New Sports Illustrated column: Ed O'Bannon wants to include Current Players in massive class action v. NCAA

As Warren Zola discussed earlier this morning, Ed O'Bannon's class action lawsuit against the NCAA could grow dramatically. O'Bannon has asked a federal judge to expand the purported class to include current D-I football and men's basketball players. Through a trust, these players would be paid, in all likelihood thousands of dollars. Put more bluntly, college players would be paid. You heard that right.

I have a column for Sports Illustrated on this and what it means for college sports. Hope you have a chance to check it out.

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Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

I have watched none of the convention. Everything I have gotten from it has come from NPR during my morning and evening commutes. From what I have heard, Clint Eastwood is succumbing to senility, and Romney is sounding Reaganesque when he asks the nation if it is better off now than it was four years ago. The untold story is how Ron Paul was snubbed. They can let some crazy guy like Eastwood speak but not Ron Paul. Amazing. Meanwhile, anything Romney says is so much bullshit because the guy is virtually identical to Obama.

It will be fun to watch what the Democrats do. Bullshit or not, Obama is doomed this November. It is the economy, stupid. I know that I am not better off now than I was four years ago except for that whole getting married thing.

2. CHEMEX

My brother-in-law sent us a Chemex coffeemaker as a wedding gift. I was a skeptic considering it nothing more than a Mister Coffee for coffee snobs. But I started using it, and I must say that I am simply amazed. It is the best coffee I have ever had. It even works on cheap coffee from Walmart. It removes all the bitterness from the coffee. I am currently drinking some sludge from my old Mister Coffee, and it is nasty as hell. That same brand made through the Chemex is like coffee heaven. Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

The only drawback to the Chemex is that it is not as convenient as a regular coffeemaker. It takes time to heat water and prepare the coffee. As such, I still do the Mister Coffee for when I need a quick fix of caffeine before work. The Chemex is the preferred choice for my evening coffee when I have the time to make it properly.

3. MORMONISM

The wife is on a bit of crusade against Mormonism as they are certain to ride Mitt Romney's presidency to greater popularity. Mormons are not Christians. You won't even find a cross in their churches. Instead, they are a crackpot murderous cult that was the brainchild of an adulterous con artist from the 19th century. Imagine Scientology with a hundred year head start. All of the good things you hear about Mormons come mostly from the LDS PR department, and they have scrubbed their church a bit for the sake of Utah statehood and for winning converts. But this is a church that literally teaches its members to "lie for the Lord." This may explain Mitt Romney's slippery hold on the truth.

If the Catholic Church is the most brutally honest church out there, then the Mormon church is the mirror opposite. Mitt Romney may portray himself as a "person of faith," but this designation applies just as equally to a member of a satanic death cult. Neither evangelicals nor Catholics should be fooled into believing Mormonism is legit. It isn't. This video gets it right:

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NCAA....it's Your Move.

With one strategic maneuver, the plaintiffs in the O'Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit have placed the debate of paying college athletes front and center. Filed in 2009, the suit initially sought damages under antitrust law, claiming that the NCAA and EA Sports conspired to pay student-athletes nothing for the use of the name and likeness in video games.

This past Friday, as the sports world prepared for the start of another exciting college football season, the attorneys for O'Bannon and other plaintiffs, sought to have their case certified as a class action. Additionally, based on information they have obtained during discovery, the plaintiffs now contend that the money derived from television, video games and other products that use athletes' names, images and likenesses be shared with players.

The lawyers "do not seek compensation to be paid to current student-athletes while they maintain their eligibility" but rather "that monies generated by the licensing and sale of class members' names, images and likenesses can be held in trust" until their college careers are over.

Make no mistake, the reverberations of this strategy in the United States District Court in California could radically alter college athletics forever.

[With news this big, I am certain that there will be detailed and thoughtful analyses coming soon from others....perhaps from "our own" Michael McCann....]

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Card Show Breaks: Pinnacle Inside 97, Upper Deck Holo GR Fx 99 and 98 Fleer Tradition Football

Along with the great singles I bought..I found some 50 cent packs. Here is a break of 13 cans of Pinnacle Inside Football, 1 pack each of Upper Deck Holo GR fx 99 and 98 Fleer Tradition Football.

Loved the design on some of these

Big Odds of landing this..1:63

Worth $30!!

Upper Deck Holo GR Fx break 99:

 

Never realized that this Fleer Tradition was 98 til after opening it..I landed a top picks rookie..too bad it wasn't the first overall pick and instead was the 2nd..Ryan Leaf...

Overall, not bad looking cards. I was and still am a huge fan of the "cards in a can".

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Flashback Product: 1968 Topps Display Box

 

This is just, thats right just the display box...and it alone is going for around $100. Incredible!

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Next Week!!!

*New Contest-hopefully NFL POD Contest!

*Contest winner announced!!

*More contests if we can beat our best daily view score

*More card show breaks

*Flashback Product

*Our playoff predictions and a story on our thoughts about a NFL Franchise in L.A.

*Favorite Card Thursday...if you want to join in email us a pic and why to sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com

*Card product previews

*And you never know what else we will do here from your favorite source of Sports and Sport Cards...Sport Card Collectors!!

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