Vision Quest: Taylor Made For Trouble

[PennSkinsFan]

Here you go, a brand new Vision Quest for your enjoyment! Special thansk to hR Writer CNYSkinFan!

LINK (http://www.hailredskins.com/VisionQuest.htm)

[The Skinsinator]

Very good, well-written article Dustin. It is really amazing that these guys can make all that money and not be accounted for 6 whole months. That is kind of scary when you look at it like that. I agree with alot of your proposals here and hope the nfl may, eventually, adopt them.

[redskn65]

That was a powerful article and it sure gave me a lot to think about. I don`t think any fan would object to a longer season I know I sure wouldn`t however I think it would be the players themselves who would cause the uproar because think about it ........who in their right mind would want to voluntarily work an extra two weeks and be paid nothing additional for it.....I`m just thinking as I think the average player would think ...and lets face it we admire them on the field but how many guys do you think would just sit back and accept an extra 2 wks of the season and mandatory OTA's and mandatory off season conditioning without going to the players union whining and complaining like the spoiled athletes most of these guys are?

[CNYSkinFan]

That was a powerful article and it sure gave me a lot to think about. I don`t think any fan would object to a longer season I know I sure wouldn`t however I think it would be the players themselves who would cause the uproar because think about it ........who in their right mind would want to voluntarily work an extra two weeks and be paid nothing additional for it.....I`m just thinking as I think the average player would think ...and lets face it we admire them on the field but how many guys do you think would just sit back and accept an extra 2 wks of the season and mandatory OTA's and mandatory off season conditioning without going to the players union whining and complaining like the spoiled athletes most of these guys are?

Easy fix for that is raise the minimum salaries and raise the salary cap. Then they get paid more. No doubt that the union and NFL leadership have to come to an agreement. But the NFL is ROLLING IN IT right now. They can afford a 5-10% hike in salary cap and vet minimum salaries to acocmodate the extra work.

The union and players also have to realize it is in the best interest of the long term health of the sport. If the league gets hurt by the off field activities the players will eventually suffer.

[bwparker]

Easy fix for that is raise the minimum salaries and raise the salary cap. Then they get paid more. No doubt that the union and NFL leadership have to come to an agreement. But the NFL is ROLLING IN IT right now. They can afford a 5-10% hike in salary cap and vet minimum salaries to acocmodate the extra work.

The union and players also have to realize it is in the best interest of the long term health of the sport. If the league gets hurt by the off field activities the players will eventually suffer.

Yeah well, I still worry about how a longer season would get the players hurt by ON field activities. There are enough injuries in football already. I don't want a longer season, where I have to watch our star players get hurt again and again and again.

[CNYSkinFan]

Yeah well, I still worry about how a longer season would get the players hurt by ON field activities. There are enough injuries in football already. I don't want a longer season, where I have to watch our star players get hurt again and again and again.

So you rather they be in Jail in increasing numbers? Injuries are a part of football and good teams are dep and interchangeable. An extra bye week will help wiht the moderate injuries and the normal wear and tear. Two extra games are warranted and neccessary in my mind. But again it is only part of a plan to add structure to the off season, by making the regular season longer.

[bwparker]

I am really ok with a more structured offseason. But how many players are in the NFL? 2000? How many get into serious trouble in the offseason? 50-100, and thats being generous. We are talking about less than half of one percent. But how many players are stuck with life long agonizing injuries because of the violent nature of the sport? Much more than are getting into trouble, I'd bet on that. So we punish and shorten the careers, as well as sacrifice the quality of thier life(despite how many millions they make) of over 99% of players as part of a plan to help the others act like normal functioning human beings?

It just doesn't cut it for me. I just read an article on players who have had to spend ALL the money they made just to treat themselves physically and psycollogically after football AND there is a thread out there not too recently about it too. I consider myself pretty compassionate and liberal when it comes to how to treat criminals and criminal celebrities, but an extended season wouldn't be in my plans if I would running the show.

Mandatory offseason programs? yes. The league could even enforce suspensions for missing those team activities. But we DON'T need more games. period.

[redskin_rich]

So you rather they be in Jail in increasing numbers? Injuries are a part of football and good teams are dep and interchangeable. An extra bye week will help wiht the moderate injuries and the normal wear and tear. Two extra games are warranted and neccessary in my mind. But again it is only part of a plan to add structure to the off season, by making the regular season longer.
Two extra games has nothing to do with how many players go to jail. And hardly any team has great depth so that their players are interchangeable in this salary cap era. Last of all an extra bye week won't help get players healthy.
Sorry CNY, but you are way off base on this.

[CNYSkinFan]

I am really ok with a more structured offseason. But how many players are in the NFL? 2000? How many get into serious trouble in the offseason? 50-100, and thats being generous. We are talking about less than half of one percent. But how many players are stuck with life long agonizing injuries because of the violent nature of the sport? Much more than are getting into trouble, I'd bet on that. So we punish and shorten the careers, as well as sacrifice the quality of thier life(despite how many millions they make) of over 99% of players as part of a plan to help the others act like normal functioning human beings?

It just doesn't cut it for me. I just read an article on players who have had to spend ALL the money they made just to treat themselves physically and psycollogically after football AND there is a thread out there not too recently about it too. I consider myself pretty compassionate and liberal when it comes to how to treat criminals and criminal celebrities, but an extended season wouldn't be in my plans if I would running the show.

