Another Open Letter to Haynesworth

Recently, Matt De Lima wrote an open letter to the Washington Redskins holdout Albert Haynesworth.

The holdout by one of the highest paid players in the NFL has touched the nerves of many fans including one of our readers, Sergeant First Class Michael Hunter, who sent in this letter to voice his opinion on the Haynesworth situation and helps gives some great perspective on being a team player.

Mr. Haynesworth,

I’ve been sitting back for the last month reading and listening to everything being said about you and while I’m basically a nobody who you probably won’t care a bit for what I say I felt I needed to share my thoughts and feelings on your situation.

As you can probably guess, I’m a big Redskins fan. I’m from Waldorf, Maryland and grew up with my family watching the Skins games whenever they were on. They would have parties and cook outs and cheer our favorite team on each and every time they played. We stood behind the team through thick and thin no matter what.

Now, believe it or not, you and I are somewhat alike. You signed a contract for a lot of money. When you signed this contract you were probably told certain things, as you’ve said, but even if those things didn’t come to fruition you were still being paid to do your job and do what you’re coaches thought was best for the team. You are being paid a lot of money to do these things. You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you all these things you already know and wondering how you and I could be alike. Well, let me explain.

As I said, you signed a contract but so did I. One of the differences is the contract I signed was for a lot less money and it was for the United States Army. They told me a bunch of things too. Some were true and some weren’t. Here’s another difference between the two of us. If I don’t like what my “coaches” tell me to do I don’t stay home and play a woe is me roll. I suck it up like and adult and understand that what I’m being told to do may not be to my liking but it is most likely for the good of the team and my fellow Soldiers. Another difference is you are being paid a lot more money for seven years then I’ll ever see in my lifetime but I’m not complaining because what I do allows you to live the life you live and earn the money you do. It allows you to play a sport you profess to love and see your family and provide them with a good life. The thing that I am complaining about is how you say you are all about the team but you aren’t. Go spend some time with some servicemen from any service to see what TEAM really means.

I tell my Soldiers I don’t care what you say I care what you do. The same applies to you and what you are doing speaks volumes. It doesn’t matter that you are unhappy with the new scheme. You aren’t the coach. You don’t decide what scheme the team plays. You are being paid, a lot, to honor your contract to the best of your ability and do your job until that contract is over. If you want to be a coach, quit being a player and do that. Until then understand, you don’t know everything and only make yourself look bad by acting like you do.

All this is said because I love my team and while I was deployed to Iraq last year I had to read the games on the NFL website just so that I knew how my team was doing. It was very disappointing to say the least. Even more so when our highest paid player doesn’t seem to care and takes himself out of games when he gets tired. I wish I had the same option but as I said, I signed a contract and I have honored it to the best of my ability for 17+ years. I wish you would honor yours for the remainder of it.

I look forward to the 2010 season and hope that you plan to put your team first instead of yourself like you have been doing. Thank you for taking the time to listen to what I have to say and good luck.

SFC Michael J Hunter

Thanks for the letter, SFC Hunter. Stay safe and thanks for all that you do for us.

Randall Cunningham’s son drowns in hot tub accident

Christian Cunningham, the 2 1/2 year-old son of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham, died after drowning in a hot tub in his backyard.

Randall Cunningham was a star player at UNLV before heading off to the NFL where he had a terrific career playing the bulk of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles. Now retired, Cunningham is a pastor in Las Vegas, performs baptisms in the hot tub.

He returned to UNLV to complete his degree and became a born again Christian before being ordained as an Protestant minister.

The terrible news of Christian’s passing came after he was found unattended and unconscious in the family’s hot tub. The former NFL star has four children with his wife Felicity.

A woman at Cunningham’s Las Vegas home found the little boy floating in the backyard hot tub. She got him out and started CPR. When paramedics got there, they rushed him to the hospital, but were not able to revive him.

“It appears that it’s just a complete tragedy,” Lt. Dennis Flynn told Fox5 news. “It only takes a brief minute for someone to take their eye off the child.” [via]

AFC Team Logos, Then and Now

Over the years the various logos of NFL teams has gone through some upgrades and changes. Some teams have been fortunate enough to have an established design that, with a little nip and tuck, has survived in modern times.

Other teams, through reorganization or moving, have had various colors or logos. Even the NFL shield we know today was recently tweaked to reflect a more modern look.

