NFL
 

In the event of a lockout even the notion that someone would compare a bunch of crybaby athletes making millions of dollars a year to play a game, to soldiers and servicemen making a wage just barely above poverty line is ridiculous. If these guys are so retarded that they cant figure out how to make a few million dollars stretch through a year or two of being out of work, then i have no sympathy or respect for them.
Do you all feel sorry for them? I do not. Maybe they can file resume after resume to find a job, which believe me most are qualified to pump gas. I personally know some players and now they are check to mouth as they spent all the gravy partying.
Bring on the replacements!! They want to play.

I don't feel sorry for them at all, if they like to play that much they should play for free, let them walk.

My friend I work with said it best "Once they leave college, their dead to me!"

The whole NFL could disappear tomorrow, wouldn't make a lick of difference to me.
Take the NBA with you when you go!

Personally I can't wait for the replacements to show up. My Cowboys suck this year. At least the replacements have a chance of going .500

And to think I got turned off of baseball after their last strike. And the poor NFL guys might have to play 18 games a year.

Now if we were to have a lockout and some miracle would happen and we'd get rid of the stupid BCS and move to a playoff system, then college football could really be up there and even move to the Sunday schedule.

At least it gives us something to complain about.

any sport that doesn't have a motor & burn fuel could disappear tonight & I wouldn't even notice, I don't care if it's chainsaw's cutting I'll watch it .

Until the Budweiser shootout and Daytona, sports are over!

Yup you know what I'm talking about Dave.

i'm with dave auto racing it is.

hi tammie,
i raced on dirt for 25 years. i thought it was fun.

Wouldn't you all like to see the players have a little bit better protection against being coerced into playing when hurt? How about those old football players that are losing their brains because they played too many games with a pre existing head injury? Personally, I'd like to see better protection for the player after they retire from the game. Not every player has a multi million dollar contract, but all of them play as hard as they can. Yes, it's hard to feel sorry for a guy that makes a living playing a game, but it's also more about the health of these guys than the pay. It isn't all about the money. And anyway, if they do have a lockout, we'll ave the NHL to fall back on.
PS- I thought I would be over NASCAR if Johnson won a fith straight title... I wish someone else would win. But the way Edwards ran in the last two weeks of the season gave me hope.

Having many players who are coddled through high school because they can play a game (test scores fudged, etc.) and given a pass in college for a championship try, it is not too difficult to understand how someone with MAYBE a 6th grade education could noy understand how to negotiate the finances of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It also leads to the question of ethics---are the coaches/schools/organizations/agents/families & friends(?) taking advantage of not-necessarily-so-bright athletes?

I don't have an ounce of pity for a solitary one of them. I do enjoy the game but I like woman's fast pitch softball better and they earn nary of $50K per year for 50 games played.

These so called college educated athletes should have enough brains to hire the right person to manage their finances so they can live the rest of their lives on what they earn.

Even at league minimum, these guys are earning more than most of America.

And furthermore, when it costs north of $100 for a ticket, $20 to park, $10 for a brew and a dog and an outrageous sum for a souvenir, they can really kiss my a$$.

a lot of that is the owners fault for paying these rookies all those millions where as they are unproven coming out of college. The pay as it is now is backward imo. It should be rookies making the league minimum and as you progress then you get more money. None of these guys is worth all the millions they are paid, period. There should be a cap but the players union will never let that happen.Look at JaMarcus, for instance, he took the Raiders for 29 ? mil and washed right out. C`mon now quit paying these outrageous salaries and then you can lower ticket prices.
I say go on strike so others can play who really want to

Tim brings up a good point: I refuse to buy jerseys and other team paraphernalia because it only pads the pockets of the players more (not counting the company that makes them, that's not the point. I have zero problem with the capitalism aspect of it). I was given a Ladanian Tomlinson Charger's jersey in his last year in San Diego. I wore it twice and now it hangs forever in my closet. So, a $100 jersey is pretty much useless now, but LT got a piece of the cost of that shirt.

I'm pretty much about as non-union as a person can be. However, I understand the usefulness of a union in our society. When a company (the NFL) has all the power and reuses to take care of the health of the players, but allows the owners to continue to make more and more every year, I tend to agree with player's union. I don't like the exorbitant salaries that some players make, especially when they don't perform. The Jamarcus Russell example stands out as the benchmark of ridiculous salaries. However, I'll stress again the need for the NFL owners to be made to take care of the athletes when they retire with a head full of mush and a pretty useless existence after football. A lot of these men are broken and crippled and the league tends to forget about them. Just because they're athletes, is it alright for them to be discarded like yesterday's newspaper?

Stu, I also agree with your point. I just looked on line and the NFL league minimum is $325K per year for a first year player. An 11th year player can earn a minimum of $820K. And all of this for 16 reg season games, 2 pre-season games and spring training.

In contrast, the league minimum for an MLB player is $400K. That's spring training, XXX pre-season games and 162 regular season games.

There seems to be a little disparity in total compensation levels. Additionally, as a military person, most ball fields will allow you in for free (nose bleed) of course. You can still catch a Baltimore or a Boston game for under $15.00 and most major league ball parks accommodate less fans.

Football is a gladiator sport, but so is baseball when the Yankees and Red Sox are playing. :-missingt:-X02

MLB still has my interest, mostly because I love the game. But if I want to see real Baseball, I will go to a minor league game.
MLB has been tainted too by mega-salaries and steroids, but it seems to still appreciate the fans, and Nothing is more American than baseball.......it still holds that nostalgic place in my heart.

NFL-NBA?...........please implode and blow away.

