April Fools Joke Still Playing Out
By Brian Miller
It’s been 7 days since an article appeared on this site declaring that the Miami Dolphins would have to forfeit the draft picks, a 2010 2nd and 6th rounder, back to the Washington Redskins in the event that the Phins signed Jason Taylor within 365 days of the trade. At the time, it seemed harmless enough. A couple of Redskin fan sites picked it up and ran it, realized the mistake and took it down, discussed it on a forum or two…then smiled and cheerfully went about their day. At one point I received and Email that said early it had appeared on the Washington Post and was immediately taken down, I haven’t been able to confirm that one. It seems that my little joke, is still playing itself out.
Earlier today I found two links that took me to an article written by SportsXchange and appeared on the online versions of the USA Today and CBSSportsline.com. The article talks about Jason Taylor and mention a report by ESPN’s John Clayton that a rule exists that will revoke the trade. Here is what the article said:
"One wrinkle that would certainly prevent Parcells and the Dolphins from re-signing Taylor has been pointed out by ESPN’s John Clayton, who cites an NFL rule that says if a team trades a player for a draft pick (second rounder and 2010 sixth rounder) but if that player is re-signed by his original team within 365 days of the trade the commissioner can revoke any trade compensation.The Dolphins, who traded Taylor last July 20, could skirt the rule and re-sign Taylor at the start of training camp without any penalty."
They put a little bit more at the end of the second paragraph but you get the gist of it. On April 1st, this is what I wrote…both of the above articles were written after April 1.
"An NFL rule filed under “Penalties for Unfair Acts” allows the Commissioner to revoke any trade compensation if a player who is traded returns to his original team within365 days of his trade. Section 9.1 (E) of the NFL Constitution and Bylaws states:The Dolphins of course could wait until the start of training camp and re-sign the DE without any penalty at all. The issue with that of course is that Jason would have missed all of the off-season workout programs, something that was at the heart of Bill Parcells’ ire last off-season leading to the trade."
It should be noted that if the author would have followed the links that were given, they would have discovered two things. 1: The first link that goes to the rules page, actually goes to a non-existent page on this site and the 2nd link goes directly to the WIKI page for the history of April Fools jokes.
This year was the first time that I have posted anything that could be characterized as an A1Joke. I usually post nothing on that day, however, I awoke with a bit of a burr and an idea. Apparenly, it worked…I guess a little too well.
Here are the two links to the article:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/dolphins/home.htm