauer's global marketing efforts with other NHL players including but not limited to: Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos, Nic Backstrom, Mike Richards, Henrik Lundquist, Eric Staal and Jordan Staal.

According to a press release from Easton Hockey, the equipment maker has signed Taylor Hall to an endorsement deal. "Hall will wear and market Easton Hockey gear, as well as participate in the brand’s global marketing campaign “Confidence Is Everything.” The Canadian-born star of the Ontario Hockey League will also be involved in the development of future Easton designs" states the linked release.



“Taylor Hall is the most exciting prospect to come to the NHL in a long time, he’s going to be an absolute star, with his natural offensive ability and dangerous creativity with the puck he will be the perfect skater to showcase Easton’s cutting edge gear for years to come" said Chris Zimmerman, President of Easton Sports.

“There’s no bigger jump in hockey than from juniors to the NHL and I’ll need the right kind of gear that can stand up to the demands of the way I play, and that’s Easton,” Hall said. “From the start of my first game in the NHL, I will be using Easton.”

Both players are not the first signed to endorsement deals before playing a minute in the NHL. Sidney Crosby, among others, beat them to the punch when he was signed to an endorsement deal by Reebok-CCM for $500,000 a year while still in junior hockey. More recently, last year's number one and two picks John Tavares (Islanders) and Victor Hedman (Lightning) before the draft as well.

Best of luck to these two in the draft!

The Booming Vuvuzela Business

If you've been watching the World Cup you most likely have noticed that angry swarm of bees present at every match. Unlike at that Padres game, these are actually plastic horns.

The invention of them is disputed as ranging from Mexico to South Africa on the article devoted to the horn from hell on Wikipedia, but official credit is generally given to South African Freddie Maake and the South African company, Masincedane Sport, that first mass produced the current version many love to hate.

The horns have overshadowed the games themselves, being so loud that players, match officials, fans, broadcasters, sportswriters and people watching at home have all complained of them. LG, an electronics manufacturer, has even gone as far as instructing owners of its HDTVs on how to watch the games with a setting that filters out the vuvuzelas in the background. For fans not fortunate enough to have an LG HDTV, broadcasters such as ABC/ESPN, BBC, CANAL+ and Sky Deutschland have begun to completely filter out or tone down the sound of the annoying plastic misery machines.

To be fair, FIFA and many others have defended the horns as well. FIFA has even begun training referees with vuvuzela noise included. The horns have now jumped across the pond and are showing up at baseball games, including Red Sox and Marlins games, and other events around the world. The Yankees have banned the horn from Yankee Stadium after a fan brought one to a game against the Phillies last week.

Amid all the protest and controversy there is a lot of money to be made with these horns. They sell for around $7 or $8 online and come in a variety of colors. The money is not in that they have sold them just to people at the matches, but that they are now selling worldwide. The original company that manufactured them has gone big time, contracting out to many factories in China like all big shots do to manufacture them at a fraction of the cost and ship them to every corner of the earth. Eventually, these people in the vuvuzela business hope, bees will feel emasculated and start mooing like cows. In fact, there were upwards of 200,000 vuvuzelas being produced per factory in some of the factories ran by the Chinese haters of sanity that produce them. Currently, the factories are pushing out about 20,000 a day in larger operations.

Over a million of these horns have been sold already, according to the AP. Expect many more millions to be sold and expect many more people to begin hating sports because of them. If they end up at Yankee-Red Sox games, Sox fans will long for the days of the "1918" chant because at least it had some humorous value. The only purpose vuvuzelas serve, aside from annoying humans and bees, is to make money.

According to this report, there is even a church trying to muscle in on the vuvuzela cash flow. Hopefully this scourge will end sooner than later.

The High Cost of Being Reckless

When the average guy is reckless it usually only costs him a nominal fine or maybe a marriage. To them of course it is a big deal, but it is a bag of shells compared to what it costs a big time athlete. These guys pay a much higher price.

Tiger Woods, as anyone who hasn't been living in a cave for the past year knows, took recklessness to a whole new level. Though not condoning his behavior, it is one thing to have an affair, its another to have slept with the amount of women and to go to the lengths he did while married. The public will at first act disgusted with your behavior when they learn of an affair, but once you start winning again all is generally forgotten. In Tiger's case his indiscretions cost him not only his family, but a list of endorsement deals longer than most people knew he had.

