Now I know that NFL players aren’t guaranteed the same salaries as NBA players, but they are still pretty well off once they get that contract solidified. Plaxico Burress is one of those receivers who got his contract 3 months ago. I don’t remember the particulars but I know he’s making more than 5 million a year for playing a sport he supposedly loves and is good at. He won a Superbowl last year, he caught the winning catch, he’s a threat on the field, and I think the guy is cool. Missing practice to take your son to school? Not really buying that but ok. Yelling at the coach during the game? Shows intensity but sort of ignorant, we’ll let you slide Plax. Carrying a gun because fellow league wide receiver Steve Smith got robbed days before you hit the club? Ehh I’m not going to call that a brighter move than maybe having some sort of security person but when you decide to bring it in the club and shoot yourself with it well I know I’m not alone in thinking you’re just a damn fool.
Where are the friends or teammates to say to these people? “Hey man, umm we kinda make enough money to hire a nanny and maybe even a bodyguard just for when we go out.” Politicians roll with security sometimes, so do rappers, shit even porno stars do it. It’s ok. Is street credibility that important that football players have to be ignorant too? Are Plaxico and Pacman Jones working on rap albums? You just want to test the Mike Vick theory huh? Will they really throw me in jail or will the league have my back? Well the Commissioner of the NFL called the mayor like “If you want the Negro just let us know, Superbowl ring or not.”
And if you’re rich and you have a gun, yes Plaxico having a million dollars in your bank account makes you rich in some cases; well then register the damn weapon. What are you slinging rocks during the off-season? You got beef with the Bloods? What the fuck? At least Stephon Marbury isn’t shooting himself and he’s from Brooklyn. Steph got robbed Mr. Burress and he still makes 21 million a year. Now of course his interviews and commentary are the funniest things on earth so maybe he deserves that for all those missed classes back at Lincoln High School and Georgia Tech but that’s not the point.
I used to think athletes were overpaid. Mostly because we use the word “play” and we don’t realize how much work goes into preparation for the game and how much wear and tear affects their bodies from the sport and the travel. And with the amount of money generated by the league and the owners from merchandising to advertising to fan attendance the bread that the athletes make really seems like pennies. So while we’re sitting home complaining that “So and so” is a big baby and he should just shut up and play, usually that guy just figured out he’s being pimped and could care less about the fans and he realizes sports like so many other things, is a business. He might have just had to move his whole family from city to city, sleep in hotels every other night, jump on planes every few days, become a public figure, sleep with different women just to stay sane and maybe even get robbed a few times all while playing the sport he loves. Is it me or is that not better than your job? Or are we ever really satisfied?
I KNOW I’m not alone on this one because I’ve gotten questioned about it in a few interviews. Well let me back up and say I listened to Kanye’s new album this weekend and there are songs that I love on there. The lyrics, the passion and just the overall idea of him singing and going thru something and being able to vent thru music is miraculous. How-the hell-ever, why Autotunes, the vocoder or whatever it’s called must costar on the entire CD is beyond me. Duke sounded good on “Spaceship,” he sung on “Addiction” and no one was mad. Now he has to T-Pain everything and Wayne hasn’t used his real voice since the Carter 3 dropped. They asked me in an interview if rappers are just copycats. We’ve always been copycats, someone puts a cool gold bottle in a video, we gon get it, someone uses R&B guy for a chorus, go find R&B guy. That effect on his voice got him on radio all day, well shit where can I get that effect? When does it stop though? It stops the same way Throwbacks did, when someone with enough clout steps up and changes things. Or maybe radio DJs might just figure Ron Browz is the last straw. I know we all 2-stepped to “Pop Champagne” but I think it should be last call at the bar for Autotunes. I thought it was funny when 50 did it, interesting when Kanye did it on Jeezy’s song and when Wayne used the vocoder on every verse in the last few months I got worried that this may be the new standard. Or this could be something we’ll all sit back and laugh at in a few years. I’m a Kanye fan, so I hope he gets through it all and like I said I enjoy some of the songs on the album a whole lot. I did see him on Conan O’Brien and I know its tough to sing live with an effect or not. I also knows he’s a fashion guru that may be responsible for setting off this Arab scarf thing but I’m just glad the open shirt, hairy chest thing didn’t catch. Could be just me though.
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