So I'm watching NFL network last night...

sorry but the bus driver, cook and other people aren't risking not only health for there job but also there life. I'm sorry but I have a different opinion after my ex boss was a former NFL player that can barely stand let alone walk because of football. Sorry but 60k plus people aren't coming to a football stadium to watch the cook but they are for Vincent Jackson and these other players. The next time he steps on the field could be hist last and every player knows that.

 

Go Dolphins!

 

I know guys in their 30's and 40's that are in just as bad of shape as ANY football player...... from working their asses off. Guys that were killed or maimed/paralyzed for life. All for a weekly paycheck that in most cases doesn't even cover basic necessities for them and their families


Don't over dramatize the situation to favor a bunch of guys playing a GAME....

If you want to say that they deserve it because they're the reason their bosses (the owners) are making millions, then fine. But you're way off base here if you think there aren't countless jobs out there just as dangerous and debilitating as football.

 

I'm a writer, and sometimes my wrist really hurts.

 

Puka-Head, tell us how do you really feel.

 

no one complains when the owners make billions off these guys smashing their skulls for our entertainment.....how about reebok making 200$ for a marshall jersey that cost them 10$ to make....and marshall probably gets a small cut.

sure they are paid millions, but they deserve every penny. the nfl is big business. it makes billions.....and it makes billions because of they players. the deserve the money.

 

I don't think his point was so much that they don't deserve it, as the excuse "take care of their family". Sure they deserve a portion of the money, but seriously who are some of these players kidding when they say they are worried about taking care of their families? I can work the rest of my live, making pretty good income from where I sit, and still not come close to 1 years worth of their salary.

 

And not too mention, that these guys' careers are over in their 30's.

 

Even if this is true, your average football makes enough wealth through these years to last them their entire life. Even if the money at that point would not suffice their remaining years, it's enough money to invest/strategies wisely to make it so.

 

not once you are out of the nfl, you know how much insurance is? for the types of injuries these guys get? i played through college and i wake up with numb limbs all the time, always cracking my neck and elbows and shoulder and knees. and im 23.....

 

You're viewing the situation through your own lenses. As hard as it may be, put yourself in the shoes of the NFL player. Besides having a great ability to play football, most players have few other marketable skills. They have a very small window compared to the rest of us to earn a living. You can't blame any of them for trying to get market value for their services. Everything in life is relative. Take that same bus driver you mention. If he's getting paid 10,000 a year to drive a bus, and some other guy is getting paid 30,000 to drive a bus, and the first guy is the much better bus driver, you don't think he's going to pitch a fit?

 

Sure they all are. Watch the news every night. Bad things happen to people everyday all over the place. The next time anyone steps out of their house could be their last time too.

Now obviously NFL players play a physical game but how many people have died playing the game vs actually being at the game? People have fallen over railings, been attacked, etc.

 

I'd say they certainly deserve what they get but if we can support our families while making 100k a year (includes wife's salary) then they can certainly support their families on the millions they make.

 

Ted Ginn has a big family to support.

 

For the life of me I have zero idea why this common man angle is always directed at the players, who put their life and health on the line year round working harder than we can imagine to play this "game", and not at the owners who do nothing but cut ribbons, throw parties, consult lawyers and ***** about wanting new stadiums.

I just don't get that. I don't get it. I guess it must be sheer ignorance. I don't mean any offense by that but I certainly don't get the feeling when I listen to one of these rants that anyone is actually aware of and/or considering the other side of the coin on this issue.

 

I Think it's was the "feed the families" quote that pissed off Puka and I agree with that as a guy that needs his job to keep food on the table and not a raise to add to my Bently collection...I don't begrude NFL players the money they make it's well deserved but that particular line should be left out when these gents talk about wanting more millions..jmo.

 

Well said, CK, well said.

 

Was the point I was attempting to make. Very well put.

 

Agreed. It's just greed IMHO.

 

You're right, it is a matter of ignorance, but not on the part of the original poster.

His point was, IMO, quite valid, in that when players of any sport use the "I'm just trying to provide for my family" argument for more money, it's an insult to the hundreds of millions of people in this country, not to mention the world, who ARE working "just to provide for their families". And by provide I mean feed, house and cloth them. THAT'S how a man provides for his family. THAT'S all the "support" they need. Anythign else is gravy.

I generally agree that players have every right to earn as much money as their skills and talents can demand on the open market just as any other man would doing any other job. Don't have a problem with that. But they, and they're supporters, need to stop with the "hey I've got kids to feed too" bit. Just tell me that you want to make as much money as you possibly can over the injury shortened career you're most likely to have, at best, and leave it at that. Because that's the truth.

When a fireman, police officer, veteran, construction worker or trash truck driver is demanding more money from his employer, he has the right to use the "Look I've got a family to feed" line. Because it's for real.

