Nfl Lockout

NFL owners have ratified a deal to lift the player lockout but it's unclear what that means for a collective bargaining agreement or when free agency might begin. According to NFL Network, the vote was 31-0 with the Oakland Raiders choosing to abstain, as they often do. While owners have been meeting at an airport hotel in Atlanta, representatives for the players are in Washington working on their next move.

A day after the death of Lakers owner Jerry Buss, writers from around the Tribune Co. discuss who they consider to be the best owner in pro sports. Check back throughout the day for their responses and feel free to join the conversation with a comment of your own. Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times The NBA retains the distinction of having the best owner in pro sports even after the passing of Jerry Buss. His name is Mark Cuban. Not only do his teams win (with the notable exception of this season)

To characterize the NFL lockout, which started after last season ended and ended before this season started, as a work stoppage is like accusing a kid of playing hooky because he didn't go to school during spring break. And now, the leaders on both sides are being lauded as labor statesmen because they were able successfully to distribute a huge amount of money among a small group of people without peeving anyone beyond the breaking point. I view all this as the late, great labor leader John L. Lewis did when asked his thoughts about an impending strike by the Air Line Pilots' Assn.

After two days of federal mediation, a top Obama administration official had something to say about the NHL's prolonged labor dispute. In fact, it happened to be the official at the very top: President Obama. Frank Vascellaro, a reporter for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, had the chance to interview the president and asked about the lockout. He pointed out that Minnesota is known as a hockey state and asked if Obama would be "willing to intervene" in the matter. The president gave a fairly lengthy answer but, unfortunately for hockey fans, it does not appear as though he would be getting involved.

Reporting from New York The NFL, after a series of legal setbacks, got a breather Friday when a federal appeals court put the lift of the lockout on hold. The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the league's request for a temporary stay of the injunction issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson, who had ordered an end to the 45-day lockout. The 8th Circuit granted a short stay in order to have time to consider a longer one. The NFL is appealing Nelson's decision and wants the right to keep the lockout in place while that appeal is being decided.

Reporting from St. Louis Judge Kermit Bye, the senior member of a three-judge panel of the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, said very little during Friday's 70-minute hearing on the legality of the NFL lockout. But what Bye said as proceedings wrapped up before a standing-room-only crowd might resonate with the owners and players. "We won't be all that hurt if you're leaving us out and [you] should go out and settle the case," Bye said. "We will keep with our business, and if that ends up with a decision, it's probably something both sides aren't going to like, but it will at least be a decision.

The NFL is a passing league. How many times have you heard that? And it's true. Passing games generate the majority of yards for NFL teams. But the spotlight on quarterbacks is not quite as bright this season as it was a year ago, when 10 of them would throw for more than 4,000 yards, and three - Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford - surpassed 5,000. Brees set the league record with 5,476. To a large extent, the pendulum has swung back to the defensive side of the ball this season, with many of the elite teams near the top of those rankings.

In a decision that is significant but not surprising, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in favor of the NFL on Friday, five weeks after hearing oral arguments on whether the league could lock out its players. The lockout will remain in place, something the appellate court strongly indicated in its preliminary opinion in May. The 34-page decision comes as, by all accounts, the NFL and players are making substantial progress toward a new labor deal, a critical juncture considering training camps and exhibition games are less than a month away.

Tom Zbikowski leaves little doubt as to his athletic skill set. He hits people. He may be the most proficient at that since Gerald Ford took up golf. Zbikowski's day job used to be playing safety for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL. For the moment, the NFL has locked out its players in a labor dispute. So now, his day job has become a night job and is in a boxing ring. His is an unusual story, certainly not the kind a mother would love. As a matter of fact, his mother, Susan, a retired commercial banker in Chicago, hates boxing.

Passed over in the NFL draft, offensive lineman Kris O'Dowd is determined to show pro scouts he can handle a rush. Soon, he'll get his chance. The former USC center, along with a few hundred other undrafted hopefuls, will wind up signing with an NFL team shortly after a new collective bargaining agreement is in place and the lockout is lifted. In a normal year, O'Dowd surely would have hooked on with a team already. But because of the lockout, there wasn't the traditional post-draft flurry of signings, the frantic grab for rookie free agents who didn't hear their names called over the course of seven rounds.

