The Weird, Wacky and Awesome World of the NFL - General Banter thread

davyjose

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Fair play to them for doing that and a nice show of solidarity for Pagano.

Y'know, I will always be a Peyton fan, but with Polian being Hitler and Peyton being a hardass, we weren't popular. But its weird. Now we are this beautiful, loyal band of dudes who are just making people fall in love with them, as well as winning games. When guys like Hazys and eagle eye and TO and Corvus -- Pats fans -- are admiring us, and leslie and Rochey -- Chargers fans-- and Dohnny, and the long list of others who've actively taken pleasure in what a small market team are doing, well... its an honour. And maybe for the first time since we left Baltimore we are loveable.

Im so fcuking proud of these guys. Young men remembering what sport is.

Awesome.

Son Of A Vidic

^ ^ ^

You were tearing up typing that weren't you, getting all emotional and stuff.

bruschi

not sure where to post this, so here is as good as anywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9vMEKhMmBM

Jay Cutler likes the smoking Jay blog anyway. I still dont get why the media and people are so down on him.

HigginsJ

HigginsJ

Just watched ESPN 30 for 30 "Broke"

It's really sad (or shocking) to see how badly & how quickly these players go broke.

Bernie Kosar being bankrupt because of his family is horrible.

If you haven't seen it yet i'd highly reccomend watching it.

taidghbaby

Just watched the 30 for 30 show broke! It's amazing how so many sports stars squandered so many millions! A certain amount of me has no sympathy for people being fools with their money, but when you listen to their stories and hear about how many fraudsters, an charlatans and freeloaders they encounter you can see how it can happen! The stat on ex NFL players (something like 70% after 2 months) that have no money is incredible!

IMO colleges, the NFL, the NFLPA and to a certain degree the NFL teams have a lot to answer for!

taidghbaby

HigginsJ wrote: »

Just watched ESPN 30 for 30 "Broke"

It's really sad (or shocking) to see how badly & how quickly these players go broke.

Bernie Kosar being bankrupt because of his family is horrible.

If you haven't seen it yet i'd highly reccomend watching it.

Yeah Kosar had a pretty interesting quote, to paraphrase: when he had money everyone was calling, but now he has none nobody does (including family!)

Chucky the tree

Haven't seen the 30 for 30 episode yet but a few weeks ago to Tyron Smith of the cowboys had some his family harassing him out his home for money. Horrible situation for the guy.

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2012/11/lawyer-cowboys-smith-missing-1-million-mom-denies-anything-taken-without-ok.html/

Son Of A Vidic

HigginsJ wrote: »

Just watched ESPN 30 for 30 "Broke"

It's really sad (or shocking) to see how badly & how quickly these players go broke.

Bernie Kosar being bankrupt because of his family is horrible.

If you haven't seen it yet i'd highly reccomend watching it.

Ya seen that, really shocking stuff and sad to see alright. You can almost feel the sadness coming from Kosar, especially when he spoke about his dad and family. Someone mentioned during the programme, that players preparation for the NFL should really start in College. How to handle the money, the risks and all the pitfalls ect. I don't know if that is actually happening today, because I'm not up to speed on the College set up tbh. But Christ I hope it is, even showing rookies that documentary would be a help.

etloveslsd

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Ya seen that, really shocking stuff and sad to see alright. You can almost feel the sadness coming from Kosar, especially when he spoke about his dad and family. Someone mentioned during the programme, that players preparation for the NFL should really start in College. How to handle the money, the risks and all the pitfalls ect. I don't know if that is actually happening today, because I'm not up to speed on the College set up tbh. But Christ I hope it is, even showing rookies that documentary would be a help.

There are lectures and workshops done at the combine.

Son Of A Vidic

etloveslsd wrote: »

There are lectures and workshops done at the combine.

One of the former players mentioned the NFL rookie symposium week in the documentary last night. He said a lot of players just sleep through some of that stuff. So I hope the workshops you mentioned, aren't just exercises in tokenism.

Silver-Tiger

HigginsJ wrote: »

Just watched ESPN 30 for 30 "Broke"

It's really sad (or shocking) to see how badly & how quickly these players go broke.

Bernie Kosar being bankrupt because of his family is horrible.

If you haven't seen it yet i'd highly reccomend watching it.

taidghbaby wrote: »

Just watched the 30 for 30 show broke! It's amazing how so many sports stars squandered so many millions! A certain amount of me has no sympathy for people being fools with their money, but when you listen to their stories and hear about how many fraudsters, an charlatans and freeloaders they encounter you can see how it can happen! The stat on ex NFL players (something like 70% after 2 months) that have no money is incredible!

IMO colleges, the NFL, the NFLPA and to a certain degree the NFL teams have a lot to answer for!

I thought the show could have been done so much better though.
It's a topic that draws you to watch it though and they put it together with quick one on ones with a constant loop of horrific music.

When i recommend 30 for 30s to friends, i won't be mentioning this one.

