My recent little Jets draft blunder item, from Toni Monkovic of the Times:
Dewayne Robertson was cut by the Broncos. The Jets moved up in the 2003 draft, trading two first-round picks, to get him at No. 4. That strategy almost never works. And certainly didn’t in this case.
(from Rotoworld):
Broncos released DLs Dewayne Robertson and John Engelberger, LBs Jamie Winborn and Niko Koutouvides, TE Nate Jackson, and SS Marquand Manuel.
The moves save a cool $22.2M under the salary cap. Robertson’s cap figure was $16M, a ridiculous amount for a league-average wave tackle with bum knees. The No. 4 overall pick in 2003, Robertson is 27 but may not have more than a season left in him.
Extra point: The Jets gave up their No. 13 and No. 22 picks to get Robertston. Had they stayed put, they could have chosen from among Troy Polamalu, Calvin Pace, Willis McGahee, Dallas Clark, Larry Johnson, Nick Barnett and Nnamdi Asomugha, all of whom went in the 16-31 range.
Monkovic also quotes Mike Florio of PFT on the relationship American football players (rarely the smartest kids in your college Psych class) have with their understanding of the will of God. Though I sometimes think the draft is God's curse on Gang Green, I remember that the Jets are just inept. God love them.
Showing posts with label Football is the Cruelest Sport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Football is the Cruelest Sport. Show all posts
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Old and New
These videos may have originally appeared around the time that the West Side Stadium was still an issue, but there's still resonance here for those of us who remember seeing the Jets at Shea Stadium, the now ex-ballpark seeing its last gradual disintegration in Flushing Meadow-Corona.
First, former middle linebacker Greg Buttle talks about the feeling of intimacy that Shea unwittingly afforded to fans of football, particularly at the first and second levels. He talks about it as "a big-market stadium with a small market mentality." The franchise and the stadium as one, so to speak (even if the stadium didn't actually belong to the Jets).
Then Wesley Walker - one of my all-time favorites - speaks similarly about Shea. But he also says that though the players did not want to leave Shea, "we weren't allowed to really talk about it." Finally, there's a great shot of one of his touchdowns against the Dolphins at the 1978 opener at Shea, which I saw with my Dad and brother. It was the Sunday before the start of school. I drew a picture of that touchdown when I was asked to draw "what I did on my summer vacation," which drove my Mom crazy on back-to-school night.
Finally, more present problems: who's going to coach our team? I for one am glad Bill Romanowski is not interested in coaching us the way he is with the Broncos. Still, how many people do we need to interview? Caroline Kennedy? Don Maynard? The defensive coordinator of every team? Anthony Fucilli's conversation with ESPN's Larry Hardesty evokes our frustration. I appreciate Hardesty's bemusement at the Browns hiring Mangini when they could have hired Jim Fassel.
And further, returning to Wesley Walker again, this is an article that made me ashamed to be a football fan. He says that if he had known the pain football would bring him in his 50's, he would never have played.
First, former middle linebacker Greg Buttle talks about the feeling of intimacy that Shea unwittingly afforded to fans of football, particularly at the first and second levels. He talks about it as "a big-market stadium with a small market mentality." The franchise and the stadium as one, so to speak (even if the stadium didn't actually belong to the Jets).
Then Wesley Walker - one of my all-time favorites - speaks similarly about Shea. But he also says that though the players did not want to leave Shea, "we weren't allowed to really talk about it." Finally, there's a great shot of one of his touchdowns against the Dolphins at the 1978 opener at Shea, which I saw with my Dad and brother. It was the Sunday before the start of school. I drew a picture of that touchdown when I was asked to draw "what I did on my summer vacation," which drove my Mom crazy on back-to-school night.
Finally, more present problems: who's going to coach our team? I for one am glad Bill Romanowski is not interested in coaching us the way he is with the Broncos. Still, how many people do we need to interview? Caroline Kennedy? Don Maynard? The defensive coordinator of every team? Anthony Fucilli's conversation with ESPN's Larry Hardesty evokes our frustration. I appreciate Hardesty's bemusement at the Browns hiring Mangini when they could have hired Jim Fassel.
