Heeeeeerre's Johnny!

I do apologize to my loyal readers (Doug and Mac) for not blogging more often. My excuse is two fold. First of all I now have this thing called a JOB that is starting to take up some time. Secondly (and most importantly) I have been totally obsessed with the upcoming NFL fantasy football draft that it is the only thing I look at, think about, talk about, listen to, smell, taste. In fact last night I chased Angela and Yao around with an axe trying to chop them up into little pieces. We are held up in this huge mansion and I got a little stir crazy. Angela refused to share her opinion on the Miami Dolphins quarterback controversy between Gus Ferotte and Jay Fiedler and that just pushed me over the edge. Plus Yao was doing this weird thing with his paw and in a strange voice said “Red ruff” “Red ruff” “Red ruff.” I have so overanalyzed this up coming draft that I now feel that every single player is both a sleeper and a bust. So if you guys want a post so bad I’m afraid its gonna have to be about football.
Last week I was moping around the house about Chicago sports teams. I was swearing, screaming into pillows and packing suitcases declaring to Angela and Yao that we were moving to a city with respectable teams in which to root for. Angela rolled her eyes. Yao cocked his head to the side. “What!?!” I said. I wasn’t over reacting. The Cubs were now officially out of it and thank God I will never watch another Cub’s game. The entire team needs to be dismantled starting with Jim Hendry but what do I care because I’m moving. The White Sox are starting to show their true colors and will probably get swept in the first round again just like in 2000. The Bulls will never win it all without Jordan. The Blackhawks are back? They were never here to begin with. Which leaves us with the pathetic, laughable, fake team that is the jewel of this gullible city DA BEARS! Yes it’s been 20 long years since the magical season that most of us were too young to appreciate. I maintain that just like man walking on the moon was a scam (some dudes in a TV studio pretending to walk in space in order for the government to rationalize the taking of trillions of tax dollars from us for the past 35 years) so were the 85 Bears. Walter Payton, Monsters of the Midway, the HoneyBears, Super bowl Shuffle, the Fridge, none of this was real. How could it be? How could the Chicago Bears be associated with this group of actors who assembled the greatest football team of all time? It was a hoax. Think about it, the McCaskey’s were the owners then right? And they have been the owners since then right? How is it that the worst owners in the history of the NFL could have had the best team in the history of the NFL? I did some research to see if it was just bad luck or were the Bears the worst team year after year on purpose. Just by looking at their first round picks since the “Super Bowl Year” (we all know never happened) it’s easy to see they are doing this shit on purpose. Here’s the list of first round draft picks by the Bears over the past twenty years. Keep in mind that since they usually have one of the worst records they usually get a pretty high pick.
Cedric Benson
Tommie Harris
Michael Haynes
Rex Grossman
Marc Colombo
David Terrell
Brian Urlacher
Cade McNown
Curtis Enis
Walt Harris
Rashaan Salam
John Thierry
Curtis Conway
Alonzo Spellman
Stan Thomas
Mark Carrier
Donnell Woolford
Trace Armstrong
Brad Muster
Jim Harbaugh
Neal Anderson

Enough said. Looks like they got another winner this year in Benson. No he’s not crazy at all. First he shaves his head because he was worried people will think he’s Ricky Williams (which at this point I pray he has as good a career as Ricky). Then he cries like a baby at the draft (come on you would to if you just got drafted by the Bears). Finally he decides to ruin his rookie year by holding out until the week before the season starts. For what? Nothing, the Bears made their final offer weeks ago. I think we should have traded the pick for lower first round picks then gotten a receiver and a quarterback. There were plenty of good backs in the later rounds. The Bears knew Benson was a head case. He tried to play baseball for the Dodgers but they cut him saying it seemed that he was only interested in the money. I think from now on the league should invoke a moratorium on drafting backs from the University of Texas.

Fantasy Football Draft Special.

