Bottom of the Bird Cage 4/13

It’s the 103rd day of the year.

On April 13, 1961, the forces at Ft. Sumter surrendered to Confederate forces in the start of the Civil War. On this day in 1902, James C. Penney opened his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming. He would open many more. On April 13, 1866, American outlaw Butch Cassidy was born in Beaver, Utah.

And on April 13, 1945, Bob Kalsu (left) was born in Oklahoma City. Kalsu went on to play football at the University of Oklahoma and he was the Buffalo Bills rookie of the year in 1968 after he started all season at guard. To satisfy his ROTC obligation, he entered the Army as a Second Lieutenant with the 101st Airborne and arrived in Vietnam in November 1969. He was stationed at the mountain-top Fire Support Base Ripcord in July 1970 located in the A Shau Valley of South Vietnam, when a 23-day battle started with the North Vietnamese Army. American forces were outnumbered eight to one, as they were bombarded for three weeks by the NVA forces before pulling out of the base. Kalsu was killed on July 21. His was the only death among active American pro football players in the Vietnam War.

Sadly, two days after his death, his wife gave birth to his son, James Robert Jr. It was only after the birth that doctors told Jan Kalsu that her husband had been killed.

Bob Kalsu would be celebrating his 64th birthday today.

From the New York Times:
The streak lasted so long that during its span, Warren Sapp crafted a Hall of Fame-caliber professional career, retired, finished a season on “Dancing With the Stars” and began a second career as an analyst on the NFL Network.

It wound through so many generations of football players that Sapp stumps people with a trivia question: who was the highest-drafted University of Miami player the year before the streak started? (Running back Donnell Bennett, second round in 1994, by Kansas City.)

The streak has hung on for so many years that when Sapp spoke to Kenny Phillips, who saved the streak when the Giants chose him with the final pick in the first round last year, he welcomed him to an extraordinary Hurricanes club. “I said, ‘Way to keep the streak going,’ ” Sapp recalled recently. “It’s a common bond with someone who is 13 years removed from me.”

Sapp and Phillips are the bookends of a singular period of Miami football dominance: at least one Hurricanes player has been selected in the first round in 14 consecutive N.F.L. drafts. But Miami’s fortunes on the recruiting trail and the football field have suffered in recent years — no national championships since the 2001 season, and a losing season in 2007.

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Here are the No. 1 picks from the “U” that started with Sapp in 1995 and ran through last season with Phillips:

1995 – Warren Sapp; 1996 – Ray Lewis; 1997 – Yatil Green, Kenard Lang, Kenny Holmes; 1998 – Duane Starks; 1999 – Edgerrin James; 2000 – Bubba Franks; 2001 – Dan Morgan, Damione Lewis, Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne; 2002 – Bryant McKinnie, Jeremy Shockey, Phillip Buchanan, Ed Reed, Mike Rumph; 2003 – Andre Johnson, Jerome McDougle, Willis McGahee, William Joseph; 2004 – Sean Taylor, Kellen Winslow, Jonathan Vilma, D. J. Williams, Vernon Carey, Vince Wilfork; 2005 – Antrel Rolle; 2006 – Kelly Jennings; 2007 – Brandon Meriweather, Jon Beason, Greg Olsen; 2008 – Kenny Phillips.

That’s 33 first-rounders in 14 years, including 19 over a four-year span (2001-04). Those 33 players were taken by 22 teams. Among the 10 teams that did not draft a player out of the University of Miami in the last 14 years was the Chiefs.

From the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram: No one was more shocked than Dan Reeves when things didn’t work out with the Dallas Cowboys two months ago. Reeves, formerly an NFL head coach with the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons, was hoping to return to a place where he had known success both as a player and an assistant coach, a place where he had spent 16 years of his life. He was involved in all five Tom Landry Super Bowls.

But, unfortunately, things didn’t work out for Reeves because of a contractual technicality, which blew up a multiyear deal that appeared to be in place for the 65-year-old former Cowboys running back/assistant coach to become a consultant for his old team. The deal-breaker, for Reeves, was a piece of “hours spent working” language that owner Jerry Jones wanted to have in the contract.

“Although I respected Jerry’s decision, I didn’t understand it, and it wasn’t something that was even negotiable,” Reeves recalled from his home in Atlanta. “I just couldn’t sign something that, in my opinion, would mean I’d be working day-to-day.”

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It’s fashionable to beat up on Jerry Jones and I’ve done my share. It’s not that Jerry isn’t good for the NFL or the game of football; he is. It’s just that sometimes he does things that just don’t make sense. By hiring Dan Reeves as a consultant, he would have brought in a talented and classy man to help with his team. But to ask him to punch a clock is nothing short of ridiculous. Coaches, or coaching consultants, don’t get paid by the hour. They get paid by the victories. There’s got to be something more to this story than what we’ve heard.

From Yahoo Sports: As the annual discussion over high-end rookie contracts is again about to take center stage, consider the cases of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith and St. Louis Rams guard Jason Brown.

Smith, the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick in 2005, was supposed to rebuild the 49ers’ passing legacy that has crumbled since Jeff Garcia appeared in three straight Pro Bowls earlier this decade. After being drafted, Smith was given a six-year deal that included $24 million guaranteed.

Four years later, Smith has been a bust, an example given by top team executives, fans and even some veteran players of the wasted money paid to top rookies. Worse, his contract is a key stepping stone to the strong possibility that the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft may become only the second player in league history to get $40 million guaranteed. Pro Bowl defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was the first player to do that when he signed with the Washington Redskins in February.

Then there is the case of Brown, a fourth-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in ‘05 – the 124th player selected. With the Ravens, Brown became a full-time starter in his second season, played both center and guard, started 44 of 48 regular-season games over the past three years and is considered one of the top interior offensive linemen in the game.

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Here’s what does not make sense: the Detroit Lions will base their selection in the No. 1 spot in the NFL Draft on who they can sign before April 25. When you’ve gone 0-16, obviously your team needs help at every position. A team shouldn’t have to make its decision based on money; but to avoid a disastrous holdout to start a career; the team with the No. 1 will pick only the player who signs before he’s selected. A rookie salary scale makes a lot of sense for the league and most of its players and its draft choices.