Very well said. Very few players on a 53 man roster make 1 million plus a year.

The average NFL career is less than 3 years, but the damage they are doing to their bodys will last forever.

I love reading and hearing about people complaining about NFL player salaries. They're just jealous that God didn't give them the talent and determination to let them play a game for a living.

Can't compare the length of a 162 mlb season and a 16 game NFL season.
It's apples to orange's.

Those lineman are hitting each other over 50+ plays a game. Every now and then you see someone in baseball hit the wall trying to catch a foul ball or home run, but that's every now and then.

The NFL season is much more grueling on the body. Ask a MLB player. He'd tell you.

Actually, I don't think it's too bad a comparison. One has to remember, though, that just because the teams are not competing does not mean the players aren't working extremely hard to be redy for the next game. Same is true for MLB players. Not only do they play neaerly every game, but they are expected to stay in good shape- weight training, feilding practing, batting practice, etc. A 16 game season for the NFL lasts nearly 6 months, even longer if they make the playoffs.

I don't think this is entirely true. I believe there are many, many people out there with the God given ability to do remarkable things on a football field. What most of us don't possess, however, is the desire and determination to do the extra work to get noticed: hitting the weighs after prctice, when your body is screaming for youto hit the hottub, studying the playbook (which are the size of big city phonebooks these days) countless hours until your brain and body can perform them flawlessly, to study your opponent's game film to find a weakness in their system. I mean, most of us just want to go home and watch a coupe hours of television and go to bed.

true, but with a min of
Rookies and first-year players $285,000

x3 = 855k for 3 years...not too shabby at all

As I mentioned in my post sir, Football is a gladiator sport and baseball is not. Baseball players are just as prone to injury as Football players simply due to the length of the season and the explosiveness of the game. The ball is hit, you either react immediately or fail.

Reps sent sir.

And, how many excellent players simply are not in the right place at the right time? My daughter is the most ambitious softball player that I've ever seen with a work ethic that would make any man proud. She's a junior in HS and she fully intends to play college ball.

There are so many very talented athletes out there that to get her individually scouted is just not going to happen. Thank God for technology. I can video tape her and mail out the disks.

It's not necessarily about jealousy.

NHL! I usually watch my Skins go 16 and out then I watch my CAPS. And they are actually pretty darn good now (after following them for 20+ years). So if a lockout does occur, I have another way to get my sports fix.

Is 855K worth this?

NFL Former Players: HBO Sheds Light on Long-Lasting NFL Injuries

To me its not.

They deserve medical care for life. The owners and the NFL have the resources to do this.

The NFL knows it has a problem on its hands

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/sp.../29injury.html

Really? How can you compare a shoulder, elbow, calf, hamstring injuries, and cuts and/or blisters (pitchers) to head, neck and spinal cord injuries?

Don't care. Can't see how people can spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and merchandise, or spend an entire Sunday watching football.

I don't think the players get any of that money. Not directly anyway. The player and their "trademark" is owned by the team. They do make their own endorsement money if they are marketable enough to get endorsed.

And the players have a choice to do something different with their lives. Or make their own preperations for the future.

The smart players probably are providing for their future, but there is still an element of unknown risks to the players that may, if they were known, alter their decision to play the sport. But so be it...
Should we then allow asbestos to be manufactured again? How about abolishing all the osha rules... I mean, "they have a choice to do something different with their lives. Or make their own preparations for the future.":confused:

Or, perhaps we should make football a true gladiator sport, where the losing team gets killed, a la "The Running Man."

A football player does not impact my life or well being....or yours...or the guy down the street. An Asbestos manufacturer does. Not quite an apples to apples comparison there. Same with OSHA keeping employees from forcing people to hurt themselves. OSHA is a compliance and penalty levying arm of United States Department of Labor. Not a private owned organization. Are you suggesting that professional sports safety should be governed by the US government?

No, of course not. You know me much better than that.
I agree to a point that we all have to take our own safety into consideration when choosing a profession, but even so, does it justify the league ignoring the symtpoms of a serious problem? Also, I'm just suggesting that the NFL take a more responsible approach to future disabilities associated with the sport. The pay issues don't really concern me too much, as I don't think either party is hurting, financially. But when players are losing a good portion of their life as a result, which may or not be of their own choosing, of debilitating injuries, while the owners are raking in $billions, there needs to be some protection.

Yes I do. Just yankin' your change on a Monday morning 'cause I know you for the type that generally would advocate people being responsible for their own actions.

You know, if these sports figures were assigned their careers at some early age and had no choice I would help you hoist the flag of entitlement here...but, I just can't stand with you on this one.

But, to the extent that they have every right to negotiate their contracts to whatever they wish? I have no issues with that. And if they wish to compromise their life...then how can I help them? Or have sympathy for a condition that they helped create?

Duane, I don't have to. These are choices that ALL athletes have made knowing full well the risks involved. They are lured by the money and fame with little or no consideration for their futures. In my mind, they earn enough money as a player to put some away for the future, what ever that may bring.

Do you follow baseball? Take the Boston Red Sox for instance. They were the most injured team in the league this year. Four of their starters sat out most of the season with a variety of injuries ranging from broken ribs to knees, to shoulders to hips to broken foot bones. Sounds pretty traumatic to me especially if ones future is contingent on the outcome.

I've already conceded that Football is rougher and offers greater risks but again, they are well compensated.

It seems to me as though there are plenty of more dangerous jobs for far less money that pro athletes earn. Fisherman, iron workers, tree fellers, etc. The athletes don't get my sympathy.

I think I stirred the pot