A year ago today Tiger had endorsement deals with Nike, EA Sports, Gatorade, Accenture, GE, AT&T, Gillete, Tag Heuer, American Express and many others. Since then he has been dropped by Gatorade, Accenture, GE and AT&T; He is no longer appearing in ads for Tag Hauer or Gillette even though they still sponsor him; AMEX has put him on the bench as well. This cost him about $25 million last year, according to CNBC. It also cost IMG, his management firm, $4.6 million. Not to overemphasize how much damage Woods has caused, but a study by UC Davis estimated the loss of market capitalization of the firms he sponsored to be upwards of $12B

He still was able to keep his most valuable endorsements with Nike ($30 million), Gillete ($15 million), EA Sports ($8 million), the values according to NowPublic.com. Other endorsements he still has with Golf Digest, NetJets, Tag Heuer, TLC Laser Eye Centers and Upper Deck in tact according to his website. Fnancially he will not ever be in trouble unless his soon to be ex-wife, Elin Nordegren, is able to win the $750 million she is seeking in a divorce settlement.

While Tiger will still make a considerable chunk of change this year, it will be nowhere near the $100+ million he enjoyed the past few years. At least he may still have Rachel Uchitel.

Gilbert Arenas was the best and most popular player on the Washington Wizards. He was, in fact, one of the most liked and talented players in the whole NBA at one point. He then decided it was a good idea to bring guns to an NBA arena and point them at teammates during an argument. Even Tiger Woods shook his head at Gilbert the day that news broke. In a recent pole taken by Forbes, Gilbert Arenas ranks among the top ten most disliked people in the sporting world by Americans. He is on the same list as Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick, Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriguez.

He probably will not lose his contract, but he was suspended indefinitely without pay. This will cost him $147,200 per game and a total of $9,429,505.41 for the rest of the 2009-2010 season, according to ESPN. NBA commissioner David Stern said "Although it is clear that the actions of Mr. Arenas will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse, his ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game. Accordingly, I am suspending Mr. Arenas indefinitely, without pay, effective immediately pending the completion of the investigation by the NBA."

Michael Vick, though not losing the most money, has to be the worst offender on this list. He didn't cheat on his wife, he isn't married; he didn't bring guns to an NFL stadium, though he was caught with marijuana in Miami's airport. His actions didn't even really destroy people and companies either. He brought only himself down, and maybe Arthur Blank's Falcons. When he signed a 10 year, $130 million contract with the Falcons in 2004 he became the most highly compensated player in league history.

He repaid Arthur Blank by smoking pot, giving Falcons fans the middle finger while walking off the field and running Bad Newz Kennels, a dog fighting ring. He was the lead trainer, financier and exterminator. He had friends with him, but he clearly ran the show. In exchange for shooting, electrocuting, drowning, choke slamming and fighting dogs to death after their birth via forced rape on a rape stand he received an indefinite ban from the NFL, the voiding of his contract and an 18 month prison sentence. He also lost endorsement deals with Nike, EA Sports, Coca-Cola, Powerade, Kraft, Rawlings, Hasbro and AirTran, according to Wikipedia.

To add insult to injury, he had to repay $20 million of the bonus money he received while with the Falcons because he admitted using it to fund gambling on the dogs his organization trained. In the US, professional athletes are banned from gambling because of the potential detrimental effects caused by gambling that were exhibited by the 1919 Black Sox.

Michael Vick subsequently declared bankruptcy and ended up having to accept a 2 year contract worth $1.6 million the first year, $5.2 million the second year and with $3 million in incentives according to ESPN. Shortly after he signed an endorsement deal with Nike that was then refuted by the company in spite of his agent announcing it.

Michael Vick clearly lost a lot of money, well over $100 million dollars. He did it because the exhiliration of dog fighting and abuse was more inviting than the on field rush that would be enough for most people. He is the only person discussed here to spend time in jail for his actions. That he is in the NFL is a blessing for him and hopefully he appreciates it much more this time than he did the first time around.

What will all these lessons do to stop future philanderers and potential criminals from losing their massive contracts and endorsement deals? Probably not much if you look at the likes of Ben Roethlisberger, Alex Rodriguez and David Beckham.

