When will these college football players learn that they have no friends who are out of uniform?
Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston cannot get out of his own way these days. If it is not for the alleged sexual assault in 2012 (no charges have been filed to date) or the new accusation of him signing memorabilia for a profit, Winston is guilty of getting bad advice. Before you go down the path of the “he is just 21 years old” speech, let me remind you that he and everyone else around him treats him like a man, so what is the problem? Being an adult can be a challenge, for sure, but who said it would be easy?
Some of this is politically motivated by several camps. Throw in the media frenzy that follows in some cases, when schools and athletes cannot comment in the manner they would like, and you have the poor college kid getting messed with. Winston has to step up and take his life back, and the sooner the better.
When Will They Learn? Part ll
Georgia’s Todd Gurley has been suspended indefinitely because he allegedly signed memorabilia for profit as well. This comes from the “real stupid” file, as he certainly knew better. If he said he didn’t, then a bigger problem may exist on the true competence of the nation’s leading rusher. Throw in the fact that a memorabilia company was involved in moving some of the goods, and Gurley has little to fall back on.
Gurley has no excuse as it was wrong according to the NCAA. The rule may be flawed, but until the rule is changed what else can be done? Pardon me, but wasn’t former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel accused of the same thing last year, and he later just sat out a half of a game. Welcome to the double standard rule.
When Will They Learn? Part lll
Did the NFL just fleece the players again?
Word now comes that the former players who were involved in the concussion law suit will cave and take what is considered to be one of the worst deals in the history of this planet and perhaps Mars and Saturn. In the initial deal they would pay out about $765 million to players who have endured a variety of health issues surrounding concussions from their playing careers. Legal scholars, accountants and even the presiding judge in the case have expressed whether this amount would be enough to cover players from the past and future claims. Most seem to think that $2 billion would be closer to fair.
The NFL has indicated that they were more than willing to drag this thing out for some time in the court room in hopes of getting the player to take a bad deal. It appears that that tactic is working, as many former players have indicated through legal counsel that they would take the deal. I guess some could not wait. They may regret this one forever once they see how little it really covers.
What is it about NFL players past, present and perhaps future? No matter who is in charge, they take one bad deal after another.
When Will they Learn? Part IV
What a great night it was for St. Louis to honor the lone Super Bowl Championship team in St. Louis. The Greatest Show on Turf team was honored on Monday night at the Rams game. That will be the last time we ever see these players together in St. Louis again.
St. Louis has given up on the Rams because Rams owner Stan Kroenke has given up on St. Louis. The rumors continue to swirl that this is it for the Rams in St. Louis, as their lease is up. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff has been very non committal this week on the Rams’ future after this season. He did not even deny reports on the Rams leaving. They are done in St. Louis, and that is OK by me.
For too long St. Louis has bent over backwards to accommodate an organization that has left its fans in the dark for too many years, on and off the field. From bizarre ownership upon their arrival to the current regime that does not even return phone calls from people who would like to talk about a deal, St. Louis sports fans deserve better than what Rams ownership has provided recently.
What would you do as an individual to keep the team here? Buy more tickets? They could sell out every game this year and it would not make a difference, as Kroenke does not want to be here. Los Angeles is more lucrative to him these days, and I get it. There is a lot of money in California these days, and he wants more of it. That does not bode well for St. Louis, so why keep supporting it? When will you learn?
When Will They Learn? Part V
While I know that Mississippi State is now a top-five ranked team in the country, how can anyone be nationally ranked before October, considering all the one-sided butt kicking handed out by the so-called power conferences in non-conference games played in the early part of the season? Some schools in that time may never leave their own state. Yes there are some teams that cannot deal with prosperity and they get beat, which is another reason why rankings should not take place until the second week of October. At least then the so-called voters will have an idea of who has the potential to be good, other that what they were told took place in spring ball.
The new ranking system will be interesting, as the playoffs will be decided on how the schools are ranked. I like it as it is a first step perhaps of taking the vote out of the incompetent hands that hold some votes now. Some of the current voters should be ashamed of themselves but we see this in all sorts of sports, be it Hall of Fame voting, Most Valuable Player or Cy Young voting – a variety of other non-athletic issues help decide sports awards and rankings. The rankings as we know them have to go.
