Lap fallers aren't head-cases... they are just happy for the opportunity.

 

ah, let me translate VD's gibberish for you:

"Everything I do is in the best interest of building my bank account."

or you can just go with the simpler:

"Me, me, me, me and me, me, me, me, me."

Favre did it first.

Thanks Obama

"I want to be on the field this summer working toward that goal, but I have to worry about my future first.."

 

Yup, his bank account....so glad the Packers don't have him... ugh.  

"...It’s just how can I use leverage and continue to build my brand.”

 

Precisely the reason I am quickly losing interest in college & pro sports in the new millennium. 

Shoeless, I am agreeing with you. It's tough to really like many of the college and pro athletes these days when it's all about them and their "brand." Ego, ego, ego, me, me, me. Unfortunately, the "there is no 'I' in team" seems to have become "team begins and ends 'at me.'"

Yes, branding himself as selfish, greedy, and entitled.  Way to go Vern.

It's a good brand.  Look at Wall Street.

Building his brand?  What the hell kind of comment is that? 

I swear, between idiotic statements like this to ongoing thuggery off the field to greedy owners and Goodell acting like a complete jag with the Superbowl demands this league is moving closer and closer to what Mark Cuban predicted.   Not For Long might sum up the future of the league if these jokers can't start behaving like the majority of the fans that follow their sport.

Andre Johnson won’t be coming to mandatory minicamp

 

Posted by Darin Gantt on June 16, 2014, 11:50 AM EDT

 

Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson hasn’t volunteered for any of the voluntary workouts this offseason.

 

And he won’t be volunteering for the mandatory ones, either.

According to Brian Smith of the Houston Chronicle, Johnson won’t be attending this week’s mandatory minicamp, via his adviser and uncle Andre Melton.

That will subject Johnson to nearly $70,000 in fines if he skips all three days.

 

But for a guy scheduled to make $10 million this year, that’s palatable, if he’s able to parlay his absence into a new address, which seems to be what he wants.

More reasons to be grateful for TT and his staff indeed.

 

Prior to CMIII signing his deal, he told reporters clammering for some sort of statement that in GB you keep quiet and allow the process to take place. It takes place. Players get paid a very fair wage. And then you move on. There is no taking your case to the media or whining in GB.

 

Who didn't seem to understand that? One Greg Jennings. And look where he is now..

In 15 years, Cuban will be proven right. I hate saying it (both because I love the Packers and dislike Mark Cuban), but he was really on the money.

I think Cubana will be proven right in 6 years.

2020 is when the labor deal ends.

**** Vernon Davis.

quote:

“Everything I do is in the best interest of building my brand.  I’m not really looking at it from a deal standpoint.  It’s just how can I use leverage and continue to build my brand.”

It's tough to believe, but there may just be a more self-aggrandizing TE than JerMichael Finley. 

Completely agree with TT and how he builds the team, and looks for "team" guys instead of "me" guys.  

 

However, I'm sure I'm in the minority on this, but I don't fault anyone trying to get some more scratch in the game of football.  Any play your career could be over, moreover any year, a team can cut you, and not pay you the $$ that you "expected or signed" for in the contract.  It's not like that in any of the other major sports, so I don't fault a player who has some leverage to get more $$.  Also, let's not forget that Davis just saw the 9'ers back up the brinks truck to another player, so he's saying "where's mine"?  This is the 9'ers salary cap management problem, IMO, more than a Davis problem.    

of course

 

And I might add that some of his d-bag comments may be aimed at his recent FanTex deal where people buy ( or not) stock in his future earnings.

He needs to make sure the SEC and others are satisfied with his efforts to "build his brand" lest he get sued by unhappy investors.

Carl Icahn is already planning to get a foot up his arse for underperforming stock

 

 

 

 

That will undoubtedly be a big blow for them since they barely were able to work out a deal last time. I just really doubt that I will have any interest in the NFL in 15 years, and I think a lot of fans will feel the same way about the league by then. Further expansion of all of the wussy rule changes (QBs will put up even bigger numbers, think of the ratings!), playoff expansion (16 teams in the playoffs? Why even play regular season games?), an NFL franchise in London (there will be one in 10 years, no doubt) and a whole host of odious BS is just around the corner.

Man it sucks to have AJ Hawk instead of Davis.  How many of those comments have been said over the past 5 years.  

I haven't been glad that TT chose Hawk over Davis for about 5 years. Right now, I am once again glad he chose Hawk.

I don't begrudge players trying to get what they deserve either, but Davis doesn't deserve another massive deal. Jordy Nelson is one of the league's best WRs despite not being among the top 25 WR in the league in base salary who is playing on the last year of his contract. He DOES deserve to get paid what he deserves, if he held out I wouldn't begrudge him. VD has 2 years remaining on his current deal which at is the biggest deal a TE has ever signed, giving him 10 mil up front and pays him an annual average of 4.6 mil in base salary. He's still among the top 5 highest paid TEs in the NFL. VD is getting paid what he deserves, he's just trying to squeeze the Whiners for a little more money because he's 30 and is on the downside of his career. 

