kcman11

Anquan Boldin announced today that he has asked the Arizona Cardinals to trade him. It seems that the 4 year, $22.5 million deal that he signed just last year is now no longer acceptable by a player of his ilk. A team spokesman for the Cardinals organization stated that there were no immediate plans to trade the now-disgruntled wideout, and there are actually plans to sign him to another contract extension.

Wow.

I am growing incessantly tired of all of these prima donna athletes (Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher, whom for which I lost a ton of respect after his whining, immediately come to mind) demanding either a contract extension or a trade to a team that will give them one. It's not good enough for them to be happy with the deal that they signed, and the millions upon millions of dollars which they will make over the course of their contract. It has become all about keeping up with the Joneses (or, in Boldin's case, keeping up with the Fitzgeralds) in the No Financial-security League, and something needs to be done before it spirals out of control. Because, if it does, we all know who will end up paying for the constanct contract 'restructuring'. And it certainly won't be the team owner.

Boldin said that his apparent 'need' for a contract extension had no bearing on the fact that his teammate Larry Fitzgerald signed a 4 year, $40 million extension in the offseason. I'm sure it didn't. Just like I'm sure that the fact that the sky isn't blue, or that McDonald's doesn't have an additive in their food (french fries and meat patties in particular) that is addictive and similar to nicotine in cigarettes. The fact of the matter is, Boldin is jealous that Fitzgerald got a much more lucrative deal just a year after his contract signing. My response? Get over it. Either that, or hire a better agent. However, if the 'great' Drew Rosenhaus can't get you a better deal, then maybe you're not worth what you think you are worth.

"I'm a football player. That's about it," is what Boldin's response was when asked what his relationship with coach Ken Whisenhunt currently is. Later, he goes on to say (about how his contract re-negotiation should take place), "honestly, I think it should be completely separated (Whisenhunt should have no say). That's why we have a department that deals with that." Just a few questions ago he said that he was 'just a football player.' I'm sure that most football players don't have the slightest clue as to the inner workings of contract negotiations. That's why they hire agents at a 6%+ of their total contract. If Boldin is so certain as to the fact that he's getting worked over, maybe he should try and negotiate his own deal, and completely leave the best in the business out of it. Granted, I'm certainly not condoning Drew Rosenhaus, as I think that he and Scott Boras are the most conniving, ruthless agents in sports, but he is extremely good at what he does, and he is a wizard at getting the most bang for his players' buck. That, obviously, is his job.

The part of all this that really gets me the most isn't the fact that the players are consistently getting their contracts re-negotiated. It's the fact that the owners are allowing it to happen in the first place. Honestly, if I were a team owner (and this may be one of many reasons I am not), if one of my players started pulling a stunt like this, I would bench him. Without hesitation. If someone is so selfish that he will be willing to publicly demand a trade, disrupt the chemistry of my team, and end up costing me more money in the long and short term, he would be riding the pine so hard he'd get splinters. I have no sympathy for someone that, even at league minimum, makes 10 times the amount of an average American and who is whining that he is not making enough money. Here's a novel idea: play for a one year contract. Every year. Or, better yet, have a strictly incentive-based contract. Yeah. Set a standard for each reception, each TD, every YAC, and give deductions for every missed assignment, every dropped pass, etc. Aw, but you want guaranteed money and a long-term deal, just in case you get injured? You want the team to make a lengthy investment in you and, when they do, complain that they're not making enough of an investment? You don't want to get penalized if you have an 'off' year, or especially if you're a running back, if you completely fall off the charts (that means you, Cedric Benson!)? Then suck up the deal that you get, and don't gripe that you're not making enough bank when someone else gets a better deal later on down the road.

"I'm the guy that does the right things on and off the field," Boldin said. Yep, Anquan, you sure are. You sure are.

My great-grandfather, E.C. Hudson (Daddy C as he came to be known), was a diehard college football fanatic, the Texas Tech Red Raiders were his team du jour. Some of my earliest memories are derived from watching and learning about the college games on autumn Saturday afternoons at his humble home in Earth, Texas. When I got the chance to visit, which wasn't nearly as often as I would have liked since I lived 5 hours away, I vividly remember Daddy C sitting in his old, worn, Army green Lazy Boy calmly explaining what a certain play was, or why a certain player was signifigant in regards to the game -- to age myself, I was 6 when Barry Sanders won his Heisman at Oklahoma State, and Lord did Daddy C gush over his abilities, even though he played for a team for which Daddy C cared little. I remember hearing the stories about his son, my great-uncle Hal, who was a local football legend, and who had a productive college career as an H-back at Tech (obviously those were the pre-Spike Dykes/Mike Leach days). I remember smelling the peach cobbler simmering in the oven almost every time I visited. My great-grandmother Blanche (Mother B as everyone knew her) was a fantastic cook, as I'm sure just about anyone who lives in Earth would tell you. The sights and sounds of the Hudson home were completely calming and almost like heaven on earth for a young boy.

The reason I continue to root for Tech, even though I am in an area that is equally divided with Sooner and Longhorns fans, is because Texas Tech epitomizes the hard work, blue collar attitude of West Texans and Daddy C. My great-grandfather thrived through the Depression with his Ford dealership, he was as hard-working, God-fearing as they come, and I have come to model my own life from his successes in his. He was happily married for 56 years until his passing in 1989, and even though I was very young when he passed, he left an indelible mark at a time when I was the most impressionable.

As any true fan will tell you, when I see the Red and Black, or the Masked Rider, or when I meet someone who attended Tech or is a fan of Tech and give them the 'Guns Up', there are few things that make me happier. I used to think that, as I progressed in age, that it was kind of childish to get giddy over a sports team and a school that I never attended (for the record, I had a scholarship but declined to take care of my father during his last days and went to a local university), but I am constantly reminded that sports and entertainment are a way for people to have an escape from the doldrums of living. It is why that, even in a struggling economy, we continue to shell out hundreds of dollars to attend a single game. It gives us a chance to dissociate ourselves from the stresses our jobs, our mortgage payment, our nagging spouses, our annoying neighbors, our screaming and unruly kids, and to harken back to those days when there wasn't really a care in the world, a simpler time when nothing really mattered. A time, for me, back at the spacious old, creaking home in Earth, sitting on my Daddy C's lap, watching our beloved boys in Red and Black, going to battle once more.