Slammin' Sammy . . . Briggs?
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by user Enybo
Another year and another Chicago sports would-be-immortalized icon goes and screws things up. Why? Who knows? All this fanatic knows is that Lance Briggs is no longer welcome in Chicago, at least that’s what the situation is coming to. Hey Jerry Angelo, I don’t care what you do, but do not give into this guy the way Hendry and Co. gave into Sammy Sosa way back when. Learn from mistakes, cut this guy off now. Trade him, don’t play him, I don’t care if you make him clean the players jock straps as long as he never walks back onto a field in a Bears uniform ever again. Where did my hatred come from? Let’s recap.
It was way back when, just after the turn of the century. The world was still recovering from Y2K, and the selfish son-of-Sosa was out campaigning for a contract extension, and deservedly so. He had just come off one of the greatest 3 year stretches of all time and the Dominican slugger was telling anyone who would listen that “baseball has been very very good to me.” But during contract negotiations his true colors showed. He would proclaim that it wasn’t about money. It was about respect, that he just wanted to be paid like one of the top offensive players in the game because it wasn’t the numbers in the stats that would validate that fact; it was the numbers in his paycheck.
Well, as the story goes Sosa got his contract extension at about 18 mil a year for 4 years, struggled, got booed, mistook his bat for a wine bottle when putting the cork back, got booed some more, got traded and is now listed on the do not fly list for all Chicago-bound planes. He could have been a legend but turned out to be villain. A lot of it has to do with his struggles, but this fanatic feels it is more about respect, not to the player, but to the fans. Are you listening Lance? You have already started down a path that you most likely cannot return from when you when you went promoting your “tragedy” on more media outlets then Manny Stiles.
Let’s fast forward to present day. Lance Briggs, OLB for the Chicago Bears has been very vocal over the past few weeks about how he feels disrespected having the franchise tag placed on him. The situation has gotten so bad that he has even vented to local radio personality Mike North of WSCR in Chicago saying "I'll do everything that's within my power to not be with this organization.” And for what? What has caused him so much anguish that he doesn’t want to be a Chicago Bear anymore? "What it really comes down to, it's not about the money. It's about you've played here long enough, and you think you've earned a certain position on the team that you would be here for a long time." Briggs continued to stick his foot further into his mouth by telling Mike North “The franchise tag is there to keep me around for one more year with no intention of a long-term deal."
So please Lance, tell us what you really want. You see, there are two things you must juggle when dealing with a contract extension: greed and honesty. There must be a balance between these two if you expect to have the fans on your side, and believe me, the fans can be very powerful allies when talking contracts. Fans understand that players are greedy, it’s a fact of today’s sporting world. But it is a very thin line. When the national median household income hovers around $67,000 it doesn’t take much to turn your allies into enemies. You also need to be honest with us. We understand this is a business; if it’s about money, just say it. But get your story straight and stop contradicting yourself. If it’s a long-term deal you want, the Bears offered you 6 years already and you turned them down. Can’t be that. Is it more money? They are placing the tag on you, guaranteeing that you will take home 7.2 million dollars. Yet you don’t want that either. Is it respect? The franchise tag should be looked upon as an honor, Angelo is calling you a cornerstone to this franchise and securing your presence on this team. Did I mention all of the 7.2 is guaranteed the second you put pen to paper? That’s more than you might get from any long term-deal.
My advice to Mr. Briggs, take the franchise tag and play out the season. If they place it on you again next year, then your salary would jump to over 8 million. That’s over 13.2 million guaranteed over 2 years. That’s more than Thomas Jones got for his 4 year deal with the Jets. Don’t be stupid Lance, don’t vilify yourself for the sake of a few dollars, look how it turned out for Slammin’ Sammy.
Source
www.chicagosports.com
www.670thescore.com (For the audio of Lance on the Mike North show, go to this site and click on "Lance Briggs" on the right under Podcasts.)