I have been consumed with studying for the upcoming fantasy football season. I have made probably a half a dozen draft boards. The water is so muddy this preseason with all the holdouts and running backs by committee. I have no idea who I will be taking on draft day. I only have the first six rounds here partially because I got sick of tying all this out and partially because I can’t give away my late round sleepaz and keepaz.


Round One
1. LaDainian Tomlinson-Hands down.
2. Shaun Alexander-Hopefully not bitter about offseason.
3. Priest Holmes-Remember what he did last time he came back from an injury
4. Peyton Manning-I would be happy to get him in the 1st round
5. Edgerrin James-Will he be motivated to prove the Colts wrong.
6. Duece Mcallister-Got his longterm deal. Saints to lean on him more.
7. Willis Mgahee-Unproven but has been a top back since becoming the starter.
8. Corey Dillion-Don’t get much more relieable than him.
9. Jamal Lewis-Injury questions?
10. Randy Moss-Second best receiver in the history of the NFL
11. Daunte Culpepper-Plenty of good receivers left in Minnesota.
12. Clinton Portis-Needs to bounce back after a down year.
13. Rudi Johnson-1500 yards I’ll take it.
14. Domanick Davis-Rushing, receiving, scoring. Hopefully stays healthy.


Round Two
1. Julius Jones-Dallas will lean on him heavily. Will he stay healthy?
2. Kevin Jones-Marriucci says Jones is about to break out.
3. Ahman Green-Also needs a bounce back year. Tough behind a weaker line.
4. Tiki Barber-Will Jacobs steal goal line carries?
5. Brian Westbrook-Who else does Donavan have to throw to?
6. Stephen Jackson-Has showed elite back potential.
7. Lamont Jordan-Defense's will be distracted by the deep threat.
8. Torry Holt-Lots o weapons in Indy and no TO make him the second best WR
9. Marvin Harrison-Offense too balanced in Indy for Marvin to dominate.
10. Curtis Martin-Led the league in rushing. Got to drop off eventually.
11. Chad Johnson-Should improve with a more mature Palmer.
12. Ronnie Brown-Ricky looking impressive in camp.Got to produce in 1st½.
13. Cadilac Williams-Handed the starting job.
14. Javon Walker-Hopefully no love lost as Farve’s favorite receiver.

Round Three
1. Trent Green-Record breaking last year.
2. Andre Johnson-Third year ready to break out.
3. Joe Horn-Consistently one of the best receivers in the league.
4. Michael Bennett-Looks good in the preseason, Tice giving him #1.
5. JJ Arrington-100 yr old Emmitt Smith got 1000 yds 9 TDs last year.
6. Darrell Jackson-Needs to start catching more balls in the red zone.
7. Deshawn Foster-Like Bennett will be a steal here if he stays healthy.
8. Kerry Collins-Can him and Moss co-exist.
9. Marc Bulger-Reportedly looking great in preseason.
10. Brett Farve-Maybe this is too high for him.
11. Mike Anderson-Risky pick boom or bust.
12. Donovan McNabb-Damn T.O. and the Eagles are messing up this draft.
13. Warrick Dunn-Great last year.
14. Nate Burleson-Shined during Moss’ injury last year.

Round Four
1. Lee Suggs-Should get the start in Cleveland.
2. Chris Brown-As with Suggs on a short leash.
3. Chris Chambers-Solid #1 receiver needs to return to 2003 numbers.
4. Micheal Clayton-First among super sophomore receivers.
5. Roy Williams-Second
6. Larry Fitzgerald-Third
7. Jerome Bettis-Staley out; he’ll have to run farther than a yard per TD.
8. Hines Ward-Steelers screwing him. Hopefully he doesn’t hold a grudge.
9. Fred Taylor-Reportedly he’s healthy so is Marcus Camby.
10. Terrell Owens-???????????????????????????????
11. Thomas Jones-Moves up everyday. I think Lovie hates Benson.
12. Steve Smith-He should probably go higher.
13. Ashley Lelie-Is he the #1 or is Rod Smith?
14. Matt Hassellback-Next three QB’s are similar to the ones taken a round earlier.

