Pull Your Pants Up!!!

Many teams have dress codes for the members... whether it be college, high school or pro. I can remember back to high school where on game day, football players were walking around the school like they were going to job interviews.  I ran track but on meet days we would just wear our unis/warm ups. Same thing in college. Nothing wrong with either approach. Some teams even go as far as to have restrictions on facial hair. Ehhh... I can understand that it goes along with the business like appearance, but I don't see how it effects how someone plays.

But today a story came out about Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson telling their first round draft pick Cam Newton not to get any tattoos or piercings. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but I'm leaning toward "disagree."

You sign Jeremy Shockey to your team, who has more tattoos than free skin, but your franchise player has to be the clean cut, tat/piercing free person you plan to plaster all over Charlotte to market your organization. Is he saying he doesn't want a black guy looking like some sort of gang member or thug to be the face of the franchise? Is he saying he just doesn't like tattoos and he wants his star employee to ride along with his beliefs because he's paying him? I have no idea. 

 

Can having an altered outward appearance in this day and age have that rough of an effect on how people view your team if you're the franchise player? It didn't affect the Ravens (Ray Lewis). Didn't affect the Skins either when CP was the face. What about the Chicago Bulls circa Dennis Rodman? Some people found his appearance entertaining while others found it scary/repulsive but no one can dispute his play as being one of the best (if not the best) rebounders the game has ever seen. Did it change how people looked at Phil Jackson? Michael or Scottie? No. They were Phil, Michael, And Scottie. Same thing with the Ravens. Ray is Ray. Flacco is Flacco. Ed is still Ed. No one is worried about Ray's appearance because he's one of the best defensive players in the game... period (people were more concerned about him staying on the field after his run-ins with the law). Same with the Skins... CP was CP... Sean was Sean (RIP), Tana was Tana... and so on. No one in the DMV was concerned about CP's sleeves when he was rushing for 1400 yds (or after for that matter). Heck, I can guarantee that people in Philly are less concerned with Mike Vick's tatts and more concerned with him leading them to a Super Bowl victory.

So is Richardson implying that a certain appearance will put more butts in the seats of Bank of America stadium than a winning team? If he is, then he has lost it. He should be more concerned with Cam's performance than what he does with his body.

If you don't want your players to wear a certain color suit on game day, sounds a little extreme, but I'll go with it. If they wear a whole suit, it covers up most of people's tattoos anyway. If you don't want them to wear earrings in piercings anywhere but their ears, still a little extreme, but okay I guess I'll live. But to go as far to tell someone they can't go into a tattoo parlor or get a piercing is way off. There are more important ways to control the appearance of your guys.

Like tell them to pull their friggin pants up. Fruit of the Loom and Hanes will probably be very upset at their free advertising but I don't want to see that crap, and millions of others don't either. Buy them all new belts. Fine them. Do something.You want to change the "face" of a franchise??? Tell them to pull their pants up during practices/team activities. 

It's hard as hell to run like that anyway.





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NCAA, LLC

Well that's what it may as well be called. They make enough rules to keep themselves in business till kingdom come.

From NCAA.org:

The NCAA makes $10.8 Billion in rights agreements with CBS and Turner Broadcasting alone (over 14 years), just to show Division I sports on TV. Out of the $771M a year they receive, approximately $740 goes to conferences and schools. For what else, intercollegiate athletics funding (i.e. - athletic department staff, facilities, and more... including scholarships).

That still leaves $31M that they pocket (and this is just from these two networks). What about the hundreds and hundreds of other networks that broadcast NCAA Division I sports? I wonder how much Comcast and ESPN gives the NCAA to broadcast sports...

Their website says this:

"The NCAA is no different than other highly visible nonprofit organizations that raise significant revenue but spend it in beneficial ways that are consistent with federal law. In the case of the NCAA, the benefit is the education of student-athletes within the collegiate model of athletics. That model calls for student-athletes to participate in sports as an avocation while balancing their academics, social and athletics experiences. The NCAA believes the entertainment qualities of intercollegiate athletics do not diminish the educational value of those programs."

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Issues/Commercialism/NCAA+tax+exempt+status

They spend their money in "beneficial ways that are consistent with federal law" but create rules that back student athletes into a corner while allowing them to pull in billions of dollars displaying their gifts and talents on national platforms.

