CS&T/AllsportsAmerica Friday Sports Update and What's your take? 04/05/2013

Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica

 

Sports Quote of the Day: 

 

"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion." ~ Mia Hamm, American female Soccer Player

 

How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blues edge Blackhawks 4-3 in shootout, however, we did get a point!!!

By MATT CARLSON (Associated Press)

Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored the deciding goal in the sixth round of the shootout and the St. Louis Blues came back for a 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

 

With the tiebreaker knotted 3-3, Shattenkirk beat Corey Crawford with a wrist shot high on the goalie's left side.

 

Chris Stewart, Andy McDonald and Alexander Steen also connected in the shootout as the Blues bounced back from a 2-1 deficit after two periods and ended a seven game (0-3-4) losing streak in Chicago dating to Feb. 3, 2010. The league-leading Blackhawks lost for only the third time this season (20-1-2) when leading after 40 minutes.

 

St. Louis' Adam Cracknell scored his first two goals of the season and David Backes added a goal early in the third period, ending a 14-game drought without scoring.

 

Chicago's Viktor Stalberg swept in a rebound of Michal Rozsival's shot with 4:31 left in regulation to tie the game at 3, force overtime and snap a personal streak of 14 games without a goal.

 

Chicago's Jonathan Toews scored his 18th goal early in the second period, then set up rookie Brandon Saad's goal 2:27 later to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead they carried into the third period.

 

Toews, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa connected for the Blackhawks in the shootout.

 

The Blues' Brian Elliott made 33 saves through overtime in his first start and second game since returning from a two-game conditioning stint in the minors.

 

Crawford stopped 19 shots through overtime in his third straight start.

 

Cracknell was recalled on Tuesday from Peoria of the AHL, and played in only his ninth game this season. He entered the contest with four goals and six assists in 34 career NHL games.

 

Elliott had a league-leading 1.56 goals-against average and a franchise record nine shutouts last season. But he entered Thursday's game with a 3.51 goals-against average, and 4-6-1 record.

 

He relieved Jaroslav Halak in the Blues' 4-1 victory at Minnesota on Monday, and stopped 19 of 20 shots to pick up his first win since Jan. 31. Halak left that game with a groin injury and is out indefinitely.

 

Hossa, one of the Blackhawks' top forwards, returned after missing six games with an upper-body injury. Forward Patrick Sharp, who led Chicago with 33 goals last season, sat out his 12th game with an injured shoulder.

 

Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester played his first game with the Blues after being acquired in a trade from Calgary on Monday. The Blues are in a tight race in the Western Conference to make the playoffs after posting 109 points last year.

 

Cracknell scored with 3:57 left in a tightly played first period.

 

His drive from 40 feet out in the slot ticked off the stick of Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook, fooled Crawford and landed in the upper right-hand corner of the net.

 

Toews fought off two St. Louis defenders to tie it on a rebound at 3:18 of the second, just 19 seconds after Chicago had killed a penalty.

 

Seabrook pinched in and fired from the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Kane. Elliott stopped that attempt, but Toews outmuscled Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo to pop in the loose puck.

 

Toews set up Saad's goal that made it 2-1 just 2:27 later.

 

After the Blues' Alexander Steen couldn't handle the puck on the right boards, Toews knocked it into corner and made a pinpoint pass across the slot to Saad at the low edge of the left circle. Saad was left uncovered and one-timed in his eighth goal.

 

Cracknell scored his second goal on a breakaway 3:30 into the third to tie it at 2.

 

After taking a pass from Shattenkirk, Cracknell sped past Chicago defensemen Duncan Keith and Rozsival and down the slot alone. He faked Crawford to the ice, then tucked a low shot between Crawford's outstretched left skate and the right post.

 

Backes scored his first goal since March 1, putting the Blues up 3-2 3:36 later after he was left open at the edge of the crease and backhanded in a rebound Bouwmeester's shot from the point.

 

Stalberg's first goal since March 1 sent it to overtime.

 

Crawford stopped Steen in close 2:04 into overtime, then the Blackhawks dominated for the next two minutes.

 

The Blues Andy McDonald had a partial breakaway, but was angled out by Keith and stopped by Crawford with 12 seconds left in overtime.