Tweeting Sports

Twitter has many uses: communicating with their favorite celebrities/athletes/politicians, product announcements, companies communicating with their employees/customers, people who think the world cares about their trips to McDonalds, etc. The list could go on for days.

One unexpected use of it has been by the news media to scoop breaking news stories faster than other outlets and before they can arrive on the scene with their people/equipment. The 2010 Haiti earthquake broke on Twitter before anywhere else. With all of these uses, what would you believe set the all time record for tweets per second? Sports of course!

Twitter announced on Friday that the following records were set in the 30 seconds following each goal during the World Cup:

1) Japan scores against Cameroon on June 14 in their 1-0 victory (2,940 TPS)
2) Brazil scores their first goal against North Korea in their 2-1 June 14 victory (2,928 TPS)
3) Mexico ties South Africa in their June 11 game (2,704 TPS)

Now that's a lot of tweets! The records did not stand much longer than Mark McGwire's single season home run record though as Lakers fans/bandwagon jumpers set the record shortly after they dismissed the Celtics to win the NBA Championship with 3,085 TPS as the last few seconds ticked off the Boston Three Party's time together.

Twitter's usefulness as a barometer for social trends has been known for about as long as its existence, who knew Ashton Kutcher was so popular? What it is now becoming useful as is a tool of the media to be able to report news without needing the resources they previously did to gather information, results and even stats. Want a sound byte from an athlete? Go to Twitter. Want to know last month's player of the month for the Yankees? Go to Twitter.

Twitter recently started a new advertising system that has promoted trends below the trend stream us twitter users know and love. They also recently started banning ads in stream, an annoying problem that they had to fix. Basically, you can have "Lakers, Celtics, Champs and World Cup" as trends and below them you may have a paid trend for a new movie coming out. Additionally, should a team purchase a promoted trend for its apparel, you would see a promoted trend for it at the top of your search results should you search for the team itself or one of its marquee players.

To quote, and agree, with Mashable CEO and founder Pete Cashmore: Brilliant!

Not only can teams and leagues use this to promote their wares, but Twitter can now start earning that valuable revenue that has eluded it so far. Also, all this can happen without ruining the simple, perfect experience that is a tweet.

Long Term Contracts, Good or Bad?

Every off season there are a few free agents that are the cream of the crop, the top of the food chain. Those that command high priced, long term deals that allow them to have the financial security that they need and guarantees to the team paying them that their prized possession will be their's for an extended period of time. When these deals are signed both sides are all smiles and everyone is optimistic about the future. More often than not though, things sour before the end of the deal. In light of the Albert Haynesworth fiasco, its time to ask a simple question: why do teams and athletes keep doing this to themselves?

First, we have to look at free agency from the beginning. Before free agency, teams owned their players like indentured servants. They paid them what they felt like paying them and the players had to take it or leave it. Some of the best players of past generations had to work all off season to be able to pay their bills, hall of fame Yankees had off season jobs selling suits in men's stores in the 50s, unthinkable to athletes these days.

In the 70s a revolution of sorts happened in Major League Baseball, Free Agency. Players all of a sudden had the freedom to play wherever they chose and were able to dictate how much they made instead of the other way around. Reggie Jackson was the first major player on the free agent the market. Being the best player of his day he used this leverage to sign a record contract to leave the Baltimore Orioles and join the NY Yankees for $2,960,000 over 5 years. He repaid them by helping them to two titles and three world series over those 5 seasons and then left acrimoniously to play for the Angels. Free agents have had results as mixed as Reggie since his days in the Bronx Zoo.

Derek Jeter signed a 10 year $189 million dollar contract with the Yankees before the 2001 season started. Since then he has been a 7 time all star, 4 time gold glove winner, 4 time silver slugger, world champion, and recorded his 3000th career hit (becoming both the all time MLB leader in hits for a shortstop and passing Lou Gherig as the Yankees all time hit leader). From both points of view this was a great deal. Derek Jeter is the consummate professional, is the face of the franchise, has not had off the field issues like other athletes and ranks among the highest paid athletes in the world, hardly a bust.

