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by Donni Coley                                                         Volume II, No. 11                  

I bet you thought the NFL season started in mid-July with training camp, no ma’am, and no sir, it started three weeks ago on March 5^th. There are no players on the practice fields. There are no coaches meetings in the club house. Only the field of negotiation is open for business.  Agents are working hard to get the best deal for their clients, some of their clients are high profile, and some are under the radar of the free agency market.

2010 is the “Final League Year” an uncapped season, which means owners, can spend as much moola as they want on available unrestricted free agents, but from what I have read in the past two weeks, some teams are taking advantage of the word uncapped and are going after those unrestricted free agent gems, like my Chicago Bears, shelling out $121 million, including $55 million guaranteed, for three top notch free agents, Julius Peppers, Chester Taylor and Brandon Manumaleuna. And other teams are tightening up their uncapped belts, with the assumption of an uncertain 2011 season. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are doing a wait and see, let’s see what we can get in the draft mambo. 

 “United We Stand”

 The NFL Annual Meeting took place on March 21^st thru March 24^th, from an article in the Boston Globe the Patriots’ owner, Robert Kraft was quoted saying “Probably the most important thing with this league meeting that’s different than other years is that we continue to have a very united ownership…We have a great sport, and we have to be smart enough to allow the league to grow for the players and the fans.” It seems to me he wants to make sure us little guys, the FANS, are part of the NFL equation. And that the owners are finally understanding that unity is the key.

In a press conference, Roger Goodell stated, “The quality of the game is outstanding and the interest of the game is outstanding.” He spoke about putting the game first and fans first. Hey Roger! I’m for shorten the preseason and extending the regular season.  GIVE ME MORE FOOTBALL.

 Modifying Sudden-Death

Like many NFL fans, I am a supporter of changing the overtime format. It took this year’s Super Bowl overtime win by the New Orleans Saints for the owners to take a look at changing the sudden-death overtime format.  Finally on, Tuesday the NFL owners voted 28-4 to modify sudden-death for the playoffs. “Statistically, it needed to change. It wasn’t producing the ‘fairest results.’”, states Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee. Now, I didn’t study statistics but I, and many others, could see that the game was tilting significantly in favor of the team winning the coin toss, way before Super Bowl XLIV.

A NFL fact, before 1994, 34.4 percent of the time teams winning the coin toss won the game. After 1994 and since kickoffs were moved back 5 yards to the 30, 59.8 percent of the time teams winning the coin toss won the game. Wow, what an increase!

I would like to see the modify sudden-death applied to the regular season games, too. Well, it’s a start in the right direction. We all had to crawl before we walked.

HERSTORIC!                                                                   Volume II, No. 10

By Donni Coley

 Have you ever been so excited, so proud of a moment that you were lost for words, well that happen to me last Friday, great news had spread that a woman was selected to be the head coach of a varsity high school football team. I found this out from my many friends on facebook, the news spread rapidly throughout the community of women football players and supporters. My jaws dropped. I felt proud. I clenched my fist like Tiger Woods and softly yelled, YES!

 Calvin Coolidge Senior High School in Washington, D.C. made the historic move to hire Natalie Randolph as the head coach of their varsity football program.

 Congratulations to Natalie Randolph!

 After reading, then hearing the news I started struggling between writing about this remarkable occasion and the collective bargaining agreement in the NFL. Actually, I didn’t struggle long; I felt I should write something. How many times in my life would I get the opportunity to write about something herstoric, but what can I write that hasn’t already been written. So, I tackled with the idea for three days, which is why my blog is coming out today, instead of last Wednesday.

 It came to me after waking up from a slumber sleep Thursday morning, write about how proud I am that a woman FINALLYgets the chance to crack the glass ceiling of the tightest male dominated fraternity-football.

 Credibility is always an issue when women penetrate the womb of the so called man’s world. But, from what I’ve read Natalie’s experience speaks loud and clear. She played football for five-years as a wide receiver for the D.C. Divas of the Independent Women’s Football League. And she was the wide receiver coach for Washington’s H.D. Woodson High School in 2006 and 2007.

 At her press conference on Friday, March 12^th, she commented, “While I am proud to be part of what this all means, being female has nothing to do with it. I love football, I love football. I love teaching. I love these kids.”

 There is talk about not wanting to be the first male head coach to lose to a woman head coach this upcoming season in D.C. All I can say is, in football there is a team that wins and there is a team that loses, and if it that winning team head coach happens to be a woman, take it like gentlemen.

 COACHING FOOTBALL IS TOUGH ENOUGH FOR A MAN, BUT MADE FOR A WOMAN TOO.

By Donni Coley                                                                     Volume II, No. 9

March 5^th was the start of the free agency period. What is the hoopla all about?

Well, 2010 is an uncapped season for the National Football League, which means no salary cap for the 32 teams. Is there going to be a George Steinbrenner of the NFL this year?

Because of this uncapped season the minimum service time jumped from four to six years. So, restricted free agents looking to leave the nest will have to stay home with papa bird for another two years or an additional year, unless the big bird is willing to give up a draft pick of equal level of compensation.

Restricted free agents last season had more flexibility to move from one team to another, so at the beginning of the 2009 Bears’ season I was excited about the acquisition of quarterback Jay Cutler. But by the end of the season I was asking, “WHAT WAS THE FRONT OFFICE THINKING?”

But now, my Chicago Bears will have the scent of a new car this season. The team has made some moves on the first few days of free agency, not wasting any time and willing to shell out the big bucks, in the tune of 91.5 million, for the top restricted free agent defensive tackle Julius Peppers, along with signing running back Chester Taylor and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna. The hiring of Mike Martz as the new offensive coordinator at the end of the NFL season makes me peck two keys at a time, the Bears offense and defense maybe baaaaaack. I love the smell of a new car.

How will free agency pan out for the other 31 teams? I don’t know. I will be watching Sports Center in the days and weeks to come. But, I have to tell you, I’m bias. I am only concern about my own team, the BEARS.

 By Donni Coley                                                        Volume II, No. 8

Woo…I finished writing this week’s Weekly Blitz just under the wire, if there was a way to measure my performance as a writer, this week my stock would have plummeted drastically.

Speaking of stocks possibly rising or falling, and I’m not talking about the New York Stock Exchange, but the NFL Stock Exchange at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis at this year’s scouting combine. College football players that declare themselves ready for the NFL, stocks are evaluated. About 300 athletes, for six days put their athleticism through a series of drills and tests for owners, scouts and general managers looking for their team’s future investment. The player’s performance will determine his stock value at the NFL draft to be held April 22-23 at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

It was challenging to write this blog, because I didn’t know what to write since I wasn’t able to attend this year’s combine, to see the action, feel the energy and witness the emotion first hand. I had to settle on watching the NFL Network and logging onto Fox Sports.com and NFL.com to check out the daily highlights.

There were questions on two of the NFL’s stock picks. Quarterback Tim Tebow; why won’t he throw at the combine? How will a Rhodes Scholar safety, Myron Rolle, do after taking a year off from playing football to study in Oxford?

At the combine, self imposed pressure is felt by these talented athletes to perform, because the earlier a player gets selected in the draft means a bigger slice of cheddar. It’s a matter of millions for first round draft picks and hundreds of thousands for fifth, sixth and seventh round draft picks.