When a professional athlete is demanding more money, it has nothing to do with feeding a family, and everything to do with him exploiting his uniquely marketable services for as much as he can get.

Also, as the owner of a small business, I've grown weary of the whole "owners take no risk; it's all about the players" line. Yes, without players, there would be no game. But just as importantly, without owners their would be stadium within which to play; there would be no chartered planes; their would be no humongous pool of money from which an organization is run...a pool of money put up by owners who are risking that money in the form of an investment of a mountain of cash they too have most likely earned through good old fashioned hard work. No owners...no league...no revenue...no stadiums...no games...no paychechecks for players.

 

Joe the plumber disagrees with you....

 

I'm sure those guys on the BP rigs would have liked half of what Jackson makes.

 

Or the military man with mouths to feed. The one's he only gets to see in pictures because he's out protecting the gold mine in another country.

 

Joe the D-bag can get bent

 

This.

 

I say some deserve more money. Take Revis, guy making 1 mil and hes the best CB in the game. He has every right trying to get a new contract before the end of the season. Lets face it, lets say he plays every game. Helps the Jets get to the superbowl and is their MVP and the reason they got there. In the superbowl he blows out his knee and it ruins his career. He's screwed. Hes not getting a new contract.

 

well for sure....more people die and get injured in auto accidents than football....and probably more get maimed and/or killed in kitchen accidents. Just saying

 

The problem is I don't think I have *ever* heard the word "feed" put into that statement, unless done very glibly with tongue in cheek. I think everyone hears a player say that he's looking out for he and his family and immediately they plant the word "feed" in their mind, and that's how they remember it, but no player says that. And yes they absolutely are looking out for their families. Most of these players have families that they're sharing their wealth with. They're doing something incredible, usually after decades of hard work becoming one of the best in the world at what they do, and so yeah they try and use this ability of theirs to set themselves and their families up for generations. It's the American ****ing Dream. When they use that statement, all they're saying is it's not just them they're looking out for, because it's not. It's their immediate family, and often their non-immediate families whom they'd also like to pull out of poverty.

 

That, apparently, is your personal opinion, and not one shared by the majority of Americans, at least not in any polls that I've seen. Most everyone else considers providing for their family to include things like a college fund, an inheritance if you can provide one, etc. Hell even Warren Buffett who is as frugal as they come has said that he consider providing for his family to be giving his children the ability to do anything, not the ability to do nothing. Well, that probably entails having some capital available to provide them.

Which is you putting words in their mouths, unless you can actually find me a quote where a player said that and he wasn't being sarcastic or knowingly ridiculous.

Is that right? So when someone is making $60,000 a year and they want to make $65,000 a year, and they say they have a family to feed, how do you think the guy trying to support his family on $20,000 a year feels about that? It's all relative (and all stupid, if you ask me). Subsistance level pay in this country is a lot lower than your making it out to be. It's just because you want the working man at a different level of pay to look like more of a hero than the NFL working men. Which is fine I guess, but it's just as selfish.

It seems to me this whole rant is about statements from players that don't even exist.

 

Bottom line is that they should keep those statements confined to the negotiating room....... in an economy where men and women are laying in bed at night wondering how they're going to feed and clothe their kids, ppl don't wanna hear a millionaire complain that he needs 50 million more instead of 30 million more...... no matter how much they "deserve it".

My problem was with the response that a football player could be crippled or about the beating they take. I would like to invite a football team to come spend a hot Florida summer working on a roof........I bet they head into TC feeling as tho they are getting a break.

 

First off, no I don't think roofers work as hard or diligently as players do, and I've worked construction and come from a construction family.

Secondly, when the NFL stops using the media to do its negotiating, then maybe the players can stop as well. But the fact of the matter is the entire nature of the sport objectifies NFL players. That's just a fact. Players are jersey numbers, they're statistics, they're positions, they're roles, names on a page, trading cards, merchandise. They're not personalities, and you know what? The NFL tries its hardest to foster that objectification. No celebrations. No wearing your uniform just a little bit different from everyone else. No taking your helmet off. God help any player that tries to portray himself as a person instead of an object.

As such, fans objectify the players and personify the "team"...and unfortunately the stance of the owners becomes synonimous with the stance of the personified "team".

It's all rich people arguing with other rich people, and it's OK if you feel disconnected from that, but at least the players are the ones that are working AT LEAST as hard as any of us do at their jobs, and probably much harder. At least they're the ones that slave in the sun like your roofers, put their life and health at risk, DIE YOUNG (and that's proven), lose mobility, sacrifice time they could be spending with their family, etc.

Everyone defaults to the side of the owners, by hating on the players for wanting their fair share of the pie. And yet the owners are a thousand times more symbol of excess than the players.

