NFLPA head honcho Gene Upshaw has fired back at NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, calling his statements about the idiocy of over-the-top rookie contracts…you guessed it, “ridiculous.” Personally, I think both men should have a better look at the meaning of words they choose to use in a fashion that both must know will get printed in readable items all over America and beyond.
Ridiculous, according the some famous dictionary, means arousing or deserving of laughter. I’m pretty sure not very many people actually find the whole thing very funny. If anything, it pisses them off. Then again, many of these same people don’t seem to mind at all that movie stars get millions of dollars for each film they do, and many stars make a bunch of films each year. Who knows? Maybe the current thought is that it is much easier to be an athlete than to be an actor. At least athletes are taking some sort of personal gamble each time they suit up.
Whatever the case, the fact is that as sports continue to grow as a money-making enterprise, there is more money that will go to the owners if it does not reach the players. Right now, NFL players make 60% of the revenue brought in by the game they are playing. Owners think that is too much. Players, of course, do not.
All I hope is that they work out a deal before this soon-to-get-very-dirty fight leads to a lockout that cancels a season. It happened in hockey a few years ago and I have not bothered to go back and watch that sport. I am Canadian, and to think I would not watch the game I grew up loving anymore was unthinkable. It was a ridiculous notion; one I would have laughed at. Scoffed even…until the lockout and season cancellation occurred. That was two seasons ago and know what? I do not miss it one little bit.
Listen, if a lost season happens in football, I’ll leave it, too. And that does not strike me as very effing funny at all.
In the meanwhile, you still have FanYard!
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:48 am
I’m pissed I’m not getting my cut!