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The "olden" days of the NFL

M

Maggs44

New Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2004
Messages
822
First a bit of Packer history. Curly Lambeau was a co-founder of the Packers in 1919, and played and coached for many years.

I found the following in todays Milwaukee Journal.

On this day...

"Aug 7, 1946 - Coach Curly Lambeau and 10 of his players spend about 3 hours sweeping, dusting, moving fixtures and arrranging rooms to get Rockwood Lodge, located along the bay just south of Dyckesville, ready to house about 40 players when training camp starts next week. However, there is a shortage of hangers, tables and dressers. Anyone willing to donate such household articles is asked to call Lambeau's office at Adams 334."

Now my words.
Fast forward to today. Mike McKenzie (starting cornerback) is unhappy with his five-year, $17.1 million contract, which has three seasons left, so he says he isnt going to come to camp. Its not like he is an all pro or anything.

And finally, tonights intersquad scrimmage at Lambeau field is sold out. Can you believe 72,000 people are paying $8 a ticket plus $5 for parking to see the Pack practice? To quote Alan Iverson, "I mean, its practice... practice!"

Bruce
 
One of these days when my group gets around to recording this one, I'll post it...It's a great song that we've sung for about a year. Been trying to get the powers that be to record it and send it into the local sports radio stations.

There used to be a Ball Park -- Frank Sinatra

And there used to be a ballpark
Where the field was warm and green.
And the people played their crazy game
With a joy I'd never seen.
And the air was such a wonder
From the hot-dogs and the beer.
Yes, there used to be a ballpark right here.

And there used to be rock candy,
And a great big 4th of July
With the fireworks exploding
All across the summer sky.
And the people watched in wonder -
How they'd laugh and how they'd cheer!
And there used to be a ballpark right here.

Now the children try to find it,
And they can't believe their eyes
'Cause the old team just isn't playing,
And the new team hardly tries.
And the sky has got so cloudy
When it used to be so clear,
And the summer went so quickly this year.
Yes, there used to be a ballpark right here.
********************************************
Why did I post this? The song expresses the same sentiments as your post. :)
 
That's a great song Mark. One of Sinatra's best IMHO.
 
While I get what everyone is saying...I'm taking the other side of this. It isn't Aug 7th 1946 it's now Aug 7th 2004....and this sure as hell isn't your grand pappy's NFL or AFL for that matter. The guy wants out of Green Bay. He's entiled to that want....whether it's supported or not. We are no longer in an era were guys are just happy playing ball, owners are just happy fielding a team, or fans are just happy with having a team in their town. We're talking billions of dollars in business here and everyones fighting for there piece. Take in consideration that Mckenzie is currently getting fined $5000 a day for not reporting. He also turned down a $200,000 offseason workout bonus. While a 17.1 million contract which he extented in 2001 seems to be a ton, it has been dwarfed by several others at that postions many of which are not even as good as he is. Underpaid is underpaid, it doesn't matter the profession. Many people(even some here at CP) have experienced being underpaid in their profession and if they had the leverage to remedy the situation....they would too. These players do not hold "guaranteed" contracts. A bad turn or a bad hit and a guy may never make it to his next contract....career over.

The public seems to think that professional athletes should have a different perspective on life and business from the rest of use. Hey, they play a game for a living....and make millions doing it, but when it comes down to it....they just want what's coming to them...no different from the rest of us.


That's how see it anyway. :)
 
Yeah well, a contract is a contract. If inflation (or bigger contracts) hit while it is in effect, you (the player) should have had stipulations within the contract. All I see is a whiner.
 
He makes a bad business decision and he's only gonna make 3+ miliion the next 3 years. I feel so bad for this guy, yeah right! I agree with Horse, you made the deal so be a man and play ball or go home.

;)
 
Let's see. get paid 3.1 million to play or get paid 2 million not to do anything ($5K fine a day during the season of training camp to Super Bowl... 185 days or so). I say make the fine $100,000 a day and prevent him from talking to anybody else about a job.

A contract is a contract and you have to abide by what you agreed too. God help us when a man's word was his bond, I don't know how anything got done.
 
AVB said:
Let's see. get paid 3.1 million to play or get paid 2 million not to do anything ($5K fine a day during the season of training camp to Super Bowl... 185 days or so).  I say make the fine $100,000 a day and prevent him from talking to anybody else about a job.

A contract is a contract and you have to abide by what you agreed too.  God help us when a man's word was his bond, I don't know how anything got done.
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I agree about the contract issue. He negotiated it, he should be in it for the long haul but,

He makes a bad business decision and he's only gonna make 3+ miliion the next 3 years. I feel so bad for this guy, yeah right! I agree with Horse, you made the deal so be a man and play ball or go home.
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let's not forget, you're paying these athletes. Everytime you buy a ticket or buy a product from one of the sponsors (watch the commercials) you just slapped more money into this "whiner's" hands. If you don't like the ethics or attitudes of these players, you can always stop paying them.

The public seems to think that professional athletes should have a different perspective on life and business from the rest of use. Hey, they play a game for a living....and make millions doing it, but when it comes down to it....they just want what's coming to them...no different from the rest of us.
Click to expand...

And that's correct too, but holding out against a contract probably isn't the right way to do it. I say they should take it up with the union (players association) and play their guts out so the management doesn't have anything to hold against them.

I also say the sports leagues, in conjuction with the players associations, should start putting a cap on individual salaries AND should have an "equal play, equal pay" rule where if one player's stats are equal or close to another palyer's stats, they should get similar pays. It's almost like a commission pay system - the more you work and the better you are at selling yourself, the more money you make. But they still have to keep a league minimum for that to work too.
 
