Arian Foster, the NFL's leading rusher in 2010, played hide of a knee injury

The NFL rushing leader in 2010, Arian Foster of the Houston Texans , revealed that he played with torn meniscus, an injury that kept secret.
In an interview with The Sporting News, Foster, who set the record for most rushing yards for a player who was drafted into the Draft with 1.616, had surgery in February after being injured a cartilage in the Pro Bowl, held January 30 in Hawaii. At that time, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee less right and attributed his great season to "hard work and opportunity", he told the NFL Network.
"My responsibility and my job is to make sure that people in the team management does not replace search replace you because every day," said Foster. "And therefore, I have to make sure I lock in the best way I run the best and caught passes for the best. That's my job. "
Voted number 25 on the vote of the players choose the best 100 of 2011, Foster pleaded as a great admirer of his colleagues Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans and Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings, but he believes his style of play makes it more complete in another category. "What I think is unique about the way I play is in all aspects of the sport. I feel I can play excellently ... I feel that I like to lock in the best way I can catch the ball and I can run, "said Foster.

Lawyers try to set table for key labor figures as talks continue

The seventh week of the latest phase of NFL labor negotiations kicked off Monday at a Manhattan law firm, with the status of the preseason hanging in the balance.

Legal teams and staff for the owners and players met separately in the morning hours, then came together for joint meetings at 2:30 p.m. The session broke about five hours later.
The format for this week is similar to the previous two, with language and details handled by the lawyers earlier in the week, and owners and players joining later to negotiate core issues.

As such, the lawyers and staff will have another set of meetings on Tuesday morning. Players and owners, as well as NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, will be in contact via conference call, and return to New York for face-to-face sessions on Wednesday.

The league's objective is to have a completed proposal to present to the owners for a vote at their meeting in Atlanta on July 21. But there's still plenty of work to be done to achieve that, and it's by no means a foregone conclusion that it will happen.

Primary among the sticking points is the rookie salary system. While the two parties have made major progress on the larger issue of the revenue split, the rookie problem is one smaller item that flows into the bigger one and could threaten it. Also to be resolved is the funding of retiree benefits, another issue that runs into the revenue split.

Among those at Monday's meeting were NFL general counsel Jeff Pash, outside counsel Bob Batterman, senior VP of law and labor policy Adolpho Birch, and NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler. The idea of these smaller early-week sessions is to knock out much of the groundwork and smaller items, so when the bigger issues are taken care of, it will be a smoother process going from a basic agreement to a signed document to the beginning of the league year.

Last week, the players and owners had a tough day of negotiations on Thursday, followed by a Friday in which almost no progress was made. At the heart of the stalemate was the rookie wage issue, but that isn't the only outstanding problem to be solved.
The schedule moving forward for owners and players is open-ended, with an eye on saving the preseason and the bounty in revenue associated with it. The league's projection is that $1 billion would be lost with the cancellation of the preseason, a figure the players say is inflated. At any rate, it's a significant piece of the overall revenue pie, and its disappearance would likely change the tenor of talks dramatically, starting with the trickle-down effect it would have on the owners' offer to the players.

The next date on the calendar after this week is July 19, when the principles from each party and their lawyers will be in Minnesota to update U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who has overseen talks but is on vacation this week. The optimistic point of view would be that the session would be to discuss logistics in settling the litigation between the parties. The pessimistic view would have the parties engaged in another round of talks there, with preseason games coming off the schedule.

Some internal deadlines have set July 15 as the date to have an agreement in order to save the preseason in its natural form.

Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout Video !

from: NFL Lockout.com

Frustrated by the ongoing owner-imposed lockout, several NFL players and Hollywood stars recently teamed up with Funny or Die to release a fictional trailer called “Field of Dreams 2: NFL Lockout.”

In the video, Taylor Lautner plays a farmer hearing voices in his head that convince him to build a football field on his land. Once the field is completed, locked out NFL players such as Tony Gonzalez, Ray Lewis, Dwight Freeney, DeSean Jackson, Antonio Cromartie, Shaun Phillips, Steve Smith, Kirk Morrison and Shawne Merriman show up to play the game they love.