Round Five
1. Tom Brady-Tom is sick of being the golden boy, boo hoo.
2. Drew Brees-Out to prove last year was no fluke.
3. Jimmy Smith-Underrated.
4. Derrick Mason-Kyle Boller is on McNair.
5. Drew Bennett-McNair is no Billy Volek.
6. Deion Branch-May go high but overrated because of superbowl MVP.
7. Laverneous Coles-Reunited with Chad should be a rejuvenator.
8. Donald Driver-Brett isn’t mad at him.
9. Eddie Kennison-Quietly put up great numbers in second half last year.
10. Micheal Vick-I don’t know where to put this guy.
11. Tony Gonzalez-First TE could go higher than this.
12. Antonio Gates-Chargers doing him wrong. Suspended for first game so far.
13. Travis Henry-Tennessee welcomes Henry back home. Eventually a starter?
14. Jerry Porter-Good last year. Less defensive pressure on him because of Moss.

Round Six
1. Melwede Moore-Stud last year. Bennett owners better take him.
2. Isaac Bruce-Old old old but still produced last year. Look out for Curtis.
3. Lee Evans-May be Losman’s #1.
4. Larry Johnson-Stud last year. Priest owners better take him.
5. Plaxico Burress-Is Manning hurt?
6. Anquan Boldin-Coming back from an injury but is still a stud.
7. Eric Moulds-Has been declining in recent years.
8. Aaron Brooks-Decent #1
9. Jake Plummer-Quietly had a good year last season.
10. Jake Delhomme-Ditto.
11. Carson Palmer-Ready to break out.
12. Rod Smith-Evans/Mould. Lelie/Smith who do you take new or old guy?
13. Chad Pennington-Injury problems could be a steal with Coles back.
14. Tatum Bell-Wha happened? Some draft boards had him in top ten three weeks ago.

Who wants to marry a nerdionaire?

I feel like the luckiest man in the world because I was able to marry a nerdionaire. One thing that makes Angela a nerdionaire is her absolute lack of knowledge in the field of pop culture. Five to ten years ago I would have found that to be very cool character trait. In my pathetic old age I find that what little knowledge I have is in the subject of pop culture. Where as Angela may be well informed about various conflicts in the Middle East due to many hours a week of NPR listening. I on the other hand possess more useful information such as a complete list of celebrities who star in their own homemade sex tapes. On a daily basis I ridicule my wife for her lack of real knowledge. Recently I have been compiling a list of celebrities who everyone on Earth (except Angela) knows about. This is an on going list that I will add to periodically. I would like you to know that this list doesn’t even take into account athletes, who are very much a part of present day pop culture. In fact, this list is missing many people I just can’t think of right now. Every time we are watching TV or listening to music Angela asks me “who is that?” no less 15 times. You will be amazed at some of the people on this list. She will claim she knows some of these people but I promise you even the few on this list that she claims to know I had to explain to her who they were no more than a few months ago.

List of people who my wife has no idea who they are:

Paris Hilton
Nicky Hilton
Jessica Simpson
Katie Holmes
Lindsey Lohan
Hillary Duff
Jessica Alba
Jennifer Biel
Shakira
Mandi Moore
Brooke Burke
Tara Reid
Ashley Simpson
Kelley Osbourne
Ashley Olsen
Jenna Jameson
Mary Kate Olsen
Shannon Elizabeth
Micha Barton
Jenny McCarthy
Tommy Lee
Lil Jon
Mike Jones
Nick Lachey
Kevin Federline
Wilmer Valderrama
Frankie Muniz
Johnny Knoxville
Tobey Maguire
Aston Kuchter
Seth Green
Sean William Scott
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Farnsworth Bentley
Jason Biggs
Orlando Bloom
Maddox Jolie…….

