Random rants or posts by a Brown Guy who is not always Angry. Usually about politics, sports or games but every now and then comes along a post completely off the wall.
By far one of the best explanations of why athletes deserve the money they get. I have never taken a position against athletes getting paid as much as they do, simply because what they do in such a high capacity is rare to find even though every one of us at some point or another tried to play a sport or two. There is not a better athlete on the field when he is playing and you would be hard pressed to find a fault regarding something he has down off the field that has brought him, his family or his team bad press.
Manning deserves the biggest contract in the league. When all is said and done, he could very well replace John Elway as the best QB ever to play. In addition, he’s what the model of a league should be. Down to Earth, funny and not a walking ego. The reason people in the military don’t get paid millions is because they take anyone and anyone can do it if they so choose. While it is a valiant thing to do with your life, it’s not a selective profession. The same goes for teachers, police officers, firefighters and other public service occupations. Anybody can get those job if they want them. There are very few who can play QB at the professional level and an even smaller number who can play as well as Manning. That’s life in Capitalism, the very thing the military fights to preserve, by the way. – Enicklo2
The comment was from the article ESPN.com Len Pasquarelli article titled “Irsay Plans To Break Bank For Peyton” where he talks about and quotes Colts management into how easy a decision it is going to be to pay Peyton what he wants because of his talent and what he has done in the league for over a decade now.
Given the salary spiral, his stature in the league, and the likelihood that 2010 will be an “uncapped” season, it is not unthinkable to project that Manning could receive an extension pushing $20 million per year, and with a signing bonus of about $50 million.
There is no argument in my mind about who should have been this year’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year and that was Charles Woodson who did end up getting 28 of the 50 votes with New York Jets’ Darrelle Revis coming a distant second with 14.
According to the ESPN.com article, “the versatile Woodson tied for the league lead with nine interceptions, returning three for touchdowns, and was a key to the Packers’ turnaround on defense. His role in Green Bay’s performance — second in the league in overall defense, first in interceptions (30), takeaways (40) and turnover margin (plus-24).”
Following the Packers all year long certainly made it obvious that he should win even though the local Revis came on strong towards the end of the season shutting down key #1 receivers but this is an award for the entire year, not just the first half or the second half of the season.
One thing to notice from today’s announcement was Rex Ryan’s reply and standing up for his player. He said, ”a number that I think is interesting is eight. No, that’s not the amount of touchdown passes Green Bay gave up against Arizona. That’s the amount of touchdown passes we gave up all season. The biggest reason for that is Darrelle Revis.”
The Jets’ coach has a big mouth but he always backs his team and doesn’t hold anything back. You can respect that in a coach but no way was he winning the award this year. This year it belonged to Charles Woodson.
I finally got around to seeing ‘The Blind Side’ today and I can definitely say that this movie did not disappoint. It stayed very much true to the story that I had heard about and read in the 2006 New York Times piece called ‘The Ballad of Big Mike‘.
The New York Times article, the movie and the book all follow his story really well. For those that have not heard much about the story, it is about a kid named Michael Oher who was taken in by the Tuohy family at the age of 16 when he had a GPA of 0.6. A white couple with a daughter and a son at the school, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, allowed Oher to move in with them and began taking care of his needs after becoming familiar with his difficult personal circumstances. They also connected him with a tutor, who worked with him for twenty hours a week. He eventually brought his grade point average up to 2.52 which made him eligible to receive a scholarship and play Division-I football at the University of Mississippi.
I had initially read this story when it was first published some three years back and followed him somewhat during his collegiate career but it was not until the end of his junior year when he first declared for the NFL draft did I start to follow him again. He would withdraw from the draft and returned to Ole Miss for his senior year and improve on his accolades. He goes on to get drafted by the Baltimore Ravens (for those of you local fans here — it is the same team as Rutgers alum Ray Rice).
So if you get a chance, go see this movie, read the NYT article and even read the book if you get a chance.
After a dramatic win over NFL’s most hated team, the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos’ coach Josh McDaniels celebrates like he just won the Super Bowl. I think more coaches should celebrate like this with their fans after big wins. Certainly the season still has a long way to go but to improve to 5-0 in a season that started with so much turmoil. Well done Coach Mcdaniels and the Denver Broncos.
If you didn’t see it for yourself on ESPN, take a look at this filthy little crackback block that Brett Favre threw at the knees of Texans safety Eugene Wilson in the third quarter of the Monday Night preseason game.
A great job by the ESPN guys on calling the play dirty right away and I probably wouldn’t expect anything more to happen since a penalty was called on the play. Just giving me more ammo to not like Brett Favre more than I already don’t.