Breakfast Trey: Good faith, bad contracts, and the ugly state of women's soccer

A few to chew on this morning:

SI's Cliff Corcoran runs down the most egregiously bad contracts in baseball. Expecting to see Boston's Carl Crawford (out for the season) or the Mets' Jason Bay (out of chances)? Don't. Corcoran set some ground rules: "The contracts in question must be at least four-years (long-term) and have a total value of at least $20 million (big money)." Corcoran's ground rules also eliminate ultra-annoying agreements like Bobby Bonilla's from contention. Bonilla's contract, which Business Insider deemed the worst in sports history, doesn't net him much per year...but it's still going, and will continue to pay him north of a million bucks a year until 2035. Did I mention I'm a Mets fan? And how dang-diddly hard the Wilpons make that sometimes?

Anyway: Corcoran's list might surprise you. (Or enrage you, if, like me, you despise Carl Pavano.) And it's pretty clear the Yankees' Nick Swisher needs to read it before he bellies up to the negotiating table.

The NHL could face another lockout; labor talks resume today in Toronto after stalling last week, apparently on a revenue-sharing proposal that the players' association alleges would shift $450 million over to the owners. The NHL's current collective-bargaining agreement expires September 15, so time is of the essence, and everyone's hoping to avoid a rerun of the 2004-5 season that wasn't.

And if you thought a gold medal for the U.S. women's soccer team spelled good news for women's soccer in the States, Grantland's Noah Davis has some bad news for you. Failed leagues, poor youth development, and no star system, among other factors, mean that the women's game continues to struggle here. (Compare this to the situation in Newark, NJ -- a city that the New York Times posited may have bet on the wrong sport by not going all in on soccer.)

What's on your mind today? Dish it in the comments.

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