Here’s a look at the AFC teams over the years and how their look has changed from their early years of establishment to today. Click on the image below to see a larger picture.

Tuesday Link Dump

Bengals’ Henry suffered from brain damage (Sports Illustrated) – Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry suffered from a chronic brain injury that may have influenced his mental state and behavior before he died last winter, West Virginia University researchers said Monday. The doctors had done a microscopic tissue analysis of Henry’s brain that showed he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

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John Elway reflects on turning 50 (USA Today) – The Hall of Famer and Broncos legend recently took a 100-mile bike ride and offered some thoughts on his half-century to the Denver Post.

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Warren Sapp to Haynesworth: “Let’s stop the BS” (Washington Post) – Warren Sapp is one of the best NFL defensive tackles in recent memory, and he also isn’t a particularly shy fellow. So when he was asked about Albert over the weekend, the results were worth noting.

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Conrad Dobler’s post-NFL days have been filled with darkness ( L.A. Times) - The former offensive lineman, dubbed by Sports Illustrated as the “dirtiest player” in the game, has endured several personal and financial setbacks in recent years. Doctors have told him he seems “very depressed and suicidal.”

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Operation Humiliate Kiffin (Losers With Socks) – New billboards are popping up around the Los Angeles area highlighting the various sanctions against USC and coach Lane Kiffin

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Cocktail Conversation: Why We Call it “Soccer” When They All Call it “Football” (The Bachelor Guy) – So how did one sport get two very different tags? With only one of them seeming to have any relevance to the game at all? According to the wordsmiths over at Dictionary.com, you can blame it on a guy who fancied himself a 19th century Snoop Dogg…

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This Is What Rowdy Roddy Pipers Up To These Days (Dave and Thomas) - Recently, a handful of people were graced by awesomeness at a comedy club where the heckler “The Amazing Racist” was confronted and attacked by none other than former WWE superstar Rowdy Roddy Piper.

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Logo Design Then and Now: Major League Baseball (Design Crave) – The United States is out of the World Cup. The NBA Finals are over. The NFL doesn’t kick off for a few more months. That leaves American sports fans with just one excuse to spend beautiful summer days parked in front of a television pounding beer — Major League Baseball?

Nickelodeon, NFL team up on new animated series

The NFL and Nicktoons have announced a new venture to appeal to children with a new, original animated short-form series, “Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core” for Nicktoons.  It appears that the players have also signed off on the deal as their voices and likenesses will also be used in the cartoon.

The 22-episode series based on the NFLRUSH ZONE, the NFL’s online world for kids, is comprised of two-to-five minute shorts featuring an unexpected new hero, all 32 NFL teams and the voices of NFL players and coaches as themselves, such as coach Sean Payton, who led the New Orleans Saints to victory in Super Bowl XLIV, and New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

Interesting development. I hope they toss in some Nick-related characters like Sponge Bob and Patrick.  Maybe they can run routes for the Colts when they are down to their 8th string receiver again.  I also hope this is the first step into bringing back the NFL Huddles, which I have started many petitions for as well as sent emails regularly to the league office to bring back.

The 18 Game Season

I think the owners have a long way to go in the labor agreement. I’m not proclaiming to know how far away each side is on the Collective Bargaining Agreement but it doesn’t appear close. I hope that there is a backbone in the Players Union somewhere, because if I’m the Union I am 100% against the idea of a longer season.

Hell, while I’m at it I’m completely against half the preseason games. And I’m against the majority of offseason activities for the veteran players. But none of the other issues are as big as the elongating of the regular season to 18 games. It seems like a done deal but I’d like to have my say if I’m the players before I let that happen. Let’s break down what is being asked.

Here’s what I know if I’m a player and I’m walking into negotiations. As it stands I can only have half of my contract guaranteed no matter if I’m Tom Brady or Jamarcus Russell, and since I’m probably not that good or that hyped out of college and the Raiders aren’t stupid enough to pay me stupid money I’m looking at a mid level salary. Half a mid level salary equals half a decent wage.

I know that I am always one play away from losing my season and one really bad play away from losing my career. I know that if either of those things happen there is a good chance I would be cut from my team and lose a lot of my modest(by NFL standards) salary.

I know that half the guys who finish long careers, especially at non-skill positions, end up with debilitating health problems that leave them weak and frail in the mid-fifties and the NFL has the weakest insurance program for retirees in pro sports when my time comes.

