Friday, December 5, 2008

Post-script to "FSC-Eli,QB, Part I"

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Drugmonkey and Scribbler50 make a good point about John Elway, way back in 1983, pulling the same stunt as Eli did.
I think there are a couple of important differences. Before I go further, let me clearly say that
(1)I didn't respect Elway for doing that and for a long time derived major Schadenfraude at his getting his ass handed to him SuperBowl after SuperBowl, and
(2) I am not familiar with the backstory, actually even the story, of what transpired with Elway. So if I'm wrong, my apologies and please set me straight.

Firstly, and this is a subtle point, I don't believe Elway chose any particular team. He just didn't want to play east of the Rockies or whatever. He is still an asshole for making that demand, but I don't know whether one particular team got railroaded to the specific benefit of another, directly by Elway's demand, in quite the same fashion as happened in Chargers v Giants. In principle therefore, more teams than just the Broncos (heck, any west coast team) could have tried to make a deal for Elway if they so desired. With Eli, it was Giants or bust; he hand-picked his fucking team and got away with it.

Secondly, and this I'm pretty sure about, there was effectively very little free-agency in the NFL till 1992 or so. Prior to '92, teams had to compensate other teams for signing their players as free agents, and the compensation was proportional to the money you paid the player as a free agent----so basically the cost to sign players as free agents was enormous. Free agency was effectively not very prevalent----meaning that if a team drafted you , you were probably in for indentured servitude with them. So the stakes were a bit different.
Still, that was deal for all the players then, so Elway was still a dick for making special demands.

Eli is not living in those dark ages. He could have gotten restricted free agency after 3 years and full free agency after 4. So he is, I think, a much bigger asshole than Elway was, inasmuch as we agree that both of them were assholes.

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14 comments:

Ospinionated said...

Again, as much as I like Eli Manning as a QB and as a Giants fan, I cannot for one second try to dispute this.

While I think the free agent angle is absolutely relevant in comparing Elway v. Eli, I think both situations are incredibly selfish, and threaten the integrity of the NFL draft.

Not to say that anything will make me question the integrity of the NFL Draft more than that greased up asshat Mel Kiper, Jr., but you know what I mean.

Anonymoustache said...

Thanks for the comments Improp.
As for Kiper, whether you like him or not, he does a ton of research and knows his shit inside-out. In an era where ESPN has morphed into a collection of bubble-headed pretty-boys reading off a teleprompter and panels of wannabes and has-beens sitting around farting through their mouths, Kiper is one the few who actually seem to know stuff. Problem is, smart people like him, Mort etc have gotten so overexposed by ESPN (Thanks Disney, for completely fucking up what used to be a great sports network!) that I guess even they are painful to listen to anymore.

Ospinionated said...

Oh I don't disagree there.

He's a tremendous authority, but boy does he just make me want to gouge my eyes out with a frozen spork.

Plus, he just looks sleazy. Not like Hank Goldberg sleazy, but more like a Jim Rome sleazy.

Anonymoustache said...

Dude,
I love the sleazy references. You should come up with a "Sleazy scale" with all these cats on it(a la Maddox, who a couple of years ago came up with the ugly scale which ranged from 'not ugly' all the way to 'gary busey')

Ospinionated said...

Well, being as it is Friday, I think that seems like a pretty good homework assignment for the weekend. It'll be Impropped.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymoustache said...
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Anonymous said...
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Anonymoustache said...

I realized that someone was posting stuff pretending to be BikeMonkey or BM or DM. The non-hyperlinked handles should have been a clue but I caught on a bit late.
I'll tolerate virtually any comment, but can't tolerate someone deliberately misleading people as to the source of the comment.

Anonymous said...

Stache:
I wanted to talk some football but didn't want to leave it on your most recent post which obviously had nothing to do with football. So I hope you get this.

Plain and simple, wasn't the Steeler defense flat-out, kick-ass fucking stellar yesterday? Jesus, even with our anemic offense (which has to regain a running game that is not likely to show up against the Ravens) we're hanging around in games we shouldn't be in. And because of this defense we're somehow pulling these games out. I've been watching the Pgh. Steelers for a pretty long time and I haven't seen this kind of dominance (Greg Lloyd's and Woodson's team inclusive) since the Mean Joe Greene, Jack Lambert era. And that's sayin' something.

But defense aside, (which I can hardly put aside) I truly thought yesterday's mess was a win in the books for the 'Boys and until Ben did what I was just telling a customer the other night Ben is capable of doing... let all that went on before roll right off his back and put together a terrific final drive. Which started of course before that drive with that long third down throw to Santonio Holmes. This a quality Ben possesses, in addition to his obvious talent, that is invaluable... he doesn't let shit get to him no matter how much of a part he played in the shit. I think I heard this was like the seventeenth time he's done a comeback when either tied or behind in the fourth quarter. It's a shame that it has to come to that but when it happens the man can respond. (A-hem) Perhaps shades of one of the guys we've been bashing on this post.

Anyway, unlike previous weeks I assume you got to see the game so if you feel like it I'd like to hear your take on it.
Best,
Scribbler

Anonymoustache said...

Scrib50;
I did see most of the game, and yes, this D is one for the ages. Instead of commenting a bunch here, I just turned my NFL musings post into a Stillah post today. Enjoy!

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