Good morning Kansas City Chiefs fans! I have to admit, I was expecting a light day of news on the Chiefs. I am happy to report that I was wrong. Read on for updates on players' offseason activites, charitable work being done, and the latest on today's legal battle. Enjoy!
Waters arranged a meeting for interested Chiefs players Tuesday at a downtown Kansas City hotel to explain the intricacies of the labor situation, including the possible ramifications of today's hearing in Minnesota.
"We've all got to be ready to go," Waters said. "We might get a ruling and this (lockout) gets lifted and then you don't know what the rules are going to be. Will she stay the injunction until the appeal process is over? We don't know those things, but if all of those things fall in our favor, we hope the game will be able to continue while the antitrust lawsuit (plays out in court), just like it was after the '87 strike. It continued on for over five years until the '93 agreement and football was still played that whole time."
If the owners prevail, the lockout stands.
Players, Owners Await Pivotal Ruling on NFL Lockout from KC Star
Judge Susan Richard Nelson becomes the most important
womanperson in the world of professional football Wednesday morning as she steps between the NFL and its players in a preliminary injunction hearing.It goes down in Judge Nelson's seventh-floor court room at the Warren Burger Federal Building and Courthouse in St. Paul. She will guide what figures to be the first of many, many legal proceedings involving the league's labor situation.
Legal Game Kickoffs... Wednesday Cup O'Chiefs from Bob Gretz
But for now, players are barred from the Chiefs facility because of the owner-imposed lockout. The absence of that routine, even though September is five months off, makes the season feel endangered.
"I'm a football player, so any chance to get back on the field, that's what I want," [Derrick] Johnson said. "But we want to be able to play under a fair deal.
"There's not a sense of urgency quite yet. Talk to me in a month from now. It's serious now but a month from now, I'll want to hear a little more. I don't want this to go on a lot longer, but I'm prepared for the possibility it will."
Chiefs Players Preach Patience During NFL Lockout from KC Star
Michael Vrabel, 35, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, was lodged at the Switzerland County Jail at 5:28 a.m. Monday. He posted a $600 cash bond and was released at 10:39 a.m. the same day.
The arrest was made by the Indiana Gaming Commission. Kenny Rowan, the director of Indiana gaming agents, said Vrabel was seen on surveillance......The Switzerland County prosecutor's office said Vrabel has a pretrial hearing set for 2 p.m. July 11.
NFL Player Arrested for Theft at Belterra from The Madison Courier
On the day before a federal court faceoff with players, the NFL awarded $1 million in charitable donations to players' foundations.
Players whose charitable groups received donations include New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees and Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning -- who are both named plaintiffs in the NFLPA's antitrust suit against the league -- and Kansas City Chiefs OL Brian Waters, a member of the NFLPA's executive committee.
NFL Makes $1 Million Donation to Players' Charitable Groups from USA Today
The University of Missouri-Kansas City Health Sciences schools, in partnership with the Kansas City Wellness Network and Cover the Uninsured Coalition, will host the third annual Health Sciences Wellness Fair from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 9...
...This year's Wellness Fair will feature appearances by Kansas City Chiefs players, KC Wolf and the Chiefs cheerleaders.
April 6-13 News Briefs from KCCommunityNews.com
It all started with former Chiefs linebacker and assistant coach Walt Corey, whose stepson is a pilot for NASCAR legend Richard Petty.
That relationship led to the Chiefs Ambassadors - an alumni group of the Chiefs - pledging to give financial and moral support to Victory Junction Midwest, the camp the Petty family is building in Wyandotte County for children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.
Chiefs Alums Lend Supprot to Petty's Charity Camp Project from KC Star
A photographer who worked for the Kansas City Chiefs for 40 years is complaining that the team misused his images. Hank Young says the Chiefs violated his agreement with the team's public-relations department when it used his photographs to enliven the concourses, entrances and other areas of the new Arrowhead Stadium.Hank Young, Photographer, Says Chiefs misused His Game Shots from The Pitch
Kansas City Chiefs player and Pro-Bowler Eric Berry is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City for the Man 2 Man event at 6 p.m. at the Founder's Club at Arrowhead Stadium. The event includes dinner, drinks, cigars, locker room tours, a live auction and a reverse raffle. Proceeds will benefit BBBSKC. For tickets, call 561-5269 or visit www.bbbs.org.April 7-14 Calendar from KCCommunityNews.com
But Esiason says he also understands the economic nuts and bolts of what makes the NFL special ("So the Pittsburgh Steelers don't become the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Kansas City Chiefs don't become the Kansas City Royals.") have to stay relatively intact.