Mandatory offseason programs? yes. The league could even enforce suspensions for missing those team activities. But we DON'T need more games. period.

You and I are in agreement for the most part except for adding two games. So really we are not that far off.

However I will make one last point for more games. Periodically the Nfl has expanded the number of regular season games, from 8 to 12 to 16. They accomodate through adding roster space and depth as well as better player conditioning and training. If the OTAs are mandatory the average player will be in better health and can withstand 2 more games (plus a byen week).

The effects on a player after football are devastating, and the NFL should look into proper "retirement" programs that help ease a player back into a normal living condition (both physically and mentally). I would venture to say many of the stories we are hearing from former players are a result of improper ease back into normal life. I view it as a seperate issue.

[CNYSkinFan]

Two extra games has nothing to do with how many players go to jail. And hardly any team has great depth so that their players are interchangeable in this salary cap era. Last of all an extra bye week won't help get players healthy.
Sorry CNY, but you are way off base on this.

Two extra games and a bye week adds three weeks to the regular season. That is 3 less weeks of unstructured down time. My theory is that violent young atheletes with alot of money and alot of time cause alot of trouble.

The two extra games is a way to generate more income for the NFL so they can give more income to the players so they will agree to more of a structured and mandatory offseason. As well as making most fans happy.

I would be willing to off set this by taking away two pre-season games but Coaches like those and then the whole extending the regular season...shorten the offseason theory goes out the window.

We have to find out why Hockey, Basketball, and Baseball don't have the same type of violent incidents in the offseason with the same amount of frequency as the NFL. I know some will say football is a violent sport and attracts violent athletes. They are probably right but Hockey is pretty violent as well.

So I looked at wahat is different and the biggest thing is the off season time. i think it is a valid point and I stand by it.

[redwolf1218]

You and I are in agreement for the most part except for adding two games. So really we are not that far off.

However I will make one last point for more games. Periodically the Nfl has expanded the number of regular season games, from 8 to 12 to 16. They accomodate through adding roster space and depth as well as better player conditioning and training. If the OTAs are mandatory the average player will be in better health and can withstand 2 more games (plus a byen week).

The effects on a player after football are devastating, and the NFL should look into proper "retirement" programs that help ease a player back into a normal living condition (both physically and mentally). I would venture to say many of the stories we are hearing from former players are a result of improper ease back into normal life. I view it as a seperate issue.
Johnny Unites still get 4000 a month after all these years, but i get what you're saying. i remember the season expanding from 14 to 16 games, but i dont remember before then. i would like to see bigger rosters and bigger practice squads to provide more depth for more rotation, and thus lessen the load on starters, rather than adding more games. also, i'd like to see 1 less preseason game, and instead have another scrimmage for talent evaluation before having to make cuts.

[bwparker]

You and I are in agreement for the most part except for adding two games. So really we are not that far off.

However I will make one last point for more games. Periodically the Nfl has expanded the number of regular season games, from 8 to 12 to 16. They accomodate through adding roster space and depth as well as better player conditioning and training. If the OTAs are mandatory the average player will be in better health and can withstand 2 more games (plus a byen week).

The effects on a player after football are devastating, and the NFL should look into proper "retirement" programs that help ease a player back into a normal living condition (both physically and mentally). I would venture to say many of the stories we are hearing from former players are a result of improper ease back into normal life. I view it as a seperate issue.
I agree that we aren't very far off on this topic, It really does just boil down to extra games.

Other notes of interest, in no specific order or structure:

The NFL is the pinnacle of sports in America right now, NFL players seem to get more publicity, face-time, money, etc. than other sports. This leads to a few things, a feeling of invincibility and zero responsibility, which is a contributing factor to crime; Increased pressure to succeed, stress in an factor in crimel; increased likelyhood that we HEAR about what they've done wrong, with more analysis and talk show drama. These are pretty big factors, if a hockey player beat his wife or went around waving a gun there would be less discussion about it and he would be more likely to be held fully responsibile.(I chose Hockey because it is the only other truly violent sport) I think this is a really big deal. There are too way to deter crime certainty vs. severity(i.e. how likely am I to get caught? and how bad will I get punished). Studies show that certainty is a much bigger factor than severity. So, if you don't think you'll get caught, even if there is huge risk involved you may still commit the crime. Footballers don't think they'll really get caught because they are SUPERDUPER stars(and unfortunately they are mostly right) so they are more likely to chance it.

So the key to the change is a culture shift. We need togets these players who lack structure and feel like they can live without consequence to live differently and view life differently. I think a longer mandatory offseason program is a start. I think the NFL could be running a 3-4 month mandatory habitat for humanity type deal, where players are actually out there helping the community in the offseason. Finally, players who break these rules need to be held accountable, EVERY TIME. Its needs to be a big enough punishment to matter, but mostly there just needs to be massive accountability.

I really think you could create a 10 month or so structured "work year" without increasing the length of the season. How amazing would it be if part of the NFLs image and part of the player's JOB was just to help the poor, or disabled or something? I know they do alot of this, but what if the next CBA actually had NFL run comunity service built into it? Think of how great the structure would be, think of how great it would be for their image. It wouldn't be long till most people had been helped, or someone they knew had been helped in some way by the NFL. Think what that does to foster fan support. I don't know, maybe thats stupid. But a man can dream can't he? A man can dream :D