Miami Vice part duex

*Sorry it took me so long to write part II but between Angela’s parents staying with us last week and then going up to the Wisconsin Dells for a bachelor party this weekend I have been too busy to post. I am sad that the Summer of Nate is almost over. Actually it is over, since that bachelor party I have decided to admit myself to the Betty Ford Clinic. See ya in 6 weeks!

Part Duex-

Monday- Our last full day in Florida. Again we wake up too late. Get up and then go to lay back down again this time by the pool. Ah vacation is rough. I can’t tell you how nice it is sitting next to a pool that is right next to the ocean, with a woman coming around every 15 minutes asking you if she can get you a drink. This did cause a dilemma for me though. You see I was raised to believe that people who lay around and do nothing on vacation are boring. Growing up (and even now) before going on a family vacation we were all handed our own personal copy of the itinerary for the trip. The itineraries offered very specific information including; the time period you would spend at each tourist attraction (down to the minute), the mode of transportation that would be taken to each destination, and how much each event would cost (looking back I don’t see why this was necessary information for a ten year old to have?) For some reason whenever we would visit a city our parents felt that we must see every single museum, monument, historical marker, biggest ball of string etc etc etc. It didn’t matter if we were there for a day or a week we were gonna see it all. Maybe we wouldn’t see it for a very long time or see it very closely but we were gonna be able to tell people we were there that’s for sure. We took a family trip to Washington DC when I was in seventh grade and although we went to no less than 500 attractions I couldn’t tell you a single thing we saw. The only memory I have of the trip is that right after the 6 of us crammed into the car for the cross country drive my parents unveiled the greatest surprise they have ever given us. My dad handed me a box and told me to open it. Inside was a brand new GAMEBOY!!!!
Something I swore my parents would never buy us. Of course they had an ulterior motive of trying to keep four brats quiet for a thirteen hour drive.
Anyways were was I? Oh sitting by the pool in Florida feeling guilty about sitting around. I decided to revert back to doing what I do best which is trying as hard as I can to keep busy without actually doing anything. I made a few lists. Put in a few hours of fantasy football research. Kept myself abreast of all the Hollywood relationships in my new People magazine. Man does that magazine suck. I never really realized this until last week. For the first time ever I bought a copies of People two consecutive weeks. Not a good idea folks. The magazine is ok once in a while but if you get it two straight weeks you are basically reading the same issue twice. They have nothing to talk about. What they are talking about is completely boring. Apparently the big news is Jennifer Aniston’s comments about Brad Pitt’s new bleached blonde hair. She says “Billy Idol called and he wants his hair back.” Thrilling.
We were going to go on a water taxi ride but since we were having an early dinner we decided to skip it and just lay by the pool for the rest of the day.
Monday Night- Our friend Dedi and her daughter Cherray planned a wonderful evening for us at a Polynesian Restaurant called Mai Kai, which turned out to be the highlight of our trip. The food, drinks and especially the entertainment were amazing. Cherray works at the restaurant so we got the V.I.P treatment, strong drinks, best seat in the house; we got to meet all of the Polynesian dancers the whole nine yards. After dinner there was an amazing Polynesian show. There was a band that played traditional music and dancers dressed in traditional garb. During the performance they made an announcement that it was me and Angela's one year wedding anniversary and they shined a spotlight on us. Then in our honor they played a special Tahitian love song. Later on in the performance they announced that they were gonna need two people in the audience to perform a Tahitian dance. I froze. There is nothing that I fear more than being called up on stage to dance. I was starting to have a panic attack because with all the VIP treatment we had been receiving I just knew we were gonna be the two they called up on stage. I studied Dedi and Cherray’s faces for clues that we were about to be called. They promised we weren’t but I didn’t believe them. All of a sudden the announcer comes over to us, the spotlight shines down and he makes Angela get out of her seat and go up on stage for a wild, freaky, free style, Tahitian jig. They also picked some other guy. Never have I felt so relieved. Angela did a great job doing a pretty embarrassing dance. Ask her to perform it for you one day.
Oh I almost forgot another highlight of the evening was when one of the busboys told us that the lead singer from the outstanding band “Smashmouth” was sitting two tables behind us. The whole night Angela (who has no idea who Smashmouth is) and I were turning around trying to catch a glimpse of an actual celebrity. Unfortunately, he had his back to us. At the end of the night I walked to the other side of the restaurant so I could turn around and walk back to catch a glimpse of this guy’s face. I saw him for a brief moment and…..hmmm I don’t know? I don’t think it was him? Not that I have the lead singer of “Smashmouth” facial features memorized but this guy looked too fat. After we left Cherray said she thought the bus boy had just said he saw someone who looked like the lead singer from “Smashmouth.” Man what a let down.