And further, returning to Wesley Walker again, this is an article that made me ashamed to be a football fan. He says that if he had known the pain football would bring him in his 50's, he would never have played.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
On Reggie Williams
It's extraordinary that former Cincinnati linebacker Reggie Williams' story is offered so openly on NFL.com when it testifies to the kind of crippling life an NFL player should expect after the game is done. His recent surgical ordeals and the subsequent infections are horrific. It could be that his courage in the face of his knee replacements make his story poignant and inspiring, especially when Williams says he would play all over again if he had the chance. But nowhere does the NFL mention the fact that players can expect no help from a game whose punishment will require that they will someday move around with a walker while still clinging to middle age. That's the real story.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
GU 63
The GU 63 on the field and on the uniforms for Gene Upshaw in tonight's opener between the Giants and the Redskins speaks to the justified respect the former NFLPA leader felt from both players and owners. The game would not be what it is tonight - a juggarnaut in American sport - were it not for his ability to find the common ground between the workers and their bosses. He endured the leadership of Pete Rozelle, Paul Taliagbue and Roger Goodell. Obviously Upshaw's legacy is, in part, affected by his hostility to the idea of compensating retired players whose debilitating handicaps are a direct result of football's violence. Tagliabue said that Upshaw thought about the larger picture of the game rather than the smaller issues. Rival offensive lineman Joe Delamielleure had another view, that the players were the game, unconditionally. His muted comments on Upshaw's death reflected a more critical view of Upshaw's legacy:
"The reality of life for all the guys who played in the NFL, including Gene, is that we have a short life span. It's just the way it is," he said. "I have sympathy for his family. I have sympathy for his wife and children. I didn't know Gene personally. I just knew him professionally."
Delamielleure is so fixated on his righteous point that he doesn't even bother to distinguish that Upshaw died of a long bout with cancer. Upshaw once said off the record that Delamielleure's activism on the issue of retired players' compensation made him want to break the former Bills' guard's neck. Delamielleure had the last word.
"The reality of life for all the guys who played in the NFL, including Gene, is that we have a short life span. It's just the way it is," he said. "I have sympathy for his family. I have sympathy for his wife and children. I didn't know Gene personally. I just knew him professionally."
Delamielleure is so fixated on his righteous point that he doesn't even bother to distinguish that Upshaw died of a long bout with cancer. Upshaw once said off the record that Delamielleure's activism on the issue of retired players' compensation made him want to break the former Bills' guard's neck. Delamielleure had the last word.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Continuing Injustice to NFL Retirees
Here are some of the more interesting bits I've found on the ongoing need for the NFL and the Players Association to break open their banks to better fund the pensions of veteran players:
First, although you may recognize Kyle Turley as the guy who threw a Jets helmet into the lights of the Superdome, you may be pleasantly surprised to see his extraordinary support for veteran players. (photo taken from NY Times) If only each existing player were given the information about one player who needs their financial support, then perhaps many of them would become as involved as Turley. Imagine, as the Times article suggests, if each player donated one game's salary to the well-being of the pension fund.
On "Life After Football," the multimedia link for this Times page, former Bills and Cardinals guard Conrad Dobler makes three simple points. (photo from Ebay) First, he reminds us that each of the linemen with whom he played in St. Louis have at least a hip and knee replacement. Dobler himself has had five major surgeries on one knee. The exception to that front line is Bob Young, who died in 1995. My Mom just had her second knee replaced at the age of 71, yet none of the living linemen of whom he speaks are yet 60. Secondly, Dobler says that young players need to understand - particularly linemen younger than Kyle Turley - that they will definitely be where he is, in the hospital, getting expensive medical treatment all their lives. They will probably be there at ages even younger than 50 because they are physically so much heavier than Dobler, Dierdorf, Young and other linemen of the 60's and 70's. Finally, he says that if the league, the players and their union donated "10% of the cap" to the pension, it would make a big difference toward mending the gap between what retired players need and what they get.
Most of all, he insists that none of the former players he knows have even bothered to petition the Players Association or the league for their long-term disabilities. That's just his say, but he also claims that that the league has said to him that to begin a process of opening up the league's coffers would more likely mean an "opening of the floodgates" that would financially cripple the league over time. This sounds so much like the usual mantras people offer to put off righting an injustice. It's just more convenient to keep the same profits moving in the same upward direction without thinking about how those profits might be directed toward improving, in the smallest ways, the human nuts and bolts of the game's tradition.
