I know it's part of the CBA but it seems wrong to me that teams can go after signing bonuses. They were bonuses for signing with the team. When no other money in the NFL is guaranteed, that seems like money the teams shouldn't be able to recoup, no matter the circumstance.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

I'll see your coff - Pete Rose - coff and raise you one coff - Tim Donaghy - coff.  As a master of logic, Marbury is a damned fine basketball player.  That's about all you can say about it.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

Marbury can have whatever opinion he wants. It got a little play because it happened to fly in the face of the current media group think. Honestly, we need more people to just say things outside of the media group think whenever those rabid dogs reach such a fever pitch. Just today, some local sports columnist got so bored of the over-hype that he decided he needed a new angle so he said we should carry out some ethnic cleansing on the puppy dog population. When I took him to task, he defended his eugenics policy thusly:

i've never been to a dog fight in my life and have no desire to ever go to a dog fight. so i have certainly never taken advantage of pit bulls jaw strength for anything.

you might want to lay eyes on despicable personage like me, but at least i want maul you.

Just thought I'd share!

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

Personally, I think they should allow gambling of all kinds in professional sports.  Just open the whole thing up to market forces.  A official or player should not be made into a pariah if he's cheating...they should be ostracized for not giving good value to the market.  A quarterback is caught shaving points...well, did his team win...were the fans entertained...did the network get good market share?  Yes?  Well then, no harm no, ahem...foul.

Sure, but being a QB isn't the same thing as running a Burger King. A QB signs a contract with the team, which I would hope includes a clause about giving 100%, kicking ass, throwing as many touchdowns in a game as possible*. If allegations of gambling are proven and it turns out said QB violated that contract I would hope the team would use that as cause to terminate his ass. It becomes a question of a contract law problem and I am sure most of the sports clubs are located in "at-will" employment states.

*Unless of course the contract was drawn up by Lionel Hutz and they actually did not put it in writing that the player should do his/her best. In that case, they can pretty much do whatever they want.

Spread it on!

I mean, when was the last time the man ever had a contrary opinion to what the commissioner had to say about anything?  Little wonder why contracts in the NFL are among the most worthless documents known to man.  Here, you earn a gazillion dollars over the next five years unless we decide to cut you of course.  No wonder players' agents try to wheedle the biggest signing bonus they can for their clients -- that's about the only guaranteed money in an NFL contract.  Unless, of course, you're like Vick or Ricky Williams and they want to take that back also.

Truth be told, Vick is going to get what he deserves with a prison sentence and loss of his commercial endorsements.  I happen to believe you don't torture and kill dogs and what Vick was involved in was just grotesque.  But I don't believe he ought to be banned for life from the league.  I figure after the feds are done giving him room and board for a year and a half and the state weighs in and prosecutes him for animal cruelty, he'll probably not have much in the way of skills left.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

What's your problem with copying the headline?  I don't believe it appears in any of the links and I suggested it in the queue and gave full disclosure about where it came from.  I thought it was a fairly succinct, witty statement.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

We've reached a very sad point in our society when these weekly morality obsessions cause us to make stark declarations that are invariably rolled back during more level-headed times...Don Imus, Michael Vick, Osama Bin Laden. String him up! Ban him for life!

I agree, but I think comparing Don Imus to Vick and Bin Laden is kind of extreme. One made comments offensive to some on the radio, the other plead guilty to (several?) felonies, and the other (bin Laden) is a terrorist scumbag.

Then again, it is tough to make comparisons. I was trying to find somebody to compare Imus to and the closest I could find was Nancy Grace or perhaps Rev. Al. But even then, I don't think that is a perfect match.

invariably rolled back during more level-headed times

Speaking of Imus, isn't he in negotiations to go back to his old time slot? I do not think we're level headed again, just everybody has turned their attention/daily hate to other places.

Spread it on!

    Sorry, I've been thinking about this post for a couple days, and I still don't know quite what you're getting at. Imus I could chalk up to some kind of media frenzy, even though he knew damn well that advertising was the name of the game-- live by the corporate dollar, die by the corporate dollar.
    But if you think the Vick thing was all about the dog fighting, I can't agree. Illegal gambling has been a problem that's been in the sports news for decades now, so the fact Vick was investigated for a gambling ring (even though it wasn't connected to sports) is hardly a moral judgment. College hoops teams have been busted for shaving points, and the UW football coach (name?) was fired for betting too much in a March Madness bracket, IIRC. The NBA is still bracing to see what how much Tim Donaghy knows, and who's involved. That there also happens to be a media circus around the Vick conviction is largely beside the point, IMO, because any conviction for such a high profile player was going to turn into a 24/7 story on ESPN.  
    Oh, and the union folded a long time ago, when it allowed the "morality clause" to become standard in each contract-- talk about a loophole a mile wide in favor of the teams. If they were going to take a stand, it would have been for "Pacman" Jones, not for someone actually pleading to felony charges.

Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam; e luce ad tenebras