Brady on WEEI now

[eagle eye]

Re: As if you didn't love Brady before...

Maybe I'm weird

The first step is to realise it my friend.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Re: As if you didn't love Brady before...

I obviously cant talk for Brady, but I read it as a knock on the "I need to feed my family" player, who then hops in his pimped out navigator and drives back to his 10000 sq ft home. I might be wrong, but thats how I read it.

I believe you have nailed it. He talks about football players being spoiled and then knocks the "I got to feed my family" players. I'd bet anything those guys blew their money on stupid crap... then they want to pull our heart strings that the millions of dollars they make isn't putting food on their family's table.

We assume he means Ty Law, but who's to know how many other players have said that in the locker room. Seems like an old dig to make if he meant Ty Law... why bring that up now?

I have no issue with his comments.

 

[BradyManny]

Re: Brady on WEEI now.

I think people are reading too much into it. It's just a comment on not taking what you have for granted. Brady's philanthrophic side probably has made him see things that give him a pretty decent perspective on life, ie the trip to Africa. Brady's no stranger to spending some of his money on material things - and heck, with a supermodel wife whose profession revolves around appearances, he doesn't have much of a choice now. Part of being in that industry is wearing the nicest things, driving the nicest cars, etc.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Re: As if you didn't love Brady before...

I obviously cant talk for Brady, but I read it as a knock on the "I need to feed my family" player, who then hops in his pimped out navigator and drives back to his 10000 sq ft home. I might be wrong, but thats how I read it.

Exactly, when a player spends more on his car rims than I make in a year, I don't worry about him feeding his family.

 

[lamafist]

Re: As if you didn't love Brady before...

I think you're totally off-base.

Children are responsible for making their own way into the world when they become adults, so don't tell me that every parent needs to make millions for their kids to enjoy. Unless your goal is to teach irresponsibility and laziness, but I don't think that's quite what the players are claiming to be doing.

The "I've got to feed my family" which means the player (already making megabucks) needs money for food is a ridiculous statement, no ifs, ands or buts. Even when you extend it out to mean more than food, it's still ridiculous and deserves all the ridicule (and more) that it gets.

Who are you, exactly, to tell another man how much money he should pass on to his grandkids?

I don't care if you refuse to see it the way I do -- i.e. providing their progeny the opportunities they didn't have -- and instead choose to see it as lavishing riches on their spoiled kids, who are you to tell another man how much money to make for his family?

Why does it seem like people's belief in free market capitalism goes right out the window as soon as sports are involved?

I don't know about you, but I'd rather see a multimillion dollar bonus to to someone's whose 10 INT season I can point to and see was instrumental to his team's success than some Wall Street CEO who presided over his compay's bankruptcy.

 

[lamafist]

Re: As if you didn't love Brady before...

I believe you have nailed it. He talks about football players being spoiled and then knocks the "I got to feed my family" players. I'd bet anything those guys blew their money on stupid crap... then they want to pull our heart strings that the millions of dollars they make isn't putting food on their family's table.

We assume he means Ty Law, but who's to know how many other players have said that in the locker room. Seems like an old dig to make if he meant Ty Law... why bring that up now?

I have no issue with his comments.

I don't really have issues with Brady's comments so much as the way the early commenters were reading them.

And look, I totally get what you're saying -- it's neither smart nor seemly for someone making a million dollars to talk it in terms of putting food on the table.

I guess my problem is more with the fact that these guys are constantly put in a position where they need to defend how much money they make.

They have a very marketable skill that they've worked very hard to develop. We live in a capitalistic society: they shouldn't have to defend wanting to work for the franchise that will pay them the most for it.

 

[MassPats38]

Re: As if you didn't love Brady before...

Was Brady's money reference tied to the Antoine Walker story, who was a name with the Celtics when Brady joined the team? Throwing away $110 million in salary and facing bankruptcy with no athletic future remaining fits neatly under the definition of "frittering away" wealth.

And I would read Brady's reference to "feed your family" as an aversion to athletes making 10 -200 times the average family income using that phrase publicly without appreciating what it means for the Average Joe to struggle to provide basic needs to those he or she supports. More from an insensitivity perspective to fans who listen to the public whining about under-appreciation in contract negotiations.

Athletes have a rare skill that is marketable as entertainment, so who can begrudge them making as much as possible while they can or passing their earnings on to whomever they choose?

 

[BionicPatriot]

Re: As if you didn't love Brady before...

Maybe I'm weird, but I see an intrinsically American nobility in the idea of a man busting his ass at the only thing he's ever been good at, something he can do better than 99.9% of the world, so that he can earn enough money so that his children and grandchildren will be able to have the choices he never did.

I think the whole "for the love of the game" notion that's been driven into our heads by decades of sports media is nice and all, but at the end of the day, it's sort of a silly construct when compared to the real-life humanity of the desire to realize the American Dream of rags to riches.

And make no mistake: the poverty that many of the NFL's players come from is very, very real. If anything, it's "underblown" by the media. Sure, we might here about Je'Rod Cherry raffling his superbowl ring in some slow Saturday's sports section, and we might here some nice stories on the occasional OTL episode, but we're not bombarded by it every day like we are with the excesses of the Pacman Joneses, the Mike Vicks, and yes, the Ty Laws of the NFL. It's they who are the noisy flashy exceptions, and not the rule.

Why don't you take a moment and look into the work that Bill Belichick has done with Jim Brown's organization. Now there's a man (BB) who knows the kind of world so many of his players come from, and how many more of them never make it out of.

Just to add my 2 cents.

Hearing a guy, like people said, *****ing about feeding his family when his car is worth many of us here is frickin' ridiculous. I completely agree that it's noble for a guy to use his talent to get money. But to ***** about a couple million when you're making over 5 million a year is ridiculous. Market value or not, that's ridiculous money and the amounts athletes ***** over, or morseo "feel disrespected" by is something you or I would kill for.

Yes, they do this to feed their families. But after playing a few years, when it's time to renew their contract, I'd say if they used their brains their families would be fine, wouldn't you? That just rubs me the wrong way..But I'll stop now.

 

[shmessy]

Re: As if you didn't love Brady before...

Maybe I'm weird, but I see an intrinsically American nobility in the idea of a man busting his ass at the only thing he's ever been good at, something he can do better than 99.9% of the world, so that he can earn enough money so that his children and grandchildren will be able to have the choices he never did.

I think the whole "for the love of the game" notion that's been driven into our heads by decades of sports media is nice and all, but at the end of the day, it's sort of a silly construct when compared to the real-life humanity of the desire to realize the American Dream of rags to riches.

And make no mistake: the poverty that many of the NFL's players come from is very, very real. If anything, it's "underblown" by the media. Sure, we might here about Je'Rod Cherry raffling his superbowl ring in some slow Saturday's sports section, and we might here some nice stories on the occasional OTL episode, but we're not bombarded by it every day like we are with the excesses of the Pacman Joneses, the Mike Vicks, and yes, the Ty Laws of the NFL. It's they who are the noisy flashy exceptions, and not the rule.

Why don't you take a moment and look into the work that Bill Belichick has done with Jim Brown's organization. Now there's a man (BB) who knows the kind of world so many of his players come from, and how many more of them never make it out of.

lama, it WOULD be noble........ if they spent their money on their children and grandchildren. Perhaps you should read up a little on what the spending habits of 90% of these players is.