Bottom of the Bird Cage 4/30
We are living day No. 120 of the year.
On April 30, 1945, Adolph Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker. Ono this day in 1789, George Washington took the oath of office as the first elected President of the United States.
And on April 30, 1803 the United States completed with France the Louisiana Purchase, buying the so-called Louisana Territory. This area as over 828,000 square miles and included the entire states of Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska, as well as parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana.
The cost: $15 million. That’s right, the biggest part of the lower 48 was purchased 206 years ago today for about the same amount of money the Chiefs will pay QB Matt Cassel this season.
Amazing.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Football fans who subscribe to Comcast Corp.’s extra-cost sports package seem likely to lose one of their favorite viewing choices at 11:59 tonight - the 24-hour NFL Network. The two organizations, which have battled publicly and in court, have not reached a new carriage agreement, and the old one expires.
Comcast has asked the National Football League to continue the carriage under terms of the current contract. The NFL has refused and would like Comcast to place the channel on a general-interest tier that does not require viewers to pay the extra $7 a month. About two million people get Comcast’s sports package.
Comcast relocated the NFL Network to the sports package in 2007, the Philadelphia cable giant said, when the NFL more than tripled subscription fees. The move saved the cable-TV company an estimated $50 million a year in programming costs. The NFL Network’s core programming is eight live NFL games.
The NFL has had problems with cable providers and its NFL Network from the start. The network has been a flop because it’s never had the viewership that was projected, thus the resulting ad revenue has never reached projections. Through the whole situation, the NFL has tried to strong arm cable companies by trying to dictate where the network was placed on the cable menu. Ultimately, the NFL Network is headed for failure as long as the current people running the network continue to act like the world can’t survive without NFLN. I don’t get the network. Would I like to? Sure, why not. Would I pay more for it? No. I’ve seen the product and watching continual re-runs of Rich Eisen and a bunch of former players in suits does nothing to inspire me to give over a portion of my limited viewing time. If you’d like to buy a network, call your nearest NFL owner because right now he’s sick of paying bills for programming that many fans can’t see.
From the Buffalo News:
Linda Bogdan, the only active female scout in the NFL and a daughter of Buffalo Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr., died Tuesday after a bout with cancer. Bogdan, a resident of Englewood, N.J., was 61.
She held the title of vice president and assistant director of college and pro scouting for the Bills for the past three years. Prior to that, she was corporate vice president for 15 years. Wilson confirmed the death of his daughter through team Vice President for Communications Scott Berchtold.
Bogdan was an active scout for the Bills since 1986. Her love for football dated to her childhood in suburban Detroit. Before her father purchased the Bills in 1960, she accompanied him to Lions games when he owned a small portion of the NFL club. She also played touch football with him and friends from the neighborhood. She had gone on occasional scouting assignments for the Bills for five or six years before her official appointment. But in 1986 she asked her father for a scouting position, because, as she said, she “got tired of too many 2-14 seasons.”
Most pro football fans had no idea that a woman was actually a scout for an NFL team. Yes, she was the boss’ daughter, but that didn’t stop Linda Bogdan from beating the personnel bushes and trying to find players to help the Bills. In the very insular male world of pro football, women simply do not have positions in the football operations. It’s not that they couldn’t handle the job; heck we’ve seen enough men make silly and stupid decisions over the years. There is no chromosome that provides special football knowledge. It’s about opportunity and that’s something women have never been granted on the football side of football. Linda Bogdan was one of the few.
From the Charlotte Observer:
Peyton Manning glanced around as he stood on the 18th green at the Quail Hollow Club late Wednesday morning. People were everywhere – surrounding the sun-splashed green, lined tightly down the fairway and wedged into the bleachers. The size of the gallery probably won’t be much bigger late Sunday afternoon, when the Quail Hollow Championship wraps up.
This, however, was only the tournament’s pro-am. And Manning – the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback who’s accustomed to playing before sold-out football stadiums every week – was a little taken aback. Although Manning is always a popular draw as a pro-am participant, it was the pro in his group – a good buddy named Tiger Woods – who was the main attraction for the massive crowds that followed them around the course all morning.
“I’ve played football in front of 100,000 people before,” Manning said. “To be perfectly honest, I’m a little out of my comfort zone with this. There, at least I know what I’m doing.”
There’s a period of about six to eight weeks each year where Peyton Manning lives like a normal pro football player, meaning you’ll find him working at events of companies that pay him for endorsements, or he will just be hanging out with fellow pro athletes. The rest of the year, Manning is preparing for the season, whether physically or mentally. He will actually find a way to use his time playing golf with Tiger Woods to learn something about himself, or how to deal with pressure. There’s a never ending quest on his part to get better. That’s something all the great ones have, no matter their chosen sport. It’s why Tiger Woods is who he is and why Peyton Manning continues to build a career that may lead him to the status of the game’s greatest quarterback. We see him playing golf; he sees himself as learning something new.
The story goes that the Spanish were willing to pay much more for the Louisiana Territory. When Florida found out they were so insulted they demanded to be traded.
Broncos cut Selvin Young. Might be a motivated dude twice a year when Chiefs play Broncos. Could he be our Kevin Faulk? Of course he’d have to stay healthy, which pampered UT players rarely do.
Travis LaBoy was cut by Cards. Haley should know a thing or two about him. Apparently he can rush the passer, but also has trouble staying healthy.
Might a nice incentive-laden contract with low base be a good move? Chiefs needs pass rushers in particular.