Colin Kaepernick scored first in his legal showdown with the NFL.
In the end Javorius Allen Jersey , there aren't likely to be any real winners.
Kaepernick's collusion case against the league that doesn't have a place for him took a big step forward when an arbitrator turned back the NFL's request for a summary judgment 鈥?in essence, ruling that there was at least enough evidence to proceed to a full-blown, binding arbitration hearing for the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.
The longer this whole mess drags on, the worse it is for a league that has already taken quite a public-relations battering over its players taking a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustice.
Then again, it's hard to see an outcome where Kaepernick gets what he really wants: a chance to play again in the NFL.
His playing career, in all likelihood, is over.
"This is good news for Kaepernick that it goes forward, but my feeling all along has not changed: This is uphill climb for him," said Andrew Brandt, executive director of the Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law at Villanova University.
"To prove collusion is more than just teams deciding for whatever reason that they prefer other quarterbacks to Colin Kaepernick. That's not collusion," Brandt went on. "Collusion is two or more teams 鈥?backed up with evidence 鈥?deciding not to sign Colin Kaepernick. Colluding is two or more NFL entities colluding against signing him."
While it seems abundantly clear that the NFL has blackballed Kaepernick, as well as his former teammate Eric Reid (who also has a collusion grievance against the league), actually proving this is a coordinated effort is a whole different matter.
"This has been going on for quite a while and we've not seen any smoking guns, at least not publicly," Brandt said Friday in a telephone interview. "In our 24-hour media, with so much focus on this, I would think if there's a smoking gun, we would've seen it by now."
Even if one emerges and Kaepernick claims an overwhelming legal victory, he'll have to settle for being a very rich but still very much unemployed former NFL quarterback.
Arbitrator Stephen Burbank can award tens of millions of dollars in damages.
He can't order a team to give Kaepernick a job.
That said, the NFL can't seem to break free of a divisive issue that could have far-reaching implications down the road, especially when the collective-bargaining agreement expires after the 2020 season. An already testy relationship with the players 鈥?some of whom have carried on Kaepernick's cause by kneeling or raising a fist during the national anthem 鈥?only figures to get worse.
Heck Scottie Upshall Jersey , the league already had to back off the supposed national anthem policy it adopted in late May, which would've allowed players to stay in the locker room as a form of absent protest but required them to stand if they came on the field.
"This is really a lose-lose situation for the league," said Jodi Balsam, who worked in the NFL's legal office from 1994-2007 and now teaches sports law at Brooklyn Law School and New York University. "Obviously if the NFL loses, they have a lot at stake. But even if they win on the merits 鈥?and, by the way, all the odds-makers say they will win on the merits 鈥?it's still a loss. They will have had to litigate this with all the distractions and expense. That means Colin Kaepernick is still on the public stage for another few months as the hearing plays out."
Now that the case is moving forward, it could be ripe for a settlement.
The minute Burbank turned them down, the NFL's lawyers were surely advising their billionaire clients that it might be a good time to write out a big fat check to Kaepernick as part of a confidential settlement that makes this whole thing go away.
"This is a leverage point in the arbitration," said Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based arbitration attorney who has handled more than 1,000 claims. "Reason would seem to dictate that if there's going to be a settlement, it's going to happen now, after this arbitrator's decision, or a couple of weeks before the hearing begins."
But even if the league wants to settle, there's no indication that Kaepernick is willing to back down. By all indications, he sees this as a higher calling, a chance to carry through on something far more significant than one man's professional and financial future. He showed how much it all means to him by donating $1 million to various social causes even though he didn't have a job.
"It's extremely dangerous for the NFL that you might have a plaintiff in Kaepernick who doesn't really care about the money, but rather wants to embarrass the NFL," Stoltmann said. "But think about it: If you're an unemployed former athlete and someone dangles a $50 million check in front of you, or a $75 million check Bobby Ryan Jersey , that's extraordinarily hard for any person to reject."
Even if a financial settlement is reached, the NFL will make sure that there's no admission that it worked in unison to keep Kaepernick out of the league.
The owners have no intention of giving up their ultimate power over the players: the right to sign 鈥?and not sign 鈥?whoever they want.
"There's another principle at stake here, the principle that you have significant discretion as an NFL owner and coach to construct a squad that's not just based on talent but on character and camaraderie and a community to win," Balsam said.
