David Falk Feature

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Sports

In the race Baltimore is making a push for an Indy Racing League event that would speed through the streets near the Inner Harbor. Motorsports, C5

washingtontimes.com/sports

AAAA

On Golf Tiger Woods’ conservative approach at the PGA Championship cost him his last shot at a major in 2009. Golf, C2

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2009 // SECTION C

K.C. ALFRED / SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

The Nats signed No. 1 pick Stephen Strasburg to a deal believed to be worth about $15 million over four years.

Strasburg, Nats finally agree NATIONALS INSIDER

At last, nothing worth ridiculing BY MARK ZUCKERMAN

There are no guarantees that shelling out exorbitant signing bonuses will ensure a positive return on that investment. Of the previous top five contracts given to nonforeign first-year players, the results have been mixed at best. Here are those contracts and what those players have accomplished: Year

Position, player

Team

Contract

2001 RHP Mark Prior Cubs $10.5 million Comment: Future star burned briefly but flamed out. Now out of baseball.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

N

o franchise in the major leagues has taken more of a beating in the past 16 months than the Washington Nationals. And not just on-the-field beatings. As if their combined .366 winning percentage the past two seasons wasn’t bad enough, the Nationals have become something of a punch line around the sport. That’s what happens when you lose a lot of games, have a dwindling fan

» see STRASBURG,

BANG FOR THEIR BUCK

1996 RHP Matt White Rays $10.2 million Comment: Various injuries halted his career before it reached the majors. 1996 1B Travis Lee Diamondbacks $10.0 million Comment: Played 10 unimpressive MLB seasons before retiring in 2007. 2001 1B Mark Teixeira Rangers $9.5 million Comment: Currently an MVP candidate for the first-place Yankees. 2007 RHP David Price Rays $9.0 million Comment: There’s still no verdict on the flame-throwing youngster.

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Just before deadline, No. 1 pick locked up BY BEN GOESSLING THE WASHINGTON TIMES

After a summer’s worth of waiting, a week of activity and a final few days of frantic negotiations, the Washington Nationals have their ace. The team agreed to terms with No. 1 pick Stephen Strasburg on a contract just before the Monday night deadline, adding the centerpiece to their much-touted plan to build the organization through scouting and development.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

D

avid Falk loves Ferraris. He loves the way they look and drive, the way they accelerate and keep accelerating, the way they turn heads and widen eyes. But as he sits in his ninth-floor office in the District, Falk brings up Ferraris not to boast about his stable of luxury cars but to tell a story about the company’s late founder, Enzo Ferrari. Enzo, the story goes, sat down in a prototype of a two-seat convertible that seemed perfect. It was unlike any car on the road, but Enzo didn’t feel right about something. He finally figured out the problem:

The rearview mirror was out of place. He reached up and ripped it off the windshield. “When you drive a Ferrari, you never have to look behind you,” Enzo said. Falk pauses, then transitions into his own story. After 35 years as an agent, he knows he’s at a different stage in his career. Falk, who has been in the District since he attended law school at George Washington, once was one of the NBA’s biggest power brokers. Representing the likes of Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Juwan Howard, Falk wasn’t just an agent; he was a conglomerate, an empire, a force to be reckoned with.

» see FALK,

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» see NATS,

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Redskins’ Bridges gets past his days as ‘knucklehead’

Superagent days in past, Falk still not looking back BY SCOTT MILLER

The deal, believed to be for about $15 million over four years, is considerably more than the record $10.5 million the Chicago Cubs gave pitcher Mark Prior in 2001. The deal caps a grueling set of negotiations with Strasburg’s advisor, Scott Boras, who sought to cast Strasburg in a history-making light since before the Nationals took the former San Diego State right-hander June 9.

BY DAVID ELFIN THE WASHINGTON TIMES

MICHAEL CONNOR / THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Agent David Falk has represented Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, John Thompson and many others in his career.

Jeremy Bridges used to like nothing better than a party. Three children with his girlfriend and four seasons in the NFL did nothing to change that; at 27 he preferred living the high life. That began to change in July 2007 when the 6foot-4, 326-pound Bridges was arrested after pointing a gun at a stripper outside a Charlotte, N.C., Steelers club. Bridges, then a starting at Redskins offensive lineman with the Carolina Panthers, was Preseason suspended by the team for Saturday, 7:30 p.m. the first two games of the TV: Ch. 4, CSN season. He was convicted Radio: ESPN 980

» see REDSKINS,

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