Reilly nails it

OK, many of us have proclaimed that Rick Reilly has lost a couple mph off his high, hard one, that he's not the columnist he used to be.

But give the guy credit, when he hits one out of the park (OK, I realize I just mixed my baseball metaphors), it's fun to step back and watch it.

Here's the link, on the NFL labor situation:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6177574

 

Yet another "put a stamp on it and open the mailbox" column from Reilly.

Owners are greedy? They own multiple homes?

Brilliant reporting work by Reilly here.

 

The column did skew my perspective toward the players, but I don't know if it's outstanding.

 

"Hey, did you hear the NFL owners are rich?"

"How rich are they?"

"They're so rich they're not committing suicide like these two players!"

(Laughter.)

Fucking awful use of a serious topic.

[quote author=Rick Reilley]Question: In 10 years, do you think you're going to find New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft wandering the streets because of the 200-plus concussions he didn't know he had from his time in the NFL? You figure Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford will end up with ringing in the ears and depression the way former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson did? Within the past year alone, two former players killed themselves.

You recall any NFL owners killing themselves lately?[/quote]

 

Yuck.

 

I haven't read Reilly much since he jumped to ESPN the Rag...and this just states the obvious...rich owners looking for a better deal...players signing on for a risky and often short career. Where's the "wow" in that.

 

Side note: How does the NFLPA get a figure of 3,000 jobs in each NFL city? I doubt the full-time positions would be even a tenth of that. Maybe if you're counting the beer vendor who gets eight days of good money, but even then, 3,000? Do the dad and son who get $10 for parking spots on their front lawn count as two?

 

And does D. Smith at least get a tagline on that? It's awesome that if you stand the millionaire up next to the billionaire, he might as well be standing on an offramp with a cardboard sign. The greed isn't one-sided here.

 

[/quote]

I didn't get that at all. I disagree with Reilly here, for the most part. But his point that it is the players, not the owners, putting their lives on the line is fair game.

He's not making a joke. He's making a point.

 

I didn't get that at all. I disagree with Reilly here, for the most part. But his point that it is the players, not the owners, putting their lives on the line is fair game.

He's not making a joke. He's making a point.
[/quote]

I hate when people say that - "the players are putting their life on the line."
Great. Guess what? That's their choice. It's the risk of the job, a job where they're paid a hefty sum of money.
Don't want to deal with the reprocussions of the job? Stay in school, get a degree, and go teach.

 

I hate when people say that - "the players are putting their life on the line."
Great. Guess what? That's their choice. It's the risk of the job, a job where they're paid a hefty sum of money.
Don't want to deal with the reprocussions of the job? Stay in school, get a degree, and go teach.

[/quote]

Then they'll really be putting their lives on the line.