First of all, I know we try not to talk about sports on our show, but when something this shocking happens I feel like I just gotta vent a lil. Actually, it’s not venting, it’s an explanation of what they did & why I think they did it. But, mainly, it wouldn’t fit within the constraints of Twitter’s 140 characters.
So, basically, what they did was cut 5 high dollar players that also happen to be in their 30’s (w/ the exception of Cato June who is 29), but more importantly, they were ALL big contributors to the organization, some as far back as when they were called the Tampa Bay Sucks. The biggest shock came with the inclusion of Derrick Brooks’ name to this list. He has been the face of the franchise for 14 years. I mean, seriously, listen to these accolades. . .
-Voted to the Pro Bowl 11 times, including in 2008.
-One of four players in NFL history to go to four consecutive Pro Bowls, win AP Defensive Player of the Year and to win a Super Bowl.
-100 tackles (or more) for 13 straight seasons (longest active streak in the NFL)
-2,198 career tackles leads all active NFL players and the most in team history.
-He never missed a game in his 14 seasons (that’s 224 consecutive games)
-Started 208 straight games.
. . .And on top of that, he’s a stand-up guy. Throughout his college & pro career, his only misstep has been the “Free Shoes University” incident – almost 2 decades ago.
So, why would they release him? Some might say he’s lost a step or he’s just getting older & can’t do it @ that level anymore. Some might say he is now overpriced for his abilities. Some would even agree, but argue why not renegotiate his contract? To that I do have to say, remember John Lynch? To be fair they did the same to him, so it is kind of a mantra w/ them to just release and move-on. But do they really think they can improve by NOT having these players? Well, the bottomline is, in fact, the bottomline in this case. . . money.
It all boils down to money, but not in the sense that the team is trying to relieve salary-cap pressure, or set themselves up for a big free agent run. I mean, lets be honest, they were ALREADY 40 MILLION DOLLARS under the cap. This mass blow-out puts them another 9 mil down. So, what’s the deal?
*I want to preface this statement, by saying this is more or less a recap of a conversation Devious Daryl & I had when the Bucs fired Gruden, & promoted a defensive coordinator to head coach that had NEVER called a defensive play*
Have you ever heard of the English Premier League? Or, more specifically, Manchester United (otherwise known as MAN U)? Well, as a sports fan, you should. For all intents & purposes, this is the biggest soccer sports team in the world. Imagine if the Yankees played in a league that involved more than just the US & one team in Canada (eh). Yes, bigger than the Yankees juggernaut (I hate the Yankees btw). The Glazer family not only owns the Bucs, but also Manchester United. They bought out every shareholder in the public company, over the course of 2 years – good background info here. In order to buy out the largest, most expensive sports franchise in the FUCKING WORLD!!!!! how much do you think you’ll need? I’m guessing more than that of a few trailer parks. . . lets try
-Begin Dr. Evil voice-
1.5 BILLLLIIIOOOONNN DOOOLLLLAAARRRSSS!!!!!
-End Dr. Evil voice-
Get that? BILLION w/ a B! How does someone go about spending $1.5 billion on a soccer team, you ask? Well, let’s say, for argument’s sake, you can’t afford that kind of money (unbelievable, I know). Let’s say, if you tighten your belt, you can afford to make the INTEREST payments on, oh roughly 1/2 of that. No deal? NO WAY, we gotcha covered. The cool thing about having that much money, in a free-flowing economy (where they’ll lend $300,000 to someone who makes $500 a week) is it’s EASY to get financed for the other 1/2 (which you truly can’t afford). NO PROBLEMO! As long as you IMMEDIATELY refinance so the team (which is an entity all its own) is responsible for paying the 1/2 you can’t afford, & you are only responsible for the half you can squeeze by on. Pretty jewish of him, huh? (no offense – just a pun)
The problem begins, when a bunch of fans revolt & you lose season ticket money. It gets worse when the financial market runs out of crack & realizes they are FUCKED! Now you’ve got banks that are going out of business or at the very least pulling as much advertising as they can just to save money for bonuses. Here’s a lil caveat for American football fans – futball teams sell advertising on their uniforms like rednecks sell them on cars.
What have we here? Oh, a free space, because the bank that USED to advertise on our jerseys & buy luxury boxes are spending what’s left of their money on retreats for the crackheads before they go to jail.
Don’t forget, over here in the US the NFL is tightening their belts also, because these are “uncertain” times. You see where I’m going with this? The Glazers, NOT the Bucs, are getting rid of every expense they can afford to. Do you think John Gruden is going to be able to sit around the house & play golf until his contract runs out? Say what you will about the man (as a coach or a man), but he is passionate about football, & he is passionate about coaching football. He will sign somewhere else & the Glazers will not have to pay for that contract – that’s a pretty safe bet. Now they get this “kid” who I’m sure they got pretty damn cheap. Then they layoff 5 gamers that account for $9 million. That’s gonna go a good amount to paying that interest payment that they need to make for MAN U. You see, they know that they’ve been good enough for long enough to have passionate fans that will stick w/ them through a few bad years, before they have to spend any money. Maybe then, they can sell off MAN U, or the economy will have rebounded enough to make some serious (cash)flow.
Just my thoughts. . . let me know what your opinions are, & please, I think we’ve all heard the Brooks & Dunn joke enough, so lets try to stay away from that – it’s been done.