 

NOTES: New Blackhawks C Michal Handzus, acquired from San Jose on Monday, skated in his first game since the trade. He played eight games for Chicago in 2006-07 before being sidelined by a season-ending knee injury. . Elliott allowed three goals in his two games with Peoria of the AHL. . Blues forward T.J. Oshie, who was placed on IR Tuesday, missed his second game with a lower-body injury. . D Jordan Leopold played in his second game with the Blues after arriving in a weekend deal with Buffalo.

 

Mark Cuban Drafting Brittney Griner? Dallas Maverick Wants To Give Baylor Superstar A Shot.

By Cavan Sieczkowski 

   

Billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he's willing to draft college basketball superstar Brittney Griner to the National Basketball Association (NBA).

 

While speaking with ESPN, Cuban said he might draft Griner for his Dallas Mavericks if given the chance.

"If she is the best on the board, I will take her," he told ESPN before the Mavericks played the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. "I've thought about it. I've thought about it already. Would I do it?

Right now, I'd lean toward yes, just to see if she can do it. You never know unless you give somebody a chance, and it's not like the likelihood of any late-50s draft pick has a good chance of making it."

If he doesn't get to select her during the draft, he will offer her a shot to try out for Dallas' summer team. "She'd still have to make the team. I'm not going to carry her just to carry her. I don't think, anyways. But I certainly wouldn't be opposed to giving her the opportunity," he said. Adding, "That'd sell out a few games."

The offer got the attention of the 6-foot-8-inch All-American.

@Brittney4Griner
Brittney Griner

Mark Cuban may draft Brittney Griner http://t.co/FQ16Q0YPqw ... I would hold my own! Lets do it

April 3, 2013 4:32 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

Yahoo! Sports reporter Kelly Dwyer notes that there is at least one major roadblock: Griner is likely to be drafted by the Phoenix Mercury, which has first pick in the WNBA draft on April 15.

Dwyer also took issue with Cuban's proposition.

"Brittney Griner has the potential to be a franchise-leading, league-dominating superstar in the WNBA," he writes. "She’s not a gimmick to be gawked at and over-scrutinized by the collection of NBA executives and bored NBA freaks who watch the Summer League every year."

Griner's star is no doubt bright. The 22-year-old led Baylor's Lady Bears secure a 42-game winning streak in November. She has scored 3,203 points and blocked 736 shots.

If Griner does try out for the NBA, she wouldn't be the first female to do so. Ann Meyers was the first female to sign a free-agent contract with an NBA team when she signed with the Indiana Pacers in 1979, though she did not make the team and was released.

Follow Up.....Shane Battier says female player will be on NBA team 'in our lifetime'.

By Kevin Zimmerman

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban believes that Baylor Bears center Brittney Griner deserves a shot at making an NBA team, and Miami Heat forward Shane Battier might be willing to disagree. That doesn't mean he thinks there won't be a female basketball player capable of making an NBA team in the future.

Battier told ESPN's Tom Haberstroh that there's "no doubt" a female player will play in the NBA "in our lifetime":

"I don't know if it's Griner or if it's someone who is 5 years old right now," Battier said. "But we'll see it. It'll happen in our lifetime. Just the law of averages."

Such a player would have to be a quick, athlete player and not a center, according to Battier. An easy comparison would be to the Heat forward's teammate, LeBron James. Battier said that a very skilled female player would still have trouble because of the NBA game's physicality. Strength, he said, would be the most problematic issue for a female player, Griner included, to make it in the league:

"Look, I'm 6-foot-8, 220 pounds and I guard (Indiana Pacers forward) David West and (Chicago Bulls forward) Carlos Boozer," Battier told Haberstroh. "I lift weights twice a week and I think I'm strong as a 34-year-old man. And I struggle with those guys."

 

Is Brittney Griner capable of playing in the NBA? She has bigger hands and a longer wingspan than Lebron but she gives up 40 pounds to him, we would love to know, what's your take?

Maurice Clarett prepping for one more comeback, but not in the NFL.

By Jay Busbee

This article is a must read. Here's a young man that had the world by the tail, however arrogance and immaturity got the best of him. Patience and knowledge equals experience; we all know that's the best teacher. It's not too late for him to still do something good, we hope he makes it!!!

