Hometown Broadcasting Sports Tuesday 6/16/20
16 June 2020 Sports
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN on Monday he’s “not confident” there will be a 2020 baseball season and that “as long as there’s no dialogue” with the MLB Players Association, “that real risk is going to continue.”
In a conversation with Mike Greenberg for ESPN’s “The Return of Sports” special, Manfred walked back comments made to ESPN last week, when he said “unequivocally we are going to play Major League Baseball this year” and pegged the likelihood at “100 percent.”
“I’m not confident. I think there’s real risk; and as long as there’s no dialogue, that real risk is gonna continue,” Manfred said when asked if he was confident there would be a season.
The chance that there will be no season increased substantially Monday when the commissioner’s office told the players’ association it will not proceed with a schedule unless the union waives its right to claim management violated a March agreement between the feuding sides, a source told ESPN, confirming a report by the Los Angeles Times.
“It’s just a disaster for our game, absolutely no question about it. It shouldn’t be happening, and it’s important that we find a way to get past it and get the game back on the field for the benefit of our fans,” he said.
Manfred said the MLBPA’s “decision to end good-faith negotiations” and the need for an agreement with the union on health and safety protocols “were really negative in terms of our efforts.”
“The owners are 100 percent committed to getting baseball back on the field,” Manfred said. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that I’m 100 percent certain that’s gonna happen.”
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San Francisco is rewarding head coach Kyle Shanahan with a new six-year contract that replaces the three years he had remaining on his deal and ties him to the 49ers through the 2025 season, league sources told ESPN.
The contract makes Shanahan one of the NFL’s five highest-paid head coaches. But what made this deal unique is that it was hardly a protracted negotiation between 49ers owner Jed York and Shanahan; the two men sat down and quickly figured out what each meant to the other, committing to their second six-year contract in just over three years. Shanahan signed his first six-year contract with the 49ers in February 2017. This new six-year deal, completed recently, replaces that one. Shanahan has helped remake the franchise, leading it to an NFC championship last season. He is regarded as one of the best playcallers in the league and one of the top offensive minds in the game.
Shanahan also has helped form one of the most progressive and diverse coaching staffs in the league. Of the 49ers’ 23 assistant coaches, 11 are coaches of color or women. Among them are assistant head coach Jon Embree, who is black, and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, believed to be the league’s first Arab American coordinator when San Francisco hired him in 2017.
Shanahan spoke openly and passionately about race earlier this month, saying it is embarrassing for the NFL to have only three black head coaches and two black general managers. Shanahan, 40, is a former offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons.
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Roger Goodell’s shift on the NFL’s approach to racial issues continued on Monday, as the NFL commissioner told ESPN he encourages teams to sign Colin Kaepernick.
Speaking with ESPN’s Mike Greenberg during the network’s “The Return of Sports” special, Goodell said he would welcome such a decision from a team and wants to engage with Kaepernick. It remains to be seen if that statement causes any team to re-think it assessment of Kaepernick, but the commissioner saying the player’s name is an intriguing development compared to just 10 days ago. Goodell had previously admitted the league was wrong in its handling of player protests in the past, but notably didn’t mention Kaepernick’s name anywhere in the statement.
That statement was still seen as a stark reversal from the NFL’s approach to protests over the last few years, as Goodell said the league encourages all to “speak out and peacefully protest.” It also drew questioning from President Donald Trump, who has long decried racial injustice protests by players as disrespectful to the flag and country. Even with the threat of political blowback from Trump and his supporters, the NFL is still shifting toward action against racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd in police custody. The league has announced it will commit $250 million to social justice initiatives over the next 10 years.
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University of Wisconsin football and volleyball players began voluntary workouts on campus on Monday, June 15th. Badger football head strength and conditioning coach Ross Kolodziej said 100 out of 123 players took part on day one. The Badgers haven’t been together as a group since winter workouts ended. The coronavirus forced the cancellation of spring practice, and while summer workouts would usually have started a week ago, the team is not that far behind its usual pace. Last week, the NCAA football oversight committee approved a six-week practice plan for football to return and the NCAA Division One council will vote on that plan this Wednesday. The Badgers season opener is scheduled for Friday, September 4th at home against Indiana.
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Former Arkansas football coach Bret Bielema, now an assistant with the New York Giants, has filed a $7 million lawsuit against the Arkansas Razorback Foundation. The lawsuit says the foundation that supports Arkansas athletics breached a contractual obligation to pay Bielema about $12 million. The foundation sent Bielema a letter on Jan. 31, 2019 demanding that he return money it had already paid him in monthly buyout payments. The 64-page lawsuit says the Razorback Foundation’s unwillingness to pay Bielema stems from its conclusion that he hasn’t tried hard enough to find another job to offset money the school owed. Bielema coached the Wisconsin Badgers from 2006-12.
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The Northwoods League has announced the schedule for the first two weeks of the Wisconsin-Illinois Pod, and the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders are scheduled to open at home on Wednesday, July 1st at 6:35PM against the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The Dock Spiders will have seven other home dates scheduled over the two-week stretch from July 1st through July 14th.
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