I know that I already spend too much of my offseason, which should be used for recovery, for mini camps and OTA’s which are either to go over schemes with a coach whose system I already know or to learn a brand new system from a coach who is only there because I operate in a knee-jerk reaction league.

I know that I play too many preseason games. It’s a gyp to the fans and it’s pointless for half the guys on my team, especially with all the OTA’s and mini-camps we’re forced to attend.

And now they want to convince me we need two regular season games at the end of an already long and taxing season. Is this for competitive balance? Never. Is this for the betterment of me or my teammates? No. Is this a money grab? Without a doubt.

And what’s my consolation prize? Possibly 2 less preseason games? Ok. Great. Actually, I’ll take the preseason games instead. It makes more sense. At least I barely play in those. There is less of a threat of injury.

This has to be the vantage point of the NFL player. There is no good reason to want to play football for two extra games. The problem is that this is a money grab and while the player can’t blame the owners for maximizing profits it doesn’t appear to want to cut them in. Remember in Goodfellas when Henry Hill is talking about how Jimmy dealt with the cops who were against his hijacking? He said he made them a partner. That’s exactly what the league needs to do before they propose this idea. If they don’t and the players union agrees, then they are stupid.

Unless something goes there way, there needs to be a concession. They need to give up something. The players can’t be expected to make playing football a 12 month a year job. That wouldn’t make good sense. Players can’t take that much of a beating and be expected to not have ample time to recover. And the owners need to be aware of that, and two other things while they are at it.

The higher risk of injuries. These boys are not built to play all out every game and do it for a possible 22 games a season. And when injuries start happening to key people the league will look foolish. Imagine losing Peyton Manning, Chris Johnson, and Frank Gore all in week 17 battles and now none of them are eligible for the playoffs. Where is the financial payoffs in that? What good would a playoffs be without your best players to grab big ratings?

The other, lesser concern, for the owners is the quality of play during the last two or three weeks of the season. We already have scenarios in week 16 where we see Curtis Painter start in place of Peyton Manning to preserve his health and leaving the fans completely and utterly ripped off for the amount of money they pay for tickets and personal seat licenses.

How bad will it be when we don’t see Manning for the last 4 weeks of the season? I’ve heard claims that it will give middle of the pack teams more time to make a run for the playoffs, but I have a news flash for those foolish enough to believe that: it doesn’t. More games just gives the great teams the opportunity to lock up a spot earlier in the season and begin to rest. Welcome to the great beginning of watered down football.

But we should have seen this coming for years. It is what happens with a sport that can’t see the forest for the trees.

They get greedy until they gorge themselves and can’t breathe. Baseball did the same thing. They started by expanding the schedule from 154 to 162 games and then, in a bizarre turn of events, actually did away with double headers, thus making it necessary to play 6 days a week, of course this only increased the pressure and responsibilities on fans and took away some of the history and tradition that made baseball the great American pastime.

Football is in danger of suffering the same fate if it doesn’t begin to get itself out of it’s greediness. They have already taken the game from a Sunday sport to a Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Saturday sport. It’s beginning to ask your fans to change what they love about football because they have a notion that we want more. They are missing the point. The point is to stuff us full of football. It’s to give us enough of it to satisfy us but leave us wanting more. The best minds in the NFL can’t seem to figure out what show promoters and advertising have known for years: Keep them wanting more.

Labor talks continue and a resolution will come much sooner than later and even with a lockout no one will worry. NFL is king, I certainly hope they know how to run their kingdom. Nothing lasts forever.

Soccer vs Football – John Cleese Rants

Sports fans across the world are currently enjoying the World Cup. Well, most fans that haven’t had their games changed by bad refs.

The game of soccer, as I know it, is known around most of the world by its more appropriate title, football, which has led to some confusion by North American sports fans. We have our own football over here and it refers to hard hitting teams with high scoring games and not to the sport being highlighted in South Africa at the moment. This is how we see soccer.

To help clarify the differences, former Monty Python member John Cleese gives us an explanation.

Whatever your view on the terminology of “football”, at least ours has video review. Sorry England. The US team knows how it feels to have bad refs not call goals.

New York Giants Noisy in the Silent Library

With only one guiding rule — to remain SILENT— six New York Giants enter a crazy world called Silent Library. If you are not familiar with the show, just know that it’s based off of a Japanese game show. Yeah, it’s gonna be crazy.