"Are they entitled to make decisions about roster spots and playing time based on players being team players and conducting themselves in the public image that the owners want to project? Absolutely. Are they allowed to say Colin Kaepernick is not right for our team because he's a disruptive presence and we don't want him on our team? They absolutely have that right."
So, on we go.
Toward an ending with only one likely outcome.
Everyone loses.
Paul Newberr Welcome to Impossible.
Those words have been projected onto the ice in big, bold letters at T-Mobile Arena before each game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Well, the Vegas Golden Knights are turning impossible into possible.
The stunningly successful expansion squad is headed to the Stanley Cup Final after beating the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Sunday to win the Western Conference final series in five games.
”I remember eight months ago, when we won against Dallas (in the season opener), we had that unbelievable feeling,” Vegas center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. ”Doesn’t feel like we’re satisfied. It’s a good feeling when you know the guys are excited for the next one.”
The Golden Knights are the third franchise in NHL history to clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season, joining the Toronto Arenas in 1918 in the league’s early days, and St. Louis Blues in 1968, when all six expansion teams were in the same division and one of them had to make the final round.
Vegas will play either Tampa Bay or Washington on hockey’s biggest stage. The Lightning lead the Eastern Conference final 3-2, but the Capitals host Game 6 on Monday night.
”Either way, we’re not going to be favorites,” said Jonathan Marchessault, who leads Vegas with 18 points in the postseason. ”That’s been the case all year. Tampa has been the best team all year. Washington, (they’re) playing great hockey right now. Either way, we’re not going to be favorites, and that’s fine with us. We went all year like that and we’re going to keep going.”
Hence, ”The Golden Misfits” tag.
Nobody could have scripted Vegas Tuukka Rask Jersey , a 500-1 long shot at the start of the season, making the playoffs – let alone earning a shot at Lord Stanley’s Cup.
But the Golden Knights, who finished fifth in the league during the regular season, just knocked off the No. 2 team in the regular season in Winnipeg, which in the conference semifinals knocked off the No. 1 team in the regular season, Nashville.
Vegas clinched all three of its Western Conference series on the road, becoming the seventh team in NHL history to accomplish such a feat.
”Everybody on this team has something to prove,” said Winnipeg native Ryan Reaves, who scored the winning goal Sunday in his hometown. ”We call ourselves `The Golden Misfits’ for a reason. We’re doing a good job of proving everybody wrong.”
Just as they have all season, they are living in the moment.
Vegas, which had just two players under contract at this time last year, heads into the final round with a 12-3 playoff record after outscoring its Western Conference opponents 42-27.
It’s a credit to coach Gerard Gallant’s philosophy of having a well-conditioned, confident group of forwards who work well together, focus on short effective shifts, and exude confidence on the ice – all while, as he reiterates it daily, playing 200 feet of hockey.
And while the Golden Knights haven’t necessarily been a high-scoring threat, scoring just three or fewer goals in 12 of their 15 playoff games, their defensemen have played exceptional to this point. Vegas has allowed the least amount of goals in the playoffs, among teams that have played 10 games. It was a stifling and disruptive defense that helped propel the Golden Knights past the Jets on Sunday, with their sixth win in eight road games during the postseason.
”Everybody’s stepping up at different times during the season Kentrell Brice Jersey ,” said goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who has 12 wins, four shutouts, a .947 save percentage and 1.68 goals against average. ”That’s a big reason why we’ve been playing consistently.”
The key cog in Vegas’ engine has been Fleury, whose remarkable play has translated into a career-best postseason. He has allowed two or fewer goals in 10 of 15 playoff games, and is heading to the Stanley Cup final for a third consecutive year. And whether he admits it or not, the 14-year veteran still bears the scars of being left exposed by Pittsburgh last summer after spending the first 13 years of his career with the Penguins.
Gallant, who remained coy about his team’s aspirations during the regular season, made it clear the Golden Knights haven’t reached their goal.
”It’s been an awesome ride so far,” said Gallant, who some might also consider a ”misfit” after Florida fired him following a road game at Carolina last season, then left him and his luggage on the curb outside PNC Arena. ”We’re going to the Stanley Cup Final, but again, this isn’t what we want. We want to win.
”It’s great to win tonight and it’s great to be the (conference) champions,” Gallant added, ”but that’s not what we’re here for.”