What pisses me off is people have the ability to reason their way beyond that objectification/personification dynamic, and see both sides, but 9 times out of 10 they don't. They just go on ranting about a player for saying that he wants to provide better for his family.

 

Agree with everything except what I bolded....... a far higher percentage of roofers end up crippled/gimp than do football players. And doing manual labor will never be mistaken for playing a game. Only one of those groups is having fun while busting their asses.... I'm sure there are plenty of other occupations that could also be added to that list.

 

There are different ways to 'work hard'. For example a roofer doesn't have to watch his diet or his weight constantly. A roofer doesn't have to keep up a rigorous training schedule to ensure he keeps up with all of the other roofers. He can go home and forget about his job if he wants to.

I will never understand why some people act like pro athletes are just gifted with money, as if they won the lottery or something. If you want that money, go join a professional sports team. Ranting about rich athletes never sounds like anything more than sour grapes. This is America. When we have the ability to make a large sum of money we can do it. It's a shame that some are supposed to I guess feel guilty about that. The market determines what they make. They have every right to negotiate for their fair market value. Just like any other employee in any other field, it's not different just because it's on a smaller payscale. Once again, this is America. We're capitalists, for the most part.

Don't like their salaries? Stop watching football. It's that simple. They make that money because we go to the games, the sports bars, and our televisions every Sunday to watch them. They're not 'exploiting' anything. The 'battle' between owners and athletes has been going on for years now and we haven't turned away. Despite plenty of fans jealous of an athlete's salary.

 

I'm sorry but I just don't think you're taking a LOT of things into account.

First off does a roofer put in a decade of unpaid work at his craft before he's ready to begin working and getting paid for roofing? Because the average football player does. And the most of them do it for no more reason than the pride they feel knowing that they're getting better at what they do.

Only a fraction of the work a football player does ends up on the field during game days. You do realize that, right? How many hours a year do you think a player puts in work-wise? How many hours a year do you suspect Zach Thomas put in?

Let's assume that a player puts in a 8 hour a day, 50 weeks a year schedule, which is a bad assumption because they probably put in more than that. That means that the 48 hours a year they put in on game day (16 games x 3 hours) constitutes about 2.3% of the time that a player is actually working during the year. Everything else is preparation for that game. Everything else is film sessions, meetings, workouts, playbook study, practice, other responsibilities, training room sessions, rehab, doctor visits, all kinds of crap.

These guys work damn hard, and if they didn't work damn hard they wouldn't be among the best in the whole world at what they do. Can your common roofer say that? Can your average roofer say that he's put in so much work into his craft, he cares about getting better so much, has such passion about it, that he's worked hard and become among the very best in the world at roofing?

Because that's what being an NFL player is.

People want to pretend that it's all just genetics and ability, but that's horse poop. It's hard work. What genetics did Zach Thomas have going in his favor? Even some of the best guys out there are genetically no more enhanced than millions of others.

 

I'm sure more do end up gimpy since I'm assuming there are many more roofers out there than pro football players. Manual labor doesn't pay much because almost anybody can do it. I used to do it when I was a teenager with my dad. I think everybody should do it at some point in their lives. I think it builds character and work ethic. But I absolutely understand why it generally doesn't pay much. I can't see how it's comparable to situations with pro athletes.

 

Umm it's america, last i checked it's a capitalist nation. If you have the opportunity to make more money that is what you should do.

Also, i have no support to fans who don't agree the manner in which pro sports handles money. It's a business. The populations around the globe pay a premium for sports, music, media and entertainment. if you dont' like that they make millions or the owners make millions, stop following it and paying for it.

It's the people who are on the demand side of the equation who are the ones fueling these situations. If you like football but don't like a multimillionaire holding out for more money, stop watching NFL and go watch pee wee football instead and stop paying for the NFL machine to have that much money.

I pay for some of this stuff, so if they have mega million dollar holdouts, i am partially to blame (even in a miniscule way) because i watch and follow pro sports which helps give everyone involved that kind of money in the first place. Well me and many other fans who pay for the delivery of the product.

 

I've done both....... being an athlete is a picnic.

We can disagree on this....

 

It's quite simple. If you can do what these guys can do, you can get paid that kind of money. If you can't do what they can do, stop counting other people's money and be happy you have a job.

 

We've gotten way off topic...If that quote comes out of Adam Jones mouth it's laughable If it comes from Warrick Dunn that's a different story. Crying poormouth because your buddies house got on "Cribs" and yours hasn't or you want to buy your aunt a 7 bedroom instead of a 5 or your neice a Mercedies for graduation instead of a caddy is beyond he realm of "Providing" for your family.

Some players I'm sure have altruism involved when negotiating but IMO that's not the rule.