GP
Go Texans!
You heard me right.
At first I was angry that we sent him packing over a few million dollars.
Now that I look at it, though, there's going to be a big potential dose of praise for our team's ownership and front office when the dust settles and the emotions die down.
And here's why:
We ALL gripe about how up-and-coming players, especially the Reggie Bush-types of the league...the guys who get wayyyyyy too much for not playing a single down of NFL football yet...are getting in contract money.
Well, our organization just put the sportsworld on tilt and said, "This has got to stop. And it stops with us. We don't care if it is Jesus Jr. who is 8' 4" and runs a 2.5 40. We will not be held hostage by anybody, and we will even risk losing Jesus Jr. for the sake of our ethics, which says that we're interested in giving fair money to players on a true marketplace value system."
Hopefully this will create a ripple effect. We just witnessed a recent rift in the CBA, which potentially could have risked the value of the game we love and watch, but maybe this is the beginning of teams realizing that they need to put their foot down on contract hostage taking. I hope Bush is un-signable and the Saints offer him nearly what we offered him, or less.
Bush is in a tough spot now. He has always looked or tried to portray himself as "just interested in playing in the NFL...." Well, he not only DIDN'T get picked number 1...he also has to play in New Orleans where he will NOT be the "big deal" he would have been on about 30 other teams who could have drafted him. Nobody made a deal for him. Nobody. He sat there and heard his name called by a team he doesn't want to play for. Months and months of playing it cool abd just expecting that things would go his way had paved the way for his own heartbreak. And suddenly, he looked very worried and very sad on the stage holding a jersey he didn't want. It worked for Eli, but it bombed for Bush. The race card WILL be played, and it will be unfortunate.
In the end, we have an ownership dedicated to character: Character toward Capers who would have been gutted and thrown overboard on most other teams. Character toward David Carr, a guy who took a beating and kept getting up....kept encouraging his offensive line even when they couldn't stop the heat from coming on national television--Carr knew that they weren't fully responsible for the. Character toward Domanick Davis with a nice payday for exceeding expectations, for giving it all he had on every touch. Character to the fans by bringing in a guy who could mentor our Qb and offensive line. And finally, character toward Mario Williams who seems to have worked WITH our front office to become a Texans player.
Say that teams play smoke and mirrors with draft ploys all you want, it appears our team doesn't play that game. Or at least we didn't when we said we would sign Carr before we even drafted him, as well as with Willams in this year's draft. Nope. Seems we shoot pretty straight on doing what we say we will do.
And THAT might not win championships all by itself, but it makes me proud to be a fan of this team. Because I know at the end of the day I'm following a team with the best interests of EVERYBODY at heart. Al Davis and his "Just win, baby" mentality stands nowhere near the philosophy of our team. And I'm proud to be Texans fan today. I wanted Bush, but didn't get him. And it seems I ought to be thankful for that. Seeing all the flaming threads by people with 2 posts in their history, the type of posts that say they are embarassed to be from Houston...the posts that say the world is laughing at us...and the posts that say they want to sell their tickets because we passed on a certain guy....all of that needs to be firmly addressed, and quickly. I suspect it has by many fans already.
Thanks, Mr. McNair for bringing back pro football to Houston. Cheers to you.
At first I was angry that we sent him packing over a few million dollars.
Now that I look at it, though, there's going to be a big potential dose of praise for our team's ownership and front office when the dust settles and the emotions die down.
And here's why:
We ALL gripe about how up-and-coming players, especially the Reggie Bush-types of the league...the guys who get wayyyyyy too much for not playing a single down of NFL football yet...are getting in contract money.
Well, our organization just put the sportsworld on tilt and said, "This has got to stop. And it stops with us. We don't care if it is Jesus Jr. who is 8' 4" and runs a 2.5 40. We will not be held hostage by anybody, and we will even risk losing Jesus Jr. for the sake of our ethics, which says that we're interested in giving fair money to players on a true marketplace value system."
Hopefully this will create a ripple effect. We just witnessed a recent rift in the CBA, which potentially could have risked the value of the game we love and watch, but maybe this is the beginning of teams realizing that they need to put their foot down on contract hostage taking. I hope Bush is un-signable and the Saints offer him nearly what we offered him, or less.
Bush is in a tough spot now. He has always looked or tried to portray himself as "just interested in playing in the NFL...." Well, he not only DIDN'T get picked number 1...he also has to play in New Orleans where he will NOT be the "big deal" he would have been on about 30 other teams who could have drafted him. Nobody made a deal for him. Nobody. He sat there and heard his name called by a team he doesn't want to play for. Months and months of playing it cool abd just expecting that things would go his way had paved the way for his own heartbreak. And suddenly, he looked very worried and very sad on the stage holding a jersey he didn't want. It worked for Eli, but it bombed for Bush. The race card WILL be played, and it will be unfortunate.
In the end, we have an ownership dedicated to character: Character toward Capers who would have been gutted and thrown overboard on most other teams. Character toward David Carr, a guy who took a beating and kept getting up....kept encouraging his offensive line even when they couldn't stop the heat from coming on national television--Carr knew that they weren't fully responsible for the. Character toward Domanick Davis with a nice payday for exceeding expectations, for giving it all he had on every touch. Character to the fans by bringing in a guy who could mentor our Qb and offensive line. And finally, character toward Mario Williams who seems to have worked WITH our front office to become a Texans player.
Say that teams play smoke and mirrors with draft ploys all you want, it appears our team doesn't play that game. Or at least we didn't when we said we would sign Carr before we even drafted him, as well as with Willams in this year's draft. Nope. Seems we shoot pretty straight on doing what we say we will do.
And THAT might not win championships all by itself, but it makes me proud to be a fan of this team. Because I know at the end of the day I'm following a team with the best interests of EVERYBODY at heart. Al Davis and his "Just win, baby" mentality stands nowhere near the philosophy of our team. And I'm proud to be Texans fan today. I wanted Bush, but didn't get him. And it seems I ought to be thankful for that. Seeing all the flaming threads by people with 2 posts in their history, the type of posts that say they are embarassed to be from Houston...the posts that say the world is laughing at us...and the posts that say they want to sell their tickets because we passed on a certain guy....all of that needs to be firmly addressed, and quickly. I suspect it has by many fans already.
Thanks, Mr. McNair for bringing back pro football to Houston. Cheers to you.