"There's no tipping point where you become what you are. Character development starts when you're growing up. Your socioeconomic background contributes. The attitude that gets you through some communities doesn't work in corporate America. It's not an excuse, but it does help explain."
– Maurice Clarett, March 29, 2013

These days, Maurice Clarett speaks in paragraphs – long, unfurling stretches of dialogue that cover multiple topics, then end as quickly as if he were dropping the ball to the turf after scoring a touchdown. Only one question trips him up: Imagine it's 2003 and you have a chance to talk to this Clarett kid who's just led his team to a national championship. What do you tell him?
 

"Oh, man," Clarett says, then pauses for a moment. "I don't know. I don't know that there's anything I could tell him. It's all a process, how you get to where you are."

And where Clarett is right now is training for a comeback, only this time it's not in the NFL, but … in rugby.

To understand how this came to be – how one of college football's most dynamic players of the last decade never played a down in the NFL – you have to know whole story.

When you're a running back, you've got three options: hit the gap, hit the tackler, or hit the ground.
 

Maurice Clarett has done all three. Once, for a brief moment, the best running back in the country, Clarett fell so hard and so fast that he virtually erased himself from the sports landscape. A National Championship, battles with both his alma mater and the NFL, a training-camp flameout, a spiral of drugs and crime that ended in a four-year prison sentence, Clarett completed the full arc of the fallen icon by the time he was 25.

Now 29, he's living in Youngstown, Ohio, and trying to atone for nearly two decades' worth of crimes, transgressions, and oversights. He's tried this before; he's said the right things before. But this time around, as month after month of good behavior piles up, he's picking up both praise and supporters as he tries to rebuild a once-promising life.

"In due time," Clarett wrote in 2010, "everyone and everything gets exposed."

He could have been speaking of himself.

Maurice Clarett touchdown in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl earned OSU a national title. (AP)
 

January 3, 2003. The Miami Hurricanes arrived in Tempe, Ariz., for the Fiesta Bowl riding a 34-game winning streak. Buoyed by future NFL players like Andre Johnson, Willis McGahee and Jonathan Vilma, the Hurricanes were a heavy favorite over Ohio State. Although undefeated, the Buckeyes under second-year coach Jim Tressel seemed untested, a potential-over-performance dynamic embodied in Clarett, their troubled-but-skilled freshman running back. Clarett was astonishingly talented, possessing a potent combination of speed, power and grace, but he was also astonishingly arrogant, openly feuding with university officials and pouting when plays didn't go his way.
 

Still, on this night, he was a difference-maker, both on offense and on defense, when he stripped Miami's Sean Taylor, who'd intercepted an Ohio State pass. The Buckeyes hung with the Hurricanes and even led by 10 points for a time in the third quarter. Following a controversial first-overtime penalty against Miami that literally cost the Hurricanes the national championship, Clarett scored the decisive touchdown on a vintage 10-yard run: broken tackle, sideways turn at the line, dive forward, score.
 

Maurice Clarett was the deciding factor in one of the most amazing games in college football history. He was 19 years old, and it would be the last meaningful game of football he'd ever play.

In the months after the national championship, trouble stuck to Clarett in a way no defender could. While at Ohio State, his name surfaced in connection with an academic fraud scandal. He was suspended from the team in 2003 for lying to investigators in connection with 14 violations of ethical conduct and two violations of preferential treatment because he was an athlete. He'd filed a false police report concerning items allegedly stolen from a vehicle in his possession. He tried to enter the 2004 draft via court order, circumventing the NFL's usual rule mandating draftees wait three years after their high school graduation.

At workouts in advance of the 2004 draft, Clarett was clearly out of shape and ill-prepared; a court order making him eligible for that draft was overturned in a judgment written by future Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor. So Clarett turned his eyes to 2005.

The 2005 combine provided Clarett with the forum to unveil one of football's all-time great quotes: "It's a humbling thing, being humble." But it was what he said at another point in that press conference that resonates:

"I just had to take a look at myself from outside myself," Clarett said. "When I looked at myself, sometimes I kind of looked like a joke. I guess it was part of growing up and becoming who I am today. I did some things I shouldn't have done. I might have said some things to the media I shouldn't have said. I take responsibility for all of those things and I'm just ready to move forward."