He thinks if the two sides got a deal then, they can get a deal now. Esiason is amazed how the venom has gone viral via Twitter and Facebook, but it wasn't exactly Sesame Street in '87 when violence simmered on some picket lines.
"I remember those pictures from Kansas City and some of the Chiefs looking like Libyan rebels without the anti-aircraft guns," Esiason says.
Esiason Drops Back from Bengals.com
More than 200 children joined Americus native Leonard Pope for a health walk from Staley Middle School last year at his Kids Day.
That event will be here soon, as it is scheduled for April 30.
Pope, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, decided to do something different last year, and it turned out to be successful.Leonard Pope's Kids Day Set for April 30 from The Americus Times-Recorder
Kansas City, Todd Haley: If the Chiefs go to the playoffs in 2011, Haley could debut on the top-10 list. He did a nice job in 2010, his second season in Kansas City. He is one of the league's bright young coaches.2011 Head Coach Power Rankings from ESPN
Kansas City, fans would you like to see the Chiefs end the Albert experiment at left tackle, and see the team bypass other needs to draft a left tackle in the first round?...
...Hit my mailbag with your thoughts. I will post some of your responses later in the week.
Sound-Off: Branden Albert's Future from ESPN
Former Buckeyes defensive backs Malcolm Jenkins, now of the New Orleans Saints, and Donald Washington, now of the Kansas City Chiefs, attended Tuesday's practice.Notes from Ohio State's Practice from ESPN
While it's extremely early in Simon's recruiting process, Buono's leap of imagination takes him back a decade or so to Marc Boerigter, a large (6-3, 220 pounds), fleet and unheralded wide receiver that the Calgary Stampeders unearthed from tiny Hastings College in Nebraska. Boerigter played two seasons for Buono in Calgary before he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent. He scored eight touchdowns in his rookie NFL season, in 2002.Buono Sold on Recruiting Benefits of YouTube from The Vancouver Sun
That confidence showed during Miami's 2010 championship season when Bruton had 10 receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown while excelling as a blocker.
Now he wants to follow in the footsteps of tight ends and former teammates Jake O'Connell and Tim Crabtree.
O'Connell was chosen in the seventh round of the 2009 draft by Kansas City and still is with the Chiefs.
Crabtree signed that same year with the Chiefs as a free agent. Four weeks into the season he was released but later signed with the Green Bay Packers and now owns a Super Bowl ring.
Daughter is Motivation for Bruton from The Dayton Daily News
Indeed, Chiefs linebacker Mike Vrabel told the Kansas City Star recently he's against players doing any unsupervised field work.
"If guys want to run and lift, that's good," said Vrabel, a member of the NFLPA executive committee. "But when you put guys on the field unsupervised ... that's like walking a tightrope without a net. The running and lifting is great, but when you get out there and start throwing and covering receivers, you're taking a lot of risk."
Team Workouts Prove Key During Lockouts from MySanAntonio.com
In essence the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation means fund raising, through National Football League efforts, to benefit battered, abused and neglected children.
Ed Block, for whom this organization is named, was a football trainer for our former Baltimore Colts. He cared about helping children.
Despite the fact the Colts left Baltimore, the organization continued. In 1987, plans were formulated with NFL Charities to help abused children at the national level...
...One member from each NFL team, selected by their teammates, receives the annual award for best exemplifying courage and sportsmanship.
The 2010 Courage Award honorees:
AFC West: Ryan Clady, Denver Broncos; Dustin Colquitt, Kansas City Chiefs; Robert Gallery, Oakland Raiders; Jeromey Clary, San Diego Chargers.
Ed Block Courage Awards Benefit Children from The Carroll County Times
Domann said the business of owning a professional football team has changed the past 10 years. To be competitive a team needs to do more than just fill the seats in the stadium.
He pointed to Arrowhead Stadium and its recent $375 million renovation.
"Why would they do that?" he asked. "Because it gives them the opportunity to increase their revenue. Clark Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, had to find a way to fund a $375 million renovation. He might have paid cash, or he might have borrowed money. The owners want to keep more money to enhance the stadiums.Greed in Play in NFL Labor Conflict from The Abilene Reflector-Chronicle