Thread: Bears' Wootton comments on NFL offseason

<H1>Bears' Idonije: 'When lights turn back on, we'll be ready'

vid:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...0,555281.story
</H1>


Chicago Bears defensive end Israel Idonije says he is confident a collective bargaining agreement will be reached this summer or early fall, and his team will be prepared.

Asked about his level of concern that an agreement has not yet been achieved, Idonije replied:

“Zero. It’s business. Welcome to sports, welcome to the NFL. You’d hope it would be easy. Just in the business world, when there’s negotiations, always there is a back and forth. It always takes time. That’s just how it is. It’s business. At the end of the day, when it all settles, we’re all on the same team. It’s going to be owners and players working together to grow the game like we always have.”

Idonije said he and his Bears teammates have been apprised of labor developments throughout the lockout by player rep Robbie Gould.

“One thing is for sure, definitely this whole lockout will end,” said Idonije, who led Cubs fans during the seventh-inning stretch Tuesday night . “And when it ends, you have got to be ready. So for me, it’s business as usual.”

Idonije and Julius Peppers tied for the team lead in quarterback sacks last season with eight.
Asked about his current off-season activities, Idonije said: “Everything you do when there is no lockout. You know, work out, lift, run … nothing has changed. This is going into my ninth season. I have a good routine. So it is important that guys who have that routine get with the young guys -- the first-year guys and rookies -- and help those guys understand what they have got to do for the season. Really, it’s business as usual.

"To this point, nothing has been lost. We’re fortunate in Chicago. We play the same system, same coaches, same group of guys. So when the lights turn back on, we’ll be ready.”

I like Izzy's thoughts about the lockout and labor strife. It's business and not personal. If all of the players would simply put it in that perspective there may be less animosity between the parties. Two things did standout to me though.

1) He says that Robbie Gould has been keeping them apprised of developments throughout the lockout. That tells me that to info on the owners proposal has been relayed to the players or is available on request. If that agent hasn't gotten it then maybe the players have been asked very specifcally not to disseminate that info to anyone else.

2) His contention that an agreement on a new CBA may not be reached until fall tells me that at least some players are prepared to deal with a much longer delay in that agreement that any of us would like to see. Actually, I'd have to agree. Whatever they accept they're gonna have to live with for the next 10 years so it's not just their future that they're dealing with. It's the future of every player who gets drafted or play in the NFL for a decade or more.

Originally Posted by dabears54

think you are reaching there soul- it could just mean robbie said 'things are ongoing".. nothing about what the offer's specific details were. And i 'hope" the players are making sure they are financially set, but maye just being optmistic but think yesterday and today's meeting's "change" things and we could get an agreemnt real quick now, and avoid more costs costs and lawyer fees( who doesn't want to see them go away?..lol)

The only way that I can see that info not being disemminated to players or made available upon request is if the court has included that in their gag order. Lacking that I just can't fathom any reason for them not having the summary of that proposal if they wanted it.

I'll be intrigued to see what does come out of the "coffee klatch" that the few, the chosen had yesterday. At least it gets down to what Jimmy Irsay said a while back. Let's just get together without all these lawyer types and talk frankly about what we need to have and what we need to protect coming from both sides. That's what honest and sincere negotiations should be all about. No need for political rhetoric when there's no press around to report on it.

You know as little respect as I had for his father, and much like Rocky Wirtz with his dad, I do respect Jimmy Irsay. In both of these cases "the apple did seem to fall very far from the tree."

I know very little about Jim Irsay's father, but I have heard about Bill Wirtz, and it sounded like the guy was a real bear to deal with as fans of the Chicago Blackhawks.

That being said, I would hope that the courts would not broaden the gag order to the point where even players who are not representatives of their teams cannot have access to the information that is being disseminated. That, to me, is a conflict of interest, and would seem to me to be a violation of the players' civil rights as it pertains to the law.

On the subject of Idonije, I think he is really looking at this from a positive, but perhaps a streamlined realistic, approach. I would like to think that by July, this CBA will be hammered out to where teams can go about their business with signing free agents and all that good stuff. Right now, we are looking at only marginally improving over last year when you take into consideration that we only have been able to address two of our needs via the draft (Carimi and Paea). We need more than that - an OG and a WR, possibly a CB. Other teams, I know, are feeling the same pinch. To keep up with the Jones', we need for this farce to come to an end, and the sooner, the better.

Finally, in a topic that is a little, well, "off topic," but that reaches back into another thread, we are looking at a direct as well as latent economic impact that any loss of the NFL this season would undoubtedly have upon the general population. Like that bar in Bourbonnais, people depend on football to provide a source of income in all sorts of different ways, and without it (I hate to sound like Ray Lewis in this way), there is a possibility that people might lose jobs as the demand in businesses such as bars, merchandising, grounds crew maintenancing, etc., will be non-existent for the extenuating period of time in which this lockout commences forward.

Originally Posted by dabears54

Bob irsay one of the biggest drunks and tool's in NFL history dag's.. and his moving the colts out of batlimore, literally in the dead of night with u-hauls one of the sleaziest and embarrassing moments in NFL history.And wirtz in alot way seven worse( esp not allowing blackhawks to even be on tv locally). And as both sides realizing how much ll this bad publicty and fustration hurting THE GAME, do think Cooler heads starting to prevail and get down to business and not insults anymore, stay tuned

I must have been drunk myself, because I totally forgot about the move from Baltimore to Indianapolis in the dead of night!

Let's hope that cooler heads have started to prevail. Lord knows that they've had what amounts to almost three months for there to be a cooling off period to collect themselves and to lose the emotional factor. Business is business; one should always play close to the vest, but be prudent, too, and be willing to make concessions in the interest of generating a good rapport with the client. (I hope I didn't just back out of what I said about the owners NOT making concessions out of goodwill; I still don't think they did, but I could be wrong.)