It sounded so good, until 18 months later, when it sounded so hollow.

Mike Shanahan and the Denver Broncos stunned the football world when they used a third-round pick on Clarett in 2005. But he lasted barely four months, not even seeing a single preseason snap before getting cut. In Denver, he did little to endear himself to his teammates or the media; several players believed he exaggerated the severity of his injuries during the few weeks he was in training camp.  

Maurice Clarett spent 3 1/2 years in prison after his arrest in 2006. (AP)

Clarett made the unfortunate decision to pass up more than $400,000 in signing bonus money from Denver in return for a performance-based contract; his four-year incentive-laden deal rendered him toxic to other teams.

Out of football, out of options, he spiraled downward. "I was popping pills and getting paranoid," he would tell a later coach. "I was robbing everyone I knew." In January 2006, he allegedly robbed a Columbus couple at gunpoint; the man pressed charges. After trying to persuade the victims to drop the case, Clarett made the worst decision in a lifetime of them.

As he would later tell it, he got into his car wearing Kevlar armor, packing three handguns and a loaded assault rifle. Swigging Grey Goose vodka, he missed the turn off the freeway that would have taken him to the man's house. Getting off at the next exit, he made an illegal U-turn. A cop spotted him, pulled him over and Maced him into submission.

Clarett had taken the hardest hit of his life. And this time, he wouldn't be getting up for a long, long time.

September 18, 2006. Clarett pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and carrying a concealed weapon. He was sent to prison for a minimum of three and a half years. Had he stayed at Ohio State a full four years, he almost surely would have played his second game in the NFL the day before.

In prison, Clarett turned to the written word. He claims to have read over 150 books, ranging from philosophy to practical financial advice. He created a blog, "The Mind of Maurice Clarett," an attempt to both craft a new public image and sort through the contradictions inherent in his life by dictating his thoughts over the phone to his girlfriend. A sample:

"A splash of class with a body full of attitude. Some say I'm arrogant and rude at times and others say I'm kind, humble, and thoughtful. My daughter says she loves me and some people I've never met say they hate me. Not through their mouth, though, only through body language and computer screens. I would like to call present-day Maurice ambitious and straight forward, driven and serious, loving and respectful."

He was released in April 2010. Later that year, he scored a contract with the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League. It wasn't marquee football; it wasn't within two states of marquee football. As he'd put it later, he made more money playing at Ohio State than he did in the UFL. Still, it gave him a foothold, a year to regain some competitive balance. And, according to his 2011 coach Joe Moglia, Clarett did everything he could to prove he was a changed man.

"He moved his family from Youngstown [Ohio] to Omaha, Nebraska," Moglia says. "He'd had bad judgment, but he worked very hard to change his life for himself and his family."

 

Maurice Clarett gets some words of advice from Warren Buffett. (Facebook)

Clarett only carried the ball a handful of times in his two seasons as a Nighthawk; his body simply wasn't in football shape. With younger and more viable options available, no team in the UFL wanted Clarett in 2012.

Still, he'd learned much during his time in Omaha, including a fateful three-hour meeting with Warren Buffett. The legendary investor talked with Clarett about discipline, focus and clear-eyed analysis, both of investments and of one's own life. So far, the lessons have stuck.

But investments don't scratch the competitive itch.

Earlier this year, right out of the Twitter-colored baby blue, someone contacted Clarett via a tweet suggesting he give rugby a shot. Clarett recalled a contact with Paul Holmes, a Columbus-based coach and former rugby player, who'd reached out to Clarett immediately after his release from prison two years earlier. Clarett got in touch with Holmes, who now runs the Tiger Rugby Academy, and inquired about playing.

Playing rugby with a traveling club – that's where Maurice Clarett's story is right now, and it might just be the best thing that's happened to him in a long time.

Tiger Rugby is a traveling club, a team that trains in Columbus but plays against some of the best squads in the world. It's high-level training, the kind of work that could lead to a berth on the U.S. Olympic squad in 2016. The club's motto is, "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be," and that's exactly the kind of performance-based motivation that Clarett craves.