Tuesday- We go home today. First we go on that water taxi that we were supposed to go on yesterday. The boat took us up and down the intercostals. It was basically a tour of the rich and famous’ yachts and homes. Again do not do this if you want to remain sane. Wayne Hyzinga, owner of companies like Blockbuster Video, Alamo Rental car and the Miami Dolphins,just to name a few, had a nice 45 million dollar house. Next to his house was a 20 million dollar house he bought for his daughter as a wedding gift. His nephew’s 9 million dollar house was right down the way. I needed to get out of here.
We arrive at the airport way too early (another Rasmussen trait) so we decide to sit in the bar and get a few drinks. I find it fascinating people watching in an airport bar. Everyone’s life is so much more exciting than mine. Am I the only person in the world who isn’t constantly on a cell phone? All of a sudden a large group of travelers walks by. As I study them I am able to deduce that this group of thirty of the hottest women I have ever seen are in fact the Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders!!!!!!!!(It was written on their orange and green luggage.) A light bulb goes off in my head. Before the trip I bought an FHM magazine (for those that don’t know what FHM is it’s a men’s magazine similar to Maxim.) Normally I am not allowed to read such trash but on vacation I treat myself. Mainly because Angela buys herself 50 magazines every time she enters an airport so I should be allowed to buy something. We guys don’t have as big a variety of magazines to choose from as girls do. It’s not like I’m going to pick up a copy of Newsweek or the Economist for some light reading, so that leaves me with the Maxim, FHM, and Stuff genre. When I buy my FHM Angela makes a scene at the register which of course embarrasses the hell out of me. Its hard enough trying to buy a magazine with a half naked woman on the cover, but when your loud wife is yelling at you and causing a ruckus in public it just makes it that much harder.
Anyways I digress; when I saw the cheerleaders it reminded me that my FHM featured many NFL cheerleaders in skimpy bikinis. I had a quick thought that I would turn to the page with the Miami Dolphin Cheerleader, stop her, ask her for her autograph, pose for pictures, get her to fly home with us, convince her to move in with us and hire her as an au pair for little Yao. I rifled though all of our carry ons trying to find my FHM among Angela’s 50 magazines. Hurry, hurry, hurry they are getting away.
“What did you do with my FHM?” I yell at Angela
“Nothing.”
“You stole it devil woman! You were always jealous of her!”
“Why do you want it so bad?” she asked.
“I was going to get that cheerleader to sign her picture.”
“Really. Come on now Nate, you would have been too much of a pussy to ask her for her autograph anyway.”
Sadly she was right. I hung my head in shame as we got on the plane.

Miami Vice

Angela and I have been on Vacation for the past five days visiting our friends Dedi and Cherray in Fort Lauderdale. Here’s the minute to minute account of our trip that you have been waiting for. However, I will have to make it a two part series because this much hedonism can’t fit into one blog.

Friday evening- Touch down in Fort Lauderdale. Jesus H. Christ its hot here!

