Keep stirring the pot, Florio. Add more crap, stir it in. Repeat, repeat, and repeat. Demand instant solutions that create long-term porblems elsewhere.
And while the league (according to you) establishes a pay-for-play option for running backs, what about the hardworking interior linemen who open the holes for the backs? When is it their turn to get paid? It's just not FAIR!
On and on.
In the years before the league restructured the rules to emphasise the passing game, wide receivers weren't getting paid much. When the rules changed wide receiver money went up, while quarterback money, always high, went over the top. Somehow, long-term, it's all tied together. And it never will be fair.
I'd like to see higher minimums and better retirement medical care for all players.
I used to live in a small northern California town where an ex-Ram linebacker ran the local restaurant. He did most of the cooking - cleaned the place up, waited tables during off-hours. Jack played with some of the greats on those early California Rams teams. He had stories to tell, and I'd listen. He made enough, playing pro football and starting for a few years, to end up with that little cafe' in his semi-retirement.
There are some former pro footballers in the small area where I live in Montana. One, an ex-OL player for Oakland, who teaches in a local school system, used to guide on the river during the summers but had to quit when his knees couldn't take it. He has a wonderful way with children - but I don't know how long he'll be able to teach.
Another, a linebacker for the Bills for several years who was good enough to start and earned a game ball for one standout game, came away with enough money to set himself up in a fishing lodge where he guides clients. Guiding, done right, is hard physical work behind a pair of oars in fast water for a ten-hour shift. Joe still does it.
As he told me at the end of a conversation several years ago, "Professional football is a great game - but it's a dirty business."