Jason Giambi signed a 7 year $120 million dollar contract only a year later and did not have quite the same experience as Jeter. Not only did Jason Giambi become a symbol for steroid use after confessing both in court during the BALCO case and publicly during a press conference, but his production had more ups and downs than his relationship with Yankee fans. He justified his high contract by hitting .314 with 41 HR and 122 RBI. After that his time with Yankees was nothing short of a disaster with inconsistent power, almost no ability to hit the opposite way, an inability to run and what was the worst glove of any first baseman in baseball by the time he left. He also won no titles while with the Yankees, which happens to be a problem with their fans. He turned into one of the biggest free agent busts in recent memory.

Rick DiPietro was drafted first overall by the Islanders in the 2000 entry draft. After a few inconsistent season of bouncing back and forth between the IHL, AHL and NHL he signed a 15 year $67.5 million dollar contract, officially the longest contract in sports history. He is unique in doing so because he never tested the free agent market and did not appear to gauge his value to other teams. Since then he has not played an entire season because his being often injured and his play has ranged from him being named to an all star team to giving fits to Islanders fans with his lack of on ice awareness. He is not quite a bust yet, but that is only because he still has more than a decade to prove himself worthy of what is a below market contract.

This brings us to Albert Haynesworth. He first came into the national consciousness by stomping a Dallas Cowboy in the face with his cleats during the 2006 season. For that he received the longest suspension in NFL history, 5 games (out of 16) without pay. It was the opinion of many that he should have been suspended the rest of the season.

On the first day of free agency during the 2009 off-season, he agreed to a 7 year $100 million dollar contract ($41 million guaranteed and $32 million paid in the first 13 months) with the Washington Redskins. It took him only one season to wear out his welcome. He often came off the field looking winded appearing to take himself out of plays only now admitting because of how out of shape he was. All last season he said he had an injured ankle or knee in spite of it being obvious he was simply overweight.

One would think that after having admitted he played overweight and out of shape, he would feel a sense of remorse and that he owes both the Redskins and their fans a debt a gratitude. That he should show up in the shape of his life and play like he is being paid to play, as the best DT in the league. Instead, he cashed his $21 million roster bonus on April 1st and refuses to show up for mandatory off-season workouts because he does not like the defensive scheme of Jim Haslett, the new defensive coordinator since it does not allow him to be the impact player that only he still sees himself as.

Does this sound familiar? It should. Last season he complained about the defensive scheme as well, saying that he could not "survive another season in this system if it stays the way it is." Two seasons, two defensive schemes and nothing but complaints. It sounds to me like he has lost the motivation to play the game and just wants the lifestyle instead of working for it like everyone not named Jamarcus Russell.

He has alienated many in the NFL, including his own teammates, former NFL players, fans and his new coach Mike Shanahan. Anyone with a microphone or a Twitter account in front of them has said that his actions are selfish, classless and show his true lack of moral character. Shanahan tried to trade him in the deal that brought former Philadelphia Eagles franchise QB Donovan McNabb to the Redskins and was laughed out of the room. He has since publicly stated that he told Haynesworth he would release him if that's what he wanted.

Instead, Albert told his coach he was committed to the 'Skins and took the $21 million roster bonus without showing for any team activities. Clearly, he is not committed to the team and only wanted owner Dan Snyder's money. Quoth Darnell Dockett via his Twitter account: “Did I just hear this correctly? Albert Haynesworth will not be (at) mandatory minicamp? And he wants a trade? After signing 100 millon dollar contract?” He then followed up with “That’s why I tell y’all I’m nothing like these dudes. For 100 million my ass will play 4-3, 3-4, 5-9, 4-8 and still whip ass!”

The Redskins obviously have a problem on their hands. They have a player that does not want to be there anymore who they signed to a contract larger than anyone will pay the remainder of to whom they just paid a $21 million roster bonus. They could release him, but $21 million is a large matzoh ball to leave stuck in your throat. That Haynesworth has never been happy in DC is obvious, that he chased the money is also crystal clear. This could be the largest bust in NFL history if it is not sorted out soon.

What to do next? Any ideas? The Redskins have none, Albert is content to sit out and further alienate every and any one, he's been paid. Athletes should sign one or two year contracts that allow them the flexibility to determine their future and still make the money they demand from teams. This would insulate them against coaching/franchise ownership changes, perhaps not liking their situation (ala Milton Bradley with the Cubs) or simply not fitting in. Sign a one year deal with a team, if you like the situation sign a 5 year deal in the next off season.

