Crabtree is really going through with this, isn't he? Sitting out the entire season. I thought it was just a negotiating tactic. Wow.

Will be at the game tomorrow, cardinals can suck it

I'm sure most communists agree with you.

Yeah, obv the libertarians hate that because it doesn't promote the free markets ldo.

But really, in the NBA, the biggest offseason story is "zomg Ricky Rubio is holding out on the T-Wolves." When's the last time anybody complained about rookies not getting paid enough? If you get picked high, you get paid (Blake Griffin is gonna make $5 mil this year). If you perform, you get paid (Gilbert Arenas: 2nd round draft pick, gonna make almost $100 million over the next 5 years).

Actually libertarians wouldn't have any problem with the NFL instituting a rookie pay scale. The league can institute its own policies, and if the players don't like the way the NFL does things they could play in Canada or whatever. Which doesn't sound like such a great alternative but if the NFL managed to alienate enough players they would provide a nice opportunity for another football league that was more player friendly to compete with the NFL. The only time libertarians object to this sort of thing is when the government tries to dictate policies to businesses, but if the NFL itself decides to do it, that's legitimate (unless it violates the terms of the NFL's arrangement with individual teams, but I don't know the details of that).

This game right here is proving my fears... the Niners D is awesome, but they are going to get tired late in games if the offense can't sustain any drives. The D line looks worn out right now. They got a little spark after the Singletary timeout, but the offense has to help them out.

has anyone seen vernon davis? i dont think he made the game today

Well, he got rocked earlier, but there you go... comes up with a big 1st down.

Now he comes up with a big drop... awesome.

lets keep this drive going...7 here will be huge. get the D some rest too

vernon showing up big

don't need no stinking crabtree...i can't believe this holdout though, ****ing tard.

Nice win... the offense was able to give the D a bit of rest, and then the D comes through huge! Good way to start!

defense played very well. willis is a monster ldo. haralson slowed down in the second half but was getting a ton of pressure in the first. also i'm very impressed with spencer, they had him on fitz a bunch and he did very well. niners secondary is sick.

the offense, um, yeah i'll just pretend they don't exist

nice, win....win some more....

passing game was bad, rushing game was horribad.

Passing game was pretty decent as long as it wasn't 3rd and 12 and/or Hill didn't have three d-lineman pawing at him.

Jimmy Raye looks like he wants to turn the clock back 40 years on the offense. Maybe they should put Chan Gailey on ice in case of emergency. His scheme was just primitive and lacking in any sort of flexibility

I don't know what happened to the O-line, but it can't help to have your offensive coordinator declare that you're going to "run 60% of the time and stay with the run." The Niners made no real adjustment to the Cards' run blitzes until the score forced the issue. When Hill was able to throw on the early downs things loosened up a lot more than when they went with the telegraphed first down runs.

Not that Hill is a great runner but it looked like there were some epic opportunities for some naked bootlegs as the game wore on.

I don't get the new fangled Vernon Davis honeymoon. Still seems like a glorified Rickey Dudley. Mystifying that he is a captain. Let him do something first.

Was a fun game to be at, great atmosphere. No sort of offense in the game from any team, just all around slop fest. Will take a win tho, nice way to start the season

lol @ "If you perform, you get paid."

Yeah, many, many years later after enduring physical abuse for 82+ games a year.

What exactly is wrong with players having SOME power over owners? Do you prefer the owners to have all the power and set salaries and make profits however they wish? What's the big deal with giving the player some leverage? He is, after all, the reason we go see games - not because the owner is a good guy or whatever.

What a convincing argument you make! Woe is LeBron, it took all of three entire seasons before he started making 7 figures (well, if you don't count his endorsement deals which made him richer than God the second he graduated high school).

Players have plenty of power over owners, after they've actually played some games in the NBA.

Looks like we got f-ed. I hope crab *****. Anyone this dumb deserves to rot.

Also kyleb, players don't have any strength against the owners because the NFL is a collective and approved monopoly. He can't go anywhere and make even close to the same amount of money. Owners have a huge edge with respect to this. Crab is ******ed, after this year do you think any team would think to draft him higher in the draft next year? He is likely to get drafted in the late first, maybe even 2nd round. He is going to get less money. If he expects some team to draft him late and then try to overpay him. He's as dumb as a brick. I don't know who his agent is and what horrible info he is giving him, but this is one of the dumber holdouts in NFL history. They are giving him what he deserves at that spot. 27 million over 5 years is a pretty damn good contract. If he wants to hold out for less next year, then he can burn in hell.

i don't really disagree with you, but "omg the nfl has to do something about these rookie contracts they haven't proven anything!!!!" is the new "omg the mlb has to something about steroids all the records are falling!!!". you're not going to convince anyone.

also in this particular case capone is correct. regardless of how you feel about rookie contracts or nfl contracts in general, crabtree is pretty clearly ****ing himself in this situation.

Oh, I think Crabtree is an idiot. Sorry if I gave an impression otherwise.

Yeah, I don't expect anything to actually change. I assume it's part of the CBA, right? And players would never agree to limiting the amount of money their successors can make after getting drafted.