Let's change our focus


In my opinion, we need to change our locus of attention in the current Tackling Dummy Affair which is playing itself out at one of the NFL training camps. We need to focus on the fact that players sign contracts to do a job. If an owner asks a player to accept an exorbitant amount of money to take on the role of a living, breathing tackling dummy and the player accepts that request and cashes the owner's check, he needs to live up to that obligation. All they are asking this particular player to do is occupy space and occasionally push the pocket back into the quarterback's face. For some reason, the player seems to think that this particular job is now beneath him. Especially since he has that thirty two million in the bank.

As I read blogs, fan comments on media reports and reporter's opinions about the matter, too many tend to immediately lose their focus and choose to ignore the fact the player is failing to live up to his obligations. Too many are focusing on the notion that it's the owner's fault. Too many perceive that it is the owner who screwed up and that the fault lies in bad decision making. Too many are forgetting that if the player were holding up his end of the bargain, there would be no discussions about incompetence on anybody's part.

Of course, the owner paid too much for the player's services. But, all of the owners pay too much. Is Sam Bradford worth seventy eight million? I think not. Fans tend to focus on the relativity of worth rather than the absurdity of the total expenditure. They will argue for hours about how they believe that Manning should be paid more than Brady instead of focusing on the fact that no quarterback is worth seventy eight million dollars.

In the current NFL environmental context, the owners are paying way too much to acquire these athletes' services. And, there should be no guaranteed contracts. Life isn't about guarantees. Life is about working hard, being productive, contributing to the common good and having a little fun along the way. This particular player has forgotten that. Or, he never learned that simple maxim.

However, the owners can still make millions while paying out millions to these athletes. It's not fair nor is it reasonable. But, for some reason, the fans keep coming to the parks, they keep buying jerseys and they spend much of their free time focused on these pampered millionaires playing a silly little game. And, I am one of those rabid fans. I won't miss an NFL game unless some historical Apocalypse is ongoing. And, they'd probably postpone the game until after that particular conflagration was over anyway.

So, please, people, let's focus on the correct villain. The player is humiliating himself. He should be ashamed of his behavior. And, the media should call him on it. He shouldn't get a free pass. And, let's get off of the owner's back. He is trying to build a team while abiding by existing NFL rules and by acquiring players using mandated restrictions that are placed upon him. Sure, he's not perfect. He makes mistakes. He occasionally decides to acquire a player who doesn't pan out. But, so does every other owner in the league.

Instead, let's focus our attention on the ones who are not living up to their obligations, not the ones who are working twenty four/seven to build a winning team while making a little money along the way. I, personally, can find little fault with those who are working as hard as they can to do the best job they can. But, I can find much fault in those who are unwilling to live up to their obligations to which they readily and voluntarily agreed.

Christmas letter 2006Yes, it’s been another boring year. I’ve spent most of my time surfing the internet. My wife has been volunteering at the church and the local school systems. The most excitement I get is when I clean the pool.However, in this new era of Clintonian word speak and twenty four hour news excessoramas, I’ve decided to liven up our lives and present a fictional account of our exploits for the last year.None of what I’m about to say is true, but, hey, it could have happened in a parallel universe somewhere. What is reality anyway? It is the formless consciousness of the neurological synapses of the human brain. So, as far as I’m concerned, truth is how you say it, as long as the words are spelled correctly.
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Hello everyone. I proudly present our family Christmas letter for 2006. We’ve had a great year and want to share our accomplishments with the world.Our cat, Black, saved the family in January of this year. An alligator had somehow broken through the screen and waddled into the pool. Black spied the intruder when I let her out in the morning and she immediately jumped into the pool and started scratching the alligator’s eyes out. It was a bloody sight. The gator quickly retreated back into the swamp from which it came. I tell you, we were this close to being killed by that gator. Hail, Black, our hero!!!My wife, Millie Anna, has had quite a successful year. She volunteers for several organizations and is currently both president and vice president of fifty five charitable entities. She has single-handedly eradicated poverty in the northern portion of Colorado Springs. I’m so proud.As for me, I’ve done fairly well myself. As a lark, I started a small web site which offered up advice to the woebegone. In the first month, I got ten million hits. I couldn’t answer all of the questions which were coming in, so I decided to charge twenty dollars for each answer. Once I established a method for readers to create Pay Pal accounts, the money started rolling in. I cleared sixty million dollars the first half of this year. But, hey, I have enough money, so I’m donating all of the profits from the site to the homeless coalition of Westchester County. Of course, expenses have eaten into the profits somewhat. However, I’ve been able to keep the profit margin to one half of one percent. I’m so proud.And, the kids. Boy, they had a great year. My daughter, Chrissssy, is the associate head of the supplemental quality assurance division of the Summary Branch of the Capitol Bank. She assures that the money flows out of the investor’s hands and into the pockets of the corporate board. As a statement of her prowess in generating income, the president of the board now has a base salary of 2.4 million dollars and a supplemental yearly entitlement of 66.3 million dollars. Chrissssy only cleared fifty five thousand, but, hey, she is making a positive contribution to mankind.And, the boy. As always, he did well. He created a system by which people can register as willful contributors toward mapping the human culture to the waterfall droplets which emanate from Victoria Falls in the microsecond following the emergence of the full moon on February 16, 2016. This will be a monumental event in human history. And the boy is responsible. I’m so proud.There are many other stories to be told, but other obligations beckon. So, Peace be with you, brother. Southside.