 

Is this real??  Individuals becoming corporate entities?  What happens if there is a hostile takeover and someone wants to split up the company?  Perhaps outsource parts of it to Mexico? 

Yes indeed and this is why "they" need NFL in Europe and anyplace else. American fans that grew up watching the NFL will say goodbye just as you've suggested

 

The wussification is the result of the concussion / too many pain killers lawsuits.

IF the NFL doesn't change drastically, they don't have a sport anymore. It already started in the early grades and is having an impact on High Schools right now

 

Flag football is exploding at the youth level and the local high school that had 90 players for freshman football year after year...has 36 this fall. Those coaches told me they've never seen anything like it. They are genuinely concerned and the reason they run the flag football league is to put a positive spin on the game and to be able to recruit 35 / 1000 kids who will go on to play tackle.

 

The NFL will continue to morph the game into basketball on grass in hopes that Mom will sign off on letting their sons play. The League will continue to develop the casual fans and they will continue to ignore the diehards who built this league.

It sucks, but the handwriting is on the wall and they know it. There is no way to keep the "old style" football fans happy, so they focus on getting new ones who don't remember or care about how the game was played in yesteryear.

 

Adapt or perish and the money is so HUGE - they will just appeal to a different fan base as more Americans turn their back on the game they used to love. Just hope GB can nail a couple more SBs before its "all over" for football as we knew it

 

"Old Football", violent football, hard- hitting football is over and we each get to decide if we will continue cheering or not. The NFL doesn't give a rats arse about your decision, they've already accepted your departure and made plans to replace you

 

Just as they replace old players with new ones, the NFL is a young man's (and fans) game.

 

So, go ahead Vernon, sell your brand, but I ain't buying and you probably couldn't care less...

 

 

Without the interest in fantasy football and "wagering" on games I am not sure the league would be as well off as they are.   Between rule changes that dilute the quality of the product to a failure to address the criminal aspect of a lot of players to the runaway greed of owners it's really becoming less popular and interesting to most fans.

In some ways college football has replaced a lot of the draw of what used to be the NFL and eventually the league will need fo reinvent itself to stay relevant.   The flag football angle might not be too far off actually.

Apparently, you guys have forgotten the 80's when guys held out every off season. You think Ken Ruttgers is retired? He is just holding out.

building your brand v. building your team.

 

thank you, TT.

Under the rules of the current CBA good players get paid big money on their second and third contracts. Once a player is 30 their value really begins to fall. Isn't Davis about 29?

It is either now or never for him to get a new contract with a boat load of guaranteed money. There seems to ne quite a few players  around the league(a couple in Seattle)  in Davis situation who  also want new contracts. The maybe the new norm in football, players nearing 30 who want to score that one last big contract holding out.

Here is nice story on the subject that talks about Lynch who is in the same position as Davis

http://overthecap.com/marshawn...h-look-new-contract/

 

 

Add to that,  watching it on your 60 inch smart curved ultra HDTV, controlled climate, home theater/bar that has you're smorgasbord of goodies spread all over it just what will the appeal continue to be to actually go to these games?

 

They are getting expensive as hell, parking at some of these venues are beyond ridiculous, and a beer for 12 bucks? ...suddenly the appeal just isn't there.

 

 

it will be very hard to be a bad team and remain profitable in the league.

sorry viqueens.

AJ Hawk Resume:

 

No annoying tweeting- check

Play every game- check

Call the defense- check

Set the defense so the other team doesn't score lots- working on it

Being a really good linebacker- working on it

Get paid lots for mediocre production- check

Not be Vernon Davis- in spades

I think sports like soccer and rugby will see a huge uptick in popularity once the NFL and American football in general begin to really circle the drain. The primary draw of American football is its raw, aggressive physicality. If that is removed from the equation, what's left? A bunch of incredibly complicated rules that the casual fan generally won't even comprehend. I think if they really do turn it into "basketball on grass" (excellent analogy, by the way), people will just switch to a simpler, undiluted sport. I know the NFL may not care about losing people like me right now, but I just don't think that seeing a football fly through the air in a largely no-contact flag football game is going to be enough to draw in new generations of fans.

This country will be crumbled way before that contract ends in 6 years, the spiral will be pointed down for all sports not up. I don't think Cuban was all that sagey, lawsuits all around, bringing women into the viewership/placating their interests, football at the lower levels dropping at an alarming rate, etc (the list is longer). They were at the pinnacle but its plateauing and then im guessing a bit of a dive as long as the  socialists pigs operate the world.

Socialist pigs????? Ridiculous.

Some has been reading Animal Farm recently.

 I bet you smoke a lot of pot. Are you high right now?

What if he is? Are you jealous?