Football

• College football assistants making $250,000 or more is up from at least 106 last year to 132 this season [Assistant coaches' salaries continue rise].
• Going with what he uses instead of the “natural fit” – Gatorade [Tebow, The Ultimate Gator, Signs With … FRS?].
• Roughly 140-150 players ask for an evaluation each year [Inside the NFL College Advisory Committee].
• Questioning the punishment handed to Pryor, et al. [Ohio State mess fuels notion NCAA is making up rules as it goes along].
• Anyone have information on Martin Blazer? [UNC releases names of those who provided benefits to players].

Baseball

• No doubt he made an informed decision [The union doesn’t have a problem with Cliff Lee’s deal].
• Scott Boras and the Washington Nationals seem to get along quite well [Symbiotic relationship].

Basketball

• Dave Telep takes aim at agents [High school sports haunted by pay-play scandals].

What makes the NFL championship game more fun than anything else is the huge range of Super Bowl prop bets we salivate upon each and every year. You can bet on anything from the national anthem to the commercials, but perhaps no Super Bowl prop provided by BetUS bet enjoys more love than who wins the MVP. Only eight defensive players have won the award, while receivers and tailbacks combine for just 13 MVP trophies. Yet if you’re going to play this Super Bowl prop bet, the first choice should always the quarterback position, which has won it 52-percent of the time.

Shabbat Shalom/Merry Christmas Friday Wrap-Up (12/24/2010) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Football

• And he had to pay the new $25,000 fee himself [Lorenzo Booker isn’t happy the UFL cost him money].
• Are the extra two games that high on the list for the NFL? [NFL 'focused' on having full 2011 slate]
• Lots of pro-competitive advantages [BCS may be unpopular, but it's unlikely to be deemed illegal].

Baseball

• Agreed with Red Sox at #1, but would probably put Werth at #2 [Red Sox lead pack of winners from winter meetings].

Sports Agents

• Boy did he get a deal on the largest house in St. Charles County [Area sports agent will buy Atkinson's Lake Saint Louis mansion].
• Will Kenny Rogers be the first person prosecuted under Mississippi’s Uniform Agent Act in years? [Law enforcement probes NCAA issues under Agent Act].

Coaches

• Big buyout + long waiting period [Could Chip Kelly take the Florida job tomorrow? Not according to his contract].
• June Jones is making $2.14 million at Southern Methodist [Football Bowl Subdivision coaches salaries for 2010].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (12/10/2010) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Baseball

• The aforementioned Patchett and Scherer appear on this list [Minor League Free Agents 2010].
• Some journalists may overstate team concerns about players represented by Scott Boras [Be skeptical of “Team X is wary of Scott Boras” articles].
• Teams don’t want to lose top picks [Why Most Type A Free Agents Won't Sign Right Away].

Basketball

• The college dropout is acting pro se [Lamar Odom Seeks Tax Deduction For NBA Fines and Fitness Fees].

Football

• Would the Securities and Exchange Commission be a better than the Federal Trade Commission in enforcing agent laws? [NFL Agents Getting a Bum Rap: An Interview With Priority Sports' Kenny Zuckerman]
• Pennington’s 2010 salary jumps from $2.5 million to $5.75 million [Dolphins QB Chad Henne tries to remain upbeat after surprising switch to Chad Pennington].

Sports Business

• The joint venture will be called IMGX [IMG in Brazilian Sports Joint Venture].
• Calling it an “NLI” really makes it sound so much more innocent [The National Letter of Intent Sucks!].

Shabbat Shalom: Friday Wrap-Up (11/12/2010) from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

Another cool feature that Daily Tailgate is currently running is a $100,000 BCS Challenge.  If you are able to correctly pick the college football teams that will end up in the top 15 of the final BCS standings and also place them in the proper order of ranking, you will win $100,000 courtesy of the website and its happy insurance backers.

I am close with a few of the gentlemen behind the Daily Tailgate concept, and decided I would lend them my final 15 picks with short 1-liners following each selection.  The result is below, but may also be seen on today’s DT Current Issue.

Introduction To Daily Tailgate + BCS Picks from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules

The SEC is the toughest conference in that nation with six teams in the top twenty-five. If any team comes out of the SEC undefeated or maybe even with one loss, they without a doubt deserve to play in the National Championship Game due to their strength of schedule. I think there is a good possibility that Florida can run the table. They have three ranked teams remaining on their schedule. I think they will beat 5th ranked LSU at home and 21^st ranked Vanderbilt on the road; what their season will come down to is their match up with the 3^rd ranked Georgia Bulldogs at a neutral site. I think this game could go either way, but if Florida is able to win they will secure one of the spots in the title game. USC fans better hope that these SEC teams beat each other up or you will be in for a rude awakening. There is even a possibility that a one loss Georgia or Florida team has the possibility of securing a spot in the National Championship Game over an undefeated USC team.

As for the other spot in the BCS National Championship Game, fill in the Oklahoma Sooners. It won’t be easy for the Sooners to run the table as they play 4 teams ranked in the top 25 including Texas and Texas Tech. However, these four games are at Oklahoma and this is the reason the Sooners will run the table. It would be impossible to leave the Oklahoma Sooners out of the BCS National Championship Game after surviving the talented Big 12 unscathed. What does this all mean? USC is the odd man out.

The USC Trojans do not play another ranked team for the remainder of the season. They should be favored by double digits in the remainder of their games against their Pac 10 foes. The Pac 10 is so abysmal this year that an undefeated USC team may be left out of the BCS national Championship Game because of their poor strength of schedule. Imagine that; clearly the most talented team in the country, coming off an impressive win over the Ohio State Buckeyes, could go undefeated yet not play in the National Championship Game. I think this is the only thing that will result in an overhaul of the BCS system. Only time will tell but this may be the only way we see a playoff system in college football.

Odd Man Out: USC Left Out of BCS Title Game? from Sports Agent Blog - Sports Business, Sports Law, Sports Negotiations, NCAA Rules