Shohei has homers in 5 straight games.

One week from the MLB Trade Deadline.

The PGA Tour is very much BACK after it’s quick trip through Europe. Players will be tested at *checks notes* the 3M Open (TPC Twin Cities). Just can’t quit the TPC.

Dame Lilliard rented Jrue Holiday’s old Milwaukee house for the last two years and frequently couldn’t get the wifi to work. Now they’re teammates in Portland. SPICY.

Roger Goodell is a media wizard and he has to laughing his way all the way to the bank this week watching the Player’s Union implode. In my world view, Mr. Goodell lives in a bank so he never has to laugh too long. This week’s resignation of NFLPA Executive Director, Lloyd Howell, Jr. is the PERFECT cover for what the League originally got itself in hot water for. No better way to cover your mess than with a steaming bag of Diarrhea soup from your rival. Fortunately for you, KMARK can look past the stank and spoon you the real story.

Think back to 2023. At this point, Lamar Jackson is an MVP, a franchise icon, and only 26 years old. His contract expires and he’s immediately slapped with the non-exclusive franchise tag. Players rarely receive this designation, and it means they’re allowed to negotiate with every team in the league. If they sign an offer sheet, and the Ravens declined to match, the Ravens would receive two first round picks. The key point is that Jackson was a 26yr old franchise QB who could freely speak with every team in the league. The same league that falls over themselves to land a reliable quarterback.

Jackson had just watched his peer Deshaun Watson sign for 5yrs/$230m in 2022. Jackson (minus the dozens of sexual assault lawsuits that Watson has) was looking for an even larger deal. Why wouldn’t he? Watson’s deal was the first 100% guaranteed contract in football. It’s been an absolute disaster since the minute he signed and one the league would like to forget. When Jackson (who represents himself) canvassed the league, he could find no such teams willing to provide a guaranteed contract. How? Why? Sure, the two first round picks a team would have to surrender are a cost to the acquirer, but the Browns had just traded 3 for Watson. Sure, the Ravens could always match an offer sheet and retain Jackson, but why wouldn’t another team at least be curious if he’d sign with them? Where was Jackson’s deal?

It didn’t take long for the mumblin and the grumblin to leak from other Owners at Watson’s guaranteed contract. Jimmy Haslam (now a co-owner of the Bucks) had broken a sacrosanct rule with the Kingdom of Owners. Giving an entirely guaranteed deal was crime 1. Giving it to Deshaun Watson was unforgivable. That summer (2022), at the league’s owner meetings, Roger Goodell signed off on a presentation from the league’s compensation council. Within the presentation to all the league’s Big Bosses, was a recommendation on limiting player compensation by way of reducing guaranteed payments. HMMMMM? Loud HMMMMM from the back? So…whether or not everyone agreed, at least everyone heard (direct from the league) that guaranteed deals should be a no-no? Hmmm. Perhaps that’s where Jackson’s market evaporated.

How does this get back to the Player’s Union? Well, it didn’t take long for the Player’s to file a collusion lawsuit. The Union actually filed in October 2022 (before Jackson hit the market). They’d seen teams brisk at negotiating extensions with Jackson (and Kyler Murray) and sought to get a jump on the collusion before those players were negotiating ahead of the 2023 season. While the lawsuit was a noble effort, it’s conclusion was anything but.

Demaurice Smith filed the lawsuit but his successor Lloyd Howell, Jr. would be the one to settle it. Howell cut a deal with the NFL to seal the findings from the suit and hide its details from the players. When the details leaked, players were furious. They had every right to know the legal findings of the league and association’s most important lawsuit in decades. Howell sought to keep it from his constituents. Porque why?

The players actually lost the judgement. An arbiter deemed the evidence inconclusive. That doesn’t mean either side wouldn’t want to see the details of what was presented.

What’s happened since? Well, the details leaked. By whom? Can’t say. Pablo Torre broke the story on his podcast. What else? Howell’s trips to the strip club on the Union’s dime conveniently emerged from an audit. He promptly resigned. His right hand man? J.C. Trotter. Also resigned amongst player outroar.

If I was Roger Goodell, and I had strip club dirt on my adversary (Howell), and I knew he was hiding lawsuit findings from his players, would I perhaps slip the lawsuit details to the media? Would I? Sure, sure, it shines light on some minor collusion, but the players are already mad about that. Maybe give them a new boogeyman to vilify. KMARK thinks Goodell in his infinite PR wisdom has pulled it off again. He’s axed two heads from the Union before the next round of CBA negotiations. As for the players, don’t expect fully guaranteed contracts any time soon.