Replies

To: threat matrix

I don't know why Eli Manning is "selfish" for wanting to play for whomever he wants to play for. That's the same freedom you and I enjoy. This whole draft thing is inherently anti-competitive and weird. Imagine if coming out of college one company "drafted" you, meaning you couldn't look for a job with any other company.

4 posted on 04/25/2004 6:49:23 AM PDT by maro

Manning had the choice to sit out a year and play for whom ever he wanted.

Seems fair to me..

6 posted on 04/25/2004 6:52:45 AM PDT by threat matrix

Imagine if coming out of college one company "drafted" you, meaning you couldn't look for a job with any other company.

In my generation 1 company did draft the Military.

Many LIBERAL Arts College Grads would probably like it.

17 posted on 04/25/2004 7:04:43 AM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)

The feeling that I got watching the draft, and I think the idea that the column writer was trying pass on, was that the draft doesn't really matter. Football is a business, sure, but in the end, it is just a game. Manning is set to receive millions of dollars from whatever team he PLAYS for, but that wasn't good enough for him. He wanted more; a winning team, lower cost of living, better weather. He just couldn't get on the first team that grabbed him, and PLAY the GAME.

Tillman's death, and the way that he joined the Army, has made duty, honor, and selflessness almost "necessary" traits for the American athlete. The general feeling is that people don't want to hear about multimillion dollar contracts being picked up by an outstanding wide receiver (or shortstop, QB, or pitcher). These aren't our heroes. Our hero's are the men and women who serve selflessly. And if not only them, we want to hear about such selfless exploits as Pat Tillman turning down the Rams huge contract for what was an effective cut in pay to stay with Cardinals, and Jim Thome turning down all offers thrown his way in order to stay with the Indians for a decade (until they dropped his option) all along donating half his pay to charity.

We all love exploits of grandeur on the field of play, but we hate a**holes. Where are our Joe DiMaggios, our Joe Montanas, our Nolan Ryans, our Johnny Unitases, our Lou Gehrigs, and our Willie Mayses. They are out there today, men like Brett Favre, Jim Thome, and of course Pat Tillman. They are greats of their games and (from all that we know of them) great men in life. They are too hard to find now-a-days. Eli Manning, unless his dying grandmother lives in New York, does not embody that sort of hero we seek, or the sort we want our kids to seek.

40 posted on 04/25/2004 7:34:28 AM PDT by raynearhood (how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie-Roll center of a Tootsie-Pop)

The NFL is one company. The teams are merely different departments. You choose to join a company, they determine what department in which you will work. After a certain amount of time on the job you can transfer. If you dont like it join the Arena Football company.

61 posted on 04/25/2004 7:55:57 AM PDT by Starstruck

They know the rules when they go in to football. If they want to choice they can work at McDonalds.

67 posted on 04/25/2004 8:00:06 AM PDT by Ima Lurker

These men are playing a child's game for large amounts of money. There is no need for this work other than entertainment. To be paid that large amount the owners must put out a good product. The draft helps in that effort.

76 posted on 04/25/2004 8:11:06 AM PDT by HoustonCurmudgeon (PEACE - Through Superior Firepower)

The National Football League, Inc. is a single company.

Imagine coming out of college and telling Trump Enterprises that you, not they, will decide which division of Trump Enterprises you are going to work for after they tell you they want you in a certain division.

Imagine buying a McDanold's franchise and announcing that you have decided to sell hamburgers made according to your own recipe under the McDonald's logo.

If you want to play in the NFL, you must play by the NFL's rules which are designed to make the game more competetive and avoid a situation where a New York team wins the Super Bowl year after year after year.

If you do not want to play by the NFL's rules, you are perfectly free to start your own football league with your own rules in the U.S. or go play for the Canadian Football League.

103 posted on 04/25/2004 9:54:58 AM PDT by Polybius

AMEN!!! Thank you for reminding everyone of this. Who the hell wants to play for a loser anyhow?

115 posted on 04/25/2004 2:20:10 PM PDT by montag813 ("A nation can survive fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.")

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794