Even as impossible as that all seemed just a few months ago.
—
In the end Javorius Allen Jersey , there aren't likely to be any real winners.
Kaepernick's collusion case against the league that doesn't have a place for him took a big step forward when an arbitrator turned back the NFL's request for a summary judgment 鈥?in essence, ruling that there was at least enough evidence to proceed to a full-blown, binding arbitration hearing for the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.
The longer this whole mess drags on, the worse it is for a league that has already taken quite a public-relations battering over its players taking a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustice.
Then again, it's hard to see an outcome where Kaepernick gets what he really wants: a chance to play again in the NFL.
His playing career, in all likelihood, is over.
"This is good news for Kaepernick that it goes forward, but my feeling all along has not changed: This is uphill climb for him," said Andrew Brandt, executive director of the Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law at Villanova University.
"To prove collusion is more than just teams deciding for whatever reason that they prefer other quarterbacks to Colin Kaepernick. That's not collusion," Brandt went on. "Collusion is two or more teams 鈥?backed up with evidence 鈥?deciding not to sign Colin Kaepernick. Colluding is two or more NFL entities colluding against signing him."
While it seems abundantly clear that the NFL has blackballed Kaepernick, as well as his former teammate Eric Reid (who also has a collusion grievance against the league), actually proving this is a coordinated effort is a whole different matter.
"This has been going on for quite a while and we've not seen any smoking guns, at least not publicly," Brandt said Friday in a telephone interview. "In our 24-hour media, with so much focus on this, I would think if there's a smoking gun, we would've seen it by now."
Even if one emerges and Kaepernick claims an overwhelming legal victory, he'll have to settle for being a very rich but still very much unemployed former NFL quarterback.
Arbitrator Stephen Burbank can award tens of millions of dollars in damages.
He can't order a team to give Kaepernick a job.
That said, the NFL can't seem to break free of a divisive issue that could have far-reaching implications down the road, especially when the collective-bargaining agreement expires after the 2020 season. An already testy relationship with the players 鈥?some of whom have carried on Kaepernick's cause by kneeling or raising a fist during the national anthem 鈥?only figures to get worse.
Heck Scottie Upshall Jersey , the league already had to back off the supposed national anthem policy it adopted in late May, which would've allowed players to stay in the locker room as a form of absent protest but required them to stand if they came on the field.
"This is really a lose-lose situation for the league," said Jodi Balsam, who worked in the NFL's legal office from 1994-2007 and now teaches sports law at Brooklyn Law School and New York University. "Obviously if the NFL loses, they have a lot at stake. But even if they win on the merits 鈥?and, by the way, all the odds-makers say they will win on the merits 鈥?it's still a loss. They will have had to litigate this with all the distractions and expense. That means Colin Kaepernick is still on the public stage for another few months as the hearing plays out."
Now that the case is moving forward, it could be ripe for a settlement.
The minute Burbank turned them down, the NFL's lawyers were surely advising their billionaire clients that it might be a good time to write out a big fat check to Kaepernick as part of a confidential settlement that makes this whole thing go away.
"This is a leverage point in the arbitration," said Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based arbitration attorney who has handled more than 1,000 claims. "Reason would seem to dictate that if there's going to be a settlement, it's going to happen now, after this arbitrator's decision, or a couple of weeks before the hearing begins."
But even if the league wants to settle, there's no indication that Kaepernick is willing to back down. By all indications, he sees this as a higher calling, a chance to carry through on something far more significant than one man's professional and financial future. He showed how much it all means to him by donating $1 million to various social causes even though he didn't have a job.
"It's extremely dangerous for the NFL that you might have a plaintiff in Kaepernick who doesn't really care about the money, but rather wants to embarrass the NFL," Stoltmann said. "But think about it: If you're an unemployed former athlete and someone dangles a $50 million check in front of you, or a $75 million check Bobby Ryan Jersey , that's extraordinarily hard for any person to reject."
Even if a financial settlement is reached, the NFL will make sure that there's no admission that it worked in unison to keep Kaepernick out of the league.
The owners have no intention of giving up their ultimate power over the players: the right to sign 鈥?and not sign 鈥?whoever they want.
"There's another principle at stake here, the principle that you have significant discretion as an NFL owner and coach to construct a squad that's not just based on talent but on character and camaraderie and a community to win," Balsam said.
