NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - 2010 Offseason

[Ben Kenobi]

Uh, dude.

You don't cut the greatest player in your team history. LT should retire a Charger. I don't think that's too much to ask, considering that he made the Chargers what they are today.

[-Jrabbit]

So you're not a San Diego fan; you're just a fair-weather LT jock-sniffer? Planning to become a Saints/Brees follower now? If so, get ready to join Imran on Sloww's "fan slut" list...

This is 2010 and the NFL is a business. Loyalty is great and sentimentality is sweet, but they are luxuries few can afford - both management and players. The stakes are just too high. You should probably get used to the idea.

[Ben Kenobi]

So you think the Bears should have cut Walter Payton?

1975 Chicago Bears 13 -- 196 679
1976 Chicago Bears 14 -- 311 1,390
1977 Chicago Bears 14 -- 339 1,852
1978 Chicago Bears 16 -- 333 1,395
1979 Chicago Bears 16 -- 369 1,610
1980 Chicago Bears 16 -- 317 1,460
1981 Chicago Bears 16 -- 339 1,222
1982 Chicago Bears 9 -- 148 596

Football is just a business, right?

[Ben Kenobi]

So you're not a San Diego fan; you're just a fair-weather LT jock-sniffer? Planning to become a Saints/Brees follower now? If so, get ready to join Imran on Sloww's "fan slut" list...

Fair weather, yeah. Been a fan of the Bolts since they were 1-15 and took a chance on Doug Flutie. I've always been a fan of Brees. It's the fault of the head office for being sluts, not me.

Anyways, I don't see it as likely they will cut LT, they will give him the same chance that Payton got. I can't see why he shouldn't get the Walter Payton treatment and retire with just one team.

[-Jrabbit]

Don't bring Walter into this; that's not what we're talking about. My fandom (unlike, apparently, yours) is not based on a preconceived set of conditions or self-assigned rules of conduct for management.

Apparently there are rumors about LT's status for 2010; this is no surprise. And I hope LT gets what LT wants. He's a great player, admirable on may levels. But predicating your team fandom on this one issue is, IMHO, like drawing a random line in the sand.

Listen, I've been through it. Bobby Hull and the Blackhawks. Bill Madlock and the Cubs. Luis Aparicio with the White Sox. Greg Maddux. Ron Santo. Probably several others if I take a minute to think about it. If you're really a fan of the franchise, if it's really in your blood, it may make your blood boil, and it may make you buy fewer tickets for awhile. But ultimately, it won't matter.

I've never been able to understand people with portable loyalties. To me, it's the same as no loyalty at all.

I'm not saying that's you, Ben; that remains to be seen. But you sure sound like it.

[SlowwHand]

So you're not a San Diego fan; you're just a fair-weather LT jock-sniffer? Planning to become a Saints/Brees follower now? If so, get ready to join Imran on Sloww's "fan slut" list...

Today wasn't that great a day. I really needed this laugh. I feel a little better.

[Grandpa Troll]

Since I filtered one person at Apolyton off my list, these discussions are very enjoyable, I mean, its sunny here in North carolina, real sun, not that canned fan sun in southern california type, nope, i enjoy all the comments in this thread now, real men, real foosball, no jock sniffers posting on my page view..lol..

@Imran,-JRabbit,Ken,DaShi and Slowwy, keep the classy comments coming

[Zopperoni]

So you think the Bears should have cut Walter Payton?

Irrelevant argument. Payton played in the pre-salary cap era.

Football is just a business, right?

Damn right. Look at guys like Rod Woodson, Emmitt Smith and Brian Dawkins. Would the Steelers/Cowboys/Eagles have loved to keep them? Absolutely, but they weren't going to pay them open market dollars.

[Berzerker]

I've never been able to understand people with portable loyalties. To me, it's the same as no loyalty at all.

some people move around

[Grandpa Troll]

Ken, again you are wise beyond many others years, what you state is simply economics, they were only worth what they were worth, nothing more.


GT

[Lord Avalon]

A rookie pay scale would mean more money to keep veterans around, though if contracts aren't guaranteed, they could always be cut or traded.

[Ben Kenobi]

Don't bring Walter into this; that's not what we're talking about. My fandom (unlike, apparently, yours) is not based on a preconceived set of conditions or self-assigned rules of conduct for management.

I really don't see the difference. Both players represented the heart and soul of their respective teams. Your love for Payton is no different than mine for LT. The Bolts were CRAP. I NEVER got to watch a game until the Christmas game in 2005 when they played Indy. Since then, I usually get to see them about 4 games or so a year.

Why? Because of LT. Because he busted his ass off for years to get the team to respectibility.

I've never been able to understand people with portable loyalties. To me, it's the same as no loyalty at all.

It's a bit different I think when you live in Chicago. Me, I've never been to San Diego. I fell in love with the team when they took a chance on Doug Flutie, who is renowned in these parts. I liked the management and I grew to love the combo of LT, Brees and a semi-solid D.

I never saw the Coryell years. Those don't have any meaning to me.

[SlowwHand]

Canada did give Flutie his chance to shine, this is true. If size was all that it was about, Fran Tarkenton wouldn't be in the books.

[-Jrabbit]

Walter Payton was a player I loved to watch and totally respected. But he is not and has never been why I love the Bears. Hell, he had to come a long way before he could even rival Sayers in my world. That he accomplished that is a testament to his greatness.

But that has little or nothing to do with my love for the franchise, which began in earnest when I was about 8 or 9. The '63 championship season is a vivid memory, and I'll never forget center Mike Pyle coming to speak at a father-son banquet at my school. Or maybe my Dad barinwashed me...

But I digress.

Also, see Zopp's comment on free agency. Back when a team "owned" contracts with no market pressures, it was normal for players to spend their entire career with one team. There were no bidding wars, no need to spend big on free agents. Unrestricted free agency didn't hit the NFL until IIRC 1993. At the end of Walter's career, there were still no truly unrestricted free agents. Signing a top player away would cost a team two first-rounders. Needless to say, it seldom happened.

Sorry, but the comparison is invalid because the two players' (and their teams') situations are so different. Truly different eras.

[Ming]

True enough Jr. My love for teams is based on the franchise, not individual players. To think that your loyality should change just because of single player just means you really weren't a supporter of the team.

And your comparison of LT and Sweetness is simply nonsense as Jr and Zopp have pointed out. Different times, different situations.

But as Jr also said... So you're not a San Diego fan; you're just a fair-weather LT jock-sniffer? Planning to become a Saints/Brees follower now? If so, get ready to join Imran on Sloww's "fan slut" list...

If that's how you decide your "loyalities"... fine, but don't ever try to say that you were a San Diego fan. You obviously aren't and never really were. Just join the list