8 I Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010 Jets own' Darrell Revis readies for a pass NHL was right to deny Devils deal By Tom Canavan ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER Ilya Kovalchuk is back on the free-agent market, and talking already. An arbitrator ruled Monday that the NHL acted correctly in voiding Kovalchuk's landmark $lO2 million contract with the Devils. The league had rejected the 17- year contract, saying the longest deal in league history violated its salary' cap. The NHL Players Association filed a grievance against the league. A hearing was held last week and arbiter Richard Bloch sided with the league when he issued his ruling. "We want to thank arbitrator Bloch for his prompt resolution of a complex issue,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. ”His ruling is consis tent with the league’s view of the manner in which the collective bargaining agreement should deal with contracts that circumvent the salary cap.” The decision put Kovalchuk back on the market as an unre stricted free agent, and the high scoring Russian already was talk ing to the Devils again. "While we do not currently have a contract with Ilya Kovalchuk, discussions have resumed and we are hopeful that a contract will be reached that meets with the prin ciples in arbitrator Bloch’s award and the NHLs approval,” New Jersey president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said. Kovalchuk was hockey’s biggest Don Wakamatsu (right) observes his team in a game this season Seattle fires Wakamatsu By Gregg Bell ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER SEATTLE - Instead of leading Seattle to its first postseason spot since 2001, Don Wakamatsu lost games at a stun ning rate Then, M; 'aimers manag er lost his team first franchise icon Ken Griffey Jr., then Chone Figgins. Now, he’s lost his job. The last-place Mariners fired Wakamatsu on Monday, more than halfway through a season that began with a boosted roster and high hopes. “I would like to thank the city of Seattle and all the baseball fans here in the Northwest for the great support offered to me during my time as Mariners manager,” Wakamatsu said Monday night in statement released by the team. ‘My single biggest disappoint ment is that we were not able to finish what we wanted to finish here, bringing a championship club to the fans. “I cannot tell you how great the fans were to me, and to my family. The support I received here will always mean a great deal to me.” The Mariners started the day at 42-70, the second-worst rec- er not optimistic about Revis By Dennis Waszak Jr. ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER CORTLAND,N.Y. -Jetsowner Woody Johnson is not optimistic that a deal for All-Pro comerback Darrelle Revis ==s^== __ will be done by the beginning of the regular season. ===== The Jets rejected an offer pro posed by Revis’ agents on Friday during a meeting at a diner in Roscoe. Johnson offered a stem, “The answer’s no,” when asked Monday if he felt a deal could be done by Week 1. Now, the agents for All-Pro Darrelle Revis hope to serve up a new contract for the New York Jets’ star cornerback. Agents Neil Schwartz and prize in free agency this year with 338 goals and 304 assists in 642 career games. He thought he had a lucrative deal with the Devils, but now he has to work out a new one. Lamoriello noted Bloch's ruling indicated neither the team nor Kovalchuk operated in bad faith and both parties believed the con tract was compliant with the col lective bargaining agreement. NHL spokesman Frank Brown said it was too early to say whether the league would take punitive action against the Devils. New Jersey can be fined or lose draft picks for signing Kovalchuk to a contract that circumvented league rules. The players’ association said it was disappointed with the ruling, which it was reviewing. It had no further comment. Kovalchuk and the Devils agreed to the deal July 19. The next day, the league determined the contract was illegal because years of low salary at the end low ered the cap hit. The union filed a grievance July 26. The All-Star was slated to earn only $550,000 in each of the last five seasons of the rejected deal. It would have run through the 2026- 27 season, when Kovalchuk will be 44. Kovalchuk had 41 goals and 44 assists last season, when he was traded to the Devils by Atlanta in February. The Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Devils and SKA St. Petersburg of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League talked with Kovalchuk after free agency started July 1. ord in the American League. They started the night with their fifth manager in three years plus one month. Daren Brown, the manager of Triple A Tacoma for the last four seasons, took over on an interim basis hours before a game against Oakland. “It’s frustrating,” Mariners perennial All-Star and corner stone Ichiro Suzuki said, through his iiiterpreter. “It’s not just his responsibility (that we’re losing). It’s the whole team’s responsibili ty- “I don’t think it’s fair to say the manager’s responsible to take the blame, because he’s not.” Seattle also fired bench coach iy Van Burkleo and pitching coach Rick Adair. The team also released performance coach Steve Hecht. All to bring together a fractured clubhouse and a wayward team. “The truth of the matter is, I lost confidence in Don, iy and