MShipley88 wrote:The Seahawks gave up the game to Chicago by a culmination of dozens of small errors....and a defensive backfield purchased at a junk shop.

Chicago ain't that good...the depressing part is that they might smother New Orleans as well....like a dead walrus smothering a seal.

Mark  

GO BEARS!!!!!

Yeah, they pulled another one out of their collective butts.....

This is probably one of the dumbest things I have ever read come out of an athletes mouth: Adrian Peterson, Jr. running back for the Oklahoma Sooners has announced that he will forego his senior year to enter the NFL draft.  When asked why he wasnt returning for his senior year he said, "In the end, I think I just realized that this is a business decision and that it is time for me to take that next step," Peterson said in a statement released by the university Monday, the deadline for underclassmen to declare themselves eligible for the draft.  "It wasn't easy. I haven't been sleeping much. I just put it all in God's hands."

Stupid and greedy.     He says that it is a business decision.  Obviously he would rather make a few million dollars than come back for his senior year, get his degree, and try to win a national championship or win the Heisman trophy (which he could easily do if he stays healthy).  Then he says "I just put it all in God's hands."  Bullshit.  What the hell does God have to do with it?  Reading drivel like that just makes me want to puke.  Oh and Ted Ginn Jr., Antonio Pittman, and Anthony Gonzalez are also foregoing their senior year at Ohio St. to enter the draft.  At least their reasons arent just monetary.  They are probably so embarassed by getting their asses handed to them by Florida that they dont want to show their faces on campus.

After reading the article I thought about some things I would do if I was the owner of a professional sports franchise:

1) Mandatory testing of all athletes for performance enhancing or other illegal drugs.  These tests would occur before a season started, every week of the season (including playoffs), and every week during the off-season if the player was still under contract.  If they fail the test...they are fired...no second chances.

2) Mandatory intelligence testing before a contract is tendered.  If you cant pass a college exit exam then you dont deserve to play the game.

3) Mandatory classes on "How to speak to the Media without looking like a total dumbass".  Put a clause in their contract that for every stupid and dumbass thing said to a reporter, the player is fined a specific amount.

4) Limit rookies to the league minimum.  No signing bonuses or incentives.  They get paid what a rookie deserves to be paid regardless of how good they are.  If they do exceptionally well...give them a raise next year.

Then I thought...if a franchise owner ever did the four things that I mentioned, they either wouldnt be able to field a team due to lack of players or they would be so freaking bad that they might as well not even field a team.  Not to mention, they would get in serious trouble with the union and the governing body of whichever league they were in.  I guess maybe I will stick with my 9 to 5 job eh?  

I was hoping for a Bears/Chargers superbowl myself. I watched the games yesterday - the Chargers were all over the Patriots, but threw the game away on three bad mistakes. That's what football comes down to though - you can play well all year, but screw up in the postseason and you're out.

Here, the finals are structured so the higher ranked teams get a second chance early in the playoffs - if they lose their first postseason game, they still progress (although losing means they will play higher seeds in subsequent rounds rather than the lower seeds).

I think I like the American version better. Do what you want through the regular season, but come playoffs time you win or you're out.

Regards

Mike

Kingofpain89 wrote:This is probably one of the dumbest things I have ever read come out of an athletes mouth: Adrian Peterson, Jr. running back for the Oklahoma Sooners has announced that he will forego his senior year to enter the NFL draft.  When asked why he wasnt returning for his senior year he said, "In the end, I think I just realized that this is a business decision and that it is time for me to take that next step," Peterson said in a statement released by the university Monday, the deadline for underclassmen to declare themselves eligible for the draft.  "It wasn't easy. I haven't been sleeping much. I just put it all in God's hands."

Stupid and greedy.     He says that it is a business decision.  Obviously he would rather make a few million dollars than come back for his senior year, get his degree, and try to win a national championship or win the Heisman trophy (which he could easily do if he stays healthy).  Then he says "I just put it all in God's hands."  Bullshit.  What the hell does God have to do with it?  Reading drivel like that just makes me want to puke.  Oh and Ted Ginn Jr., Antonio Pittman, and Anthony Gonzalez are also foregoing their senior year at Ohio St. to enter the draft.  At least their reasons arent just monetary.  They are probably so embarassed by getting their asses handed to them by Florida that they dont want to show their faces on campus.

After reading the article I thought about some things I would do if I was the owner of a professional sports franchise:

1) Mandatory testing of all athletes for performance enhancing or other illegal drugs.  These tests would occur before a season started, every week of the season (including playoffs), and every week during the off-season if the player was still under contract.  If they fail the test...they are fired...no second chances.

2) Mandatory intelligence testing before a contract is tendered.  If you cant pass a college exit exam then you dont deserve to play the game.

3) Mandatory classes on "How to speak to the Media without looking like a total dumbass".  Put a clause in their contract that for every stupid and dumbass thing said to a reporter, the player is fined a specific amount.