Players should get a base salary based on years of experience and then there should be incentives out the @ss......a player who performs gets paid and a player who doesn't gets his base salary
 
It's a business. Why did he sign that contract? He should be mad at his agent and himself, not GB. Just because someone else got more money doesn't mean he deserves it. Look at A-Rod.. Does every good shortstop now deserve $25M/year? Hello no. Frankly A-Rod doesn't as good as he is.
 
TheBeast said:
Take in consideration that Mckenzie is currently getting fined $5000 a day for not reporting. He also turned down a $200,000 offseason workout bonus. While a 17.1 million contract which he extented in 2001 seems to be a ton, it has been dwarfed by several others at that postions many of which are not even as good as he is. Underpaid is underpaid, it doesn't matter the profession.
Click to expand...
A contract is your word. You sign a contract and accept a huge signing bonus, and then you go back on yoyur word.

When a team signs a player its a crap shoot, the Pack signed Joe Johnson to BIG bucks and he was hurt for 3 years, did the Packers get money back from him? No. So, McKenzie played better than both he and the Packers thought, live with it. With the salary cap the way it is, it is sometimes impossible to redo players contracts.

So basicly it comes down to Mike Mckenzie not living up to his word.
 
I agree that if you sign a contract that you should live up to your end as best as possible.

I'll attempt to equate it to the newbie pass I just initiated...I signed up to CP a few months ago, but cause I knew I didn't have the focus to start a trade and follow through I held off. I waited until I knew that I could do the trade as quickly and as seemlessly as possilbe. I didn't want my name to be synonomous with non paying slackers that don't hold up an end of a deal. God forbid I screw up and CC finds out (as much as that guy posts I would have to give up smoking forever! :sign: :sign: )! I wouldn't want to start a deal and back out of it for fear that I would never be able to trade or deal here again.

The problem with the NFL situation is that the rest of the teams owners don't have the integrity that many of the BOTL's here do. If this player holds out and screws the team he promised to play for, there is likely another team that will pick him up and "take a chance". If I were a team owner I would be hard pressed to pick this guy up based upon his integrity. How would I know that as soon as another team pays someone more then him he won't quit in the middle of the season. I couldn't trust him to meet his end of the deal.

Sure you should get payed fairly. But you also need to be smart enough to sign a deal you can live with and have the integrity to pull your end of the bargin.

I will now step down from my soapbox...
 
other1 said:
It's a business. Why did he sign that contract? He should be mad at his agent and himself, not GB. Just because someone else got more money doesn't mean he deserves it. Look at A-Rod.. Does every good shortstop now deserve $25M/year? Hello no. Frankly A-Rod doesn't as good as he is.
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i hate the yankees.

actually, A-Rod is better than he thinks he is. He's been off lately (like everybody gets occassionally.) Watch him next season.
 
Muley said:
i hate the yankees.
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Why do you hate the Yankees?

The Yankees are run like a business. They hire people that will get them to where they want to be and they will reward them for it. Steinbrenner had plenty of years where the Yankees were horrible and got fed up with it. Now he brings in players and pays them to get the job done.

Bottom line is that the Yankees will continue to do as the are as long as they continue to win and are profitable
 
With the cable deal that the Yanks have, they will always be profitable. That's why I can't stand them. They will always have an unfair advantage. Love it when they lose to small market teams. Steinbrenner's gotta hate that. Just my opinion.
 
You all need to take the money outta of this equation it's all relative to the business. While staying true to a contract in most cases would be admirable....these contracts are not admirable in general. They are not guaranteed....they is no security from the club to the player. It needs to work both ways and it doesn't. His contract negotiated in 2001 was a good one....but the market changes quickly sometimes as does a players performance. If his performance declined the club could cut him free and clear and he retains nothing on his contract but the signing bonus and money earned up to that point, so why can't he go after an increase if the market increase as well as his performance? Besides, from what I've gathered he really just want out of Green Bay. He's not happy there, some of which has to due with his contract some not.

Bring baseball into this discussion makes no sense. Their bargaining agreement is much different that that of the NFL. :)
 
I don't follow GB so I can't comment on that specific situation, but...

If a guy is upset about his contract (i.e. he feels he deserves more money) holding out is one way of dealing with it - not the best, but one way.

If the guy wants out of a city, holding out IS NOT THE WAY to deal with it.

This guy is a corner. Not a Champ Baily, but is decent enough to command $3 Mil a year. Dude should just go about his business and have his agent constantly talking to the powers that be about a trade.

Waiting until training camp and/or report day to then express your unhappiness with your contract/location is bush. Really low rent if you ask me.

SOAP BOX: On

Soft, whiney athletes.........ambulance chasing agents, and owners not enforcing character clauses in contracts have soured me to the NFL in general. College Football, with all of its flaws, is the better game of the two. Give me Michigan v Ohio State or Florida State v Miami or Texas v Oklahoma any day over the monstrously overrated anti-climactic Sunday Night matchup of Houston v Phoenix or Denver v NY Jets or even the ridiculous Thanksgiving tradition of Detroit losing a thrilling 30 point blowout to..........anyone.

Bottom line............YOU and your agent somewhere along the line agreed to the contract. If you don't like it, fire your agent.

Better yet, instead of a fine, they should make him run a backhow or drive a 10 wheeler or bag groceries or run a telemarketing office or whatever ****ty job we can think of so that he can see how lucky he is to be earning a 7 figure salary playing football. I think a few days of $12/hr would bring his ass back to reality real quick.

Not at all envious about how much athletes make, just disappointed in the way they carry themselves when it comes to the amount of money they make.

SOAP BOX: Off

M. Gipson
 
gawntrail said:
Not at all envious about how much athletes make, just disappointed in the way they carry themselves when it comes to the amount of money they make.
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Couldn't agree with you more.
 
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