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Friday, November 25, 2005
Athletes’ clout fading in management disputes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
In the ever-changing captaincy on the good ship “Doesn’t Get It,” it would be hard to top the reign of the Denver Nuggets’ Marcus Camby. When asked his opinion of the NBA’s new dress code, Camby said he would only comply if the league gave him a clothing allowance. Because as we all know, $7 million a year doesn’t go as far as it used to, even if you hit one of those one-day sales.
But there may be hope in matters regarding the Lost Boys of professional sports. I’m not sure why it turned or how it turned or whether it ever will turn back. But this past year has been like the Winnebago of reality dropping on a prima donna’s head. Or Lamborghini.
When Terrell Owens’ was so thoroughly pummeled by an arbitrator this week — effectively losing out the rest of his season, and salary and bonuses that may amount to over $2 million by the time this is done — it was the latest in a series of rulings or agreements that have gone against The Player and for The Man.
Congressional hearings and Bud Selig’s ensuing decision to wrap himself in Washington’s coat tails forced the players union to accept a drug-testing policy with some teeth. Now, a positive test gets you more than 10 minutes in timeout. Three positive tests and you’re out.
Imagine that. It’s almost like real life.
Baseball also will test for amphetamines. That’s more significant than you know. While juiced players have set records, games largely are played by guys being kept awake on something other than French roast. If there’s suddenly a hole between second and third next season because the shortstop is literally taking a dirt nap, now you know why.
Reality has hit every sport. NHL salaries weren’t excessive but the league’s TV deal had the worth of a TV dinner. Owners threatened to cancel the season. Nobody believed them, until they did. Players lost a year’s pay. They gave back everything but their socks. They were forced to accept a hard-cap deal that’s suddenly the envy of every sports owner.
The NBA has managed to survive this season without Latrell Sprewell. He turned down $7 million a year from Minnesota, and the rest of the league has since turned him down. The market for stranglers apparently isn’t what it used to be.
Ron Artest is back in the league. But he’ll never get back the $5 million in salary he lost for last year’s suspension after brawling with fans. He appealed. He lost. An arbitrator reaffirmed his stupidity.
The Detroit Lions have filed a grievance against wide receiver Charles Rogers, trying to recoup more than $10 million of a $14 million signing bonus because the receiver violated the NFL’s substance abuse policy. This case is being watched even more closely by teams than the Owens’ situation — if for no other reason than a drugged player is more prevalent than one who calls his quarterback a slug and employer classless on national TV.
Which leads us back to Owens. He is drug-free and a star, arguably the best at his position. But he has been shelved for the year and is devalued for life. What were the odds of that?
As to the potential ripple effect, Falcons general manager Rich McKay said: “I hope so. It doesn’t mean all players will be satisfied with their contracts. Players are no different than any of us. Most people feel, ‘We’re underpaid and undervalued.’ I don’t have any problem with that. The question is, what actions follow that? I can’t imagine you being mad about your pay, then writing columns, and in it saying, ‘The AJC stinks.’ “
Hmmm.
I’m sorry. Where was I?
Owens will get a job. But he’ll never get what he sought — a multi-year deal with a fat signing bonus and increased guaranteed salary. A team simply won’t risk the outlay.
“Teams always should have the expectation that a player is going to honor his contract,” McKay said. “Sometimes, holdouts occur, and you have to deal with them. But in this case, it went beyond that. The ruling was important, for the sanctity of the team.”
What’s a self-respecting prima donna without a sports coat to do?
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Falcons / NFL, Hawks / NBA, Jeff Schultz, Other, Thrashers / NHL
Game’s importance bigger for Tech
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
“All Georgia-Georgia Tech games are big,” Bill Cromartie writes in “Clean Old-Fashioned Hate,” his history of the rivalry. But some are bigger than others, and to Georgia Tech, this is one of those. Much, much bigger than to Georgia. Not only is Tech grasping for something to lift it above the morass of bad news that struck the athletics department lately, but this is the game that can break the logjam of seasons of seven wins that have become Chan Gailey’s benchmark.
Not only that, but perhaps a bid to a loftier bowl, those postseason hoaxes that try to disguise themselves as “classics.” I offer the Silicon Valley Classic, and subsequent loss to Frenso State, as the worst I’ve ever seen. What a travesty that it should share equal recognition on that panel of Tech’s bowl events at Dodd/Grant Field.
Now, why is this game not as important to Georgia as to Georgia Tech? Well, no matter if the Bulldogs win or lose, they’ll still get aboard a bus and drive back to Atlanta next weekend to play for the SEC championship. Two weekends in Atlanta! Hot dawg!
The game Saturday is sort an interruption of business. A defeat could put a dent in Georgia’s national standing, but that could be repaired by winning the championship game, to be played against LSU. This game has no bearing on that, except where wagers are placed.
Once upon a time, a Tech-Georgia game packed a national wallop. Both were members of the SEC and the result reflected on conference standing. Tech was last a member of the SEC in 1963, then became an independent until the ACC invited the Jackets in. Georgia Tech won the last three SEC matches between the two.
The tide began to turn in Athens when Joel Eaves left Auburn to become athletics director in November 1963. A week later, Eaves made the decisive move of hiring the freshman coach at Auburn to become his football coach at Georgia. Old-line Bulldogs threw up their arms in despair. “Who is this Vince Dooley?” they cried in anguish.
Dooley emerged, and with him so did Georgia. Dooley won his first two matches with Bobby Dodd, and from that day to this, Tech has never been able to sustain a streak of dominance in the rivalry.
This game Saturday defies analysis. Two weeks ago you’d have taken Georgia and spotted Tech at least 10 points. Here is a Tech team that beat Auburn on The Plain, was cremated by Virginia Tech, lost to N.C. State on a fluke, beat Clemson by a point, lost as the favored team to Virginia, then beat Miami in an upset so vast that even Warren Sapp was upset.
It is an eccentric team. Reggie Ball sets the tone. His temperature is the temperature of his team. They win with key players out of the game, P.J. Daniels and Brad Honeycutt at Miami. They lose with them on the field. They had Georgia in their gunsight last year, but Ball misplaced his calculator. In this game, there is no favorite, no underdog. It’s as even as a carpenter’s level. The fascinating feature is that we’ll get to see Ball matched against D.J. Shockley for the last and only time.
It is an old rivalry that has lost a lot of its oomph. Neither plays for position in its conference. It might as well be Kiev Tech against Tiblisi U. The only prize is the state championship of Georgia, except for taunting privileges. It still maintains some degree of distilled rancor on the Georgia Tech side, though, for its old fight always ends, “To hell with Georgia!”
