“Foley’s NY Pub in NYC says it will not sell Sam Adams during Super Bowl game so as not to support a Boston-based brand,” Darren Rovell wrote on Twitter Friday.

But that’s not all.  The owner of Foley’s, Shaun Clancy, has made a wager with Ken Casey, the lead vocalist in the Boston-based band the Dropkick Murphys and owner of McGreevy’s bar in Boston. According to the Boston Herald, the loser must donate the earnings from sales of shepherd’s pie from Super Bowl Sunday until MLB Opening Day to the charity of their choice.  In addition, the loser will have to bartend at the winner’s bar wearing the opposing teams jersey.

With two weeks between the conference championship games and Super Bowl Sunday, we all have to find ways to keep ourselves occupied.  Kudos to both bar owners for finding a way to do so in a productive manner.

According to the Mirror, the H&M clothing company has put up an estimated $1 million to have Beckham appear in a 30-second commercial wearing nothing but his skivvies. Of course, Beckham will be showcasing H&M’s “David Beckham Bodywear” collection.

“Over the past year, I’ve been developing my Bodywear range with my team and I’m extremely positive about what we have designed and produced,” Beckham said. “The final piece in the jigsaw was a retail partner who has the vision and capability to distribute these products globally. In H&M we have found the perfect partner to collaborate with going forward.”

As the Mirror pointed out, the largest audience Beckham was ever seen by came during the 2002 World Cup, when roughly 1.6 billion people watched a match between England and Brazil. To my knowledge, Beckham was not alone and in his underwear during that broadcast. An estimated two billion people will see him in that state during the Super Bowl. If anyone has the confidence to pull it off, it’s Becks.

According to the Sports Business Journal, the Spurs gave their season ticket holders the option of receiving the traditional paper tickets to all 33 regular season home games (shortened season), or just having them all stored on a smart card.  The card can be scanned at the AT&T Center before each game and will keep track of what games you have been to.  Now that’s convenient.

Of course, the all-important issue of selling your tickets complicates things.  The smart cards are reportedly saving the Spurs about $50,000 this season since they don’t have to print as many tickets, but what if you can’t go to a game?  You could always let your friend pay you and borrow your smart card for that game, but what about selling to strangers?  Those who fail to think it through will find themselves struggling to profit on the secondary market, which can be considered another win for San Antonio.

Chest bump to I Am a GM for passing the story along.

The one area where the NBA’s new CBA can have an impact is on competitive balance because of its luxury tax rules. In the past, teams paid $1 for every dollar they went over the luxury tax. Now it will be much more expensive. Here is how the new luxury tax rules look, according to ESPN’s Larry Coon:

Teams pay $1 for every $1 their salary is above the luxury-tax threshold in 2011-12 and 2012-13. Starting in 2012-13, teams pay an incremental tax that increases with every $5 million above the tax threshold ($1.50, $1.75, $2.50, $3.25, etc.). Teams that are repeat offenders (paying tax at least four out of the past five seasons) have a tax that is higher still — $1 more at each increment ($2.50, $2.75, $3.50, $4.25, etc.).

Teams like the Mavericks and Lakers would be forced to pay a serious penalty for going over the tax. The Lakers probably make enough money to warrant their consistent spending, but this could change the way they do business. Other teams like the Magic, which has been well over the cap the last few years, might think twice before adding payroll if it’s bound to cost them double (or triple) what it used to. The Mavericks will probably be unaffected because winning is what matters to Mark Cuban, not money.

Teams may find ways around the new rules, but hopefully the new penalties will lead to less over-spending by teams, and more competitive balance.

Nick Young made a bold statement Saturday evening after NBA labor negotiations ended with little progress. The Wizards guard was so upset he tweeted that he would no longer wear Michael Jordan shoes.

“I’m not wearing Jordans no more can’t believe what I just seen and heard from MJ,” he wrote.

Young is upset because Michael Jordan reportedly is leading a group of owners who refuse to give the players any more than 47% of basketball related income. Not only is Jordan making it extremely difficult for the sides to agree on a deal, he’s also proven to be a hypocrite now that he’s an owner rather than player.

