Hogs for a cause!

Come out Saturday and support “Stand up and snout” as we compete for the title of Grand Champion of the 2011 High on the Hog Louisiana Pork Cook Off. You will get some great food from our team which has Justin Devillier from La Petite Grocery (A sponsor of whodatnation.com), Aaron Burgau from Patois and Bart Bell from Crescent Pie & Sausage Company. Tickets are only $10 dollars if you buy them now at http://www.hogsforthecause.org/tickets/

Come out and enjoy the day with great food and some great music like Amanda Shaw and The Cute Guys and the Radiators!!

Remember if you buy your tickets now use our team name to help get points towards being fan favorites!

New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton made a strong commitment to tailback Reggie Bush on Tuesday, saying, “He’s a guy that we feel will be a part of our team.”

All contract talks, however, will be on hold until after the NFL lockout is lifted, and clearly Bush will need to agree to take a significant pay cut from the $11.8 million salary he is due in 2011. Eventually, though, Payton said he believes the organization and Bush will remain the best fit for one another once they agree on the running back’s true market value.

Read the rest of the story here.

By John DeShazier, The Times-Picayune

Accusation.

Retaliation.

Decertification.

Litigation.

Aggravation.

That pretty much summarizes the NFL labor situation, which took a hard turn Friday when owners and players couldn’t reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, and couldn’t even agree to extend the terms of the expiring one for another week to possibly give the sides more time to draw toward a resolution.

Read the rest of the story here.

Here’s wishing they would have saved us all some time and skipped the explanations of what went wrong, or why things broke down once again. I really didn’t need to hear from either NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash or union head DeMaurice Smith today, telling us how very hard they worked and how they did everything in their power to try to find common ground and the path to get something accomplished in the NFL’s going-nowhere labor negotiations.

Blah, blah, blah. We know none of that is really true. Both sides in this league-versus-players stand-off only did what they wanted to do and what they were willing to do. Nothing more. The rest is just spin and trying to keep the upper hand in the public relations battle. And the blame game is beyond tiresome at this point.

By Jeff Duncan

The New Orleans Saints released a statement today regarding the NFL lockout. Here is the statement in full:

STATEMENT FROM THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

March 12, 2011

The expiration of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the players’ union is an unfortunate and serious situation. The Saints organization is concerned for the people involved, especially for the great fans of our game, and particularly those of our team. We take this current period sincerely and are resolute in our determination to reach a common accord. We remain confident that meaningful dialogue between the League and the players’ union will continue until such time that a resolution is reached.

Read the rest of the story here.

ByAP

The NFL Players Association released the following statement Friday renouncing its union status:

“The NFL Players Association announced today it has informed the NFL, NFL clubs and other necessary parties that it has renounced its status as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the players of the National Football League.

The NFLPA will move forward as a professional trade association with the mission of supporting the interests and rights of current and former professional football players.”

By AP

After 16 days of mediated talks, the NFL and the players’ union could not reach agreement on a new labor deal. The NFL released what it described as a summary of its proposal to the union:

1. We more than split the economic difference between us, increasing our proposed cap for 2011 significantly and accepting the union’s proposed cap number for 2014 ($161 million per club).

2. An entry-level compensation system based on the union’s “rookie cap” proposal, rather than the wage scale proposed by the clubs. Under the NFL proposal, players drafted in rounds 2-7 would be paid the same or more than they are paid today. Savings from the first round would be reallocated to veteran players and benefits.

Read the rest here.

By The Times-Picayune

The New Orleans Saints have reached a four-year deal with running back Pierre Thomas.

Sources indicate the deal is worth $12 million.

Thomas was an undrafted free agent when he signed with the Saints as an out of Illinois in 2007.

He had ankle injuries that held him in check last season and had surgery after the season ended

Read the rest of the story here.