Letters to the Editor
drgreen
Published Letters: 4
-
I doubt the Vikings are exploiting AD
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It wouldn't make any sense for the Vikings to rush AD back from injury to get him to play this week. Yeah, I suppose Childress is on the hot seat for his job, and in the mishmash that is the middle of the NFC, a 5-6 record puts them square in the playoff chase.
But, I think most people in the Vikings organization, including the medical staff that are clearing him, take a longer view of AD's value to the team. The Vikings still have him for a couple more years on a reasonable rookie contract, and he's proven to be one of the (if not the the) most explosive players in the NFL. It wouldn't make sense for the team to risk his long term future over a midseason game against the Lions where the playoffs are a long shot anyway.
I think the point that many players feel pressure to perform because of nonguaranteed contracts is legitimate. And, it's obviously unfair that football players, who play the most dangerous sport, are stuck with nonguaranteed contracts, whereas baseball and basketball players who face less risk of injury are not.
However, I don't think AD falls in the area of those many players. If he shut himself down for the year and became a free agent next season, basically every team in the NFL would be bidding on him, whether he's considered soft or not. If he was a marginal player, or even a solid player, I think it would be a more persuasive argument - but players of AD's talent are extremely rare.
On the other side, the Vikings ownership obviously sees him as a marketing tool and a long term investment that should not be risked. They've faced a potential television blackout for low ticket sales in every single home game this year. If he goes down with a catastrophic knee injury on Sunday and never plays again, their offseason ticket sales plan would take a major hit.
I'm not saying that AD won't get injured, or that his reputation as an injury-prone player isn't playing a role here, but it just seems unlikely that either AD or the Vikings would rush him back this week if he faced a risk of catastrophic injury.
-
The Commercials Have Some Truth
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The point of the commercials - that the vast majority of NCAA student-athletes don't go pro in sports - is undoubtedly true. To most athletes, sports are actually an extracurricular activity. Not too many players on the swimming, track, or tennis teams are expecting to go pro and make their living playing sports. Those players are actually student-athletes - they use their scholarship to get a degree that they'll use in the real world. Plus, they're expected to put in all the work to be an athlete and a student. It's not an easy job.
And, that's why the NCAA can't pay its players in the big revenue sports. It uses the revenue from the big revenue sports, like football and basketball, to support other sports that lose money. The licensing fee for CBS, the ads in the stadiums, the rising ticket prices, the merchandise sales, etc., all go to the athletic department as a whole. Most athletic departments use the profits from football and basketball to bankroll all of those other sports that student-athletes play.
Paying basketball and football players might remove the hypocrisy that exists from having "amateur" players essentially treated like pros by the media and fans. It would also eliminate the unfairness inherent in having athletes that aren't paid be at the center of a multi-million dollar industry.
With that said, it would also cause schools to have to cancel tons of other sports because of financial concerns, and those student-athletes deserve the chance to play.
-
Celebration v. Taunting
[Read the article: Letters: Celebration penalties]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Celebration = exuberant act of happiness intended to show joy after a major accomplishment. Example: Jake Locker throwing the ball in the air after scoring a last second touchdown in a big game at home with the crowd going wild.
Taunting = mean-spirited act aimed at an opponent with the intent to antagonize the opponent. Example: Terrell Owens running out to midfield to celebrate on Dallas' star.
In my mind, the difference between celebration and taunting is where the line between penalty and non-penalty should be drawn. Celebrations are fun to watch and fire up the players and the crowd. Taunting is bad sportsmanship and risks instigating a fight. One should be a penalty, and one shouldn't be.
-
Icing the Kicker
[Read the article: Bears squib themselves]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, there have been some studies that say that it works:
"Scott Berry, a statistician and the former chairman of the Statistics in Sports section of the American Statistical Association, studied every field-goal attempt made in the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
His conclusion was that icing probably worked, but its effect is mostly noticeable only on kicks of reasonable difficulty, say from 40 to 55 yards. At those distances when a timeout is called, the probability of the kicker making the attempt drops about 10 percent. So if a kicker is usually successful on those kicks 75 percent of the time, icing might mean he is successful just 65 percent.
On shorter kicks, the effect is negligible." (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/sports/football/21icing.html?_r=2&oref=slogin)
Obviously, Whisenhunt looked like a total idiot because the Cardinals blocked the kick. But, if you've got a timeout to blow, and there's a chance you could reduce the percentage success of the other team making the field goal by 10 percent, it's a good move to do it.