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So, Matt Hasselbeck is now a former Seahawks quarterback. Talking Points can’t find anything better to say as a commentary to Hasselbeck than what Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelley wrote on Wednesday:
“For the past three years, under three different coaches, Hasselbeck’s time here has been weird and rocky. But his last home game, that wondrous playoff win over New Orleans, seems the perfect way for it all to end.
“On that turn-back-the-clock January afternoon, Hasselbeck threw for 272 yards and four touchdowns and he left the field with his son Henry on his shoulders, the fans’ cheers ringing in his ears and a victory smile that looked as wide as the goal posts. …. this was the best kind of goodbye.’’
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Kobe Bryant’s agents reportedly have been in contact with Besiktas, a Turkish team, about the superstar playing in Europe if the NBA season is cut short or eliminated entirely. Bryant reportedly wants $1 million a month.
Other NBA players are looking overseas, too. Some have already signed. Dwight Howard might go to China.
It’s all seen as great leverage for NBA players. The idea is that NBA players will continue to make money even if the season is cut out, and that will take pressure off of them to agree to a lesser deal.
But as Greg Couch of aol.sportingnews.com writes, true leverage comes when the mid-level and lesser players are able to get comfortable without an NBA season.
“Every U.S. sports league considers China to be the great untapped market,” Couch says. “(NBA commissioner David) Stern has always salivated about the possibilities of the NBA’s global brand, and if he has to stop a season, he’s not going to be overly upset seeing his biggest-name players promoting the NBA overseas.’’
3
Did anyone notice that English soccer superteam Manchester United whipped the Seattle Sounders by a 7-0 score in a “friendly.’’ We hate to think what might have happened if the game mattered to Manchester United.