4) Limit rookies to the league minimum.  No signing bonuses or incentives.  They get paid what a rookie deserves to be paid regardless of how good they are.  If they do exceptionally well...give them a raise next year.

Then I thought...if a franchise owner ever did the four things that I mentioned, they either wouldnt be able to field a team due to lack of players or they would be so freaking bad that they might as well not even field a team.  Not to mention, they would get in serious trouble with the union and the governing body of whichever league they were in.  I guess maybe I will stick with my 9 to 5 job eh?  

Your franchise would have a bunch of nice guys in it, and would go winless every year.    Plus the fans would hate you. Face it, fans like to talk all kinds of smack about other team's players, but when it comes to their team, don't bother them about how crooked or weird or egotistical the athlete is, they just want to win.   Look at the SF Giant's fans support of a human piece of filth, Barry Bonds. Look how fans welcome with open arms guys like Allen Iverson or Terrel Owens when the year before they were jeering the player, but now he's "Their guy".  I think Kobe Bryant is a scum sucking creep, but if the Mavericks swung a deal for him without losing Dirk, I would be going bezerk....with happiness.  
  I used to feel like you, King, but then I realized if it was MY kid and he had the opportunity to either earn millions of guaranteed dollars, or take a chance on a career ending injury for nothing more than to make some multi-million dollar college program more money, I would say come out early every single time.  Hell, they can always finish college, Emmitt Smith did several years after he came to the NFL and won a handful of rings.  And of course don't forget the double standard, that of college coaches who swear fealty and loyalty to a program, AND have a contract, when all the while they are one giant offer away from stabbing all their recruits in the back and leaving for another college and more money. Yet those guys don't take a tenth of the criticism college athletes do when they switch programs or come out early.

Mike B.

ifearyeti wrote:How many years will I need to work with a $ 40,000 annual salary to make some 20 year olds $ 2 million signing bonus? 50; thats how many.

When you factor in taxes, you probably only need to work around 35 years to come out the same.

Kingofpain89 wrote:
I guess I got on a bit of a rant there and got a little lost.  
Yes I am talking about you Eli Manning, you no talent pussy.  

Couldn't help having a bit more of a rant!?
This is all a bit lost on us Brits - though I do follow the NFL, the minutae of it is a little irrelevant to me, lets face it there isn't the passion for your 'football' here than there obviously is there.
And speaking of proper 'football' (Kidding!) - the big news in the UK is that David Beckham is likely to be coming to LA very soon - on a reported £125 for 5 years. I'm interested to know if this is in the news on the other side of the pond and if anyone has any opinions either way. (FWIW he seems like a nice guy, a family man with a down to earth attitude - if that can be said of someone who earns millions for kicking a ball around)

Kingofpain89 wrote:
Hell I was poor for a good part of the time growing up and I can guarantee you that if I had the opportunity to go play football in the NFL and make some huge amount of money I wouldn't have told the organization that drafted me that I wasnt going to play for them because they werent good enough.  Yes I am talking about you Eli Manning, you no talent pussy.  

How do you think he felt watching the Chargers go 14-2 this year, and although they didn't win a game in the playoffs, they still have LT and most of the same team coming back this year. Meanwhile, the NY Giants had their best player (Tiki Barber) retire, his team just went .500, and there's more holes in the off and def there than a screen door.  Plus add insult to injury, they just resigned the Human Scowl, Tom Coughlin, to another year as coach.  I bet Eli would LOVE a do-over right about now.

Mike B.

[quote="gyg"]
Couldn't help having a bit more of a rant!?
This is all a bit lost on us Brits - though I do follow the NFL, the minutae of it is a little irrelevant to me, lets face it there isn't the passion for your 'football' here than there obviously is there.
quote]

I am tired of all this grid iron talk   Just wait till Aussie Rules starts up again ...  

For what it is worth having come from that part of the world I love hockey and football but living in Australia limits the access to sports unless I start paying for cable ...

Or maybe for the Brits we should talk about cricket  

MShipley88 wrote:
   When Brian Bosworth went pro out of Oklahoma, there was considerable talk about his "disloyalty."  When it was known that he was going pro the school officially kicked him off their team.

   In his book (a good read, by the way) Bosworth points out that Oklahoma did not recruit him out of the goodness of their hearts.  Nor, did he owe anything to Oklahoma...after the millions the school made off marketing him.

    For one example...Bosworth cited a poster of him that the school sold for $5 (in early 1980's dollars).  The college sold 100,000 (according to Bosworth) copies of the poster.  Bosworth received $0 for this use of his image.  Given Bosworth's business accumen...and the way he tricked Denver Bronco fans (my bold) into paying him millions...I tend to believe the story.

. . . . . . . . .
Mark  

Mark, I must be getting old---Bosworth played for Seattle, not Denver   ; I don't remember Denver even signing Bosworth as what would now be a free agent, much less drafting him.