OldSchoolSnapper

Personally the travel aspect of pro sports sounds absolutely miserable to me. Can't think of a worse way to spend 9 months especially when 1/2 of it is to Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and Pittsburgh repeatedly. The other truth that is usually ignored in these conversations is that the vast majority of people don't have the work ethic necessary to make it in professional sports but that isn't something people like to hear. They don't have "half the year off" either. For every David Wells there are 100 guys busting their tail year-round to survive and just stay on a roster. The cognitive dissonance between what a fan thinks and what a professional athlete actually has to do to remain a pro athlete in 97% of cases in staggering. But not all that surprising considering 40% of Americans think they can compete at the Olympics. Reminds me of when fans used to say NFL players make $X to "work one day a week." Yeah...OK.

They aren't missing out on anything they didn't choose to miss out on. Based on our own individual choices, we all miss out on things, it's the way life is. If they don't want to travel 9 months a year and live out of hotels, and make millions, they don't have to. If they don't like the "grind" and making millions, they are free to stop the "grind." We all have routines, jobs, and lives, they just happen to be paid FAR more than the rest of us. Not just FAR more, but an incomprehensible amount more than the rest of us. Sorry, even when you try and make it sound like they lead such horrible lives, I don't feel the least bit sorry for them. They are blessed with a talent that 99.99999% of the rest of the world does not have, and get paid handsomely for that talent. If they don't like what comes with it, they are completely free to do something else. Uh, sorry, who said they live horrible lives? Talk about a straw man. And holy moly, coming from a guy that complains about his profession constantly, kind of rich. Guys, they're not normal people, lol. They are special. They make millions of dollars a year to play. We can kill the comparisons to all our desk jockey jobs because they are not existing on the same planet. You would do literally anything on the planet for the money these guys make, and the fact of the matter is that after enough time, you adjust to it, you find parts of it that are annoying and unlikable, and you do envision a day where you no longer have to do those things. So...sorry, but I won't fault players for finding certain aspects of the job to be a pain in the rear, no matter how much money they make. They are human and have opinions about all aspects of their profession. Tax law is not fun either, but it pays well and I can complain about aspects of the work without being ungrateful or evil. And I absolutely fantasize about not doing it one day. That's not reflective of lack of effort or being spoiled. It is what it is. A job that has good and bad for the people doing it. Bold: I'm sure a lot of ballplayers would like to go on vacations with their kids in the summertime but that is not something they can do. It's not about having a pity party, but even suggesting they "chose" something like that because they play baseball is just ridiculous. Do you honestly expect them to go be accountants for 1/80th of the pay to go on a trip in the summer? It has literally nothing to do with their "awful lives" or "feeling sorry", the point is that ACTUAL baseball players don't view being a baseball player through the lens that baseball FANS do. The line you guys are holding is basically that rich people can't complain about their jobs, which is asinine.

Yes, no need to throw a pity party, but I have zero sympathy for this kind of whining from pro athletes. Everyone make choices in life. There are a lot of people missing out on "life experiences" doing much harder work, getting paid a lot less, and getting a lot less attention for the work they do. Not sure how you can give a full effort if you really feel this way and there is absolutely no excuse for expressing those feelings to paying fans. On a different note - the players want to penalize small market teams that finish in the lottery in consecutive seasons, but they are also opposed to revenue sharing and want to reduce the luxury tax. *Sigh* Seems like most of the player proposals are things that would hurt small market teams like the Brewers. What whining? A fan said something about playing baseball for a living and he responded "You probably like baseball more than I do." Bolded part - I mean, just not true. There is all kinds of work out there that nobody loves but the person is still really good at it. I never even loved my career tbh, it has always been about money otherwise I would have tried to write screenplays. I purposely did something more lucrative that I was really good at; never in my life would I say I loved it, however I do love money. I imagine that pro baseball players, some love it, some feel more like that. For a few million bucks a year I think most will exert maximum effort without "love." These guys are not working at Taco Bell. There is somebody trying to take their job 24/7. It is not really a career in which you can get away with not trying. Real point is that humans always adapt to their surroundings whether they are really poor or really wealthy. After a few years of exotic travel, stadiums and hotels, an abundance of cash, I am sure a lot of players reach a point where not playing anymore baseball sounds kinda nice.