But why rugby?

In part because it's there, and in part because Clarett might be uniquely positioned to impact the sport. Imagine football without downs or pads and you're getting a sense of what rugby is like. Rugby sevens, where only seven men to a side cover an entire field in the space of two seven-minute halves, is an intense, exhausting whirl of motion. Players can run more than two miles in the course of a single game.

"There's so much movement, it's so aggressive," Clarett says. "You've got to think about offense, defense, you've got to make sure nobody beats you around the edge. … It's got a basketball component in that way. It's humbling."

At one of the earliest practices, Clarett realized what he was up against when he spotted an older player who clearly didn't possess the physical gifts of many of his opponents. But with a knowledge of the game, an understanding of which angles to play, the older player absolutely smoked his competition. For a guy who made his name running over the best in the country, the idea of running around trouble intrigued Clarett. He still has next-level physical instincts, if not necessarily the gifts to implement them.

"Physically, he's strong, he's fast, he's tough, he has an impressive skill set," Moglia says. "I think he has a great chance to contribute."

"His conditioning is not where it needs to be for rugby, but he gets the game," adds Holmes. "He grasps it more than most, faster than most who come over from other sports. He's spent a lot of time watching on YouTube. For now, it's just a matter of getting playing time and getting exposure."

Tiger Rugby is a rigorous, all-day commitment. Workouts begin at 10 a.m., with field work, passing, kicking, and footwork coming around midday. The teams break into specializations later, and then watch tape and work on plays as a group. Holmes is taking Clarett's participation seriously, and won't put him into competition before he's ready. Holmes anticipates Clarett's first serious on-field action should come in late May.

"I'm like a kid again," Clarett says. "It's fun for me to compete again, to have conversations with guys about competing again."

Ten years after his last moment in the spotlight, Clarett is trying to mend fences, even at Ohio State. His scandal there is neither the most recent nor the worst – at Ohio State or in college football as a whole. And the passage of time has turned open wounds into scars with stories; he was invited to join the rest of the 2002 team on the field this past November as Ohio State beat Michigan.

"All that you go through is necessary to make you who you are," he says. "Mike Tyson has all these stories that help more people to learn from what you've done wrong."

Moglia says a man is someone who stands on his own two feet and lives with the consequences of what he's done. "What Maurice has gone through has changed him," he says. "He wants to build a new life for himself, for his family. He's better educated, more knowledgeable, more devout. … He's paid the price he needed to pay."

No, Maurice Clarett isn't finished trying to come back. The odds against him are long, and, having burned so many bridges, the list of people willing to give him a shot is short.

He's 29 – a fresher 29 than he'd be with four years of football experience, but still 29, trying to hang in a field where 29 is middle-aged. Still, what choice does he have?

"Please remember that weak minds produce weak thoughts and weak thoughts produce weak action," he wrote in 2010. "Weak actions produce weak lives and weak lives cause a lot of heartache, headaches, stress, depression, and anxiety."

Yes, he's talked this kind of talk before. Still, the slate's wiped clean. The score's even. He's got the ball in his hands again. And it's up to Maurice Clarett to make the next move.

Tiger Woods still thinks he can win 20 majors.

By Shane Bacon

Here are the simple facts about Tiger Woods at major championships; the guy has 14 major wins, second most all-time, and four behind Jack Nicklaus' incredible total of 18. He has won four straight majors, and two in one season four times. But since 2008 Tiger has won exactly zero majors, coming the closest at the '09 PGA Championship but finishing in the top-10 only once a season ago at the big four.

But that was then, and this is a different Tiger Woods, a man with three PGA Tour wins already in 2013 and six wins in the last year on tour (not to mention world No. 1 again). They might not have been majors, but Woods has learned how to win again and thinks that he can't just break Nicklaus' record of 18 major wins, but shatter it.

In the latest Sports Illustrated issue with Woods on the cover, Michael Rosenberg caught up with some of the people closest to Tiger (Woods declined an interview with the magazine) and the most telling quote came from his old Stanford teammate and current Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay III.

"He is focused on 20," Begay said. "That may be a little hard to believe, considering what's transpired in the last three years, but that's where his focus is. He thinks he is capable of winning 20 majors."

