SB Nation's weekend was a busy one. On Sunday, the company launched regional hubs for respective cities, such as Chicago, Boston, DC, Detroit, Arizona and New York with scheduled launches for Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minnesota, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and the Bay Area (Oakland, San Francisco). The New York Times covered the launch. SB Nation's Jim Bankoff announces the launch on SBNation.com. It's very exciting.
Before you ask, no, Cincinnati isn't one the list yet. Even though we have a decent connection to college sports, Cincinnati only has two professional sports covered in the major sports categories. I'm sure in time we'll get something rolling; but for now, we're with the status quo.
+ Shayne Graham likely wanted more money, according to Joe Reedy, and the relationship between player and team "went south" after Graham was hit with the franchise tag.
The benchmark that Graham was looking at was the contract signed by Oakland’s Shane Lechler, who avoided being tagged when he signed a four-year, $16 million contract to make him the top paid kicker/punter in the league. Based on his percentage of field goal accuracy, Graham and his agent, Rob Roche, were looking at that deal and St. Louis’ Josh Brown. Both believed that Graham should be one of the top two paid kickers in the league.
The Bengals did not see it that way, but still had a fair deal. Their last offer would have made Graham one of the top five paid kicker/punter in the NFL and would have been similar to Chicago’s Robbie Gould’s, which averages around $3 million a year. It also would have been more than the $2.483 million Graham earned last year. It was a proposal that Graham did not like, calling it “a discount” to friends.
+ With Bengals games included, the annual combined economic impact of attractions in and around Cincinnati nears $1.1 billion.
+ Would you take a chance on 10-year veteran Adalius Thomas, who is still a free agent?
+ Don Banks remembers two plays during non-replay eras that helped usher in two ages of instant replay reviews.