Are You Ready For Some...Contract Renegotiating?

Those of you who follow this blog (yeah, both of you) know that while I may venture to the topic of sports somewhat frequently, when I do so it’s to comment on an issue that transcends the games themselves. I’m not a play-by-play guy, hold minimal interest in chronicling happenings that take place in every city on every team each and every season. I may follow the minutiae of football and basketball and boxing and tennis because of my passion for them, but this doesn’t mean I care to report on the daily grind that others already do quite adequately. I only raise my voice and pen if I feel there’s something unique and compelling about a situation. My two cents are always at the ready, but I try to use discretion with offering them.

There is very little one-of-a-kindness to Darrelle Revis holding out for a new contract from the New York Jets rather than fulfilling the obligations of the one he’s currently working under. Every year in each professional team sport there are a number of athletes who want to renegotiate their contracts. Rather than waiting until they become free agents, if they’re coming off a big year they opt to capitalize while the getting is good and their bargaining power is at its peak. If this sounds a tad unreasonable of them, I suppose we should keep in mind that they can be traded to undesirable locales at any point management decides more bang for their bucks can be obtained from someone else. Even in the case of coddled superstars, when they’re nearing the end of their careers and their talents are on the decline, they are suddenly seen as expendable when just a few years earlier they were treated like royalty. The modern day athlete has concluded it makes the most sense to be primarily loyal to self. Athletic careers are short, especially in a rock-em sock-em game like football, so players need to make as much as they can as fast as they can before their run is over. For every athlete with a post retirement plan (coaching, broadcasting, starting a business while flush with cash to put into it, or perhaps actually entering the career his college major was to prepare him for in case the sports thing didn’t work out), there are many more who come up with no better plan than to make as much as possible in their playing careers and hope it won’t run out before the ultimate retirement.

Since this scenario is so commonplace, why am I writing about Revis’ tussle with the holders of purse strings for the Jets? First, because this is my beloved Jets we’re talking about. Second, because Darrelle Revis is a phenomenal talent. Only so many of those come around, a pretty small percentage end up in green and white. Third, the Jets look as good coming into this season as ever, their future no less promising than it appeared back in 1999 when they were supposed to follow up a trip to the AFC championship game with one to the Super Bowl. Jets fans know all too well how that worked out and why things fell apart. Over a decade later and we find ourselves in the same situation, fresh off a trip to the AFC championship, poised to take the next big step so long as nothing goes wrong. Revis holding out for the season would definitely qualify as something going terribly wrong.

If only there was no pesky salary cap to consider, the Jets organization could simply follow the blueprint laid out by the Yankees and spend what needed to be spent to secure the best available talent. What does that get you? A championship about once every four years, that’s what. Yet even with a salary cap in place, dynasties are possible when talent is combined with smart decision making. Several NFL franchises have managed to field repeat champions, but the Jets sadly are not among them. They won it all in 1969, Super Bowl III, a mighty long time ago. If the long delayed trip down the road to glory is to finally be traveled upon once more, surely the Jets need to be at full strength. They can’t afford for the guy who is clearly their top player on either side of the ball to sit this dance out. But the longer negotiating drags, the more difficult it becomes to believe things will work themselves out for the best.

Most Jets fans aren’t rooting for Revis to get every last dime he’s asking for, nor are they pulling for ownership to put him in his place. They just want this dilemma to be worked out fast so that come opening day Gang Green will be operating at full capacity. Those who say different (no shortage of opinions being given on Twitter and Facebook) are either shell shocked from years of frustration and are now venting incoherently, or else they aren’t real Jets fans, or knowledgeable football fans for that matter. Anybody who has paid any attention to the sport knows how few and far between cornerbacks of Darrelle Revis’ caliber are, just as they know how difficult it is to put together a legitimate championship contender in the NFL. Sure, the Jets might still be fairly good without Revis. But with him they have the potential to be great, and nothing less than greatness will do this year for long suffering fans. Jets fans thinking about the situation at all rationally desperately want Revis’ services to be retained, but not at so high a cost that they can’t afford to place quality pieces around him going forward. If overpaying him means the team is not able to maintain sufficient talent where needed elsewhere, the future will not look exceptionally bright. The Jets may be screwed short term if they don’t make Revis happy, screwed long term if they give up too much to bring that happiness about. If you have a win now at all costs mindset (which the Jets themselves seemed to possess with acquisition of well past prime players such as Jason Taylor and LaDainian Tomlinson) then the answer is simple - pay the man what he wants. Compromise is necessary if a dynasty is the goal. If neither party is willing to bend, hope is lost before the season even begins. At least in 1999 Jets fans were able to make it to Week 1 filled with optimism before it was cruelly dashed.

