Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
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Falling star Take a look back at Michael Vick's rise to NFL superstardom, his fall following his involvement in dogfighting and his comeback attempt. more photos |
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Michael Vick’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy simply didn’t add up.
The uncertainty surrounding the aging, suspended NFL star’s return to pro football as well as vague book and film deals prompted a bankruptcy judge to reject Vick’s Chapter 11 plan and order a new one.
This time, the judge wants a proposal based on the stark reality facing Vick: He has about $210,000 but owes $1 million in fees from the bankruptcy case and about $3.7 million in legal bills — some $13,700 a day since he filed for Chapter 11 protection in July.
Vick also faces at least $200,000 in annual living expenses if he keeps two Virginia homes and three vehicles. His only guaranteed income is a $10-an-hour construction job that will be part of his probation when he is moved from federal prison to home confinement in May.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Frank J. Santoro considered those obligations and other expenses and concluded Vick would need to earn $7.5 to $8 million a year to break even over the next three years.
“There is no evidence he will be able to make that kind of money,” Santoro said Friday.
Vick was the NFL’s highest paid player after signing a 10-year, $140 million deal with the Atlanta Falcons. But Vick and the Falcons have parted ways, and it’s unlikely he will be able to command anywhere near that kind of money if he is reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and signed by another team.
The average NFL salary last year was $1.85 million, according to the NFL Players Association. Vick’s agent, Joel Segal, testified that he would try to negotiate a contract with a modest base salary and hefty incentives for playing time and starts. The minimum salary for a player with Vick’s seven years of experience is $620,000.
Vick said he thought if he “did the right things,” he could play 10-12 more years. But the quarterback is already 28 — the average age for an NFL quarterback — and has exceeded the league’s 3.2-year career average. As a running quarterback, he also takes more physical punishment and is more susceptible to injury than most.
And there’s no guarantee he will be reinstated. Vick testified that he could wind up in the fledgling United Football League. The four-team league begins its first season this fall.
Vick’s lawyers said he has agreed to a television documentary deal that will pay him $600,000 — half up front, the rest when the film is completed — but Santoro held up the one-page proposal from an organization called Red Bird and questioned whether it could be considered a bona fide deal.
An accountant hired by Vick to help untangle his financial mess and advise him in future deals testified he thought Vick could obtain “bridge financing” that would allow him to collect the second $300,000 immediately and repay it when the film is complete, but again the judge seemed skeptical.
One of Vick’s attorneys also alluded to people in “the literary arts” working on Vick’s behalf, but he provided no details.
Santoro did not set a deadline for Vick to submit a new plan, but will be updated at a status hearing April 28. The judge suggested selling one or both of the two homes and the three cars Vick wants to keep.
Vick has a home in Hampton, which tax records show is worth about $748,000, and is building a $2 million home in Suffolk. He planned to sell the home he bought his mother and move her into the Hampton house, where he and his fiance and their two children also would live until the Suffolk home is ready.
The new house still needs about $300,000 worth of work and is expected to be completed by the end of the year, Vick said.
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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 | Super Bowl XLVI shots See the best moments before, during and after the Giants' win over the Patriots more photos |
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The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.