Ray Liotta, who starred as Shoeless Joe Jackson in the original “Field of Dreams,” makes an appearance in the trailer playing the role of Roger Goodell. Kevin Costner makes a cameo at the end of the video.

Well this sure shows the love for this sport, so we shall support it and watch it and pray it starts again this fall. But in the mean time let's enjoy the summer with the best baseball games !

Free Agents Stuck in Limbo During Lockout

from: Lockout.com

“Stuck in limbo” might be the most suitable description for a free agent during this NFL lockout. Technically unemployed, free agents don’t have contracts and aren’t part of a team, putting their status for the next NFL season—whenever that season starts—up in the air.

Eric Smith, a safety who played for the New York Jets last season, is one of many free agents who face uncertain futures. While exploring his options, Smith is working out individually as well as with others at Michigan State, and he earned his master’s degree in criminal justice during the lockout. Coaching football might be his future calling.

Realizing that a career playing football is not a sure thing, especially while being locked out, Smith has taken extra steps to prepare himself. He’s wisely signed up for COBRA health insurance, an option for all players during the lockout.

As part of an ongoing series profiling people impacted by the NFL’s lockout, The Washington Post published an in-depth profile on Smith in Today’s editions. Read the story here.

Players Working Hard Despite Owner-Imposed Lockout

from: nflLockout

Players aren’t allowed to use team facilities or contact coaches during the owner-imposed lockout , so they’ve found their own ways to stay in shape and get ready for football. In recent weeks, many veterans have organized player-only workouts with teammates despite the injury risks that loom over these informal workouts. The player-led workouts have focused on conditioning, technique drills and some non-contact work on formations and plays.

ProPlayerInsiders.com caught up with several players to talk about the importance of the player workouts:

BRUINS are our Heroes !!

After a long fought battle against the Vancouver Canucks, The Boston Bruins have prevailed and managed to bring the much craved STANLEY CUP back home to Boston.
Congratulations to the fearless fighters !!!!

NFL News June 6th, players state lockout cases; court to rule in 'due course'

from: NFL.com

ST. LOUIS -- Lawyers for the NFL and its players met before a three-judge panel Friday at the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, with the judges considering the league's appeal of an injunction lifting the nearly three-month lockout.

Kermit Bye, the presiding judge in the hearing -- and the lone dissenter in the appeals court's previous decisions to stay U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson Nelson's April 25 ruling -- said after the 90-minute hearing that the judges would rule "in due course."

Bye added that the panel "wouldn't be all that hurt if you go out and settle that case" and warned the decision will be one that neither party likes. That decision likely will come in 2 to 6 weeks.

Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general representing the league, opened oral arguments by attacking the validity of the NFL Players Association's March 11 decertification. He maintained that, because of the non-statutory labor exemption, the league should have the right to lock out its players for at least one year. He also said the fact that this is the second time the NFLPA has decertified "ought to be a problem for them."

Players counsel Ted Olson, Clement's predecessor as U.S. solicitor general, defended the union's decertification by emphasizing it only recertified in 1993 at the league's request.

Judges Steven Colloton and William Duane Benton repeatedly referenced the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which bars injunctions in cases arising from a labor dispute, in asking Olson why the law wouldn't make Nelson's judgment wrong.

Olson responded: "The union is not in existence anymore. The players cannot engage in collective bargaining because it's against the law." Olson also defended the validity of the Brady suit by saying the league had been found in violation of antitrust law "15 times."

Friday's hearing followed three days of clandestine talks in suburban Chicago between the league and players, who met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith in attendance, but without lawyers.

Clement was asked if those negotiations could hurt the validity of the union's decertification.

"I think what that underscores is that the union has not disappeared forever," Clement said. "Obviously, everyone can make their own judgment, but the problem with the argument on the other side is it assumes that the union is gone forever. I don't think many people who are a student of this game or a student of this industry really believe that's a fact."