Kevin Boss, Chris Snee, Rich Seubert, Dave Tollefson, Shaun O’Hara and Dave Diehl take a stab trying to keep quiet while they are being given crazy tasks to survive. Trying not to laugh while an old dude with no teeth gnaws your ear is a lot easier said than done.

Here’s a couple of clips from the June 28 episode featuring the Giants players.

Shooting at Michael Vick’s Birthday Party

Controversy just seems to follow Michael Vick wherever he goes. Recently he was declared the most hated athlete in sports in a poll. It was his second title in a row.

Now this breaking news about events this morning surrounding the shooting at his birthday party is just another ‘situation’ to add to the list.

Vick has never been a model citizen, and many fans of his were hoping he would finally walk the straight and narrow after the whole illegal dog fighting incident had begun to blow over. Even though I doubt Vick was directly involved in the shooting incident himself, this will ultimately end up being another PR lesson in being careful what company you keep if you are a well-known professional athlete.

A man was shot outside of a Virginia Beach club early this morning, and sources have said that the incident occurred at a birthday party for NFL star Michael Vick.

Several people who attended the party say that the non-fatal shooting outside Guadalajara, in the 4600 block of Columbus Street in the Town Center of Virginia Beach, occurred at one of a handful of birthday celebrations for Vick last night. Adam Bernstein, spokesman for Virginia Beach police, declined to comment on whether the event at the club was connected to Vick. {via}

 

UPDATE: Pro Football Talk is reporting that the man shot at the Vick event was none other than one of Vick’s co-defendants in the dogfighting case that brought Vick down.

The twist is that Vick and Phillips were in a confrontation (about cake?) at the club where Vick was celebrating his 30th birthday. Phillips showed up despite the fact he is not supposed to be associated with any of the other co-defendants.

According to Daily Press reporter David Squires, Phillips showed up to the party even though Vick is not supposed to be associating with any of his dogfighting co-defendants.

Squires writes that there was a confrontation between Phillips and Vick inside the party, that the confrontation then moved outside, and that’s when Phillips was shot.

Vick’s lawyer, Larry Woodward, says Vick was not involved and was not present when the shooting occurred.

According to the Daily Press report, there were witnesses who “don’t want it to be known if they were witnesses.” Police say the victim and witnesses were uncooperative.

The future investigation should be interesting in this case to see if Vick will be called out as being involved in the shooting, what violations of his parole might be, and what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s punishment will be if it turns out that Vick is was directly involved in the shooting.

Season expansion: A fan’s perspective

Earlier this week, the NFL pitched the idea of an “enhanced season” to the NFL Players Association. This enhanced season would involve expanding the regular season from 16 to 18 games. Along with this change, the preseason would be contracted to two games, down from four.

From a fans’ perspective, this is a no-brainer and we all should be unified behind the owners. More football, ladies and gentlemen, is a good thing. If they removed a game, that would be a bad thing, wouldn’t it? If they removed 6 games, the whole country would be in an uproar. Therefore, it stands to reason that more football games are better than fewer.

As NFL fans, we get an additional two weeks to immerse ourselves in our favorite sport. This means more fantasy football, more pizza to be eaten, more beer to be drank, fewer weekend chores to be done, and more fun to be had.

The arguments have raged between those for the change and those against it. Owners obviously would like more revenue generated from extra games, especially from TV contracts. Players will take issue because they should make more money due to a longer, physically grueling season.

I can understand a NFL player being against an 18-game regular season. It is another two weeks of work. They play a violent game and put their bodies at risk.

As for the added injury-risk, players get injured all the time. That can’t be used as an anti-expansion argument from a NFL fan. How many NFL fans lose sleep because the backup defensive end on their favorite team tweaks his ankle and sits a week or two? How many games have you refused to watch because a player was injured and you felt sorry for him?

It’s not that I am apathetic to the hard work these men put into their jobs. But realistically, how am I supposed to feel? If we are so empathetic to the health of football players, why not make the league flag football? Two-hand touch? Surely these players would have longer careers if we removed violence from the game. Let’s replace the football with a pillow, replace the turf with marshmallows and make the point of the game to hug your opponent. Whoever has the most hugs wins!

Even Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith broke his arm playing flag football earlier in the week.

Violence, a main trait which makes the NFL popular, suddenly is the reason to not expand the season? The NFL, its players, and fans can’t have it both ways.

Expand to 18! The NFL used to have 14-game seasons, and before that 12-game seasons and 10-game seasons. The players adapted then and they will again.?

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