Under NCAA rules, an athlete on full scholarship may work but may not be allowed to earn more than $2,000 during the school year. Let's break this down:

A school year is roughly 9 months. That averages out to about $222/mo an athlete is allowed to earn before taxes. After taxes it's about $180 (or $90 every two weeks). Hardly seems worth it, eh?

So unless you make up the difference of what you may need over the summer (vacation time... no such limits during this time), you're broke. I mean, really broke.

Under these circumstances, what can you say to athletes who are in school and have children when someone offers them $1,000??? What do you say to kids who get their utility bills paid by people because their own parents can't help them do it because they're just as broke as the student?

What about the Ohio State kids who traded memorabilia for tattoos? Some yo-yo wants an autographed baseball cap from a player to give him a tat -- and the baseball cap was probably GIVEN to him in the first place (by "given" I'm implying that the article of clothing/item belongs to the athlete, not the school). What happens, the rules get him suspended for half the season next year and/or possibly kicked out of school. Could these athletes have had the money to afford to pay for these services? Probably. Who knows. What's next... is the NCAA going to keep tabs on kids' bank accounts too?

When I ran Division I track/xc in college, I had a car that I had to keep gas in, keep up insurance payments on (that were high at one time because I hadn't had my license very long), and keep up maintenance on. If you add that up, I'm well over the monthly limit that the NCAA allows. Fortunately, God blessed me with summer internships and great parents. Whenever I needed anything, I was able to get it. However, I knew some other athletes who were not so fortunate.

I watched students on full scholarships have issues getting books from the bookstore because their "vouchers" didn't cover enough. I watched students struggle to pay phone/utility bills in school because they were living in an on-campus apartment setup under scholarship but they were broke and their parents were too. Heck, when I was running, I remember I had to ask my mom to mail care packages to me because we didn't get out of practice early enough to get a decent selection of food out of the cafeteria before it closed. Consequently, one year I ended up losing over 20 lbs in one month because of it and when I came home my mom thought I was sick (she never questioned my care package requests again).

I wish the NCAA knew how many athlete friends of mine had come to my apartment for pot lucks, etc just to get a decent meal because the rules won't allow them to afford gas AND groceries (sounds a lot like what America is going through now). If I was in their situation and needed food for my apartment, a couple bags of groceries for a track sweatshirt seems like an unfair trade, but if I'm hungry, I might have done it. If I needed books, I might have considered it (and I was an engineering student... those books ran $500-$600/semester between 2000-2004).

Then if you break the rules, you can get suspended, or worse, have your scholarship taken away (or in some cases kicked out of school). If they take your scholarship, where does the money go? Back to the school. Usually to fund another puppet. Where did the money come from? Oh yeah, television network deals, fines, etc. paid out to the NCAA. Just one crazy cycle.

So Dear NCAA, If you really want to spend your money in a beneficial way, how's about making it possible for students to earn more than milk money while being an athlete or give them some sort of stipend that would cover their survival expenses while being a college student. And don't tell me you don't have the resources to do it either.

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Top Ten Rex Grossman Comments (via Twitter)

10. @WeAreNFLFans: There's more of Rex Grossman than ever before!

9. @fauxjohnmadden: Rex Grossman says Redskins will win NFC East, prompting Roger Goodell to suspend Grossman for violating the leagues drug policy.

8. @RedskinsDieHard: Rex Grossman looks like he spent the NFL Lockout in the Buffet Line

7. @kamtheman7: Rex Grossman say #Redskins will win NFC East. I didn't know of his crack addiction before today. Get help, man.

6. @TuckonSports: Not sure what Rex Grossman is smoking, but whatever it is...I want some

5. @TheBillWalton: Rex Grossman said that the Redskins are going to win the NFC East. If "NFC East" is code for "Andrew Luck Sweepstakes," then he is correct.

4. @Russelmania980: #Redskins QB Rex Grossman on the side about gaining weight; "I'm gonna get down to where I need to be. I have to lose maybe 5 or 6 pounds."

3. @kkevdogg: Rex Grossman isn't fat. He's just big boned.

2. @fauxjohnmadden: Rex Grossman named Redskins starter. S&P just downgraded the team from "NFL" to "ACC Conference"

1. @dcist: Rex Grossman says that the Redskins will win the division. What division? Are they entering a math contest?

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Step Right Up!!!