The NFL is a passing league. How many times have you heard that? And it's true. Passing games generate the majority of yards for NFL teams. But the spotlight on quarterbacks is not quite as bright this season as it was a year ago, when 10 of them would throw for more than 4,000 yards, and three - Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford - surpassed 5,000. Brees set the league record with 5,476. To a large extent, the pendulum has swung back to the defensive side of the ball this season, with many of the elite teams near the top of those rankings.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell couldn't have sent a clearer two-pronged message on Wednesday with his harsh but justified treatment of the New Orleans Saints and Coach Sean Payton. The bottom line: The NFL is going to come down hard when it learns that players are trying to injure other players, and the league is going to maximize that punishment if you're caught and then lie about it, as Payton and the Saints did. There will be more penalties coming as the league's investigation digs down to the individual player level.

When Jonathan Vilma studied game film of the San Francisco 49ers this week, it was presumably in color. But to hear the New Orleans Saints linebacker talk about San Francisco's style of play — big on defense and running the ball — you might think he was watching old black-and-white movies. "A team like that," he said, "is almost a throwback team. " Never mind that Pittsburgh won a Super Bowl three years ago by keeping opponents out of the end zone. With all the offensive fireworks in the NFL this season, the adage that "defense wins championships" is now under review.

He wasn't happy about it. But President Obama reluctantly feted the Green Bay Packers at the White House on Friday, celebrating their road to a Super Bowl championship that included a playoff win at Soldier Field. "I'm just going to come out and say it. This -- this hurts a little bit," the nation's No. 1 Chicago Bears fan said as he took to the stage in front of the White House's South Portico on a sun-drenched afternoon. "It doesn't hurt as much as the NFC championship game hurt, but it still hurts," he said.

To characterize the NFL lockout, which started after last season ended and ended before this season started, as a work stoppage is like accusing a kid of playing hooky because he didn't go to school during spring break. And now, the leaders on both sides are being lauded as labor statesmen because they were able successfully to distribute a huge amount of money among a small group of people without peeving anyone beyond the breaking point. I view all this as the late, great labor leader John L. Lewis did when asked his thoughts about an impending strike by the Air Line Pilots' Assn.

"It's time … to get back to football!" NBC was scheduled to air a 15-second promo Monday that celebrated the end of the four-month NFL lockout — without actually mentioning the labor strife that threatened to delay or cancel the upcoming season. An old pregame clip showed a staffer tugging on the jersey of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers before releasing him to cheering throngs at Lambeau Field. An excited voice-over made the annual return of the sport sound as if the legendary Vince Lombardi had been resurrected to coach the team again as well.

As the NBA lockout took hold Friday, legal experts said the NFL's four-month-long labor dispute and ongoing antitrust case would play a key role in determining the next steps in pro basketball's labor stoppage. The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis is expected to rule soon on whether NFL owners have the right to impose an indefinite lockout of players, who have decertified from a union to a trade association. Experts in sports law say NBA players could await that NFL court ruling, or proceed to decertify themselves and file their own antitrust suit against the NBA in a more favorable federal court setting.

With the NFL's labor situation in limbo, the league heads into what promises to be a turbulent off-season filled with questions, uncertainties and speculation. Team owners are dug in, as are the players, and each side is waiting for the other to flinch ? with the real possibility that a lockout could compromise training camps and might even lead to games not being played. Still, the football world doesn't stop spinning. Teams are jockeying, planning, positioning themselves to be just where the Green Bay Packers are now: clearing room in the display case for the Lombardi Trophy.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Monday: Fans are remembering Amy Winehouse, the soulful singer known for her beehive hair, kohl-lined eyes and run-ins with rehab, who died over the weekend at age 27. ( Los Angeles Times ) Singer and "The Smurfs" star Katy Perry weighs in on the loss of Winehouse but is grateful that husband Russell Brand is "clean and sober. " ( ABC ) The not-so-special relationship: "Captain America" beat "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" at the weekend box office, grossing an estimated $65.8 million.

NFL owners have ratified a deal to lift the player lockout but it's unclear what that means for a collective bargaining agreement or when free agency might begin. According to NFL Network, the vote was 31-0 with the Oakland Raiders choosing to abstain, as they often do. While owners have been meeting at an airport hotel in Atlanta, representatives for the players are in Washington working on their next move.