Jordan said during the 1998-1999 lockout that NBA owners who couldn’t afford their teams should sell. When he was a player, he also fought against an offer from the owners he didn’t think was fair. “[David Stern] wouldn’t recommend that; he wouldn’t accept that deal from a business standpoint so why would he ask the players to do that?” he said at the time.

But now that he’s on the opposite side as an owner of a team losing money (the Charlotte Bobcats), Jordan doesn’t care about principles; he just wants the best deal for himself. A few players have called him a hypocrite as a result.

Pacers swingman Paul George tweeted that Jordan wants players to get no more than 37% of basketball related income.

Warriors rookie Klay Thompson responded to George by saying “You think the 1996 MJ would pull this? Straight hypocrite bro.”

George agreed with Thompson saying that Jordan was a “straight hypocrite” who “should’ve been the first one behind [the players].”

It’s amazing to see the way Jordan is derailing negotiations, though it’s not too surprising. He infamously refused to take political stands because he feared it would hurt business sales. Now that he owns an NBA team, he refuses to lose money.

Once again, the same man who has ripped Kobe Bryant, ripped LeBron James, and skipped Carmelo Anthony’s wedding, is treating today’s players like they don’t matter. What a shame Jordan. I’d say I was disappointed in you, but that would be no different from what I said two years ago.

Chest bump to Eye on Basketball, Alex Kennedy

“Take the 51% man and let’s play,” he tweeted. “All I’m doing is speaking my mind. I’m with whatever the unions with. Yeah it sucks sitting at home not playing the game you love.”

The players were receiving 57% while the owners had 43% of BRI in the last collective bargaining agreement. The players are making a concession by dropping to 52%. The owners reportedly want a 50-50 split.

It’s hard to know what to believe each day, so we try to ignore daily changes in media reports. We remain confident an agreement will be reached eventually.

We’re also seeing from both sides (see Heat owner Micky Arison) that many people want the lockout to end. Given Big Baby’s nature as a soft personality, it’s no surprise he’d be willing to make a concession that the union might not want to make.

Statistics can sometimes be misleading. Attendance numbers are no exception. But that doesn’t mean they are not interesting to examine.

Here are some numbers to think about. As of week seven, the New York Jets are the only team to have totaled over 500,000 fans in attendance — both at home and on the road. No surprise there. The real surprise is the team that follows them. No, it’s not Dallas or Green Bay. Drum roll please. Did you think it would be Carolina? The Panthers have attracted over 482,000 people to their games.

Certain match-ups and other variables like stadium size and ticket prices are obviously a factor. In 2010, Carolina ranked 13th in regular season attendance. Despite their struggles, people always seem to make it to the stadium to watch the Panthers. Jerry Richardson, the Panthers’ owner, is probably quite satisfied with the size of his wallet these days, even if his team isn’t producing wins.

Think about it: A team with a record of 2-6 after Sunday’s loss to the Vikings has had the second-most fans watching their games live. Obviously, that proves hype can mean a lot for a team. I’d even wager that Richardson’s prized signal-caller is driving up the numbers. All that draft talk over Cam Newton has paid off, literally. It’s certainly not the anti-soundbite Ron Rivera that’s drumming up business.

On the other side of the spectrum, you have the Cincinnati Bengals. With just under 339k in attendance, Cincinnati comes in dead last. Let me remind you that this is a team that has kept pace with the Ravens and Steelers atop the AFC North. They too have a rookie quarterback in Andy Dalton, but that has not translated into a desire to travel to the stadium on game day.  Clearly winning isn’t everything.

In a column on NBA player salaries not matching the value of true stars, Adrian Wojnarowski drops in the following nugget.

“Privately, Jerry Buss has told people that Bryant – who will make a league-high $25 million this season under his current contract terms – is worth perhaps $70 million a year to the Los Angeles Lakers.”

Players like Kobe capitalize on endorsement deals so it’s not as if they’re not making major money. Still, few people would say the game’s superstars are not worth more than they make from their teams. On the other hand, most of the bench players and mid-level guys are worth far less than what they make.

