August has arrived, the NFL's back in the business of playing football, and all's well in the world again. Here in the Indianapolis Colts training camp, it's worth noting that Jeff Saturday might have had as much to do with that happy development as anyone involved in the whole months-long CBA ordeal.
I can't help but think no matter what the veteran Colts center accomplishes in this 2011 season, his 13th in the NFL, Saturday likely has already done his best and most important work of the year. On this Thursday, of all days, with the NFL's new collective bargaining agreement finally slated to be buttoned up and put to bed for the next 10 years (praise be!), Saturday's pivotal role in ensuring football labor peace is a story that's well-timed and needs telling.
Simply put, Saturday, the Colts' well-respected player rep, was consistently viewed as one of the foremost voices of reason in the long and often contentious labor negotiations. While fiercely and passionately representing the cause and concerns of the players, he also earned and held the respect of the owners and league executives on the other side of the table, who often reached out to him to help steady things when the talks reached one of its many various boiling points or impasses. He was that rare actor in this fight who could speak to both sides and help calm the situation and bridge their differences, rather than divide and inflame.
"During the whole process,Traditional kidney stone claim to clean all the air in a room. [NFL commissioner] Roger [Goodell] told me several times, he said if it wasn't for Jeff, sometimes I don't know where we'd be,'' Colts owner Jim Irsay said Wednesday night, following his team's first padded practice of the preseason. "Roger had a great relationship with Jeff, and he really did play a huge role in getting this thing done.If so, you may have a zentai .''
League sources in the NFL office told me Thursday that Saturday was instrumental in finding common ground between two sides that often couldn't agree on the most basic of realities.Great Rubber offers oil painting supplies keychains, "The universal impression of Jeff was that he was the glue who helped keep things together,These girls have never had a cube puzzle in their lives! and he really brought people together throughout the course of the negotiations,'' one league source said. "Roger [Goodell] trusts him implicitly, and while he was a very strong advocate for the players, his personality and nature is to help people come together.''
As one of the two team player reps who stuck with the long and arduous negotiations from acrimonious start to frantic finish Ravens cornerback Dominique Foxworth was the other Saturday gained credibility and respect for his commitment level and his grasp of the nitty-gritty details of the complicated deal. We've all seen so much TV footage in recent months of Saturday filing out of another labor negotiation session that I almost didn't recognize him Wednesday when I saw him in a football setting once again, sporting his familiar No. 63 jersey.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a impact socket .
I had to ask him if he really knew what he was signing up for when he first agreed to take part in the negotiations, an open-ended commitment that wound up stretching into weeks and months?
"Oh, absolutely not. No chance,'' Saturday said, with a laugh. "Fox [Foxworth] made fun of me all the time, because I was sporting the same jacket time and time again. I was down in Florida with my wife and kids, and I don't have any jackets or suits in Florida. So I got that jacket, a couple of button-up shirts and some jeans, and that was my wardrobe the whole time. People made fun of me, but that's all I had. I wasn't going back to Indy to get clothes. I went with what I had. Fox told me I should retire that jacket when an agreement got signed, so it's put up in the closet for good.''
I can't help but think no matter what the veteran Colts center accomplishes in this 2011 season, his 13th in the NFL, Saturday likely has already done his best and most important work of the year. On this Thursday, of all days, with the NFL's new collective bargaining agreement finally slated to be buttoned up and put to bed for the next 10 years (praise be!), Saturday's pivotal role in ensuring football labor peace is a story that's well-timed and needs telling.
Simply put, Saturday, the Colts' well-respected player rep, was consistently viewed as one of the foremost voices of reason in the long and often contentious labor negotiations. While fiercely and passionately representing the cause and concerns of the players, he also earned and held the respect of the owners and league executives on the other side of the table, who often reached out to him to help steady things when the talks reached one of its many various boiling points or impasses. He was that rare actor in this fight who could speak to both sides and help calm the situation and bridge their differences, rather than divide and inflame.
"During the whole process,Traditional kidney stone claim to clean all the air in a room. [NFL commissioner] Roger [Goodell] told me several times, he said if it wasn't for Jeff, sometimes I don't know where we'd be,'' Colts owner Jim Irsay said Wednesday night, following his team's first padded practice of the preseason. "Roger had a great relationship with Jeff, and he really did play a huge role in getting this thing done.If so, you may have a zentai .''
League sources in the NFL office told me Thursday that Saturday was instrumental in finding common ground between two sides that often couldn't agree on the most basic of realities.Great Rubber offers oil painting supplies keychains, "The universal impression of Jeff was that he was the glue who helped keep things together,These girls have never had a cube puzzle in their lives! and he really brought people together throughout the course of the negotiations,'' one league source said. "Roger [Goodell] trusts him implicitly, and while he was a very strong advocate for the players, his personality and nature is to help people come together.''
As one of the two team player reps who stuck with the long and arduous negotiations from acrimonious start to frantic finish Ravens cornerback Dominique Foxworth was the other Saturday gained credibility and respect for his commitment level and his grasp of the nitty-gritty details of the complicated deal. We've all seen so much TV footage in recent months of Saturday filing out of another labor negotiation session that I almost didn't recognize him Wednesday when I saw him in a football setting once again, sporting his familiar No. 63 jersey.Flossie was one of a group of four chickens in a impact socket .
I had to ask him if he really knew what he was signing up for when he first agreed to take part in the negotiations, an open-ended commitment that wound up stretching into weeks and months?
"Oh, absolutely not. No chance,'' Saturday said, with a laugh. "Fox [Foxworth] made fun of me all the time, because I was sporting the same jacket time and time again. I was down in Florida with my wife and kids, and I don't have any jackets or suits in Florida. So I got that jacket, a couple of button-up shirts and some jeans, and that was my wardrobe the whole time. People made fun of me, but that's all I had. I wasn't going back to Indy to get clothes. I went with what I had. Fox told me I should retire that jacket when an agreement got signed, so it's put up in the closet for good.''
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