Should holding out be illegal?

[EBondo 233]

Well, I'm sure we have all heard about the Terrell Owens saga by now. This brings up an idea for a poll. Should holding out due to contract disputes be illegal?

My choice? Yes. Terrell Owens is getting paid 49 million dollars, and he can't feed his family? Total B.S.. I am at the point where I am ready to go to his house, and personally say shut up and play. With all the holdouts for this NFL Season (i.e. T.O., Jevon Walker, Antonio Gates, etc), it's stuff like this that just goes to prove how spolied and greedy professional sports players. My family makes under 100K a year, but we can still feed our family. T.O. makes multi-millions playing 16 football games a year, and he can't feed his family? B.S. again.

Just my 2 cents. What do you guys think...

[Miike 1]

I couldnt agree more than you on that one. It was pretty much the same in the NHL. They went over to Europe to play and made like 1-2 mil tops! Yet they wouldnt play here for 5-6 mil! Whats wrong with that!

But about T.O. he is a cocky son of a ..... He thinks he's all that, he thinks he the king of the NFL. Needless to say my family aswell makes under 100k a year, and we fair out fine. He makes millions and still thats not enough.

I remember on SC how they always said how T.O carried the Eagles to the superbowl, which was the only reason to get him. He didnt do squat! The Eagles got there without him.

If i was Andy Reid i'd trade him, or let him go. I wouldnt have time for his ego around my training camp.

[EBondo 233]

Trade him, you could get somebody good for him...but I have some words I'd like to say about T.O. but they are deemed inappropiate for this board, so in my mind they stay...

[QandA 0]

You know, back when your a kid, and you get called to the principles office, and your blaming every person in the world but yourself, and acting real childish, well that interview he had about the 'reason he was sent home' reminded me so much of that.

[mack 44]

I doubt anyone will make an offer for TO, but if they do I'm sure it will be a lowball offer since the Eagles are tied up with it and who wants that trash on their team?

That said, holding out shouldn't be illegal because they can simply not pay the player.

[Sniper15 0]

TO is a sack of, I think everyone knows what, but you can't make holding out illegal.

[sweetblazer 0]

Why do you all hate T.O. personally I think he's great. First he is cocky,arrogant etc. but, like JR said it doesn't mean he's a bad person. And furthermore its not like freddie mitchell where hes cocky for no reason, he has some serious skill. Concerning the money situation as much as I think palyers are over paid I feel like if there going to be over paid it maya swell be handled fairly. Now I don't agree with the feeding family comments, not respecting his contract etc. but I can see his stand point. he wants to make the same amount of money as his equals,like Randy Moss etc.

Basically I dont agree at all with the holdout but as a person I dont understand why everyone dislikes him.

[Chadd 916]

I dislike Owens because of his constant need to disparage everyone else. Everything bad that happens is the fault of others, yet he takes credit for anything good that happens. He's acting like a spoiled. petulant child.

[Jason Harris 31]

There's nothing illegal in what he's doing -- just low in integrity.

I've read hundreds of times when an athlete wanted more money because he was outperforming the contract he signed. But I don't know too many times when the athlete said the team should pay him less because he didn't earn the money.

Bird walked away from two years at $14M each due to injury, whereas most athletes want a buyout. Lymon Bostock of the California Angels wasn't living up to his free agent contract around 1982. He offered to give some back but, if I remember correctly, he wasn't allowed to so I think he gave the money to charity.

I read that Teddy Ballgame was unhappy with his second-to-last season, so he asked the Red Sox to give him a 25% pay cut.

[hockechamp14 0]

I only dislike owens because he knows that he keeps the media tied up in knots. He knows that he's a team cancer because of how he attracts so much attention.

[EBondo 233]

I only dislike Owens for how childish he's been acting lately. It makes me mad, and it's getting every one else on the team frustrated to. Knowing that say Hugh Douglas is walking off the field and a reporter comes up to him and asks, "what's your opinion on the T.O. situation?" He has nothing to do with it, leave it to Terrell and Drew Rosenhaus to solve with Joe Banner and Andy Reid. Leave Donovan McNabb and everyone else out of it, they have NOTHING to do with it. It all has to do with T.O./Rosenhaus and Joe Banner/Andy Reid...shut up and play!

[Kirsch 1]

Sorry guys, my life as of late has been soaking up NFL news from multiple different sources... and some of what's being said here... well it's somewhat misguided.

While I hate TO as much as the next guy, his argument isn't that he "can't feed the family." If you look at his stats he was arguably the number 1 Wide reciever in the league, but if you look at his $49million contract over how many ever years, he's not even in the top 10 of best paid wide outs. So what he is saying is that he should be paid at that level.

As far as trading him, the only other team that wanted him the first time around were the Ravens, and we know how that worked out. Teams don't want that kind of a head case on their team. At this point the Eagles are saying that if he doesn't show up for practice Wednesday (after his week "dismissal") he will be sat out, and could end up like Keyshawn Johnson and just be benched for the season.

Now that that's cleared up, who saw the two interviews he had on Thursday. First on PTI and then during half-time of the Packers game. Both times he showed up with his agent. I can't stand Rosenhaus. What an asshole. You'd think they would use those appearences to get some good PR but they just keep shotting themselves in the foot.

Whatever, like I said, I can't stand him, and since I'm not an Eagles fan or an owner of him on one of my fantasy teams, I don't really care.

[Chadd 916]

As much as I dislike his agent, it's Owens making the decisions in this case. If Owens negotiated a better deal when he was signed by the Eagles to an extension and got a very significant raise. If he would have duplicated his numbers and been a key part of the team, they would be much more likely to give him more money.

