NFL pisses me off with stuff like this

[Guest El Satanico]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/2002/0913/1431492.html

 

Peyton Manning wanted to wear black hightops in the game this week as a tribute to Unitas, but the NFL uniform nazis said no and that they would fine Manning $25,000 if he did it.

 

Also only the Ravens are allowed to wear anything like armbands and patches as a tribute to Unitas. They did the same thing when Walter Payton died and only Chicago could wear stuff. I can understand keeping the tribute stuff in check or you'd have people wearing stuff for anyone that dies. However when someone big like Unitas or Payton dies they should just let the rule slide for a week.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

On one hand, I would feel inclined to say that I would break the rule if I was Peyton Manning, but on the other hand, $25,000 is a lot of money to pay for wearing a black pair of shoes.

[Guest El Satanico]

Yes it would be, but i'm sure that the owner or even general manager of the Colts would've paid half of it if Manning still wanted to do it.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Why just the Ravens? If anything, the Colts are more entitled to it than the former Old Browns.

 

Baltimore Colts(Unitas)->Indianapolis Colts

Cleveland Browns->Baltimore Ravens

expansion---New Cleveland Browns

 

NFL people can be stupids sometimes.

[Guest DrTom]

Why just the Ravens? If anything, the Colts are more entitled to it than the former Old Browns.

No, no, no, no, no. NO ONE of any significance who was affiliated with the Baltimore Colts wants anything to do with the Indianapolis Colts. You'd really have to be from the city to understand. Many of the reitred Colts continued to live in Baltimore, and they opened businesses around the community (Gino Marchetti's fast rood chain, Alan Ameche's restaurants, the Colt Lanes, Johnny Unitas' Golden Arm Restaurant, etc). Memorial Stadium was known throughout the NFL as the World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum. You think Oakland is a tough place to play today? It has NOTHING on Baltimore during the glory days of the Colts. Then they were stolen in the middle of the night and moved to a city that had nothing to do with the history of the franchise and had absolutely no legitimate claim to its name. The only loss that would be comparable would be if the Packers left Green Bay.

 

Also, remember the Browns were promised a new team right away. Baltimore got treated like the armpit of the country by the NFL for years. We lost every expansion derby (Jacksonville? Come on...), and were even told by Commissioner Tagliabue himself to "build a museum" instead of worrying about getting football back.

 

Many of the former Colts, especially Unitas, embraced the Ravens immediately upon their arrival. Johnny Unitas WAS pro sports in Baltimore, and even the great Cal Ripken still walks in his significant shadow. It's only fitting that Unitas' adopted hometown gets to be the city that honors him.

 

On a somewhat different note, I think if Manning were sincere about his gesture, he would have worn the black high-tops and paid the fine. He makes enough money to cover it.

[Guest imajackoff?]

Well said Tom. It truely is a "Baltimore thing". It's hard to believe that an entire town would still hold something that happened so long ago so personal. Unitas won his 2 championships in 58 and 59. More than a generation of people never saw the dude play, but still held him in such high regard.

 

On a somewhat different note, I think if Manning were sincere about his gesture, he would have worn the black high-tops and paid the fine. He makes enough money to cover it.

 

I feel that he should have worn the hightops and dared the NFL to fine him.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I'm from New York but I live in Baltimore, and I was saddened to see Memorial Stadium torn down.

[Guest ant_7000]

Well on fox Bradshaw and Long said that they would pay the fine. Manning is a superstar QB so he could afford 25,000.

[Guest Redhawk]

Bradshaw and Long are just running their mouths. Besides that, Bradshaw never made enough to cough up $25,000. Anyway, $25,000 is a lot of money, no matter how much you make.

[Guest DrTom]

Anyway, $25,000 is a lot of money, no matter how much you make.

The hell it is. Tell me Alex Rodriguez would even notice a fine of 25k. It may be a lot of money in absolute terms (and even that's very questionable), but it's certainly not a lot of money relative to a lot of the salaries earned by pro athletes.

 

Peyton Manning, btw, is slated to make $6.3 million this season. The $25,000 fine is 4/10 of 1% of his salary. A comparable fine for someone earning $30,000 per year would be $119. It certainly isn't a lot of money to someone like Manning, and if he were sincere in his desire to honor Unitas, he would have worn the black high-tops and mailed the goddamn check to the NFL Monday morning. What's 4/10 of 1% of your salary if you really believe you're doing the right thing?