It's an interesting concept to think that Woods thinks he can win six more majors at the age of 37, but remember, this is a guy that used to pin Nicklaus' major record to his wall as a kid, so he obviously isn't scared to shoot for the stars.

The big question is where do they come from? Tiger can definitely win at Augusta National, but he hasn't since 2005 and would definitely need to put together a solid putting round there over the next few seasons to give himself a chance. Merion, the site of this year's U.S. Open, looks like a lay-up for Tiger if, again, he is putting well and then he has St. Andrews in 2015 and 2020 (most likely) which always looks good for a man that dominated that course the first two times he played it in majors (he struggled in 2010 at the Old Course during the height of his swing problems).

That's four there, but really, how can we predict this stuff? When Woods won that U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on one leg it looked like he might win 30 majors before it was all said and done, but as the old saying goes, you've gotta believe, and at least for Tiger that has never been a problem.

Next week will be a huge tell in his quest to get to 20. If he snags his fifth green jacket at Augusta National this season, the flood gates could open and things could get very interested for Tiger and that Nicklaus record that seemed all but safe a season ago.

NFL mandating cameras in locker rooms for fans in stadiums only.

Associated Press
 

The NFL has ordered all teams to have cameras in their locker rooms next season, with video shown only on stadium scoreboards.

Commissioner Roger Goodell long has sought ways of "enhancing the fan experience in our stadiums," and this is the latest attempt to do so. The videos will be available on team apps as well.

Each team will operate the cameras and will determine what is shown on the video boards and apps. The Cowboys already have been making such videos available to fans.

NFL vice president of business operations Eric Grubman said last summer that cameras in locker rooms, tunnels beneath the stadium and coaches' facilities were coming. They have arrived, with the league mandating them rather than allowing teams to decide whether to use them.

DeMaurice Smith asks agents for help in trying to prove collusion amongst NFL teams.
 

By Jason Cole

 

NFL union leader DeMaurice Smith is asking NFL player agents to report any hint of suspected collusion among teams to keep salaries down during free agency, according to a memo from the NFLPA's executive director.

 

Numerous agents have privately complained about the slow pace of signings for veteran free agent players and the associated low salaries for those players. Only one player, Miami wide receiver Mike Wallace, has received a contract in excess of $10 million per year as a free agent.

 

Furthermore, many free agent players have signed one-year deals in hopes of hitting free agency again next season because the market has been so poor. That has led agents to suggest that collusion has occurred among teams.

 

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello dismissed the notion.

 

"Player signings in 2013 have been characterized by robust spending and intense competition. Anyone seeing collusion in this market is seeing ghosts," Aiello said via email.

 

To support his claims, Smith said the union would work to provide the most up-to-the-minute information for agents as players look for jobs.

 

"As you know, we are well into free agency and in the effort to provide players and contract advisors with the most accurate and updated information, we want to remind you that every agent has access to the team cap figures on the password-protected portion of www.nflplayers.com," Smith wrote in the memo.

 

"In the effort to increase the information available and to provide timely team salary cap information, we will post the most recent figures, as per our calculations, daily at 8 a.m., noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. eastern on http://nflplayers.com/cap.
 

"We have heard anecdotally that some teams are inaccurately reporting that they are facing salary-cap restrictions on resigning veteran players. While this is a common allegation and teams are free to make their own determinations on signing players, we provide this information to aid you in accurately evaluating each team's actual salary cap room."

 

"Finally, we have heard reports of a concern that teams are working in concert to 'peg,' 'rig' or 'set' market prices on player contracts. If you believe or have information that the teams have been colluding during this free agency period, you have a responsibility as an agent of the NFLPA to come forward and share that information with us."

 

Claims of collusion could be extremely serious, although the NFL has skirted such potential issues recently. In 2011, when the league was supposed to be in an "uncapped" year for the collective-bargaining agreement, teams set an artificial spending limit of $120 million in salary cap accounting. Washington and Dallas were subsequently punished for exceeding the cap on spending as the league claimed they changed the way certain money was accounted for.

 

In 2012, the NFLPA signed off on those penalties against Washington and Dallas so that the salary cap could be $120 million that season. The cap was increased to $123 million in 2013.

 

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