Even with Salary Cap, one Reason why Baseball/Basketball >> NFL

About as ironic as a team wanting to cut a guy after a bad season (and possibly bring him back at lower salary), which happens every single day in the NFL. Nobody seems to get huffy over that.

 

Miller's greatness, which I agree with, aside, it's also because it's a much different game in terms of the percentage of player recognition than MLB and the NBA. On an 12-man NBA roster, fans probably know the starting five and maybe 4-5 reserves. On a 25-man MLB roster, fans probably know the starting eight, maybe four starting pitchers, the closer, and perhaps a couple of bench/bullpen guys. Both for the NBA and MLB are the majority of the team.

But in the NFL, with the 53-man roster, most fans probably know less than half the team (Starting QB, maybe the backup, 2-3 RBs, 2-3 WRs, a starting offensive lineman or two, a couple defensive lineman, a couple of linebackers, maybe 3 DBs, the kicker and punter, and perhaps a couple of random backups. The rest of the team is interchangable. That's part of the issue.

The other part of the issue, as noted earlier, is how a career can end on just one play. While that can happen in baseball, like with a pitcher's arm, or in the NBA, it happens much more frequently in the NFL. And for a lot of those guys, there's another player with similar ability just waiting for his opportunity. The disposability of the players is a major advantage for the owners.

 

The owners want cost certainty, the players get a signing/roster bonus. I'm sure a player could get a guaranteed contract if they are willing to take less and no signing bonus.

 

So let me make sure I got this right: The Bulls trade a two-time (2012, 2013) all star in Deng; for a bum whom they immediately waive, in Bynum - all an accounting gimmick. This is the same league where guys like Keith Van Horn or Aaron McKie can come out of retirement, sign a contract to be used in sign and trades, then never play a minute....

But the NFL is fucked up because Desean Jackson politely discussed his current contract situation and hope for a new, better deal.


Okay.

 

+ 1

Yesterday's Deng trade is case in point why NBA is not > than NFL.

 

The whole NBA mindset that expiring contracts/cap space are more valuable than actual players just seems kind of surreal.

 

Completely counter intuitive.

 

It actually undermines the credibility of the league when All Star caliber players are traded for an accounting gimmick.

 

And demoralizes fans bases that realize there is little hope for championship in foreseeable
future. And there are times when teams outsmart themselves. The Knicks are poster child for this. Traded Zac Randolph in a salary dump and the guy has turned into an
All Star.

 

That's also because Randolph finally got his act together and started busting his ass. Prior to that, he'd always show potential, and did have some very good seasons, but never seemed to put it all together until he left New York.

 

Right and rarely is there a payoff for fans to see a player turn into a
success story for their team because they've been moved for some accounting
reason. Randolph was the start of Knicks clearing the deck for James. Look
how that worked out. As it turns out they would have been better off keeping
Randolph and Lee.

 

DeSean gets robbed of $250K in cash and jewelry, and a handgun.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10279957/handgun-250k-cash-jewelry-stolen-desean-jackson-home

This is why the NFL sucks. Nobody in the NBA has massive amounts of cash, jewelry and handguns.