The Wacky World of Sports: Part 2

The USA Today seems to agree with my last post about this: Wacky World of Sports

Analysis: If Brady earns less than Stafford, system is broken

As much as the NFL does right — and few have a business model that works nearly as well as professional football — the one thing that doesn't work, that needs desperately to be changed, is the way the NFL pays its rookies.

Right now, it's a free-for-all.

It needs to be capped, regulated, somehow worked the way it works in the NBA, where picks are slotted into established salaries and first rounders don't make more than established stars.

Put it this way: Matthew Stafford, who hasn't thrown a pass in the NFL, makes more money than three-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.

Now isn't that CRAZY? I hate Tom Brady, but some untested rookie shouldn't be making more than him.

The way it is now, if a team is wrong on a high, first-round pick, the franchise is doomed for years. If Stafford turns out to be Joey Harrington, the Lions will be hamstrung for years to come — in much the same way as the San Diego Chargers, who were terrible for years after whiffing on Ryan Leaf.

If I'm in the union, I'm thinking, "Wait a minute, I want to be sure there's a place for me on the back end of my career after I've established myself as an NFL player. Let the rookies wait their turns."

As it should be. Pay for play. Not for how you might play, hopefully. Yes, there is risk in this, but seriously, the highest paid quarter back ever (or close to it) and he had never played a single NFL game? Yes, this is a problem. Totally.

Here are my humble suggestions:
There has to be some kind of maximum rookie contract based on the round you were picked. (years, amount and bonus included) It should be flexible to allow for rise in salaries. I included bonuses in the max, because I have seen excessive signing bonuses. I would suggest 3 year contract is reasonable.

They would need to keep the minimum rules about being out of high school for at least 3 years as incentive for college play and to allow players to mature. Maybe even include a College Graduate bonus in pay structure. This would help players be better able to move on once their NFL career ends. Especially for the ones who never make it.

So, that is my 2 cents worth.

Proof Idiots are *everywhere*

I saw this story and just HAD to comment. I would have posted my comment on twitter... alas I can't squeeze all my wit and sarcasm in to 140 characters.

From KDKA online :
Is Social Networking Spreading Misinformation?

Kenneth Pickett is 38; manages a store in Wicker Park, and gets much of his news from social networking sites.
On sites like Twitter, 140 character messages deliver the latest news and opinions in shorthand to users hanging on every word.

"When I read it and I look at the news, I already know about it because I Twittered," said Chicagoan Susan Alvarez.

Alvarez says her main source of information is Twitter and she believes what she reads on it.

If you get ALL your news from Twitter... In the words of Red Foreman: Your a dumb ass.
If that offends you and then you don't have to follow me.
I want to get Susan Alvarez to become one of my followers and then twitter that the world is flat, the British are coming, and zombies are real. Just to see if she believes me. Twitter makes me go look at the news sites like MSNBC and such. Twitter should never be considered news gospel.

Remember, pic's can be fakes, twitters can be lies. And stop being so damn STUPID.

Sports Odds n Ends

First up:

CONGRATULATIONS to the Pens for sending the Flyers home.

I am glad to see them cry on their way back to Philly... Especially after last year's playoffs when they accused us of throwing the end of the season to avoid playing them.

Also, welcome Dan Bylsma as the New (for real) Head Coach. Congrats to you as well. :-)


Second up:

Pirates? Who? What record?
They are 11-8 and still in second place, what a shocker. However, they have to play the Brewers 2 more times. If they drop those games in as horrible a fashion as the first (10-5), they will be dangerously close to .500. Honestly, I would really like to see the Pirates have a winning record, even if they miss the playoffs. We don't want to continue the Pittsburgh version of the Detroit Lions here. SRSLY.

Third up:

I am a huge Steeler Fan, but I will not discuss draft pics here. I'll leave that to the guys over at Blitzburgh Blog. Personally, until preseason starts I don't pay a lot of attention. Too much changes, injuries and roster cuts to be considered. I just don't have time blog about it.

I have a wicked cold (no it's not pig flu) so there may be a lull in posts.

The Wacky World of Sports

It's the start of the NFL Draft. Evey year I shake my head at the money unproven players get in the draft.

From MSNBC (my favoritest)
Georgia QB, Lions strike deal

Stafford and the Lions agreed on a six-year contract, agent Tom Condon told The Associated Press on Friday night. Condon and Ben Dogra, who also represents Stafford, negotiated the deal with $41.7 million in guarantees and a maximum value of $78 million

Yeah, he started in GA for 3 years, but honestly guys, college football is not the NFL. If Detroit puts too much pressure on this kid, he could just crack under it. Most rookie quarterbacks suck their first year of actually playing. There are a few exception to that though. Detroit has sucked the big one the last 8 years. They are NOT known for their quarterback development.