The market is absolutely insane for candidates. I just took an offer. I requested matched PTO and countered saying the offered salary was not adequate. They gave me both. The next day, I got a request for another interview. I said I needed to know the salary before proceeding any further. Normally I would let that play out naturally but the candidates hold all the cards right now. My brother is an engineer around Milwaukee early in his career. He was making roughly $85k. A government defense contractor based in Virginia offered him a remote position for $125k after one interview. He put in his 2 weeks and management immediately matched the $125k and made him a senior. If you are even considering a move, now is the time, in almost any industry.

I've heard similar stories about Braun saying those things and I am sure many players feel the same, but I think you guys are making a bit much of it. I'm sure there are things a lot of them would rather be doing than traveling 9 months a year and living out of hotels but when someone is paying you $15 million it is hard to voluntarily walk away from it. I'm sure if they could make that money playing baseball at the local park, they would. You're watching the games from your house and consuming an entertainment product without any of the grind they go through. Even at a crazy rate of compensation the routine has to get old and let's remember that most of them have been playing this sport since they were 6. There is no need to throw a pity party for them but they are missing out on a lot of life experiences by playing ball for a living.

It isn't that at all. The players have some power to maybe have some recourse. Realistically, taxpayers do not. They will find someone else to build their stadium. If not for the stadium, the government will find some other means of idiotically spending money. I may as well get a sports team out of it. It becomes about pragmatism, not this fantasy that billionaires will start building their own stadiums.

Cap room has become this odd fan obsession the last several years, I blame Twitter. Nobody really has a firm grasp on it so it's the perfect thing to argue about after the season. Then it never really ends up mattering and teams always find some way to do what they need. I disengage from those discussions completely because I don't understand it and it is too boring to want to figure out.

I genuinely don't think Rodgers is cognitively capable of doing this sort of thing. He just simply can't set aside that he is the best and so he should be paid that way. I don't mean to judge him either. It's a job and he is the best. No other profession really expects the best to take less money. I get why that frustrates Packers fans, but I just don't think Rodgers has it in himself to do this sort of thing.

Suit and tie is major overkill unless like, director at F500 or something. Even then, everything is so much more anything goes now. A nice clean shirt and pants are fine.

Z turns 30 and they went basically the entire season without him. Cutting him is prudent even without the cap situation.

I don't think Love was really all that bad in KC and in hindsight he played as well or better than like the following 5 or 6 QBs against KC, some of whom were stars. At the time of the game KC looked like they might miss the playoffs but they rallied since. I don't think that is really the point here but just something that has been bugging me. With more context it ended up looking more like an average performance. I don't have a problem with what Rodgers is doing. He wants to mull over a huge decision. He likes to share his emotions. Not my style, but it's February. Whatever.

I think it's accurate the Packers don't think Love is ready to start, at the very least. MLF said as much. Trade value for a 3rd year QB not ready to start? Not too high. In any case I think the evaluation of his trade value in that rumor is likely spot on. I don't think the book on Love is out, though. He could be anything from trash, to ok starter/journeyman, to pretty good.

I don't see what the big deal is. We mock athletes for speaking in platitudes and all saying the same thing; anyone that comes along and acts more like a real person is also vilified. I've seen 100 posts more dramatic than anything Rodgers does whenever a simpleton on any social media page gives birth, gets divorced or gets a new job. In the end, these guys are just people too; they don't have to be the robot performers football culture demands them to be. Yeah he is a little more emotional than I would ever care to be. I don't think it's dramatic though or harmful at all. Just a dude with a lot of "feelings," lol.

I don't think he is being dramatic. He is just "expressing himself" in a way that is extremely common among folks from Northern California...they're a bit "different." He likes to be a poet/zen master.