My advice to Mr. Revis is to look at guys like Alex Rodriquez and LeBron James, superstars who invited scorn and ridicule from fans that once idolized them by attempting to make themselves bigger than the game rather than allowing the fans to inflate them the way they did with Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, and the Jets’ own Joe Namath. Let the people declare you king, don’t put the throne upon your own head. That might work out fine in individual sports such as boxing where a charismatic guy like Muhammad Ali could effectively proclaim himself to be the greatest, but part of what fans value in athletes who play team sports is an ability to be a team player. And in the defense of A-Rod and LeBron, they at least pulled off their shenanigans when free agents. The Mets did their best to make Rodriquez look like a jerk when he pulled his diva routine on them, perhaps recognizing he was merely using them to gain greater leverage with the Yankees, but A-Rod did most of the work. By the time it was his turn to be busted as a steroid abuser there was little sympathy to be found. And LeBron single handedly transformed from icon to punch line while taking himself out of NBA GOAT consideration with “The Decision”. Take my talents to Miami indeed. The lesson learned? Handle your business quietly and respectfully, and if others choose to make a lot of noise about it, so be it.

Revis should not foolishly alter his image from spectacularly talented yet impressively humble guy to yet another Me First Schumuck so long as the Jets are trying to do reasonably right by him. Brett Favre doesn’t need any more competition in the largest ego category. It’s still possible for Darelle to remain likeable, be highly compensated for what he does exceptionally well, and to possibly win one or more Super Bowl rings in the bargain. From this endorsement deals will flow and money will be the least of his problems. That is how sports legends are created. Revis deserves to get as much as he can get, but also needs to recognize when enough is enough, that it’s time to stop being a businessman attempting a hostile takeover and resume being a football player. And whatever he does from here on out, I’d highly advise staying far away from the Latrell Sprewell “I need to feed my family” card. It simply doesn't look so hot on a millionaire. If this hand is played right by the participants, everybody in Jetsdom can be a big winner. If played wrong then everybody involved loses yet again, and the chorus shouting SAME OLD JETS will grow louder. The thing Jets fans desire most is for their team to avoid finding yet another new way to screw things up.

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Favre is back - Palin won't leave