Rick,” Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said during a press conference in which he tried to explain why Wakamatsu was out after one good season and about half a terrible one. The GM said he would likely begin talking to candidates for the permanent manager job while this season runs out. Jonathan Feinsod met with gener al manager Mike Tannenbaum and director of football adminis tration Ari Nissim, offering a long term contract to try to make some headway in the dispute. Schwartz said they were wait ing for a response, but Tannenbaum said both sides had a “pretty good sense" of where things stood after the meeting. Revis has missed nine days, including Monday, since the team reported for training camp at SUNY Cortland. ( During the meeting at the Roscoe Diner in Roscoe, N.Y., Schwartz and Feinsod presented an offer to present to owner Woody Johnson. “We’re waiting to hear their response," Schwartz told The New Brazil head coach Mano Menezes (left) issues instructions to his team during a practice session Monday in East Rutherford, N.J. Menezes and Brazil will meet the United states men’s soccer team tonight in an international friendly in Menezes’ first match since replacing Dunga after the World Cup. Dungy: Vick is on right path By George Henry ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER ATLANTA - Tony Dungy believes in mentoring and says it puts people on the right path - including his most famous pupil, Philadel ihr "tr phia quarter back Michael Vick. On a national tour to promote his new book on mentoring, Dungy told The Associated Press on Monday that Vick still has a lot to learn about his image. Dungy says even if Vick isn’t doing something illegal, he still can better decisions to stay out of harm’s way. Vick hosted a birthday party that ended with a shooting June 25 in Virginia Beach, Va. “The first thing people have to realize is that probation officers detail everything, and if he is off track even a little, they’re going to come down,’’ Dungy said. “They reviewed the situation that went on and moved forward. The NFL did and moved forward. Michael would like to have all the negative publicity back, but it really wasn’t the type of thing that people have blown it into. But that’s the lesson for him." Vick is on probation after serv ing an 18-month federal prison sentence that ended in May 2009 for dogfighting. According to police in Virginia Beach, Vick was not present when a person was shot. Vick’s attorney, Larry Woodward, iden tified the victim as Quanis Phillips, a co-defendant in the dogfighting ring. “Tony Dungy can go some where and if something happens, I’m not going to get singled out,” Dungy said. “Michael Vick goes some place and the same thing happens, and you’re the center of attention. You’re the focus. Now is it fair? Who knows? “But that’s the bed you’ve made and you’ve got to sleep in it and be prepared for that. That’s the lesson he’s learned.” Associated Press on Monday. Schwartz said the HBO and NFL Films crew from “Hard Knocks,” which is filming the Jets during training camp, asked to attend the meeting. Schwartz and Feinsod declined. Revis is scheduled to make $1 million in the fourth year of his six year rookie deal, but wants to become the league's highest-paid cornerback. Jets coach Rex Ryan said he hadn’t heard anything new between practices Monday. “We’re coaching this group,” Ryan said. “That’s all we can focus on right now is getting this" team ready. We’ve got to prepare like he's not going to be here. And, if he comes walking through the door, that’s fine. Somebody will kiss him Dungy shares life lessons in his new book. The Mentor Leader. It went on sale last week, and Dungy spoke at the national offices of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in midtown Atlanta. He will also make stops during the promotional tour this week in Central and South Florida. Dungy writes at length about his work with Vick. “Whether Michael manages to regain the status he once had in the league is not nearly as impor tant as the kind of man he becomes,” Dungy said. “That's what I wrote about him in the book.” Michael Vick throws a pass at Eagles training camp last week. The Daily Collegian on the lips, probably. It doesn’t matter. We’re getting this team ready.” Revis is seeking a deal higher than the three-year, $45.3 million extension Oakland’s Nnamdi Asomugha signed last offseason. He is being fined $16,523 for each day he misses, meaning he is already out $148,707. By sitting out, he also waived a clause in his contract which would have guaranteed him $2O million over the last two years of his deal. The next big day in the holdout is Tuesday, when by rule he wouldn’t get credit for this year as an accrued season toward free agency. However, it is believed that won’t have much bearing on Revis’ decision. During Vick’s imprisonment in Leavenworth Kan., Dungy visit ed with the former Atlanta Falcons star. Since Vick’s release! in May 2009, Dungy has stayed in \ contact with him regularly and \ talks occasionally with NFL com- i missioner Roger Goodell and ' Eagles coach Andy Reid to ensure Vick is making good deci sions off the field. "He didn’t do anything other than maybe put himself in a place where he shouldn't have been,” Dungy said. Dungy coached the Indianapolis Colts to the 2006 Super Bowl title. Rich Schultz/AP
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