Olson contended that the players' actions only were prompted by those of the owners, going back to their 2008 decision to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement that expired in March.

"We don't have much to say, other than to remind everybody that the National Football League cancelled the collective bargaining agreement that they negotiated and entered into," Olson said. "They prematurely and unilaterally cancelled the collective bargaining agreement. And then they unilaterally called a lockout, stopping football in its tracks. The players didn't do that. The National Football League did that."

Goodell was in Fort Bragg, N.C., visiting troops during the hearing, and a league spokesman tweeted that the commissioner isn't a lawyer and "wouldn't have added much to the legal proceedings." NFL general counsel Jeff Pash also didn't attend.

No NFL team owners were scheduled to be there, but the New York Jets' Woody Johnson came on his own accord.

Conversely, the contingent of active and retired players was over 20 deep. The active players included Jon Beason, Jordan Black, Matt Bryant, Tyson Clabo, Craig Dahl, Adam Goldberg, Cullen Jenkins, Brandon Moore, Jon McGraw, Rudy Niswanger, Chester Pitts, Tony Richardson, Brian Robison, Orlando Scandrick, Jake Scott, (Carolina's) Steve Smith, Andy Studebaker, Osi Umenyiora and Brian Waters.

"I think it was a great turnout because it shows where our jobs are right now, not caused by the players, but caused by the owners," said Smith, the Panthers' wide receiver. "It was important to them, important to myself, important to other players who couldn't be here that have a responsibility as a player rep.

"Maybe a guy couldn't come because his wife just had a baby, or his wife was sick, and we'll relay the message and the information that we observed. That's our responsibility and our job as reps, and also our job as teammates to inform and give each other's input on what's going on."

Spokesmen for both parties declined to comment on the negotiations earlier in the week, citing a court-ordered confidentiality agreement, and a federal magistrate canceled scheduled mediation sessions for next week in Minneapolis because of the "confidential settlement negotiations."

But George Atallah of the NFLPA was adamant that the ongoing legal battle shouldn't stop the parties from attempting to find a long-term solution, which was the aim of the Chicago summit.

"Anybody that believed with litigation or a settlement, that there was a choice between the two, those people are wrong," Atallah said. "We're here today to try and lift the lockout so players can play football. At the same time, that doesn't mean the settlement negotiations couldn't continue. You saw that over the past couple days."

The NFL, in defending its right to lock out the players, maintained that any deal has to happen through face-to-face negotiation, not litigation.

"What we tried to make clear in there is that we think the lockout is actually the best way to get players back on the field," Clement said. "And you might say, 'Why do you think that?' We think that because that's what all the labor laws say, the way you get labor peace is you allow the sides to use the tools that labor laws give them. That means employees get the right to strike and, in certain situation, employers get to lock people out.

"There are other tools available to both sides. The idea is using those tools will accomplish labor peace."

At the very least, the league and players wanted to show the seriousness of their respective approaches Friday.

"Really, our only purpose here today was to show it's important to us, and to represent our players and to show both the court and the public that it's important to us," said Goldberg, the St. Louis Rams' offensive tackle. "We want to get back to work. We want to play. We want to get back to work doing what it is we're trained to do, to put out a great product for you guys on Sundays."

Now the parties wait for the appeals court's ruling, with not much time to lose. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said last week that he believed some decisions on opening training camps in late July needed to be made by July 4.

"We can't just go from where we are now and jump into games," free-agent offensive tackle Damien Woody, who last played for the New York Jets, told The Associated Press. "There has to at least be an abbreviated training camp to get us somewhat prepared for the season. If not, there are going to be a lot of injuries. ... Training camp usually starts in late July, and time is running out because it's already June. I think we have to get a deal done by late July at the latest."

Free-agent linebacker Ben Leber, one of 10 plaintiffs in the antitrust suit against the league, said the players haven't discussed a specific drop-dead date for reaching an agreement.

"Both sides have a day, whether they want to make it public or not," said Leber, who played for the Minnesota Vikings last season. "The biggest challenge is going to lie with whose day is going to come up first."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.