The High Court

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The Big Gavel-Holdout Etiquette

From the desk of The Chief Justice…

 

 

We always enjoy receiving feedback from our readers here at The High Court, whether it is good or bad (although we prefer good, in case you were wondering).  On Friday, I received an email from one of our most loyal readers, Harold Huston, suggesting that I had blown a golden opportunity to take a look at the difference in the behavior of a classy professional like Hines Ward, as opposed to the behavior of a petulant diva in Philadelphia.  Harold was concerned that I had lost such an opportunity because in my most recent contempt file on Thursday, I had banned the mention of the problem child in Philly, at least until there was something performance-related to report.  Well, fear not Mr. Huston, we will discuss proper holdout (also known as trying to obtain a more lucrative contract) etiquette, and we will do so without mentioning the name of Donovan McNabb’s new best friend.  I have turned to one of my closest friends, a former standout receiver at Lambuth University and a longtime high school football coach, Cliff Curd, for some assistance.

 

It took us several hours of intense discussion to come up with the list of rules for the proper etiquette of holding out of training camp.  And without further adieu, here is the list…

 

DON’T HOLD OUT!!!!! EVER!!!!

 

There.  That wasn’t so hard, was it?  I have no problem with Mr. Huston’s feelings about Hines Ward and his professional behavior concerning his holdout from Pittsburgh Steelers training camp.  Ward is a consummate professional and teammate.  He is regarded as one of the finest all-around receivers in the National Football League.  Ward is a fierce blocker, considered by many to be the best blocking wide receiver in the game.  He has sure hands and is completely fearless when going into traffic to make the difficult catch.  Ward’s teammates and coaches hold him in high regard.  He is one of the signature pieces (along with Jerome Bettis, Bill Cowher, and the Rooney family) of Pittsburgh’s beloved football team.  And he has handled his difficult contract situation in a manner as classy and professional as possible.  But he gets no slack here.  I certainly appreciate the kind of player he is, as well as the type of person he appears to be, but the fact of the matter is this:  A man making $1.66 million a year to play football for the Pittsburgh Steelers just missed fifteen days of work.  Fifteen.  How many of you could miss fifteen days of work without getting a pink slip two days in?  How many of Ward’s teammates, toiling through sweltering two-a-days, make less money than he does?  And they were at work, weren’t they.  He has a contract; he should be on the job.  And just what did his holdout gain him?  Nothing, yet.  He has been promised his new deal, but until he receives it, Ward is simply guilty of cheating the Steelers out of two weeks of work for no reason.

 

Ward, given his production and based on the salaries of other elite receivers in the NFL, IS underpaid (well, as underpaid as a man making $1.66 million a year can be).  His personal character and his situation remind me of another High Court favorite, Emmitt Smith. After helping the Cowboys to the 1992 Super Bowl title, Smith decided to hold out for a new contract during the 1993 training camp. This was not Smith’s first holdout, by the way.  He missed the entire preseason of his rookie year holding out for his four year, $5 million dollar deal, a deal that would not be good enough just three years later.  Smith would again miss the entire preseason, as well as the first two regular season games (both Cowboy losses), and he would finally draw a 4 year, $13.6 million dollar deal out of owner Jerry Jones.  Despite missing contests all the way into the regular season, Smith always acted with class and professionalism, just like Ward.  But I had to wonder, despite the fact that the Cowboys would go on to win another Super Bowl that year, had Emmitt lost some of the respect he had earned from Cowboy fans.

 

Enter my buddy Cliff.  A serious Cowboy fan (I think he still has posters of Danny White and Tony Dorsett hidden away somewhere…probably even a Gary Hogeboom…) since the late ‘70’s, Emmitt Smith has always been one of his favorites.  But he still remembers the sting of seeing Smith sit out, by his own choice, those regular season games.  “It just kills you.  Coming off a Super Bowl win with a young team, there’s just all of this excitement for the next season.  Then Emmitt decides to hold out and good feelings are just deflated.  You believe so much in a guy, and he just lets you down.  A move like that from a leader…well, its no leadership at all.  There were a lot of guys out there, like that great offensive line of his…guys making less money, guys that may be really underpaid, and those guys are out there sweating it out twice a day.  Look at a Bill Bates.  A guy that just lived to play football.  Would have played for nothing.”

 

Emmitt would redeem himself, of course.  His performance in the season finale that year against the Giants is still stuff of legend.  Playing with a separated shoulder, Smith ran for 168 yards and hauled in 10 passes for 61 yards in leading the Cowboys to a NFC East title-clinching win.  The Cowboys would then roll on to their second straight Super Bowl title.  But here’s the thing:  More than a decade later, one of his biggest fans still remembers the holdout and the selfish act that it was.  Smith wasn’t a selfish player, necessarily, but he committed a very selfish act.  And for Cliff Curd, an All-Mid South Conference selection as a wide receiver, a guy that played hurt more than once in his career for nothing, a guy that would have paid the Cowboys to play for them, Emmitt’s decision to sit out still resonates.  “I would have given anything to have pulled on that jersey.  I can’t imagine ever choosing not to play.  That is disrespectful to the game, to your teammates, to your coaches, and to the fans.”