Saturday- Wake up early. We going to South Beach today!!! Finally all of my prayers have been answered. I see many TI TAY’s and THONGS on South Beach. I try to persuade Angela into going topless but she’s not having it. The main thing I learn at South Beach is what a fat, old, pale, balding, un hip, devoid of muscles, tatooless, hairy backed, bad dressing, poor, sweaty, no girls looking my way, cheap, hornball, pathetic loser I am. Damn I hate that! I couldn’t live down here I would be angry every day. I recommend not visiting it only reminds you of how pathetic your wretched little Midwestern life really is. Angela declares that next week we will be going health club and treadmill shopping. I declare that I will be getting my stomach stapled, botox and teeth whitening surgery.

Saturday night- Back to Fort Lauderdale. We go to this awesome casino. Well casino doesn’t really explain the place too well. In fact the casino part of it kinda sucked (even though I won $50) all they had was slots and poker. What was cool about this huge complex is that they had every kind of bar you could dream of and all of them were packed with beautiful people. The first bar we went to was called Tequila Ranch. The main attraction at this bar is a feisty mechanical bull. Hundreds of people crowd around it and wait in line to ride it. The mechanical bull’s movements are controlled by a guy standing next to the ring using a joystick. Whatever he wants the bull to do is his decision. This is the profession that I have been looking to get into. Apparently this mechanical bull operator didn’t enjoy watching men ride the bull because he usually flung them off in about two violent seconds. The ladies who rode the bull, however, were treated to a very sexy, bouncy ride. Oh I could of stood there all night. Watching girls bounce and jiggle got a little old for Angela and Dedi so we were off to another bar. Dedi wanted to show us this awesome bar that had dozens of pool tables and other games. It was a pretty sheik billiard hall. The best part were the ten foot tall TV screens that played old and new school music videos, while the speakers blared the song. I thought this was a very cool concept. We watched funny old school videos for hours. My new favorite song/video is “Everybody’s working for the weekend.”

Sunday- Nothing much we wake up too late and eat way too much at breakfast. We decide to be adventurous and drive to Miami without a map or any kind of plan for the day. Knowing full well that I hate being lost and I hate moving unless there is a set destination. In fact, the Rasmussen credo is “never be without your map and your itinerary.” I would have had both of these items but before the trip Angela assured me that we would not have time to be site seeing in Miami. After driving around Miami lost for a few hours we finally break down and buy a map. I wanted to check out Miami’s Cuban heritage so we drove around Little Havana. We decided to go to the Cuban Historical Society but of course it was closed. We then picked out a few other Cuban Museums to go to. This is where I started to feel like I was in the twilight zone. We drove to the exact places were the map said these two museums were and for some reason no museums were there. Beyond frustrated and confused at this point I speed out of Little Havana as fast as possible and head towards South Beach determined to stop at the first tourist attraction I see. We end up spotting a place called Parrot Jungle Island. I read a little about it on the internet and it sounded like it might be kinda cool (and at this point I didn’t even care.) Parrot Jungle Island is a huge zoo like area where parrots and monkeys roam around freely. They also had some other animals in cages. What a rip off this place was! I dropped a hundo with nothing to show for it but a crappy cafeteria style lunch. There were a couple of cool moments though. The parrots enjoyed mocking Angela’s loud ass laugh. Also I got to see a man playing with these orangutans. The orangutans were wearing diapers because they were just babies. The funny part was their diapers were leaking pee all over this guy. Oh and I almost forgot, seeing the orangutans led to a wonderful argument with my lovely wife. Angela, for some reason, was convinced that you pronounce the word orangutan like oranguTAN(like the color) and I felt more comfortable with the more common oranguTANG (like the drink) pronunciation.

Stayed tuned for part two to hear about my run ins with the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders, a certain famous lead singer and the highlight of our trip.

Inside the Actors Studio

James Lipton of “Inside the Actors Studio” called me up today. After we talked for awhile about my illustrious career and interesting personal life he asked me the ten questions he asks all the other actors at the end of his show.