The extent of the movement to reform the pension fund is embodied in Dave Pear's blog, devoted almost solely to the issue. The most consistent theme seems to be that the Players Association has a strong responsibility to make this a greater issue with the league. With Gene Upshaw in charge of the union, good luck.
Consider the millions and millions more it is costing both the Jets and the Giants to build their new stadium. Sure, the Jets are having a harder case for pricing PSL's to fans, despite the success the Giants are having bilking their fans with the same idea, but Jets fans know PSL's are inevitable. But consider that we also know that that these two teams have overseen a construction process that is running hugely over budget. According to Richard Sandomir in the Times, the Patriots' Gillette Stadium "opened in 2003 at a reported construction cost of $325 million, all paid for by the team. No seat licenses were sold." I don't need to tell you how galling that is. Two teams, building one stadium, need PSL's to cover construction costs that should have been managed properly. Imagine that. Well, let's face it - the costs are convenient considering that Mara and Johnson were probably considering PSL's from the get-go. The league allows that kind of financial irresponsibility to go on, forcing fans to refinance their lives as if they were planning to send a phantom child to college or to buy another house. Yet apparently reaching out to struggling players with only a fraction of its billion dollar business would be considered "opening the floodgates."
First, although you may recognize Kyle Turley as the guy who threw a Jets helmet into the lights of the Superdome, you may be pleasantly surprised to see his extraordinary support for veteran players. (photo taken from NY Times) If only each existing player were given the information about one player who needs their financial support, then perhaps many of them would become as involved as Turley. Imagine, as the Times article suggests, if each player donated one game's salary to the well-being of the pension fund. 
On "Life After Football," the multimedia link for this Times page, former Bills and Cardinals guard Conrad Dobler makes three simple points. (photo from Ebay) First, he reminds us that each of the linemen with whom he played in St. Louis have at least a hip and knee replacement. Dobler himself has had five major surgeries on one knee. The exception to that front line is Bob Young, who died in 1995. My Mom just had her second knee replaced at the age of 71, yet none of the living linemen of whom he speaks are yet 60. Secondly, Dobler says that young players need to understand - particularly linemen younger than Kyle Turley - that they will definitely be where he is, in the hospital, getting expensive medical treatment all their lives. They will probably be there at ages even younger than 50 because they are physically so much heavier than Dobler, Dierdorf, Young and other linemen of the 60's and 70's. Finally, he says that if the league, the players and their union donated "10% of the cap" to the pension, it would make a big difference toward mending the gap between what retired players need and what they get. Most of all, he insists that none of the former players he knows have even bothered to petition the Players Association or the league for their long-term disabilities. That's just his say, but he also claims that that the league has said to him that to begin a process of opening up the league's coffers would more likely mean an "opening of the floodgates" that would financially cripple the league over time. This sounds so much like the usual mantras people offer to put off righting an injustice. It's just more convenient to keep the same profits moving in the same upward direction without thinking about how those profits might be directed toward improving, in the smallest ways, the human nuts and bolts of the game's tradition.
The extent of the movement to reform the pension fund is embodied in Dave Pear's blog, devoted almost solely to the issue. The most consistent theme seems to be that the Players Association has a strong responsibility to make this a greater issue with the league. With Gene Upshaw in charge of the union, good luck.
Consider the millions and millions more it is costing both the Jets and the Giants to build their new stadium. Sure, the Jets are having a harder case for pricing PSL's to fans, despite the success the Giants are having bilking their fans with the same idea, but Jets fans know PSL's are inevitable. But consider that we also know that that these two teams have overseen a construction process that is running hugely over budget. According to Richard Sandomir in the Times, the Patriots' Gillette Stadium "opened in 2003 at a reported construction cost of $325 million, all paid for by the team. No seat licenses were sold." I don't need to tell you how galling that is. Two teams, building one stadium, need PSL's to cover construction costs that should have been managed properly. Imagine that. Well, let's face it - the costs are convenient considering that Mara and Johnson were probably considering PSL's from the get-go. The league allows that kind of financial irresponsibility to go on, forcing fans to refinance their lives as if they were planning to send a phantom child to college or to buy another house. Yet apparently reaching out to struggling players with only a fraction of its billion dollar business would be considered "opening the floodgates."
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