The new one "Ghosts of Ole Miss" was good imo. The story of mass riots in the college as the first black student is allowed in. There is major riots , Mass murder and all the while the football team are having their best season ever. Good watch. The director fancies himself though and takes up too much screen time.

etloveslsd

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

One of the former players mentioned the NFL rookie symposium week in the documentary last night. He said a lot of players just sleep through some of that stuff. So I hope the workshops you mentioned, aren't just exercises in tokenism.

Well its up to players to pay attention. Do you expect the league to have someone walking around waking them?

Son Of A Vidic

etloveslsd wrote: »

Do you expect the league to have someone walking around waking them?

Where did I say anything about expecting anything in that post? A former player indicated rookies slept at the symposium he was at. If the NFL gave a shít, they shouldn't have allowed rookies to sleep at their symposiums in the past. Kick them out, do something ffs, but don't tolerate that because it sends out the wrong message.

etloveslsd

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Where did I say anything about expecting anything in that post? A former player indicated rookies slept at the symposium he was at. If the NFL gave a shít, they shouldn't have allowed rookies to sleep at their symposiums in the past. Kick them out, do something ffs, but don't tolerate that because it sends out the wrong message.

A couple of things: I didn't mean you specifically, it was more of a general should it be expected that someone walk around with a point stick and jab people who have dozed off?

I agree that the could kick them out, but at the end of the day rookies are men in their early 20s and have to act like it. The league can only do so much for them, its personal responsibility.

I didn't see the whole film but I did catch the part where a former NBA player, who earned $28million in his career, was now spending $17,000 a month in child support to his 9 kids with something like 9 different mothers?

He could be told until someone was blue in the face to keep it in his pants, but the final decision was up to him. Think how many condoms he could have bought with $28 million but he didn't.

Chardee MacDennis

this is a great read, sad though:

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4700990/tyron-smiths-plight-shows-difficulties-of-managing-family

Son Of A Vidic

etloveslsd wrote: »

A couple of things: I didn't mean you specifically, it was more of a general should it be expected that someone walk around with a point stick and jab people who have dozed off?

Fair enough.

etloveslsd wrote: »

I agree that the could kick them out, but at the end of the day rookies are men in their early 20s and have to act like it. The league can only do so much for them, its personal responsibility.

I do agree, but I do think you have plenty of situations where you have a young guy hitting the NFL/NBA suddenly becoming a millionaire. Easy money, easy women and surrounded by leeches. Many of these guys were just so easily manipulated. Tyson was a classic case, his early career was well guided. Then Cus D'amato died and the scumbag Don King moved in with his entourage and destroyed him.

etloveslsd wrote: »

I didn't see the whole film but I did catch the part where a former NBA player, who earned $28million in his career, was now spending $17,000 a month in child support to his 9 kids with something like 9 different mothers?

He could be told until someone was blue in the face to keep it in his pants, but the final decision was up to him. Think how many condoms he could have bought with $28 million but he didn't.

You just can't defend that level of stupidity, the muppet deserves no sympathy.

SixtyTwo

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

You just can't defend that level of stupidity, the muppet deserves no sympathy.

Cromartie Agrees also.

etloveslsd

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

I do agree, but I do think you have plenty of situations where you have a young guy hitting the NFL/NBA suddenly becoming a millionaire. Easy money, easy women and surrounded by leeches. Many of these guys were just so easily manipulated. Tyson was a classic case, his early career was well guided. Then Cus D'amato died and the scumbag Don King moved in with his entourage and destroyed him.

That is exactly the problem its poor kids becoming millionaire over-night.

You made a good point with Tyson, but he is in a one on one situation with his manager. Goodell has 250ish rookies a season? He can't offer each player a financial adviser, all he can do is point them in the right direction, which is what the symposium attempts to do. If players sleep through they can't really blame anyone else.

Son Of A Vidic

etloveslsd wrote: »

That is exactly the problem its poor kids becoming millionaire over-night.

You made a good point with Tyson, but he is in a one on one situation with his manager. Goodell has 250ish rookies a season? He can't offer each player a financial adviser, all he can do is point them in the right direction, which is what the symposium attempts to do. If players sleep through they can't really blame anyone else.

The symposium is about as useful as tits on a bull, it's an exciting time for all those young guys. Catching up with all their college mates ect. Human nature being what it is, the last thing they're going to do is probably listen to some boring lecture. I'm not pointing the finger at Goodell or the NFL over that though.

The problem is all this preparation should really start during a players College years. At the very least, all players who are entering their draft year should start doing the groundwork, to prepare them for the transition imo. I'm pretty certain one of the NFL guys made a similar point during that documentary. That players should be prepared for the transition in college.

As I said way back, maybe they are doing that now I'm not sure. But the guys in the documentary certainly could have done with such a program in their day.

taidghbaby

I don't know much about what goes on in the symposium but any time I've seen it there's normally about 250 guys sitting in one room listening to a speaker! Surely smaller workshops of 15-20 guys would be a far better way of educating these guys!