 

We have Cliff’s take from the perspective of a player and a fan.  How about as a coach?  He has been coaching at one level or another (from middle school to the collegiate level) for over a decade.  So, Coach Curd, how would it feel to you to have classy Hines Ward missing all but the last week of training camp?  “Like a slap in the face.  There is no such thing as a classy holdout.”  And how about rookies, like the Titans’ first rounder, Pac-Man Jones?  “Don’t get me started.  Rookies?  Get in camp, learn the system.  You haven’t done anything in the NFL.  The franchise is already going to be paying you based on potential.  Not production.  How do we know you aren’t another Ryan Leaf?  Shut up and play football.”

 

Well…now we know that coaches aren’t any more fond of these holdouts than we are as fans.  And why should they be?  Coaches may work 12 to 16 hours (or 18-20 if Jon Gruden is to be believed) a day for eight to ten months a year trying to make the franchise successful and keep their own jobs.  Jobs, by the way, that sees them make far less than the stars of their teams.  How long do you think coaches would be around if they held out for a new deal?  Five seconds?  Ten?  You have coaches busting their butts trying to prepare a winning football team, only to see it sabotaged because somebody is unhappy because he’s only the 18^th best paid wide receiver…at $2.5 million dollars a year…how would you feel?

 

And you know, what’s funny to me is the fact that this is the NFL’s dirty little secret.  Yes, that’s right.  The NFL, most popular professional sports league in America, has a problem.  And it is called guaranteed money.  Guaranteed money, people will tell you, hurts baseball and basketball all the time.  Player performs well in a contract year.   Player gets paid big money.  Player gets fat and happy.  Player’s production falls off the table.  The NFL doesn’t want big-time guaranteed money in their league.  Why not?  Here’s why not:  If you start giving out long-term contracts full of guaranteed cash, it will be about five minutes before the NFL is the most highly-skilled, fast-paced game of touch football you ever saw.  And nobody wants that.  So they keep players hungry by forcing them to continue to perform to get paid.  And isn’t that a quaint concept?  Having to do your job well to keep getting your paycheck.  Sort of sounds like real life, doesn’t it?

 

That player who shall remain nameless in Philadelphia?  He has a seven year contract for 49 million dollars (and he isn’t technically a holdout...more like he’s holding the Eagles hostage).  Wow.  And that isn’t good enough?  Let me tell you why.  Guaranteed money.  There isn’t enough of it to keep the diva happy.  In fact, the base salary for his contract will only pay him (only, yeah right) $3.25 million this season.  The contract, in total, only guarantees him $9.2 million dollars (Some have suggested that he would calm down if the Eagles would promise him his 2006 roster bonus of $7.5 million).  It isn’t like a Major League Baseball deal, where all $49 million would be guaranteed.  And Torry Holt gets 12.5 million guaranteed.  Randy Moss gets $18 million.  Marvin Harrison $23 million.  So now we know why Andy Reid’s worst nightmare wants another contract.  And it isn’t all money.  Can you say ego?

 

So let’s bottom line it here (cause this is about showing you the money, right?).  The bottom line is… holdouts are all about the bottom line.  MY bottom line.  Not yours.  Not any of my teammates.  Not the organization.  Not the fans.  MINE.  PAY ME.  That is why I am holding out.  The holdout is, in my opinion, one of the most selfish acts in all of professional sports.  It doesn’t matter if you take the high road.  It doesn’t matter if you don’t play dirty in the press.  It doesn’t matter if you come back to come and apologize to all of your teammates individually.  What matters is this:  You left your post for fifteen days when you already had a contract you signed in good faith.  I am sorry Hines, and I know you aren’t a selfish player, but that is a selfish act.

 

In the end, as the gavel swings, the way Ward handled his holdout simply looks better.  It sounds better, and it reads better.  But the way he handled it is more about the kind of person he is (versus the kind of person the egomaniac in Philly is…remember he causes trouble when all is right in his world).  It is not proof that there is some justifiable reason to stage a holdout or that there is some right way to do it.  I am rarely ever willing to side with owners against players, but let’s face it; we have to have some understanding of who signs the checks.  If you willingly sign a contract, then you should honor it.  Or you should be willing to give money back when your production drops.  Coach Curd raises an excellent point when he suggests that these guys should all be playing on one-year contracts, especially if they are so concerned about being paid based on their most recent production.  But we all know that neither they, nor they owners would ever go for that.  It makes too much sense.

 

Hines Ward is guilty of the same thing that #81 in Philly is guilty of, which is being selfish.  And of course I understand his desire for a new contract.  I just prefer to see him earning it on the field.  What we can say about Ward is this:  He knows the difference between right and wrong.  And he is ready to play some football.  You let me know when #81 grows up and gets there, too…maybe we can mention his name again at The High Court.

 

Court is adjourned.

 

(Inspiration provided by the Hac-Man, Loyal St. Louis Cardinal fan)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chief Justice prefers class to crass, but he would rather see Hines Ward continue to earn his money on the football field.  And so would Pittsburgh Steelers fans.  (nfl.com)