Rex, Woody visit helped seal Revis deal for Jets
Football Betting Lines
09/07/2010 -
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) - Darrelle Revis and Rex Ryan looked at each other, huddled in a conference room in Florida, and immediately knew they had the same game plan.
The New York Jets' star cornerback wanted to get back on the football field.
The brash and boisterous coach badly wanted him there.
``He was smiling like he took a trip to Disney World,'' Revis recalled Monday. ``I was smiling back because this is like a home to me, the New York Jets. It was just good to see him and work something out when we were down there to try to get me back up here.''
Revis signed a four-year deal Monday, ending a 36-day holdout that included some acrimonious moments between his agents and general manager Mike Tannenbaum. There were also plenty of doubts that the All-Pro cornerback would play this season.
Perhaps the most crucial moment of the negotiations came Saturday, when both Ryan and owner Woody Johnson flew to Revis' home in South Florida to meet with him, his mother Diana Gilbert and uncle and former NFL player Sean Gilbert to try to solve the contract impasse.
``I think that was a breakthrough, them coming down because I haven't seen them,'' Revis said. ``It was talks with my agents and Tannenbaum most of the time. I just thought when they both came down, it was a big step in this whole situation.''
Both Ryan and Johnson said the decision to visit Revis was a group idea, although agent Neil Schwartz said the coach reached out to them Friday night about setting it up.
``First off, I like to travel,'' a smiling Ryan said of how the trip came about. ``That was probably what one of the reasons was. We don't do things exactly by the books of other teams, but we do it our way. It's the New York Jet way.''
Both the Jets and Revis' agents spoke all weekend until they reached an agreement around 11 p.m. Sunday.
That was after Ryan lost his cool, a moment that's sure to be featured on the next episode of ``Hard Knocks'' on HBO. During a conference call between the Jets and Revis' agents, Ryan got frustrated at the sides not being able to seal the deal.
``I stormed out of there and was ripping everybody on both sides,'' he said. ``After I threw my little tantrum and the deal was getting done, they brought me back up.''
Added agent Jonathan Feinsod: ``He told us that he was going to go coach his football team and he was sick and tired of us.''
When cooler heads prevailed a few hours later, Revis had finally agreed to a deal.
``It was a long process,'' he said. ``It was rough on me. You know I'm a football player and I love to play the game and I'm happy it's over with. I can go play football now.''
Revis is expected to practice Tuesday and be ready to play in the season opener next Monday night at home against Baltimore.
``I do think we may play Revis, I'm not sure,'' Ryan quipped. ``I think he might need to practice for several weeks before we play him, but don't be shocked if he's out there.
``In other words, he's definitely playing.''
The Jets and Revis' agents declined to announce financial terms of the deal, but it is reportedly worth at least $46 million, including $32 million guaranteed. Revis said all along he wanted to be the highest-paid player at his position, something Feinsod said the Jets cornerback would be - without releasing terms.
``The numbers would reflect in our minds that he's being paid as the highest-paid cornerback,'' Feinsod said.
After months of waiting and wondering about his future, Revis was happy to be back on the field after flying up from Florida in the morning.
``This experience humbled me so much just because I love to play football,'' Revis said. ``At one point, it was something that was taken away, that I love to do. I've never had anything taken away from me that I love to do. So this was a point in my life where it was serious.''
As he walked toward his teammates on the practice field, a strange feeling came over him.
``I had butterflies,'' Revis said. ``I didn't know how my teammates were going to accept me because I haven't been here for a month.''
For a guy who routinely shuts down opponents' best wide receivers, the acknowledgment of insecurity was stunning. After some loud, welcoming cheers - including a ``Rudy'' clap - and good-natured ribbing, Revis knew he was finally back home.
``This process, I don't wish it on anybody,'' Revis said. ``I never thought it was going to turn out to be like this, to get a little bit crazy. But it's something I had to go through.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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With this being the final series fo
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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK
NFL Football Trash TalkTrash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.
Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.
According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).
Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.
''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.
Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.
''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''
Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.
”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.
For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.