What is your favorite word? …...booty
What is your least favorite word?......George W. Bush
What turns you on?..........half naked women.
What turns you off?.........people who are late.
What sound do you love?.......my wife’s voice
What sound do you hate?.......my dog barking at 6 am.
What is your favorite curse word……bitch! (non gender specific usage)
What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?....professional basketball player
What profession would you not like to participate in?.........armed forces
If heaven exists, what would you like god to say as you arrive at the pearly gates?.....;I’m buying


In your responses offer your own answers to these questions.

Quite Frankly

I caught the new sports talk show from Stephen A. Smith yesterday afternoon called Quite Frankly. Quite Frankly, and I am no Stephen A. hater, it sucked. Do we really need to see an hour long interview with Allen Iverson? Stephen needs to know the attention spans of his target audience. It was a very timely interview in which they decided to discuss things like Iverson’s “we talkin bout practice” press conference as well as Iverson and Larry Brown’s relationship. Come on Stephen A. we all know you are friends with Iverson you don’t need to brag. Why you would choose to have him on for your first ever episode is beyond me. As you all know I am not an Iverson hater either (I have the jersey and next fantasy season will be at least his third year on my team) but the interview showed me that he is a mess. He was crying like a baby when they talked about Larry Brown. Also he kept talking about how he’s just this regular guy and he’s gonna be a soldier for his new coach Mo Cheeks but while talking about how regular he is gonna be the whole time he is referring to himself in the third person. Hopefully it gets better because I thought I liked these two.
In honor of Stephen A’s new show I have a rant of my own. I am so tired of all these sports reporters always taking managements side when there is a contract dispute. What do these sports reporters have to gain from this besides covertly sharing their beliefs that they think (mostly black) athletes are lazy, greedy and without moral values. Sports reporters for the most part are such clones, incapable of having a thought that is not in line with a corporate point of view. All we ever hear about is the greedy athlete who plays a kids game for millions (which is true). But the owners are making billions to their millions. You never hear about the greedy owners. The people who deserve the money the most are the players. They are the ones providing the entertainment. They are the reason the owners are making hundreds of millions of dollars. I am not crying over the poor athlete that is not getting what they are due. I’m just saying I am sick of always hearing the one sided reporting.
Good for Terrell Owens for trying to get what his market value is. If the owners in the NFL are upset they should have guaranteed contracts. No one complains when the owners give players pay cuts because they are not living up to what they are being paid. They cut salaries even when the players are not underperforming. NFL contracts don’t mean anything. But when an athlete tries to renegotiate then he is greedy. Owens signed a terrible contract last year. If the Eagles weren’t greedy they would have given him a more fair contract to begin with.
The NFL treats running backs as if they were work animals. They over work running backs for the first five years of their careers. Then when its time for the back to get paid, to sign a new contract, after carrying a team for so long and taking the worst beating on the field they claim the back is too old and damaged goods. Edgerrin James has been a star for Indy for years. The Colts give Peyton Manning a huge contract. They give Marvin Harrison a huge contract. But they can’t give Edgerrin a contract? They put these one year franchise tags on them just in case the player gets hurt. Then they often don’t get to make as much as they could have because running backs don’t last as long.

When ever a player is trying to get a bigger payday they are “selfish”. But when the owners feel they don’t want a player anymore then it’s called a “business.” A lot of this has to do with the fact that the media has a vested interest in the status quo where corporations rule individuals. And of course race plays a part. Why is the quarterback usually the highest paid player on the team? Brett Farve is pissing me off with this Javon Walker situation. Brett is calling Walker out for threatening to hold out. Rather than stick up for his teammate Brett sides with management stating he has never threatened to hold out. DUH Brett! We can’t all be the golden child. We can’t all be handed the biggest contract on the team. Some people have to twist arms to get what they are due. Of course (with Brett’s help) Javon Walker is labeled as greedy but then again he is not a white quarterback so what do we expect.