After all that Plaxico Burress has done to the New York Giants, does it surprise you that they do not want to pay him some of the money that he is owed. The Giants are refusing to pay Burress $1 million of his signing bonus from the contract he signed in september. The NFL Players Association says, if Burress is not paid they will file a grievance against the Giants for suspending him. They suspended him because he accidently shot himself in the leg, while he was at a Manhattan nightclub. He was later charged with gun charges. So shouldn’t the Giants have the right to suspended someone that broke the law. Is the Players Union trying to say that the players are above the law and that they shouldn’t be punished? It sure does to me. The Giants shouldn’t have to pay for Burress’s stupid mistakes. Why should someone that screws up get a bonus, that doesn’t make any sense does it? Not to me it doesn’t. It’s like rewarding someone for messing up. You think that if Burress gets paid, he’ll have learned his lesson? I would probably say not. Why would he? He’s still getting paid, what’s his punishment. The union has already got Burress’s fines reduced once this year and look how that worked out. He still screwed up again. Maybe the union should open their eyes and see that their not helping him, they are crippling him. Because apparently the ways their going about trying to help him is not working. Duh, he messed up again!
College Player’s Leaving Early
Junior Colt McCoy is the Texas Longhorns starting quarterback and if your not familiar with who he is, he’s one hell of a quarterback. McCoy has thrown for over 30 touchdowns and has rushed for more than 10. He leads his team in rushing and really has carried his team to a 11-1 record. McCoy is also in the Heisman race as well, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the fact that he had people check into the NFL and see where he might be drafted if he went pro after this season. If he would be drafted high enough he would enter the draft. Now should the NFL really let something like this happen. Should college kids really be able to find out where they might be drafted and use that information to decide whether to quit school or go pro. The NFL should banish things like this from happening because they should encourage kids to stay in college and finish their schooling. Because that’s really whats important. The NFL will be there next year and you’ll be paid well enough no matter if you wait an extra year or not to be set for life. If players leave early the scholarship they received is lost and some kid that really could have used it doesn’t get one. I think the system that the NFL has in place right now doesn’t work. I’m not saying it’s the worst by no means compared to the NBA and MLB it’s great, but it just needs some work done to it. If at least one thing is changed the NFL should say if a player tests the water to see where he would be in the draft, then they have to go pro. If they do go pro they should have to pay back the college their scholarship so that other students could recieve financial aid. Because in my eyes if your checking out to see where you’d be drafted then you don’t really care about school and you know what your going to do with your life. All they care about is the money, if they won’t be drafted high enough then they probably wont go because the higher they get drafted the more money they will make. In my opinion it just hurts the colleges because the player’s won’t give everything to their teams because they are too worried about the draft. I know this is my opinion and it might seem crazy and I won’t disagree with you. Everybody’s opinion is their own. If you’d like to voice your opinion just leave a comment and I’ll post it. Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it.
Athletes & Guns
Plaxico Burress is in the news again and it’s not for the right reasons. Burress shot himself in the leg early Saturday at a Manhattan night club. He now has been arrested for gun possession charges. The future for Burress is up in the air on whether he will be able to play in the NFL the rest of the season. However, that’s not his biggest problem. He could up spending time in jail. A question that arises from this incident though is why did Burress have a gun and why did he shot it. Many athletes carry guns for protection, but should they still be carrying them. This is the second NFL player that has had an incident with a gun. Adam Pacman Jones had a problem at a night club where shots were fired. He was later suspended for a whole season and apparently Burress didn’t pay any attention to that. Many are wondering as I am, if Commissioner Roger Goodell is going to suspend Burress or not and if he does for how long. Another question that comes up, is why was he at a night club that late. Shouldn’t Burress know better. You would think so, but it doesn’t look that way. Burress apparently has not learned his lesson. With the Giants already fining him on 35 separate occasions. Exceeding above $300,000 in fines. This leaves much up in the air on what the Giants will do to Burress as well. The worst part is, this is another African-American that has portrayed a bad image for others. Hopefully this will help open the eyes for other athletes and let them see how bad things can get when you don’t use your head. Especially when your somewhat of a celebrity and people look up to you. You have to accept that responsibility whether you like it or not. Athletes are role models and right now there not doing a very good job at it.