I think the player punishments were light in large part because the players actually had nothing to do with instigating the whole thing. It would have been a bizarre message to punish them as hard as the coaches. You can't fine them, so a suspension is really your only option and I think outside of what was done, it would have been a bit much. Actually think they got that aspect of it correct.

https://i.redd.it/tkt74mifm6j81.jpg

Gard responded reasonably to unprovoked taunting, i.e. the entire reason Howard decided to go through the line in the first place. Surprised by Howard scolding him, he gently holds up the line probably to try and say "You hadn't stopped playing, so we didn't stop playing." The nonsense about "putting your hands on a man" and "Gard starting it" is just that, nonsense. Howard went looking for a fight, wanted a much worse reaction than the one he actually got, and then still threw the first slap/punch. What makes it even funnier is that he has no ground to be upset in the first place. If Bucky had been out there launching threes and playing full-court press with their starters, the whining tantrum is still pathetic but at least maybe understandable. I do nothing but laugh at guys like Howard, big and tough and you can't mess with them, but you're supposed to go easy on them during competition at this high of a level. He is a Man Baby, pure and simple. An adult that can't control their emotions like that has no business being employed in the position he is. Again, I'll say this: imagine where his temper goes when he's not on national TV.

Howard has his hand grabbing Gard's shirt pretty damn near simultaneously when Gard touches his elbow. It isn't seen on camera but a couple seconds later you do see Howard let go of his shirt. It is so obvious to me that Gard just instinctively did something to halt him from storming off and explain why he called timeout, which seems perfectly reasonable. Coaches do that elbow move about 90% of games. Howard used the "put your hands on me" nonsense as some stupid gaslight to permit the tantrum he was about to throw. He wanted Gard to brush him so he could have his little "how dare you touch me" moment and escalate the situation. He was 100% the aggressor. Gard did nothing wrong.

Gard instinctively wanted to explain to him what happened and clear up a misunderstanding, and the Man Baby was trying to blow by him at 100mph after running his mouth. That is 100% what the "grab" was. Howard went looking for a fight. Gard, I guess, made the cardinal sin of grabbing an elbow and attempting a handshake in a handshake line. I can't fathom an NCAA D1 head coach keeping a job after throwing a slap/punch at opposing staff. If Howard didn't want to be "touched," why was he in the line? To throw a tantrum and get his incendiary words in.

This is not true. Howard didn't even get in line to shake hands initially - he waited, and the announcers saw that and commented on that. Then when Howard approached Gard, and Howard dropped his mask and said, "I'll remember that ****[/url]", and you can see on the video Howard dropping his mask as he approaches Gard. That's when Gard reacted and stopped him, according to Gard to try to explain why he did what he did. Gard didn't stop Howard because he passed him or disrespected him - Howard started it by swearing at Gard first. Proof: I'm not a Badgers fan, Howard is 100% the aggressor there. Man Baby. He should not have a job tomorrow.

You're a coach and willing to slap somebody on television. Imagine what he does when nobody is watching.

Howard is 49 years old. He should be fired.

I think pretty much everyone realizes this?

This isn't the first time I've seen something like this and it seems a lot more rooted in folklore than reality. Like what people think Favre was vs. what he actually was. This is the same guy who had his private locker away from the team and spent the back 9 of his career mostly isolating himself from younger teammates. "“He was such a disappointment to me,” said Samp. “If it was his turn in the quarterback rotation and he saw me at wide receiver, he’d wave Rodgers in instead of throwing to me. Just because I was no one. It wasn’t just me. He had favorites. “I looked up to him. But if I had to run a 12-yard route, he’d wing the ball even before I got to the cut. Then he’d throw his hands up. I’d come back and say, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ He’d say, ‘Forget it. I’m not looking at you.’ He was a jerk. To me. To Aaron.” I'm not saying that Favre was actually a jerk or a bad leader, I don't know what he was. But I a) think his leadership has been glorified and b) Rodgers reputation has suffered disproportionately based on the actual evidence. There are a lot of guys who have defended him and called him an awesome leader and really it's been the words of the same 2 guys that get repeatedly rehashed and used against him.

A large number of people will always watch MLB but the discrepancy between the two is enormous and I don't believe it's as simple as just saying "gambling." It just far more popular in America as a spectator sport. A random October TNF game drew 3x the TV viewers of a LAD/SF playoff game. SNF draws more viewers than a World Series game. Football is violent, we love violence. For every person that loves baseball, there are 10 who think watching it is absolutely brutal. It is just a lot easier for a casual viewer to sit down and watch the Saints vs. Cowboys than a random 1/162 baseball game. People build their Sundays around the NFL. It's just more engrained in today's America than our past time.