1. The threat came well before contract talks became public knowledge. He has talked about playing 8 years his whole career and several of his teammates knew of his thoughts about calling it a day before any of us fans did..and well before the renegotiation of his deal was in the works. You can look at it both ways, the Rams obviously know what he means to them and their chances not only to win but to win it all...they were willing to pay to essentially make him come back.
3. Legends of different eras..but all legends. The game is different now and so is the way contracts are dealt out and structured and negotiated. Don't think for a minute that if they were playing today and the way contracts are done now that those legends wouldn't have said what they needed to say and do to get as much money as they could while they played. Time and place 43, time and place.