Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Come On, Just Admit It

Trey Smith


Politicians don't enjoy the greatest of stature with the general public anymore. Just take a look at polls that show the disapproval rate for Congress is near all-time lows. When a candidate hits the campaign trail, you can rest assured that one-half or more of what they say is nothing more than rhetorical pandering. Even when backed into a corner, the savvy politico will refuse to acknowledge the giant elephant in the room.

But it's not just politicians these days. By the way they talk, you would think professional athletes are running for public office too! Many of their press conferences put that of politicians to shame.

Like with most other professional sports, the National Football League (NFL) has a ballyhooed period in which free agents can sign with any team that will have them. The NFL's free agent signing period got underway yesterday and so the wheeling and dealing has commenced. For the star players of the league, it really is nothing more than a high priced auction. More often than not, the star signs with the highest bidder.

It's one thing when the highest bidder is a team with a winning tradition, but as it so often happens, the highest bidders are the lousy teams, the ones who have little hope of having a successful coming season. It doesn't seem to matter how awful the team actually is; you would NEVER guess it by the glorious press conferences held to announce the signing of the star.

Almost to a man, the star steadfastly refuses to admit the obvious. He (or she) will talk about the coach, the ownership and the management as being a good "fit." He will say that he has arrived to turn the franchise around. He will address one million different talking points without once saying what everybody knows: He signed with this team because they offered the most lucrative contract terms!

Why is it so difficult to admit that you signed this multimillion dollar contract because it afforded your family with the greatest long-term financial security? You know this is true and so do your legion of fans. Of course, we all know the answer to that question. You don't want to come off as the greedy bastard you are (just as politicians don't want to come off as the greedy and power-hungry louts they are).  ;-)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.