Can our three major sports be saved for our kids?

Can our three major sports be saved for our kids?

With all three of our major sports leagues ( Major league baseball, NFL football, and NBA basketball ) engaged is some sort of controversy. The lockout over a billion dollars in the NFL, the huge steroid problem that's still lingering in major league baseball, and a player deciding it's ok to embarrass his home State team by announcing he's taking his talents to Miami. ( shame on ESPN for helping this guy to make his self look like a young arrogant fool! ) It got me to wondering what will sports look like in 15 years when our kids our starting to rise their kids. You can't pick up a newspaper or turn on a TV without one of the three having a negative story being talk about.

It's very hard having to explain to your kids how lying in court about not taking steroids is a real bad thing to do. Why this great player and that great player won't make it to the Hall of fame, because they played the game the wrong way. How do you tell a kid yes they make over 9 billion dollars a year and I don't know why they can't find a way to spit one of the billion dollars. ( and yes when I'm ask is that a lot of money I just smile ) What can you say to a kid when they ask you if it's ok for players to pick the team they want to play for just because they want to play with their friends. Why a Boss has a right to ask players to dress properly when they go to their press conference. These are the easy conversations you can have with kids under 10 years old, you don't mind talking about these things with them.

No parent should have to talk to their kids about why their favorite players are selling drugs, shooting them self, Sending pictures of there special place to someone other then their wife, why a player locked himself in a bathroom with a woman who didn't want to be there, or why a player would hurt dogs. With sports being one of the special things that bonds parents with their kids at an early age, one could see how these can be tying times in many house holds. This might be a real good time for our three major sports leagues to get their acts together, so 15 years from now our kids can enjoy the idea of sitting back and talking about sports with their kids.

Brought to by: AJ Jones from Cambridge
"Let's Talk Football" Visit- www.ajstakeontheNFL.blogspot.com

Time For Healing To Start

ATime For Healing To Start

It's my hope somehow this blog reaches both; Brett Favre and the power to be in the front office of the Green Bay Packers, to let them know the time has come to put the past behind them, so the healing can begin.There's two sides to the game of Professional Football, there's the " Fun" side of the game we as Fans get to see a minimum of 20 weeks a year. The game itself, ( Td passes, Sacks, Interceptions, and the Punt and Kickoff return for touchdowns) this part of Professional Football even the casual Fan understands.Than there's, the ugly side of Professional Football, the " Business " side that even the most knowledgeable of Fans with an emotional attachment to their Team has a hard time grasping. (the hiring and firing of General Managers and Coaches, Players Contracts, Free Agency, and the very harsh reality of the " Business " side of Professional Football, when do you need to part ways with a beloved Superstar Player?

Now the Packers are not unique in this ugly side of Football ( Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott with the San Francisco 49's Emmett Smith with the Dallas Cowboys, Joe Namath with the New York Jets, and even Johnny Unitas with the Baltimore Colts). All Superstars, all Hall Of Famers, all parted ways with the Teams that made them famous. Not one of these Players wanted to leave their team's and many of their fans were very upset when the " Business " side of Football hit these Players. As a life long Green Bay Packer fan and a huge Brett Favre fan, the " Business " side of Football had a tremendous emotional effect on me.

I had mixed emotions on if the time had come to part ways with Brett; he had just missed a chance of going to a third Super Bowl. The team won 13 games, why now? We were so close! I got caught up in the " Fun " side of Football. Than I step back and look at it from a " Business " standpoint and it became clear, It Was Time! As close as they came to the Super Bowl, Brett did not fit the mode of the leader Ted Thompson or Mike McCarthy felt they needed to lead this Packer team. With this team being so young, you need a leader to lead by example ( attending mini camps, starting training camp on time, and just showing a commitment to wanting to be there) this was not the case with Brett.

This is where the " Business " side started to win me over, could see Brett still had a lot left in the tank, he was playing at a very high level in 2007. But on the other hand he was becoming a distraction to the team. We must remember 2007 was the end of the odyssey with Brett not the beginning. For 4 years leading up to the parting of the ways, all fans and the team herd from Brett was he didn't know if he wanted to play. I remember him crying at his press conference telling us he was retiring, that's when the " Business " side of Football reared it's ugly head. I knew Brett's days as a Green Bay Packer was over( very sad day ) and it was time to move on. Even when Brett wanted to un-retire, you could see Green Bay wanted no part of it.

As we have seen when Superstar Players are told it's time to move on, it's gets real personal. Fans across the State of Wisconsin had Brett's back, though he got a raw deal. There are fans who still think the Packers were 100% wrong in letting Brett go, and there's no way they will ever see past the " Fun " side of the game. I think both sides handle this situation horrendously!! Packer's management ( Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy ) showed no real confident in their decision to move past Brett. When they entertained the idea of bringing him back, they open a door that would be very difficult to close. You don't tell a Hall A Fame Quarterback he can come back, but he will have to compete for His job. It's his job or you move on!!!

Brett show little or no professionalism in how he handle his on again off again attitude about playing ( this went on for a few years ) football. He gave you the impression the Packers needed him more than he wanted to play for his team. I like to take this time to say, I am old school when it comes to sports. Veteran Superstar Players of Brett's stature having the right to go out on their own terms when it doesn't interfere with team progress. Brett took advantage of his aments popularity and Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy lack of history with fans of Green Bay; to gather support for his thinking he had more power than they did. Brett underestimated the " Business " side of the game, you can't back your team into a corner and think there won't be repercussion.

The time has come fro Brett and Packer's management to shake hand and move forward, so he can come back to Green Bay and retire and go to the Hall Of Fame as a Green Bay Packer. Both sides in the end got what they wanted, Brett got to play in the NFC North, got his payback. Packer's management got to build the team they wanted, won the Super Bowl proving they made the right " Business " decision. The Green Bay Packers are not the first and certainly will not be the last team to part way with a Hall Of Fame Player. And as we have seen with the Players mention in this blog, they all went back to and retire with the teams that made the Hall Of Famers. It's time for the " Fun " side of Football to take over in Green Bay, and make thing right for Brett, the Packers, and most certainly for the fans who want nothing more than the healing to begin.

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