Obama Thought$

There sure seems to be a lot of discussion about a rush to get contracts done in the remaining 8 weeks of 2008 to avoid the tax burden of the Obama administration.  I suppose there is some merit to this discussion, due to the fact that a few percentage points of tax burden could mean a lot of money depending on the amount of these contracts.  And, in light of the purported sale of the remaining shares of the Dolphins by Wayne Huizenga prior to the end of the year to lessen his capital gains hit, there are certainly tax planning measures already going on to protect large assets such as sales of sports teams.

And yes, there will be impacts.  According to the Arizona Republic, the Heritage Foundation crunched some numbers relating to NBA stars and concluded  “that on average; the top 20 highest paid players in the NBA can expect to pay $1.2 million a year more in taxes” with players like Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant taking hits of 1.6M and 1.4M in additional tax burden, respectively.  That is some serious impact, although it will be hard to believe any of these players’ lifestyles will be affected.

However, let us not be fooled into thinking there is going to be this flurry of contracts in the major sports in reaction to the incoming tax policies of Barack Obama.  Teams and agents will take their normal course of business, as they seem to be doing.  Baseball free agency begins next week and yes, we will see a few monster contracts – Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia  – prior to the end of 2008.  That would happen regardless of the administration.

In the NFL, this past Monday’s contract deadline to allocate money into 2008 – with NFL teams averaging close to 7M in Cap room at the time — came and went with one consummated contract of note, that of Aaron Rodgers.  The next deadline for NFL contracts, this to have 2008 used as a prorated year, is at the end of the season.  There may be some activity, but probably no more than any other year.  The rumors of a player contract deluge prior to the end of the year have been greatly exaggerated…….

Obama’s right-hand, all-everything guy at his side at all times is Reggie Love, a former Duke basketball player who has parlayed himself into one of the closest aides of the President-Elect.  When I heard the name, it certainly sounded familiar, and not for the mellifluous tone to the sound of “Love”.  I was thinking, “I think I signed a guy named Reggie Love at one of our training camps.”

I was right.  I vaguely remember the signing, remembering that I was impressed/surprised that we were signing a player who played on such a marquee program as Duke basketball.   In truth, however, as it was the middle of training camp, he was there to take some reps for a couple of weeks and move on unless, of course, he was able to turn some heads and receive some Practice Squad consideration.   Here was our press release on August 9, 2004:

The Green Bay Packers Monday signed wide receiver Reggie Love, a non-drafted free agent who played two sports at Duke University, GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman announced.

Love, 22, lettered four years (2000-03) in football at Duke, starting at least four games every season. He led the Blue Devils in receiving as a senior, catching 27 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns. In 40 career games at Duke, he totaled 895 yards on 75 receptions with six touchdowns.

A walk-on performer for Mike Krzyzewski for two seasons (2000-01, 2001-02), Love helped Duke to the 2001 NCAA Championship. A 6-4, 228-pound athlete, he played forward and center, backing up Carlos Boozer. In 37 career games, he averaged 1.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game.

Love, who wears No. 10 on the Packers’ roster, was All-America in football and the state Player of the Year in basketball at Charlotte’s Providence Day School, in talent-rich North Carolina

Twenty days later, on August 29, in the first mandatory cutdown of the 2004 season, Love was released.  It was a brief, twenty-day career with the Packers (he later went on to sign with the Cowboys for camp in 2005), a three-week cup of coffee, as they say.  Sounds like he has moved on to bigger and better things…