[Guest MrRant]

Anyway, $25,000 is a lot of money, no matter how much you make.

The hell it is. Tell me Alex Rodriguez would even notice a fine of 25k. It may be a lot of money in absolute terms (and even that's very questionable), but it's certainly not a lot of money relative to a lot of the salaries earned by pro athletes.

 

Peyton Manning, btw, is slated to make $6.3 million this season. The $25,000 fine is 4/10 of 1% of his salary. A comparable fine for someone earning $30,000 per year would be $119. It certainly isn't a lot of money to someone like Manning, and if he were sincere in his desire to honor Unitas, he would have worn the black high-tops and mailed the goddamn check to the NFL Monday morning. What's 4/10 of 1% of your salary if you really believe you're doing the right thing?

I don't think they would but... could the NFL then suspend him for blatantly going against their decision?

[Guest DrTom]

More than a generation of people never saw the dude play, but still held him in such high regard.

I only saw him play on film. I didn't start going to Colts games until 1980, and by then, the franchise had fallen on hard times in terms of fielding a competitive team. I met Unitas several times, though (and still have his autograph on an official NFL football), most recently about five years ago. He was always very cordial and polite, and seemed to have an aw-shucks attitude toward the reverence paid to him in Baltimore. One thing I certainly noticed, though: he still had that thousand-yard stare he did when he played, like he was simply incapable of not looking at a crowd of people and figuring out the best pass to exploit their current formation.

 

My grandfather's best friend (of almost 60 years, no less) was Cameron Snyder, who covered the Colts for the Baltimore Sun for many years. I was privileged enough to hear many stories about the heroics of #19, things that no one before him had done, and no one since him has done with the same kind of drama and panache.

[Guest DrTom]

I don't think they would but... could the NFL then suspend him for blatantly going against their decision?

 

Only if they wanted to look like complete assholes. I think Tagliabue is slimier than a snake's dick after slithering thru Vaseline, but even he wouldn't suspend anyone for that. BTW, it looked like Chad Pennington was wearing black high-tops. I only saw a highlight or two involving him, so it was hard to tell, but the shoes looked suspicious to me. Props to him if he decided to extend his middle finger to the NFL's uniform police and do what's right.

 

I still call it the "No Fun League," and I LOVE football.

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

How bad would the PR have been for the NFL if Manning had worn the shoes in honor of Unitas and then they try and fine and suspend him? I wish he would have had the backbone to call their bluff.

[Guest DrTom]

How bad would the PR have been for the NFL if Manning had worn the shoes in honor of Unitas and then they try and fine and suspend him?

Horrible, of course. The NFL would have come across looking like jackasses. They should be used to that in the Tagliabue era, but they certainly shouldn't encourage it. If the commissioner and the league braintrust were sincere about honoring the man who put them on the national sports radar, they should have let anyone pay tribute to him in whatever reasonable manner they chose. Fining someone because their shoes don't match their teammates', though, is the height of insensitivity, all things considered.

 

I wish he would have had the backbone to call their bluff.

IMO, if you're unwilling to pay 4/10 of 1% of your salary to do the right thing, then you're a worthless human being who deserves nothing but contempt.

[Guest Redhawk]

You're acting like just because Peyton Manning makes $6 million per year that he actually has $6 million of spending money laying around. That's not the case. I'm pretty sure Peyton has a big-ass house, which costs a LOT of money to upkeep (Evander Holyfield's mansion, for example, costs $2 mill-plus per year in upkeep). Then he probably has his car(s) to tend to, his other toys (video arcade, or what have you) his girlfriend/wife to spend money on, and friends and relatives to entertain/spend money on. When you make alot you spend alot, so dropping $30,000 for wearing some shoes is just stupid.

[Guest DrTom]

You're acting like just because Peyton Manning makes $6 million per year that he actually has $6 million of spending money laying around.

I'm sure he has a LOT more than $25,000 in disposable income lying around. Peyton seems like a sharp tack, so it's reasonable that he's set himself up with some nice investments, whose interest payments probably make up the bulk of his spending cash. There's no justification for him being both a skinflint and a coward.

 

When you make alot you spend alot...

Not consistently, and not if you're smart.

 

so dropping $30,000 for wearing some shoes is just stupid.