NFL Injuries
In the first week of the season Tom Brady the quarterback for the New England Patriots was injured and lost for the season. Brady was hit in the knee by Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard. Brady had to have season ending knee surgery to repair the knee. The Patriots wanted Brady to have the surgery done by one of their doctors. However, Brady wanted to have the surgery done by one of his doctors in California. Brady eventually went to his doctor and had the surgery. The Patriots were not very happy that Brady chose his doctor over theirs and they would have good reason later. A couple of months after Brady had his surgery he had to have his knee cleaned out to get rid of the infection he had gotten. Brady would later have two more procedures done to get rid of the infection. This was one of the main reasons the Patriots wanted Brady to use one of their doctors, so that something like that would not happen. Due to Brady having these procedures his timetable for his return was pushed back. However, would just going to a different doctor really change what would have happened to Brady? I’m not a 100% that it would have, but I understand the Patriots point because he is their franchise quarterback and they pay him all that money. So the question arises to me, who should have the final say in which doctor and injured player should chose. I personally don’t know how to answer the question. I can see why the team should be because they pay the athlete. They have all that money invested in them. They want to make sure everything is done right, so that the player can return as quickly as possible and be a 100%. On the other side I can understand why the athlete should have the final say because it’s their body and they have to feel comfortable with the doctor that is going to do the surgery. So I can see it both ways. If you have an opinion about who should have the final say let me know and I’ll post it in my comments.
Misconduct Again
This weekend Plaxico Burress the wide receiver for the New York Giants was suspended again. Burress was suspended for two weeks about a month ago for skipping practice. Burress didn’t call anyone to let them know he was not going to be able to make it to practice. So the Giants felt they had no choice, but to suspended him. If they didn’t it would look like that Burress is above management and he can do whatever he wants. Burress later said that he missed practice for family matters. The Giants didn’t have a problem with that, they just felt like they should have been contacted and made aware of what was going on. Burress however, has been known to miss out on team activities. Last year he didn’t practice at all because of a bad ankle. After the suspension though the Giants thought that they had fixed the problem with Burress. But Burress was suspended for the first quarter of the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend. For missing a couple of treatment sessions for his neck. Again Burress is missing scheduled activities. The questions has to be raised as to whether Burress just doesn’t want to do anything, but just play on Sundays and do none of the work that leads up to it. Can the Giants afford to keep having Burress skip activities and make them look like they have no control on their players. It looks like it might take more than a suspension to get the point across to Burress. This was one of the reasons the Steelers had got rid of him. More and more players are not wanting to practice. Are teams going to have to put stipulations into contracts on having to be at team activities. I hope not because the players should feel privileged to play the game they play and get paid so well. They should do whatever their teams want them to do because they are paying them. If any regular Joe started missing work and not telling their boss they would be fired. So shouldn’t players be held to that same standard? I believe so. Hopefully the Giants can find a way to get to Burress, but who knows. All I know is that Burress is hurting his team and could end up costing his team another Super Bowl run.
Player’s Conduct!
Michael Vicks future is up in the air. He is due to get out of prison this summer and if you’re not familiar with whom Michael Vick is. He’s a former quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL. He was found guilty about a year ago in a dog fighting scandal and was sentenced to 23 months in prison. Now with his release quickly approaching are NFL players hurting his chances of being reinstated. Like Adam “Pacman” Jones who again has been suspended by Commissioner Roger Goodell, for fighting with his body guard while being intoxicated. Jones is not proving to Goodell that players that make bad decisions are capable of making good ones. Because Jones no matter what the consequences are never can stay out of trouble. So when Goodell sits down and looks at Michael Vick is the example of Jones going to play a role in the decision of him being reinstated? I would hope not, but with Goodell’s very strict conduct policy it just might be the case. You mess up once you’re pretty much done. Only time will tell, but Jones is not painting a very good picture for the players that have got in trouble with the law in the past. However, that might be exactly what Goodell has to do to keep the players out of trouble. Don’t give them a second chance and let them think that they can do whatever they want.