The information above may serve as an argument to remove the salary cap and make the NBA a free market system. I disagree. The most competitive leagues have hard salary caps because that puts teams on equal footing. Look at the NFL and NHL — teams have hope that they can succeed from year-to-year whereas MLB and NBA teams pretty much already know where they stand before seasons begin. Now if you want to remove maximum contracts, that is reasonable. However, it would likely come at the cost of the NBA’s mid-level players, for whom owners might have less money.

Thank you, I am a GM

“I know Kobe is intimately involved in interfacing with colleagues and sharing in a pool of revenue to help the others get through this,” Hunter told the LA Times. “Kobe has volunteered to do that in the event others need, he and others are prepared to loan money if necessary.”

If the players actually do this, it will be a nice sign of solidarity, not to mention a wise business move. Some players are going overseas to remain in shape and continue earning money. Many other players are left behind with a lockout to fight, no stream of income, and bills to pay. Having a pool of money will be extremely helpful as they continue to bargain with the owners.

Given that Kobe never gave the Lakers a discount to ease their luxury tax burden, this will be good use of the extra money he’s earned from Jerry Buss.

Chest bump to I am a GM for the quotes

Disgraceful. Disgusting. Shameful. Reprehensible. Sell out. Those were some of the words that came to mind as I witnessed Deion Sanders’ speech at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It wasn’t so much the speech that bothered me (though there are some aspects that made him seem phony). Rather, it was Deion’s choice to sully his esteemed gold jacket with a corporate logo, and plug his corporate sponsor during his speech, that ticked me off.

As you can see in the picture above, Deion prominently placed a pin with the logo of a sports apparel company on the right jacket lapel. Marshall Faulk also wore a logo pin, but his was on the left and hardly noticeable because it was covered by the flower. Deion’s pin stood out.

Then, four and a half minutes into his speech while Deion was thanking people in his career, he paused as he got to another category: sponsors.

“[sponsor's name] you see a bunch of kids around here with ‘truth’ on. It would have not been possible had it not been for [sponsor]. I thank you [sponsor], and I love you. Dearly,” Deion said, becoming the first person I know of who sold commercial time during a Hall of Fame induction speech.

Sure, Deion may have brought hundreds of children to Canton, Ohio to witness his induction ceremony. That’s a wonderful gesture and an experience they’ll remember forever. But if Deion truly wanted to enrich the lives of those children and teach them a proper lesson, he would have omitted all mentions of a sponsor during his speech. Instead, he taught them how to sell out to an advertiser by becoming a walking billboard on one of the most prestigious stages in sports.

Deion himself described the induction evening as “one of the best nights ever.” He extrapolated on that thought during his speech.

“Do you understand that this is the Hall of Fame? I grew up on some of you guys,” Sanders proudly pointed out.

His fellow inductees held the honor in the same regard.

Shannon Sharpe spoke of the Hall of Fame as the “fraternity of fraternities.” He explained it was a place where everyone could catch each other. Nearly everyone claimed that they were humbled by the achievement.

There is little doubt that reaching the Hall of Fame is the apotheosis of playing sports. Deion Sanders understood that because reflecting on his career moved him to tears. But if the honor meant that much to him, how could he besmirch the ceremony by using the platform to promote a sports apparel company?

His actions showed he lacked the proper respect for the Hall of Fame. He proved the honor did not mean much to him.

I’m sure there are some rich people in suits, sitting in offices reading this story right now. They’re probably smiling and laughing at the notice their brand is receiving. They’re probably high fiving about how “innovative” they are for coming up with such creative ways to get mentioned during the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Obviously those people only care about one thing: money. The words I write will do little to affect them. But hopefully this will be a powerful reminder to you about a value called decency.

There’s nothing stopping a Hall of Fame inductee from tattooing a sponsor’s name on his forehead during his speech. There’s nothing stopping an inductee from ripping off his jacket to unveil from a sponsored t-shirt. There’s nothing stopping me from break dancing during a funeral. Nothing really. But just because these things can be done does not mean they should be done.

Money changes hands through business and that makes the economy go round. Even here at LBS we need advertisements to generate revenue in order to survive. But there are limits. We won’t put advertisements in our pictures or within the context of a post, like we’ve been offered to. We can do it, but we choose not to.

Why is that? Because it crosses a line of decency.

We recognize where that line is. It’s shameful that Deion does not. The sad thing is it looks like Dez Bryant was right.