Going public with his demands, threatening to be a problem in camp and then following through is just bullshit. I would love to see the Eagles suspend him and let him rot without ever playing again. Remember, he belongs to them for another 6 years according to a contract he signed last year.

[AtlantaThrashers01 0]

When i watch the stuff that TOs doing it makes me laugh....like when he was at home and working out....why do reports have to be there, in his face, what next...a reality TV show of him? In my opnion i dont agree with the ppl that say TOs being greedy. Ill give you an example...say you work at mcdonalds and are the best book or w.e there, wouldnt u wanna be paid more? He is the best, so why wouldnt he wanna get paid the most? We all want more money dont we? And how do you kno what hes gonna do with that money, mabey donate it? I bet most ppl havnt even donated more then 10$ in their liftime. I garentee hes worked so hard to get were he is that he should be getting paid that mabey even more. We all wanna be paid more.

[Thockey17 1]

i dont agree with the ppl that say TOs being greedy.

Newsflash! He is if he wants more money then hes already getting.

Ill give you an example...say you work at mcdonalds and are the best book or w.e there, wouldnt u wanna be paid more?

You dont take a job in McDonalds expecting to make lots of money to begin with.

And how do you kno what hes gonna do with that money, mabey donate it?

Hmmm, maybe he'll buy some more cars to customize? Perhaps another mansion that he wont even use?

I bet most ppl havnt even donated more then 10$ in their liftime.

$10 donation is next to nothing to donate. If you havent donated $10 worth of anything, you have serious problems.

I garentee hes worked so hard to get were he is that he should be getting paid that mabey even more.

Worked so hard? What about kids graduating college with over 6 digit loans to pay off? They step out into the "real world" and if they're lucky will make around $50,000. Im sure most of those kids will work much harder than TO will ever have to just to pay off school loans.

[EBondo 233]

When i watch the stuff that TOs doing it makes me laugh....like when he was at home and working out....why do reports have to be there, in his face, what next...a reality TV show of him? In my opnion i dont agree with the ppl that say TOs being greedy

T.O.'s rant is the biggest talked about sports story in the country right now. So why the reporters? My frist statement proves right. You don't think T.O.'s being greedy? When you're getting paid 49 million dollars in seven years to play 16 football games, I think you're set for life after your first contract. When T.O. comes in and says he deserves to be paid more? Bullshit, he also got hurt last year, remember? He makes up bullshit lies and it just ticks my off. Sorry for the language but it is how I feel...

[AtlantaThrashers01 0]

im saying....if you were playing in the NHL and u were the one of the best in the game....wouldnt you want more money? we all want more money, the harder we work, the better we are, the more we get paid its as simple as that. If someone on this board would rather have a 7$ hr salary then a 10$ salary then thats crazy because id go for the more i can get...

[Eazy_b97 1]

But if you were on a team, everyones signed, your getting paid an awful lot of money, and there is a limit on how much you can have, would if effect your opinion? It's a slap in the face to the people on his team because he is turning his back on them and also trying to take their money.

[EBondo 233]

okay...would you rather have a 10 dollar an hour salary pickin up crap on the ground? or a 7 dollar an hour salary say working at a pro shop? would you go for the 10 dollar one?

I totally agree with THockey17

[AtlantaThrashers01 0]

hell yea id got for the 10$ salary....works work. If it was called fun then id pick the sports shop but its called work so

[EBondo 233]

I think you're crazy. I would rather do something I love doing than something that's a bad job and I'd hate. Sure right now I hate my job landscaping, but I'll take it because it's all I can get. But if I was in that position, I'd take the lesser money for something I love.

Back on topic though...

[Eazy_b97 1]

hell yea id got for the 10$ salary....works work. If it was called fun then id pick the sports shop but its called work so

See, your just being ignorant. $7 and $10 is a big difference, but "its called work, so I'd take more" is a BS excuse.

Would you take $1000/hr to crawl around in crap as a lab rat, or would you rather settle for $999 and take pictures of nude female models all day long? I guess it'll be crawling around in crap for you, afterall, its called "work" right?

He isn't bitching about not being able to make a living, its not like he isn't one of the higher paid players in the league.

Holding out is a cowards way out, in most situations.

[AtlantaThrashers01 0]

a dollar goes a long way

[Jason Harris 31]

im saying....if you were playing in the NHL and u were the one of the best in the game....wouldnt you want more money? we all want more money, the harder we work, the better we are, the more we get paid its as simple as that. If someone on this board would rather have a 7$ hr salary then a 10$ salary then thats crazy because id go for the more i can get...

There is a point when it would be very difficult to spend all the money you could earn. If you reach that point, does it matter if you have $75M or $77M?

The obvious answer is "No, it doesn't matter," except their egos get in the way and one way they become competitive is they want to be the highest paid. And that mindset leads many of these guys to utter one of the dumbest lines of all time: "It's not about the money. It's about respect."

I'm starting to think these guys really believe that. If you showed me the respect for being the best player out there, you will pay me more than anyone else. Of course, too many of them don't seem to consider that they don't even like the city they're playing in, or the team has no chance to be competitive because they are top-heavy in salaries. But at least they were shown the utmost respect.

The point I'm making is we'd all like to be comfortable in life, but money isn't everything, especially when you already have more than enough.

[Jason Harris 31]

What gets tough, Theo, is when the team isn't competitive; then you can understand why some players might want to move on. I know Bourque considers himself a New Englander now, and from all I read it killed him to ask for the trade. Fortunately, it worked out wonderfully for him.