It's good to see how little you value doing what's right. The fine is less than 1% of Manning's salary. If someone can't give up less than 1% of his salary for a cause he claims to believe in, then I have no use for that person. Sometimes, it IS about right and wrong. Of course, if the NFL didn't have such byzantine policies when it came to uniforms and the like, this conversation would never have happened.

[Guest Redhawk]

If Manning hadn't said anything about wearing black shoes, than no one would have said, "You know, the right thing to do is for some QB to wear black shoes." It only became "the right thing to do" after Manning mentioned it and everyone said, "Hey, you know, that's nice."

 

Furthermore, how is he being a skinflint and a coward? Because he doesn't want to essentially pay $25,000 for some shoes? I don't care how rich anyone is, not even Oprah would pay $25,000 for some shoes.

 

Not to mention the fact that Unitas pretty much disowned the Colts anyway.

 

Chris Redman (Baltimore's QB) wore black shoes, but he played like shit and so he probably embarrassed the memory of Unitas more than honoring him. If anyone "did the right thing" this weekend, it was Drew Bledsoe, who conjured up more memories of Unitas than some simple shoes.

[Guest DrTom]

If Manning hadn't said anything about wearing black shoes, than no one would have said, "You know, the right thing to do is for some QB to wear black shoes."

That's probably true. However, if he doesn't want to create controversy, he shouldn't say controversial things and then not follow up on them. I don't think the team Manning plays for should have been allowed to honor Unitas at all, but if any individual QB wanted to don the black high-tops, the league should have allowed them to.

 

Furthermore, how is he being a skinflint and a coward? Because he doesn't want to essentially pay $25,000 for some shoes?

No, because he's unwilling to part with a tiny fraction of his salary to do the right thing and pay tribute to a man who defined his position and thrust the NFL into the national sports consciousness. There were plenty of people who offered to pay some or all of the fine FOR him, so he probably wouldn't even have lost his precious $25,000. If you're going to talk about someone and claim to honor them, then you don't back down in the face of a limp-wristed monetary sanction. And if you do, then you're a skinflint and a coward.

 

Not to mention the fact that Unitas pretty much disowned the Colts anyway.

Pretty much? He wanted absolutely nothing to do with them, going so far as to demand his memorabilia back. No one who was significant to the Baltimore Colts wanted anything to due with the team after Bob Irsay moved them to Indy. While I think that should prevent the team from honoring Unitas, any individual QB should have been free to do so.

 

Chris Redman (Baltimore's QB) wore black shoes, but he played like shit and so he probably embarrassed the memory of Unitas more than honoring him.

I don't think Unitas would say that Redman embarrassed his legacy.

[Guest bob_barron]

Dr. Tom-

What's the deal behind the Colts move to Indy?

 

Did Irsay just like one night go: Hey Indy looks good- fuck Baltimore! and move?

 

I know someone from Baltimore who says: The Colts in my mind do not exist.

[Guest DrTom]

Dr. Tom-

What's the deal behind the Colts move to Indy?

 

Ok, this will be from memory, because I refuse to look up something having to do with that massive piece of shit Irsay.

 

Around 1976, Rams owner Robert Irsay and Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom "swapped" franchises with the blessing of the league. Irsay had a reputation for being a jackass, which the city of Baltimore would soon learn was quite valid. He didn't care much about the team, letting them languish in mediocrity. Talented QB Bert Jones (who won an offseason skills competition a few years ago, beating out many current NFL QBs) was wasted, with a dismal offense around him. Jones was eventually shoved out the door for Art Schischter, the Ohio State phenom who was supposed to re-energize the franchise.

 

It didn't work. Coaching changes (Even bringing in Mr Personality himself, Frank Kush) didn't work. The Colts were simply a bad team, and Irsay didn't seem too interested in making them better. Word began to surface that he was talking to other cities about moving the Colts there. The theory was that Irsay kept the team weak so that the fans would stay away, then he could cite poor attendance as the reason for a move. Cynical (and a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one), but certainly not without validity.

 

In 1982-83, Irsay began openly negotiating with the city of Indianapolis to move the team. Memorial Stadium, while still an adequate facility, was beginning to show its age, and the Colts had to share it with the Orioles. I'm not sure if Baltimore officials ever realized how serious Irsay was about moving the team. They didn't do anything to secure financing for another stadium.

