HAD to turn my TV off. I was watching the NFL Network and− You know at first, I was just going to name a couple names, but then I figured to be fair, I should name ALL the names. Then it occurred to me that I’d be sitting here typing for at least a week straight if I went that route. So instead, I’m going to make it a general reference, which you’ll see applies to all of them.
“I don’t care about the stats.”
“I don’t read the paper.”
“All I care about is winning.”
Allow me to call “Bullshit!” on that.
If an athlete pays no attention to stats and stuff, then why is it that they always seem to know how much their peers are pulling down?
“I just want to be paid like one of the top performers at my position.”
“I just think I out-performed my contract.”
This is all hard stuff to know if you don’t pay attention to the numbers. I mean if you ran for 1,500 yards how do you know if you did better or worse than others, without looking at the stats? And not just your stats, the entire league’s stats. You can’t. In order to know your worth, you have to be up to date on what is going on in relation to you.
I suppose we’re to believe that every contract hold-out is the agent’s idea. Or every time a guy talks about wanting a new deal, that it was his entourage that got the ball rolling. Yeah. Right.
And what does “out-performing their contract” mean anyway? When athletes sign, aren’t they essentially saying they’re going to do their best? Isn’t that what the clichés are all about??
“I just wanted to leave it all out on the field.”
“You know, um, give 110%, and, um, er, uhhhh…give thanks to the coaching staff, my teammates and uhhhh, oh yeah, God.”
Instead of crying for more money just because they had a good year like they were supposed to do, they should honor their contract.
By that same token teams shouldn’t go asking players to take a pay cut. They too should honor the contract.
If both parties think an extension is in order; or the player is willing to give up some years for more up-front money, that’s one thing. That’s an indication of both parties not just honoring the contract, but also honoring their commitment to each other’s wellbeing.
Instead we got guys who “don’t know what’s going on”, willing to hamstring the same teammates they praised for helping them get to a position to (hurt them) hold-out for more money. And no one is calling “Bullshit!”
Until now.
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