Back on 9/29/08 I wrote the following piece on this blog. At the time I was close to being equally wired about what was going on in the worlds of sports and politics. In the former, my beloved Jets had just enjoyed a history making victory over Arizona Cardinals with then quarterback Brett Favre throwing six touchdowns. Ironically it was the Jets who would fall apart after a 8 – 3 start and end up missing the playoffs while the Cardinals found themselves in the Super Bowl with a fourth quarter lead before eventually going down. None of this was foreseeable as I sat down to write last September. When it came to football, all was right with the world. Brett Favre seemed poised to deliver precisely what Jets Nation desperately hoped for, a return to respectability and perhaps dare we even think it, to greatness. Super Bowl III happened a long long long time ago. Could it be that the hired gun / NFL legend we convinced to change the shades of green on his uniform would turn back the clock and pull off the improbable if not downright impossible? Apparently not. Brett’s throwing arm betrayed him (specifically the bicep) and then he betrayed the Jets by retiring when I suspect he knew all along that he longed to still play. Perhaps betrayal is the wrong word though, for I also suspect that both parties knew all along he would be a 1-year rental. Even had the Jets won the Super Bowl with Favre I still wouldn’t be shocked if he subsequently retired only to unretire and join the Minnesota Vikings. Winning a Super Bowl with the Jets would not have been sufficient vengeance against the Green Bay Packers. Only winning as the shining star of their arch enemy Minnesota Vikings would accomplish that. If Favre cared only about continuing to play in the NFL and not so much about spite, he’d still be playing for the Jets. The Packers pissed him off by setting up provisions in his trade to the Jets that made it impractical for New York to turn around and trade him to Minnesota where he wanted to be all along. Green Bay made it inevitable that his attempt at revenge would have to wait at least one year. That year has come and gone as quickly as they all do. Brett’s a Viking now, about to start at QB in their second preseason game. The Jets did their part (preplanned?) to move his plan along by relinquishing their rights to him after trading up in the draft to obtain Mark Sanchez as their quarterback of the future. If anyone seems destined to be the reincarnation of the hope and success Joe Namath brought to the franchise way back when, Sanchez appears to be that guy. As for Brett Favre, he is simply following up on what he has wanted to do since the day Green Bay told him that Aaron Rodgers was the guy they planned to go forward with. His desire for payback and to scream out “I TOLD YOU SO” is the worst kept secret in the NFL. He played amazingly in his final season as a member of the Packers and had the Jets poised on the brink of greatness after 11 games last season. So I don’t doubt what he's capable of and wish him well on his quest, somewhat juvenile though it may be. He wants to play and the Vikings want him to play for them, so nobody has been harmed by his annual pre-season song and dance other than Green Bay fans who can only see him from the perspective of a devoted cheesehead, which is also understandable. The chips will fall where they may as they always do. When the Jets landed Favre last year it seemed almost too good to be true, and in the end that’s pretty much what it was. Like their 8 – 3 start, Favre’s tenure with the team was basically a mirage. The present and future in Jetsville belong to Mark Sanchez and company. As usual, the goal for the upcoming season is greatness or bust.

I don’t have nearly as much to say in follow-up to the second half of my 9/29/08 posting where I discussed Sarah Palin and her then upcoming debate against Joe Biden. Whereas Super Bowl winners only get bragging rights for one year, winners of presidential elections have them for no less than four years. Team Obama-Biden won in a rout and now have their hands full presiding over a nation. If any man is up to that task it is Barack Obama, or at least that’s what I hope for a variety of reasons. Former President Bush and former presidential candidate John McCain have been respectful of the current administration primarily through silence, leaving the noise making to former Vice President Dick Cheney and former VP hopeful, Sarah Palin. Cheney has picked on his old boss nearly as much as he’s complained about President Obama, but Palin is only looking forward to four years from now so doesn’t bother criticizing McCain or Bush or anyone else from the past. This isn’t to say that she hasn’t been looking at the past, particularly Obama’s, choosing to align herself with silly conservatives (aka birthers) who question the President’s U.S. citizenship. Her other post election day accomplishment of note is quitting her job as governor of Alaska, apparently to spend more time on Facebook and Twitter. Guess she figures that the internet worked wonders for Obama’s presidential bid, so why not for her own future one. As they frequently say on Twitter – SMH – an acronym I once had to look up to learn that it means “Shaking My head”.

By Roy L. Pickering Jr. (author of Patches of Grey)

All is fair in love and war and football

Chad Pennington has signed with the Miami Dolphins. Say it isn't so, Chad. Such is life in the NFL, I suppose. Rule # 1 - You can't trust Bill Parcells any further than you can throw him. But since it's impossibe to dislike Chad I wish him luck with the rest of his career so long as his new team continues to be awful and keeps losing to the Jets. I guess that isn't wishing him very much luck, so instead I'll hope he gets traded to the NFC soon. That probably won't happen prior to week # 1 when the Jets former QB (no doubt feeling vengeful) and their new icon face off against each other. This should be a very interesting NFL season, shaping up to either provide redemption for long suffering Jets fans or else ultimate humiliation.

Dawn of a bright new day (for NY Jets fans)

