Nightmare Clients: A Special Announcement

Special Announcement: From this point forward, SportsAgentBlog.com will be overhauling the Nightmare Clients of the Week column. The column will no longer be a weekly column that recaps the previous week’s player blunders and mishaps. The new Nightmare Client/Agent column will be a recurring column that will focus on specific instances of player or agent conduct and how that conduct impacts the athlete/agent relationship, the ramifications on endorsements and future earning potential, and speculation on damage control and publicity issues. You can read post “how to get bonus bez vkladu pro ?eské hrá?e“.
There will be no set schedule for this column. Instead, it will be posted to the blog immediately after any particularly newsworthy egregious acts are committed by a client or agent. SportsAgentBlog.com believes that this new, more-focused format will not only be more interesting and elicit more reader feedback, but it will also allow for more opportunity to discuss the ramifications to the agent/athlete relationship, in general.

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And now I present, your last weekly Nightmare Clients of the Week column:

1. Minnesota Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards has been suspended four games for violating the NFL’s policy on steroid use. Edwards has been a starter for most of the season, but was replaced by Erasmus James for last Sunday’s game against Detroit. Coach Brad Childress said that decision had nothing to do with Edwards’ violation, which the coach learned of on Wednesday morning. Childress said he was disappointed in Edwards and could not comment further because of the confidentiality surrounding the policy [Edwards suspended four games for violating policy].

2. Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday for the first 15 days of next season for violating baseball’s drug policy. The penalties are an indication how the sport might treat players named in the Mitchell report, which could be released next week. The pair were linked in media reports to the purchase of human growth hormone. Gary Matthews Jr., Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus and Scott Schoeneweis also were linked to performance-enhancing drugs, but baseball decided there was “insufficient evidence” to determine they committed a doping violation. They were accused of receiving the substances before 2005 [Guillen, Gibbons get 15-day suspensions; Ankiel, others not punished].

3. Four Baltimore Ravens players have been fined for violating league rules prohibiting the abuse of game officials, the NFL announced Friday. Linebacker Bart Scott was fined $25,000 for verbally abusing game officials and throwing an official’s flag into the stands during Monday night’s game against New England. Cornerbacks Samari Rolle and Chris McAlister and wide receiver Derrick Mason were fined $15,000 each for publicly questioning the integrity of the officiating in the game [Ravens’ criticism of MNF officials draws fines for four].