Then again, what to do if you are an elite athlete who is injured at the end of your two year deal and are unable to continue your career? This is a question no one has a reasonable solution for, whoever can come up with one will hit the jackpot.

World Cup 2010 in the States

In watching most of the World Cup matches in bars in Manhattan so far a few conclusions have been made by your editor: Soccer fans do exist in this country, not all of them are rooting for other countries and drinking at 10am is fun!

Let's start with that first point. People assuming that Americans could care less about the beautiful game have a point, but they also miss a huge one according to ratings released so far. For the UEFA Final, there were 1.6 million viewers according to this NY Times soccer blog post. The blog goes on to say that FOX had hoped for at least double that number, but also notes that it was more than the 1.4 million people who watched the last UEFA Final on ESPN.

Next, the ratings for the USA vs England match which aired live on a Saturday afternoon on the east coast averaged 14.5 million viewers between the English language broadcast on ABC and the Spanish broadcast on Univision, according to the LA Times. Which, according to Sporting Intelligence, is almost the same number of people who watched the match in England and, more importantly, more than the number of people who watched the first four games of the NBA Finals between the two most storied franchises in that NBA.

That more people are watching soccer is clear, how many will grow to is not. Strictly based on population, if only 10% of the US population becomes a regular soccer watching audience, this country could rival any audience in Europe or South America. Advertisers are keenly aware that soccer here is akin to mobile phones in China, there has not been total market penetration and there is room for growth. They want to cash in on what could be a bonanza in the coming years. With DVRs lessening the significance of live TV outside of sporting events, advertisers crave another outlet to reach a specific target audience, even if it is only a niche group like the US soccer fan. Of course, with the US currently down 2-0 to Slovenia at the half, soccer could be a bigger bust than Ryan Leaf.

Another thing is clear in bouncing from bar to bar, blog to blog and friend to friend; not everyone is rooting for teams of their ancestry or where they immigrated from. The one problem, which is the only way to look at it in terms of soccer, is that people in this country tend to think of themselves as Irish, Italian, German, Mexican, etc-American. They are foreign first and American second. This leads them to root for European or Latin American teams before they root for Team USA. This applies not only to soccer, but to other international sports as well.

This year that tide has changed. Many people that formerly would laugh at the US soccer team are now taking them seriously and rooting for them as they would the Yankees, Aresnal or the Lakers. People from other countries that did not qualify (Ireland, Peru, to name a few) are rooting for the US and some are even wearing team USA jerseys with regularity. For this to continue, the Americans will need more goals like the one just netted by Landon Donovan to start the second half. Absolutely brilliant. Should they flame out, that support will also dwindle.

Less than a year ago I had to search all over the channel guide for the USA vs Mexico World Cup qualifying match in Mexico City. It should have been on ABC, NBC, FOX, ESPN or Univision. Anything that is a national network. It was on Mun2, which happened to be as high on the channel guide on Comcast as the music and PPV channels at the time. That game would be on national TV in any other country, it is a disgrace it was not here. How are you supposed to build up support for a national team if no one is able to see them play?

Now we have UEFA Finals, EPL matches and all team USA matches on ESPN/ABC. This is a marvelous trend that hopefully continues. Anyone who has seen an MLS game knows that the quality of players in that league just isn't quite there yet. Having that be the only option to soccer starved fans in this country for nationally televised games will not work long term. Access to European soccer is a must and is coming slowly but surely.

Not only are Americans now able to watch European matches live on ESPN, but we are now able, via ESPN 3, to watch just about any major soccer event live on our PCs and TVs after a recently announced deal between ESPN and Microsoft that will bring the service to 23 million Xbox Live subscribers here in the US. That service should, according to the WSJ, hit the consoles in November 2010.

Now on to the most important point of this whole exercise, morning drinking! Many bars in Manhattan have been opening at 7am for the World Cup matches. Turn out has been great at the bars I have visited. There have been some great drink specials as well, including $3 Carlsberg drafts for every match at one of my favorite bars in midtown.

The foundation is there, the momentum in building. Let's hope it can keep moving in the right direction, without those vuvuzelas crossing the pond. Michael Bradley just scored the tying goal, we may have hope yet. If the team can have a few recognizable stars that's all it will need in order to make it a brand name, especially after the brilliant come from behind win that this could end up being.