I don't think anyone can have sympathy for the player who spends $65k on a dinner, or the fella with 10 kids for 10 different women, or the fella who put all his money into a tomato farm! It's just the sheer scale of numbers of ex players who are broke and go into bankruptcy that is shocking!

davyjose

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

You just can't defend that level of stupidity, the muppet deserves no sympathy.

Smartest point ive read all week.

davyjose

Part of the problem is these guys are consumed by greed. Hence you see contract holdouts and the like. The cba should stipulate a rookie contract be binding but also backloaded. And exempt from the salary cap of the player gets hurt.
Incidentally, Andrew Luck is only on a few hundred grand this year? Anyone think he's gonna end up broke?

HigginsJ

davyjose wrote: »

Part of the problem is these guys are consumed by greed. Hence you see contract holdouts and the like. The cba should stipulate a rookie contract be binding but also backloaded. And exempt from the salary cap of the player gets hurt.
Incidentally, Andrew Luck is only on a few hundred grand this year? Anyone think he's gonna end up broke?

Think you have hit the nail on the head there. There should be a relatively low ceiling on rookie contract and I think backloaded is a fantastic idea.

When you look at 2 recent No.1 picks jamarcus russell and vince young (not a no.1 pick) and the multi millions both of them earned and clearly could not handle and blew away then it makes since.

I'm not saying that had they both got 4 year 7 million dollar contracts with say 4.5 of that coming in the last 2 years of the contract that it would have made a difference on the field but it may have prevented them from getting into such astronomical debt & it may have focused them to knuckle down and earn the big money.

Son Of A Vidic

davyjose wrote: »

Part of the problem is these guys are consumed by greed. Hence you see contract holdouts and the like. The cba should stipulate a rookie contract be binding but also backloaded.

I think your backloaded suggestion is an excellent idea. It certainly would put a solid financial parachute in place for at risk players.

Moist Bread

This is ridiculous. They get paid millions of dollars for doing something they love and even get given advice on how to manage their money. There is worse things wrong with the world than how NFL players squander their money. I don't care what the circumstances are, we all have circumstances to deal with, just not the millions of dollars to piss away. It all comes down to personal responsibility, it's all on them and their choices as free men.

SixtyTwo

I agree with moist bread. They are adults. They should be responsible for themselves. I don't feel sorry for any of them. I know a few pro athletes and a fair few high paid professionals in other areas of the private sector and none of them put themselves in a situation to be broke. Some of these guys are from under privileged back grounds like many of these NFL players who squander their earnings. If they choose not to listen to professional advice on how to manage their finances tough sh1t if it all goes t1ts up on them simple as.

mongoman

Moist Bread wrote: »

This is ridiculous. They get paid millions of dollars for doing something they love and even get given advice on how to manage their money.

You seem to have missed the point altogether, other posters have questioned what kind of advice and guidance these guys got in the past. But since you seem to know all about this 'advice', care to elaborate and maybe enlighten the rest us?

Moist Bread wrote: »

There is worse things wrong with the world than how NFL players squander their money. I don't care what the circumstances are, we all have circumstances to deal with, just not the millions of dollars to piss away. It all comes down to personal responsibility, it's all on them and their choices as free men.

Must be pretty nice being way up on your high horse. Ah if only everyone was like you. I'd like to see you going into the NFL at 22, becoming a millionaire overnight, getting surrounded by leeches, users, bad advice and fast women. I guarantee you would be pontificating then.

Moist Bread

mongoman wrote: »

You seem to have missed the point altogether, other posters have questioned what kind of advice and guidance these guys got in the past. But since you seem to know all about this 'advice', care to elaborate and maybe enlighten the rest us?

Any advice they get for free should be considered a bonus. Falling asleep in a lecture is idiocy, why even bother turning up? They have had the benefit of a college education that a lot of people can't afford. Do they have no common sense either? This idea that the NFL should be responsible for grown men's finances is ludicrous. They are not children.

Must be pretty nice being way up on your high horse. Ah if only everyone was like you. I'd like to see you going into the NFL at 22, becoming a millionaire overnight, getting surrounded by leeches, users, bad advice and fast women. I guarantee you would be pontificating then.

I would like to see that too. I would be very happy with my millions of dollars and 'fast women'.

HigginsJ

In the programme Bart Scott says he is paying for something like 6 houses for different people.

One of the other guys would say when pay day rolled around he would have person after person rolling up looking to bother $300 & he felt as though he couldn't say no.

Bernie Kosar almost seemed glad to be bankrupt. "when you broke no-one calls you, not even your family"

Alot of these guys are losing alot of money to family "friends" & as they said in the show some of these so called "advisors" are the worst of the lot.

Alot of these guys problems is that they can't say no to people. They were also saying so many of these players paying child support never go to courts once they finish their career to get the amounts re-adjusted.

No-one need feel sorry for them as they only have themselves to blame but when 70% of a workforce are bankrupt 2 years after leaving the job then something has to be seriously wrong.