When I was in high school, we were required to do 150 hours of community service. As the kind, thoughtful youth that I was - I did nothing but bitch about it. How exactly can it be volunteer work if we were required to do it?
I was a punk then (and some might argue I still am), but I had a point. It ain't voluntary if it's mandatory.
So when NFL teams opened up for Organized Team Activities this week, I was quite surprised about the headlines. It was front page news that guys like Andre Johnson, Chris Johnson, Matt Roth, D'Qwell Jackson and Rashean Mathis were "holding out". It rekindled the high-school student within me.
Aren't these voluntary workouts?
Coaches seethe when guys miss these things. Some understand it's just business, but there are others who take on the personality of a high-school gym coach, like Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio.
"We had one guy [Mathis] who decided not to be here today. We're all free to make choices. In the end, our choices lead to consequences. I'm not happy with it. I don't support it."
Please. Mathis better watch out, Del Rio is going to give him detention and call his mother. And he won't let him go to prom either.
Granted, not every team is as pissed about their players staying away. But they don't like it. And I don't like it that they don't like it. Which means they probably don't like it that I don't like it that they don't like it. Anyway...
I can't blame teams (and fans) for wanting their players to be in the best condition as possible, and for these players to be as good as they can. But it's not 1975, where guys would stop working out when it wasn't training camp. Players train 12 months out of the year, whether it's with the team or not. They'll lift weights and run whether they have to or not.
So as long as these activities aren't required, coaches need to stop bitching about guys who aren't there. It's a system that is patently unfair, particularly for guys at the bottom of the roster. If anyone who is on the roster bubble decides to cut out, they'll be just that - cut.
Hopefully, the next collective bargaining agreement calls these things are just called what they really are - more mandatory practices.
I was a punk then (and some might argue I still am), but I had a point. It ain't voluntary if it's mandatory.
Aren't these voluntary workouts?
Coaches seethe when guys miss these things. Some understand it's just business, but there are others who take on the personality of a high-school gym coach, like Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio.
"We had one guy [Mathis] who decided not to be here today. We're all free to make choices. In the end, our choices lead to consequences. I'm not happy with it. I don't support it."
Granted, not every team is as pissed about their players staying away. But they don't like it. And I don't like it that they don't like it. Which means they probably don't like it that I don't like it that they don't like it. Anyway...
I can't blame teams (and fans) for wanting their players to be in the best condition as possible, and for these players to be as good as they can. But it's not 1975, where guys would stop working out when it wasn't training camp. Players train 12 months out of the year, whether it's with the team or not. They'll lift weights and run whether they have to or not.
So as long as these activities aren't required, coaches need to stop bitching about guys who aren't there. It's a system that is patently unfair, particularly for guys at the bottom of the roster. If anyone who is on the roster bubble decides to cut out, they'll be just that - cut.
Hopefully, the next collective bargaining agreement calls these things are just called what they really are - more mandatory practices.
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