Last NFL season was a tough one to be a Jets fan. Any long time Jets fan is depressingly familiar with suffering through tough seasons, but last year was particularly brutal following the promise of the preceding year when a new young coach that we snatched from the evil empire in New England strode into town and got far better than expected results for Gang Green. The Eric Mangini era got off to such a great start that he was dubbed Mangenius and made a cameo performance on the hottest show on TV. As everybody familiar with The Sopranos should realize, no matter how much you possess it can all be taken away in the amount of time it takes a bullet to travel through one's skull. The Jets stood poised on the brink of greatness long enough for even their most cynical supporters (and Jets fans by definition and necessity are a cynical lot) to get a little spoiled. Only one thing could stand in the way of glory - the next season. The fragile, oft injured Chad Pennington proceeded to play terribly and was replaced by a healthy but not particularly good Kellen Clemens. Combined they led the team to four victories in the regular season, twelve less than the perfect Patriots managed. Unbelievably New England did not win yet another Super Bowl because somehow they were beaten by their NFC opponent who somehow managed to be none other than the Jets roommates. It's painful enough to root for a 4 - 12 team without them happening to share a stadium with the champions of the league. Never has a competition for bragging rights been more lopsided. Try countering "the Giants are world beaters" with "the Jets had Namath during the Jurassic era". It is simply not an effective argument.

All that changed today. The Giants may have a Manning brother at the helm who has won just as many Super Bowl rings as the one in all those commercials, but the Jets no longer need to feel blue because they don't have too shabby a player manning the quarterback position themselves. Once again the mean green mediocrity machine is turning to a strong armed 38-year old to steer the franchise, but this time around it appears to be a significant upgrade from when they gave Vinnie Testaverde permission to get off his couch and suit up. Today the fabled Brett Favre is officially on board with the program. It may only be a one year experiment. It may be doomed to failure. It may be a pathetic display of desperation, more marketing ploy than effective gameday strategizing. Or it just may be the single greatest thing to happen in Jetsdom since the invention of sliced bread (assuming you're a sliced bread fan, that is.) Argentina no longer needs to cry for me, and neither do any Patriots or Giants backers. Jets fans finally have something to chant with more dignity to it than "At least we're not the Dolphins!".

Favre's résumé is the stuff of dreams, him being the NFL's only three-time Associated Press MVP, the NFL's career record holder in touchdown passes (442), completions (5,377), attempts (8,758), yards (61,655) and victories by a starting quarterback (160). I think I'll conveniently leave out that he also leads the league in interceptions because how can he not when he barely ever sits out a play, much less a game? Instead I'll provide additional stats taken from his most recent season - 4,155 passing yards, 28 touchdown passes, career-highs in both completion percentage (66.5 percent) and yards per attempt (7.8). Not too shabby for an old fogey who merely finished second in the league's MVP voting and got his team to within one unfortunate pass from the Super Bowl. The Jets nearly selected Favre in the second round of the 1991 NFL draft, only to have Atlanta pluck him away one pick ahead of them and eventually trade him to Green Bay. The Jets instead drafted Browning Nagle and everyone is forgiven for refusing to recall how well that worked out. The Jets were painfully close to getting a guy who puts Cal Ripken to shame, the true ironman not just of football but of sports in general (which is a nice change of pace from Chad "Body of Glass - Arm of Wet Noodle" Pennington), but it was not to be until 17 years later. Mr. Favre (I don't feel I know the man well enough to address him yet as just Brett) has nine Pro Bowl berths to his name and a Super Bowl XXXI ring for his finger. Chad Pennington has a nice personality, which when added to two dollars will get you a ride on the New York City subway until the next fare hike comes along. I don't want to rag on Chad too much because I sincerely like the guy and know he gave his all for the team. But being an NFL quarterback who can't take a hit or throw very hard is like being an Olympic swimmer with a pesky habit of sinking to the bottom of the pool and needing to be rescued by a lifeguard. On its own the addition of Brett Favre to New York's roster does not transform them from pretender to contender. When considered along with their other offseason acquisitions however, the path of the Jets does indeed appear cleared for take off.

Back in the olden days when Brett Favre still played for the Green Bay Packers, my wife remarked that John Madden seemed excessively fond of him. Complimenting a player for making a nice throw while under great pressure from a hard charging linebacker is one thing. Continuously proclaiming that he symbolizes all that is great about western civilization may be a bit much. But that was then, this is officially the new golden age of NY Jets history. Favre has changed shades of green, exchanged Cheese Heads and Lambeau leaps for performing his legendary heroics in front of a rightfully angry mob. We do so long to be happy though, and # 4 just may be the guy to turn our frowns upside down and our warranted pessimism into legitimate hope. If so, move over John Madden because you now have some serious competition at being Brett Favre's # 1 fan.