It's easy talking green
When it comes to contracts, just give it to us straight
Posted: Wednesday February 24, 1999 12:17 PM
Some things in sports are easy to accept. The Broncos winning the Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Clippers losing. A pretty Jason Kidd pass.
Some aren't. Albert Belle and Cal Ripken in the same clubhouse. Roger Clemens in pinstripes. New Comiskey Park.
If there's one aspect of professional sports that's absolutely impossible to stomach, though, it's that burned-out bromide that sports figures want to belch at every signing, even as they scrawl their name on the dotted line for more zeroes than most of us will see in 20 years worth of paychecks.
It is as infuriating a statement as you get in sports, all because of its bald-faced falsity.
It's not about the money.
Players spout it all the time. Really rich owners, especially in baseball, live and spend by it. Even coaches, who seemed to be above it until lately, have taken to mouthing the mantra.
Well, to quote Dennis Rodman, that's bull----.
It's always about the money.
It's not always just about the money. But the money is certainly in there somewhere, causing hard feelings, making life tough, generally mucking things up. And if there's not enough money in the mix ... well, sometimes it is all about the money.
When players and owners, and coaches and owners, sit down to argue over the nitty gritty of professional sports contracts, it isn't about respect, or market value, or just being treated fairly. It isn't about loyalty or winning a title or the love of the game.
| From the e-mailbag |
Some comments on Watch this move, February 16, 1999.
Shawn Kemp dogged it for a year in Seattle, got traded and signed a lucrative extension. Wally Walker traded Kemp and got equal value in a younger player with Vin Baker, even though everybody knew Kemp wasn't going to play in Seattle anymore. Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown are pretty slick, too.
-- Dan Allen
Hey, what about Rodman? Here is a veteran player who won NBA titles with the Pistons and the Bulls and now looks like he's going to "walk" into the Lakers fast break where he'll bring the maturity level up a bit (at least on the court).
-- Paul Lincke
Last year The Worm left Chicago during the playoffs to make $250,000 in about 30 minutes just to wrestle. To me that is slickest of the slick.
-- G. Cook
Disregard the Kings for a moment and take a look at their point guard, young Jason Williams, the rookie from Florida. Instead of commenting that Sacramento is lucky to have a team, you could have mentioned that they more than likely have the rookie of the year.
-- Chad Wilson
Slick Penny Hardaway, one of my favorite players, missed most of the first part of the season last year, played with Jordan as a starter in his final All-Star game, went back on the injured list (allowing Nick Anderson to regain his confidence and carry the team). The rest of the team became indepennyable, and they also got a couple good draft picks, and a great coach. Now they are playing some serious ball. Now that was slick!
-- Terrell Guy
How about bad mouthing management, saying he will never play in Utah again, wrestling for a part-time job, and the reward? A new contract! Classic slick move Karl. Congrats!
-- B. Heugly
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It's about money.
Always is. Always has been.
Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who has more than a couple nickels to rub together, was flabbergasted the other day when folks reacted to the trade for five-time Cy Younger Roger Clemens as another case of the baseball rich getting richer.
"I really resent people making this a fiscal deal. I'm tired of hearing people saying, 'Oh, the Yankees can do this, the Yankees can do that,'" said The Boss. "This was a trade. If our guys made a better trade than somebody else, so be it. Don't let them start saying we're doing all this because we've got the money. That didn't come to bear here."
Well, that extra $3 million you spent on the Clemens trade may seem like pocket change to you, George. But the Montreal Expos don't have that to wave around.
Try to slip that sob story through in Pittsburgh and Miami and Cincinnati and Oakland, all of whom might have been able to trade for Clemens -- if they had a team with the talent that the Yankees' $80-85 million has bought.
This offseason alone, Steinbrenner spent more than $115 million to lock up four of his players for the long-term.
The money didn't come to bear here?
It's always about the money.
Then there's the inimitable Dennis Rodman, who boo-hooed through a kind-of news conference Monday that, he swears, had nothing to do with money.
"I'm here just because I want to make people happy. I miss entertaining. I miss entertaining for the people," said Rodman, who was announcing his hopes to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. "I play for the people, I give the people what they want."
Fact is, Rodman will be playing -- if he indeed plays -- for a pretty paltry sum this season, probably less than $500,000. He's not happy about it, of course, but he'll suck it up for his new teammates.
Of course, he wants a multi-year contract out of this deal, probably paying him around $1.1 million next year, which will help him make some of the money back he won't get this season.
But it's all about entertaining the people, the Worm says.
"He doesn't have any money," Rodman's sister said at his news conference/sideshow/soap opera.
Well, maybe that's what he told you, sister. Last year, Rodman made $13.5 million. If he doesn't have any money left out of that, somebody's done something wrong.
In Charlotte, Dave Cowens has been making a lot of noise about being underpaid. He makes about $675,000 as coach of the Hornets -- nothing compared to many NBA coaches. The talk has infuriated Charlotte management.
Cowens probably has a point. So does Rodman. Even King George isn't that far off. Maybe they do deserve more. Maybe money isn't the overriding factor for any of these guys.
But when these wealthy sports figures insist on blurting out nonsense like "It's just about feeling appreciated" -- Cowens actually said that last week -- well, that's when all the warning flags should shoot up and the ol' blarney beeper ought to be blasting full-bore.
Just be straight with us about this, would you? Just tell it like it is.
It really is about the money, isn't it?
John Donovan is senior writer for CNNSI.com.
Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
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