Trace Armstrong; Did the NBA owners run-up the score?
November 29, 2011
Urban Meyer's agent
By now most everyone knows former University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer has been named the coach at The Ohio State University. What you may not know is that Meyer's agent is Trace Armstrong. Armstrong is a former NFL player and a former NFLPA president. Armstrong served as NFLPA president from 1996-2003. In 2009 Armstrong campaigned to become the executive director of the NFLPA after the death of Gene Upshaw. Though Armstrong was considered the favorite to get the job, he lost out to Washington D.C. attorney DeMaurice Smith. Armstrong currently represents football coaches and broadcasters. In addition to representing Urban Meyer, some of his other clients are Michigan coach, Brady Hoke, and Mike McCarthy of the Green Bay Packers. Armstrong does not have a law degree, instead he has an MBA from the University of Florida, where he also earned his undergraduate degree.
Urban Meyer's agent
By now most everyone knows former University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer has been named the coach at The Ohio State University. What you may not know is that Meyer's agent is Trace Armstrong. Armstrong is a former NFL player and a former NFLPA president. Armstrong served as NFLPA president from 1996-2003. In 2009 Armstrong campaigned to become the executive director of the NFLPA after the death of Gene Upshaw. Though Armstrong was considered the favorite to get the job, he lost out to Washington D.C. attorney DeMaurice Smith. Armstrong currently represents football coaches and broadcasters. In addition to representing Urban Meyer, some of his other clients are Michigan coach, Brady Hoke, and Mike McCarthy of the Green Bay Packers. Armstrong does not have a law degree, instead he has an MBA from the University of Florida, where he also earned his undergraduate degree.
Did the NBA players really get schooled by the owners?
In 1968 when Woody Hayes was coaching the Ohio State University against Michigan, he went for a two point conversion late in the game when the contest was already decided. Hayes' team made the two-point conversion to make the score 50-14. When Hayes was asked after the game why he did it, Hayes responded by saying, "because I couldn't go for three". What Hayes did is called running up the score. With the NBA owners and players finally reaching an agreement over the weekend, we get the feeling that the owners just might have had the same attitude toward the NBA players that Woody Hayes had toward the Michigan Wolverines.
Yahoo! Sports' Eric Freeman thinks the owners ended up crushing the players in this labor agreement. What will be the repercussions of this agreement? Will there be decades of bitterness from the players? How long until Billy Hunter is out of a job at the NBAPA? These and many questions will be answered in the coming weeks and months. But for now remember that in any negotiation the victorious party should leave the other side with some dignity. In this case, that may not have happened and there just may be a price to pay somewhere down the road.
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