 

After the '83 season, it became obvious Irsay wanted the team out of Baltimore. Eleventh-hour negotiations extended into 1984 and were starting to look hopeful, but the city and the team hit a snag. In a last-gasp move, Baltimore tried to invoke eminent domain over the franchise. It didn't work. In a January snowstorm, and under cover of night, Irsay packed the team into Mayflower moving vans and hauled the whole operation to Indianapolis. The local news coverage of this is still burned into my mind: Mayflower moving vans pulling away from the team's training complex in Owings Mills and its offices at Memorial Stadium, the snow obscuring their logo and coloration as they drove off into the distance.

 

No city had supported its football team more than Baltimore did the Colts. Memorial Stadium was called "The world's largest outdoor insane asylum," and was a tougher place for a visiting team to play than Oakland is now. The city was *heartbroken* over the sudden loss of the Colts, and got treated like second-class citizens by the league until the Browns morphed into the Ravens 13 years later.

 

I went to a lot of Colts games when I was young, and my grandfather's best friend was a sportswriter covered the Colts for many years. What I didn't see live because I was too young, I heard about thru many stories. I met all of the players who were playing at the time, and all of the significant number of former Colts who still made their homes in and around Baltimore. I ate at Johnny Unitas' GOlden Arm Restaurant many times. I got his autograph on an official NFL football while the Colts were still around (I still have it, of course). I saw firsthand, many times, the absolute reverence people in Baltimore had for the Colts legends, reverence that did not fade one iota when the Ravens came to town.

 

That's the short form, Bob. It's probably a biased perspective, since I was born and raised in Baltimore, but there's nothing above that isn't true.

[Guest MrRant]

I still remember when Berhring tried to move the Seahawks... almost a exactly like the Colt move.

[Guest DrTom]

I still remember when Berhring tried to move the Seahawks... almost a exactly like the Colt move.

I doubt it. The Colts walked on water in Baltimore. The only two teams that compare in terms of sheer rabid fan loyalty are the Packers and the former Browns. Cleveland's loss is the only on that begins to compare, but the comparison quickly breaks down: Cleveland was mollycoddled by the NFL at every turn and got another team within three years. Baltimore got the shaft from the NFL repeatedly, and had to rely on another team moving to rectify the wrong the NFL refused to address.

[Guest bob_barron]

Thanks for the history Dr. Tom- Irsay sounds like a fucktard of the first order.

[Guest DrTom]

Irsay sounds like a fucktard of the first order.

He was Bob, and I'm sincerely glad he's dead. There are few people I would say that about, but Robery Irsay is one of them.

[Agent_Bond34 0]

When did Irsay die? I'm not too sure, which is why I ask.

[Guest DrTom]

About 4-6 years ago, I think. He didn't die penniless and alone, in a pool of his own vomit and excrement, so I didn't pay too much attention to it, other than hoisting a beer at the devil reclaming one of his most vile minions.

[Guest Redhawk]

Doesn't Irsay's son run the team now, and isn't he just as big a fucktard?

 

Also, Dr. Tom, can you school me on the whole Elway-to-Baltimore story?

[Guest DrTom]

Doesn't Irsay's son run the team now, and isn't he just as big a fucktard?

His son Jim indeed runs the team now. He's certainly a mental midget, and I immediately consider him somewhere far below pond scum, simply because his father was such an inhuman piece of shit. He's not quite as bad as Daddy, though that's certainly not saying much. Interestingly enough, though, the Colts might be looking to move again.

 

Also, Dr. Tom, can you school me on the whole Elway-to-Baltimore story?

Again, from memory.

 

The Colts made their intention to take Elway in the 1983 draft very clear. He had no desire to play for an asshole like Irsay (which I can understand), nor did he want to play in Baltimore (which I cannot understand). He made it clear to the Colts that he would pursue a baseball career if they drafted him. They drafted him anyway, first overall, and ended up having to trade him or get nothing and watch him play baseball. So he ended up with the Broncos, the Colts got the shaft and moved to Indy at the end of that season, and the rest is unfortunate history.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

It's a shame that they tore down Memorial Stadium, because every time I passed it, it would evoke a lot of historical images. I would see it looking abandoned and desolate and think, "that's a place that has a lot of history." It seemed like a cozy stadium, if that makes any sense. I would love to have gone to a game there.