Detroit hasn’t had a quarterback play in the Pro Bowl since Greg Landry in 1971. Long-term stability at the position has been elusive since Bobby Layne starred for them in the 1950s.
The Lions’ lack of star power at QB is a major reason why the franchise has only one playoff victory since winning the 1957 NFL title.

But the Lions can’t afford to draft another bust as they did with quarterback Joey Harrington, who they took No. 3 overall in 2002. Harrington was traded after four lackluster seasons to Miami for a fifth-round pick. The Dolphins later cut him, Atlanta added him and got rid of him and he is now a third-stringer in New Orleans.

So, their last quarterback drafted, they broke him. So, here is a new quarterback with a lot of money and pressure thrown at him. I hope for Detroit's sake, they don't break this one too.

Stupid Hall of Fame

Today I have a reason for not letting stupid people drink and a tie for Horrible Parent of the Month...
From MSNBC:
Man pretending to fall off bridge actually falls

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Police said a 23-year-old man is in stable condition after he pretended that he was falling off a bridge over the Minnesota River, then actually fell off the bridge. Police got a call just before 5 a.m. Sunday from a 21-year-old man who said his friend fell off the Highway 77 bridge and into a marshy area about 30 feet below.

The caller said he was driving north when his friend, who he said had been drinking, told him to pull into the bridge's emergency lane so he could urinate.

The 23-year-old stood eventually climbed to the ledge of the bridge, then looked at his friend and pretended to fall. "He then in fact fell," reads a press release from the Bloomington Police Department.

Police from Bloomington and Eagan responded, and the Eagan Fire Department used a chair lift to retrieve the man. He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center where was treated.

Natural Selection should have weeded this moron out. Personally, he should be billed for what it cost to rescue his dumb ass. Note to Self: Pretending to fall off a bridge is NEVER a good idea.
And for the Horrible Parent(s) of the month, we have a tie:

Parents accused of taking children on burglary

Prosecutors said Erika Santana, 23, drove the van with her four-year-old and five-month-old children inside after Hugo Lantigua, 22, who is the baby's father, and Pedro Camillo, 19, broke into two houses in the borough of Queens.

The story also states they had a loaded hand gun in the car with the kids. All I want to know is how do you NOT get a baby sitter? I mean come on! "Sorry, kids. We have to wait in the car while daddy steals from people. When he comes back we are gonna drive away real fast! It'll be fun!"
Note to Self: When committing crimes it is better to leave the kids at home and not have them in the getaway vehicle.
The title of Horrible Parent(s) of the month is shared with this mom:

Police: Mom ordered daughters out, drove off

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Usually, it's an empty threat: "If you kids don't stop fighting, I'm going to stop this car right now and leave you here!" But a mother from an upper-crust New York suburb went through with it, ordering her battling 10- and 12-year-old daughters out of her car in White Plains' business district and driving off, police said Tuesday.

Now what really bothers me is this:

She left them at Post Road and South Broadway, an area of shops and offices 3 miles from their home, then drove off, the police report said. The report does not say whether the girls had cell phones.

Police would not say if Primoff ever returned to look for the girls, but they said, without explaining how, that the 12-year-old eventually caught up with the mother. The 10-year-old was found by a "Good Samaritan" on the street, upset and emotional about losing her mother, police said.

OK. Hmmm... You leave them behind and just drive home. Apparently this family is so dysfunctional that the 2 girls did not stay together. So, the 12 year old ditches the 10 year old. How exactly did the 12 year old get home? What kind of parent abandons her 2 young daughters on the side of the street? In New York? Do you really blame the 10year old for being upset at this point? Ditched by her mom AND her sister... Nice.

Briccetti would not comment on details of the case. But he said, "Madlyn is a great mother connected with a great family, and she is grateful for the outpouring of support from friends and family."

Somehow, unless these are devil children... I think that whole statement is a LIE. Oh she is connected. To money. That's what that means. Let me translate, what he meant to say is this:
"If this was some poor middle class woman, CYF would have taken the kids already and it would be months before she even got a hearing. She is grateful that money can buy her way out of shit. And by the way, her kids are horrible spoiled brats because she raised them that way."

Note to self: One damn kid is enough trouble.