Hurrrry, hurrrrry, hurrrrrry! Step right up and spin the wheel to see who will be the next Washington Redskins starting quarterback! Could it be:


Marc Verica
Undrafted rookie out of UVA who threw for 14 TD's, 14 INTs and had a QB rating of 122 on a 4-8 Cavalier team. Still not sure what he can bring to the burgandy and gold... he was sacked 21 times in 2010; so either their offensive line was horrible, or he's not real mobile (could be a bit of both). Most commonly noted at UVA for acting as if he was scared to play the position.






Ben Chappell
Came from Indiana last year where he completed 24 passes for TD's, 9 INTs, and a QB rating of 132; on a 5-7 Hoosier team. Stats don't outshine W's though... We'll see what he can do in the pros. Noted mostly in college for being inconsistent and having up and down confidence levels (could have CMS -- refer to earlier post). 






Kellen Clemens
Sadly, this guy has the best arm out of everyone so far. More accurate than Beck and Grossman short and deep. In 9 starts in a Jets uniform, he's had 10 picks, 5 TD passes, and a 4-5 record. Doesn't seem like much of an upgrade if you ask me.








John Beck
I've never seen someone attempt to be so reassuring. Every other day he's on someone's radio show or being interviewed about how he's the starter and he's taking the reigns over offense activities. But when you get to practice, he can't throw anything accurate past 15 yards. Are they TRYING to put AAA out of work?? Beck doesn't appear to be the guy to get the ball that deep for a guy that fast.

Rex Grossman
Someone explain to me again where Sexy Rexy came from?? I'm gonna go with Hefty Rexy. Dude shows up at camp with a gut and moobs (man boobs) and this is the guy we sat down Donovan McNabb for because of "cardiovascular endurance" and the ability to run a two-minute drill better?? For real, Shanford and Son??









Sorry, I don't want to play this game. I'll spend my tokens elsewhere.

Meanwhile the Man In The Middle has been shipped off to Minnesota for two draft picks and enters a system with an excellent run game, good O-Line and 6th ranked defense in the league. He'll be in the postseason again this year while we're still spinning the wheel.

Seems more and more like #SuckForLuck is eminent.

Top 10 Media Quotes (Nov 5, 2010)

I had to repost this from my FB acct... too funny.


#10
"If you go all this way to get a quarterback of that caliber, I'm sorry, I think you should live and die with him. I'm sorry, the team goes as far as Donovan McNabb takes them.”
--Mouth of the South a.k.a. Fred Smoot

#9
“If you trade for a guy in April who's played 11, 12 seasons in the NFL, and you can't teach him the two-minute drill by the time we get to the middle of the season, then you would have to be one of the worst coaches in the history of football.”
--Cris Carter

#8
"If anyone else out there feels that Rex Grossman gives the Washington Redskins a better chance than Donovan McNabb to win a game with two minutes left on the clock, they need to slap they selves."
--Chad [Johnson] Ochocinco

#7
Mike Shanahan: “Unless you’ve been [practicing the two minute drill] for four or five weeks, it’s not easy to just instantaneously come up with those formations.”
(Earlier in that same press conference)
Reporter: “You said Donovan hadn’t been able to do it. Had Rex practiced it at all lately?”
Mike Shanahan: “No, Rex hadn’t practiced it either. But what Rex had been doing, he’s been working out… you know, he can do all the quarterback drills… he’s in very good shape…”

#6
“I think Shanahan is still searching for John Elway. Somehow, someway, he thinks there’s going to be another guy like John Elway…He coached a team to almost perfection (with Elway) so he wanted that again, he wanted that every time we went out there. It’s just not realistic.”
--Jake Plummer

#5
Holden Kushner: “You should go to Amsterdam [during the bye week]… Massages are legal in Amsterdam.”
Clinton Portis: “Hey, I’m sure A LOT of stuff legal in Amsterdam. That’s why I don’t need to be in Amsterdam.”

#4
“They know [John Wall] is out there having fun, and they need that to attract fans. You gonna turn down the one exciting thing they've got going for them? If they want to see John Wall dance, let him dance. If he's gonna score 29 points every time he dances, I'm gonna demand he dance before every game."
--Smoot

#3
“I'll never ever market our team and [ask fans to] come to our arena to see someone else play. I think we have enough stars that can shine, and I want to build total loyalty and empathy and love for our players and our franchise."
--Ted Leonsis

#2
"They should stop letting [Troy Aikman] call Redskins games, because he makes some of the dumbest comments in the history of dumb."
--Brian Mitchell

#1
“When we have a total paid sellout this season, I will do the ‘Dougie’ - I promise.”
--Ted Leonsis