Should Referee’s Be Held More Responsible?
About four weeks ago in a game between the Denver Bronco’s and San Diego Charger’s there was a very questionable call that the referee’s made that cost the charges the game. Quarterback Jay Cutler of the Bronco’s dropped back with only 1:17 minutes left in the game and tried to throw a pass into the end-zone, but fumbled the ball before he could throw it, and the chargers recovered the ball. However, the referee’s said that Cutler had thrown the ball and it was an incomplete pass. Therefore the Bronco’s kept the ball and eventually scored and won the game. Now later the referee’s came out and told the coaches and press that they had blown the call and that it should have been a fumble. But that doesn’t do the Charger’s any good because they still lost the game. Now what if the Charger’s miss the playoffs by one game, should they be punished for that because the referee’s cost them a game? I personally think that they should not, but it’s not my decision. Shouldn’t the referee’s be held responsible for blowing that call, shouldn’t they have to pay for that and not the Charger’s? Why are the team’s being punished for something they have no control over? The game shouldn’t be decided by the referee’s it should be decided by the player’s. I think that the calls that referee’s make should be reviewable during the game and reversible because like I said earlier the referee came and told the coaches during the game that he blew the call. But since the referee’s calls can’t be overturned as the rules stand now, there was nothing that anyone could do. I think that the NFL needs to consider changing the rule so that calls can be overturned, just so that the game stays in the player’s hands. Here is a video of the play and you be the judge, should something be done or is it ok for the referee’s to decode the outcome of a game.
Hit Leads To Suspension
If you watched the games over the weekend you might have seen the hit that Anquan Boldin took in the end zone at the end of the game. It looked pretty vicious, but was Eric Smith really trying to do it on purpose? From my point of view I don’t think so. Smith looks like he is just trying to make a play for his team and knock the ball out of Boldin’s hands. It didn’t look like to me Smith launched himself into Boldin. However, Smith has been suspend one game and fined $50,000. Many people including Cardinals coach Whisenhunt says that the hit was a violation of the safety act that commissioner Roger Goodell had issued, but there was no flag thrown on the play. If you can’t let player’s hit each other than football isn’t football anymore. That’s the whole point of the game is to hit people. You learn that when your 9 years old playing colt football. I understand the concern for player’s safety, but the players know the risks that they are taking when they step onto the field. It just seems to me that more and more it’s becoming a league where if you hit someone hard your penalized or suspended for it especially if you hit the quarterback! For me I like watching football because of the hits, but maybe that’s just me. This is just my opinion on the hit that Boldin took and I imagine you have your own as well, but just think about what is football all about and I think you’ll find it’s about hitting the other man. Here’s an article for you that talks about the Smith hit a little more if your interested. Also here’s a video of the hit if you didn’t see it and you can make the call if it’s vicious or just part of the game.
The Cap
Hello!,
So we all know what goes on during the games, but what happens off the field. With the passing of Gene Upshaw there is much up in the air concerning what is going to happen to the “Player’s Union”. With the cap about to be over and no new one in the future so far, what is going to happen to the game that we love! With no cap teams can pay players whatever they want, which you might think that’s good for the players, but what about the teams. All the good player’s could all go to one team because a team can pay all those players what they wanted. So the competition that we know now might not be there in a few years. Owners could build “dream teams”. Is it a major concern I do believe so, and if nothing is done about it we might not enjoy the NFL as much as we do now. That might seem a little hard to believe or even understand, but just think about what you would do if you could build a team. Wouldn’t you go get all the best player’s if you could afford too. With no cap you could actually do that. Would that keep the playing field even, I think not. The excitement would diminish because you would already now 9 times out of 10 who’s going to win because one team would have all the talent. Would that be any fun to watch?
Here’s a good site that will help you understand the “Cap”
