The Sports Curmudgeon

In a recent rant, I wondered aloud if the Raiders were paying out humongous amounts of money – and guaranteed money no less – to free agents because that is the only way that the free agents would agree to sign with the Raiders and play for a team that sure looks as if it is adrift. It was the deal making Tommy Kelly the highest paid defensive lineman in NFL history that put me over the top back then. Now, the Raiders have signed WR Javon Walker to a deal that reportedly pays him a guaranteed $27M. Look, Javon Walker is a very good wide receiver; surely, the Raiders have gotten a better performer than the Bears got by signing Brandon Lloyd to pretend to play the same position. Nevertheless, the magnitude of Walker’s contract is off the charts.

Put that contract along side the one that reportedly pays Bernard Berrian $16M in guaranteed money and a total of $42M if the contract runs its course and ask yourself how the marketplace for wide receivers makes any sense at all. Javon Walker tore his ACL three seasons ago; then, his first year with the Broncos was a good one but last year his numbers were “a bit off” as he had some problems with that same knee. Those are the credentials that led up to his contract with the Raiders. Meanwhile, Berrian had his best season ever in 2007 from a statistical point of view - - not all that unusual for a player about to become a free agent. However, his numbers were hardly staggering; 71 catches for 951 yards and 5 TDs.

By point of comparison, Randy Moss reportedly has a 3-year deal in New England that will pay him $27M. That looks a whole lot like Javon Walker’s deal and only Stevie Wonder could watch those two guys play wide receiver and think they were equals.

Here is a potential issue that is worth keeping an eye out for. Terrell Owens goes into the final year of his contract this year; he will make a paltry $7M between his salary and his roster bonus. Given a few more signings and TO will not be one of the top-10 wide receivers in the all-important “getting paid ranking”. And we do know that when Terrell Owens is not completely happy, he has ways to make that fact widely known. Stay tuned; film at eleven…

I certainly do not mean to pick on the Raiders or any of the wide receivers I mentioned above with this remark, but I think there is a trend in the NFL toward large amounts of guaranteed money in contracts that could hurt the product on the field. I am not advocating that players are being overpaid; I do think that players are not being paid on the basis of their performances and it is their performances on the field that creates the product that sells.

Huge contract guarantees are particularly awful when given to a high draft choice who has never played a down in the NFL and who may be only marginally better than a corpse on the field. Do not make me go through the litany of top-five picks who stunk worse than a rotting rhino on the veldt. But huge contract guarantees – or guaranteed payments – have been deleterious in other sports. Tennis comes to mind; they call it “appearance fees” in tennis. It hurts golf because top players do not play in PGA events to go somewhere obscure to take down seven figure “appearance fees”. Guaranteed contracts allow baseball and basketball players to give half-hearted effort except for “contract years”. I am not saying the NFL is doomed; it is not. However, this is not a positive trend.

The Denver Broncos signed two safeties as part of their free agency activity this year. Joining the squad will be Marquand Manuel and Marlon McCree. I wonder if the Broncos will quickly do a promotional tie-in with Sesame Street; you know, the Bronco’s secondary is “brought to you by the letter “M”…”

Todd Marinovich was not a top-five draft pick but he did go in the first round - - to the Raiders of course. He lasted there about two years – maybe three – and did nothing on the field to make anyone rush to sign him after he and the Raiders parted company. He also has had just a few “police blotter issues” in his life. Well, Todd has a younger brother named Mikhail who is a freshman football player at Syracuse. The jury is still out on whether or not Mikhail will ultimately be a better football player than Todd was. Interestingly though, a jury may get an early start with Mikhail regarding “police blotter issues”. Mikhail Marinovich was arrested – along with another teammate – in Syracuse for breaking into an equipment storage area in Manley Field House on the Syracuse campus. Marinovich is 20 years old; according to the police report, alcohol consumption was involved here; wow, that’s a surprise. The bad news for Marinovich as a football player is that he was chased down and caught by “university public safety officers”. That is not good news for a player who will have to go to a scouting combine and be timed in the 40-yard dash…

In case you didn’t immediately notice the letter “M” could also bring Mikhail Marinovich to you. Given his older brother’s police history with marijuana and methamphetamines - - also brought to you by the letter “M” - - I suspect he would not be someone the Sesame Street folks would want to join with.

Since the merger of the AFL and the NFL, the Detroit Lions have lost more football games than any other team in the league; at the moment, their total stands at 344. So far this decade, the Lions are a cumulative 40-88. Last year’s 7-9 record was the best in a while; but when you consider that they started strongly and stumbled home in December, this was not a team that delivered a tsunami of thrills to its fans. So what did the Lions do about two weeks ago? They raised ticket prices for seats in Ford Field. Scientists are working on a reliable blood test for HGH; if those same scientists are looking for blood samples rich in chutzpah/gall/insolence/unmitigated effrontery, all they need do is get samples from the folks associated with the Lions who decided to raise ticket prices this year. Yowza!

Bob Molinaro had a humorous column in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot regarding the things he could do with all of that “extra time” he discovered on Leap Day 2008. Here are three of his better ideas:

Search the Internet to find a college basketball team that takes the season two games at a time.

Because spring training is under way, try to find out what a first base coach does.

Limp a mile in Yao Ming’s shoes.

Finally, Scott Ostler had this observation in the SF Chronicle about the Raiders and their “commitment to excellence”:

“Impossible to win 19 games in the NFL? That’s what the experts say now that the Patriots were stopped one game short. But 19 wins is do-able. The Raiders over the last five seasons have won exactly 19 games.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…