"Are they entitled to make decisions about roster spots and playing time based on players being team players and conducting themselves in the public image that the owners want to project? Absolutely. Are they allowed to say Colin Kaepernick is not right for our team because he's a disruptive presence and we don't want him on our team? They absolutely have that right."
So, on we go.
Toward an ending with only one likely outcome.
Everyone loses.
Paul Newberr Welcome to Impossible.
Those words have been projected onto the ice in big, bold letters at T-Mobile Arena before each game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Well, the Vegas Golden Knights are turning impossible into possible.
The stunningly successful expansion squad is headed to the Stanley Cup Final after beating the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Sunday to win the Western Conference final series in five games.
”I remember eight months ago, when we won against Dallas (in the season opener), we had that unbelievable feeling,” Vegas center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. ”Doesn’t feel like we’re satisfied. It’s a good feeling when you know the guys are excited for the next one.”
The Golden Knights are the third franchise in NHL history to clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season, joining the Toronto Arenas in 1918 in the league’s early days, and St. Louis Blues in 1968, when all six expansion teams were in the same division and one of them had to make the final round.
Vegas will play either Tampa Bay or Washington on hockey’s biggest stage. The Lightning lead the Eastern Conference final 3-2, but the Capitals host Game 6 on Monday night.
”Either way, we’re not going to be favorites,” said Jonathan Marchessault, who leads Vegas with 18 points in the postseason. ”That’s been the case all year. Tampa has been the best team all year. Washington, (they’re) playing great hockey right now. Either way, we’re not going to be favorites, and that’s fine with us. We went all year like that and we’re going to keep going.”
Hence, ”The Golden Misfits” tag.
Nobody could have scripted Vegas Tuukka Rask Jersey , a 500-1 long shot at the start of the season, making the playoffs – let alone earning a shot at Lord Stanley’s Cup.
But the Golden Knights, who finished fifth in the league during the regular season, just knocked off the No. 2 team in the regular season in Winnipeg, which in the conference semifinals knocked off the No. 1 team in the regular season, Nashville.
Vegas clinched all three of its Western Conference series on the road, becoming the seventh team in NHL history to accomplish such a feat.
”Everybody on this team has something to prove,” said Winnipeg native Ryan Reaves, who scored the winning goal Sunday in his hometown. ”We call ourselves `The Golden Misfits’ for a reason. We’re doing a good job of proving everybody wrong.”
Just as they have all season, they are living in the moment.
Vegas, which had just two players under contract at this time last year, heads into the final round with a 12-3 playoff record after outscoring its Western Conference opponents 42-27.
It’s a credit to coach Gerard Gallant’s philosophy of having a well-conditioned, confident group of forwards who work well together, focus on short effective shifts, and exude confidence on the ice – all while, as he reiterates it daily, playing 200 feet of hockey.
And while the Golden Knights haven’t necessarily been a high-scoring threat, scoring just three or fewer goals in 12 of their 15 playoff games, their defensemen have played exceptional to this point. Vegas has allowed the least amount of goals in the playoffs, among teams that have played 10 games. It was a stifling and disruptive defense that helped propel the Golden Knights past the Jets on Sunday, with their sixth win in eight road games during the postseason.
”Everybody’s stepping up at different times during the season Kentrell Brice Jersey ,” said goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who has 12 wins, four shutouts, a .947 save percentage and 1.68 goals against average. ”That’s a big reason why we’ve been playing consistently.”
The key cog in Vegas’ engine has been Fleury, whose remarkable play has translated into a career-best postseason. He has allowed two or fewer goals in 10 of 15 playoff games, and is heading to the Stanley Cup final for a third consecutive year. And whether he admits it or not, the 14-year veteran still bears the scars of being left exposed by Pittsburgh last summer after spending the first 13 years of his career with the Penguins.
Gallant, who remained coy about his team’s aspirations during the regular season, made it clear the Golden Knights haven’t reached their goal.
”It’s been an awesome ride so far,” said Gallant, who some might also consider a ”misfit” after Florida fired him following a road game at Carolina last season, then left him and his luggage on the curb outside PNC Arena. ”We’re going to the Stanley Cup Final, but again, this isn’t what we want. We want to win.
”It’s great to win tonight and it’s great to be the (conference) champions,” Gallant added, ”but that’s not what we’re here for.”
Even as impossible as that all seemed just a few months ago.
—
