The Manning, The Mything, The Legend that resides in a magical arm who almost lost to a twisted neck

5 years at $96 MILLION for a guy who just missed over a year of football, PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL, had 1 "minor" neck surgery followed by 2 more "simple" surgeries to do what the first one was supposed to do, then after dealing with the mental hurdle of the entire situation, getting past what could become several different psychological issues, rehab for months and months...


ESPN.COM STORY LINK 



.and that was all BEFORE even picking up a football, then more rehab and training to build back strength etc, then more emotional baggage of the will they/won't they when Colts decided to drag out the decision to the last possible moment before cutting ties with the most important figure in the history of the team, now dealing with the team you've hung in with for your ENTIRE career and who you planned on retiring with, the team that would have swore on a stack of bibles that they would NEVER LET YOU GO SOMEWHERE ELSE, LET ALONE RELEASE YOU if they were asked just 24 months ago, abandoning you and having to find a new team to play the rest of your career with, and figure out who has the best chance to get your a superbowl all the while trying not to be on a team that competes with your brothers giants unless you meet in the big one....... 


So......would you give the man $96 mil based on his impeccable track record before this whole "neck thingie"  or would you figure something else out whether it be another QB, Manning for less money and years or Tebow? If your the Denver decision maker, whats your move?>>>

Aftering finally quieting the naysayers a freakish but all too common play ends flashy rookie Ricky Rubio's season

Rubio came to the NBA after playing on one of the premier club teams in Spain who was a championship contender year after year with a team filled with quality veterans. Many said that Rubio needed more work before coming to play in the league after he seemingly regressed if you looked at his statistics on paper. Many said that he needed A LOT of work, muscle development and time to simpily grow up before stepping on the court with guys like 6'8" 240LBS small forward Lebron James and 6'11" and built like a greek statue made of solid rock Dwight Howard.

ESPN.com Player Profile-Ricky Rubio
 Those were the kind of guys that would be meeting Rubio at the rim and how many seriously thought that a guy averaging 2nd man off the bench minutes, barley over 5 pts in those minutes in the SPANISH LEAGUE could even earn court time in THE LEAGUE?
Ricky Rubio is listed at 6'4" and 180lbs in the espn player profile which like the team player profile is sent in by the manager/assistant etc I believe. (at least that how it's done at the lower levels) Basically that means that those numbers get expanded or decreased based on what the player and team want.  Who wants to be listed at 5'11" when they can say they are 6'1", and after the offseason that flew by filled with parties and late nights out with friends had your weight balloon up to 225. That's easy, by opening night you'll have worked off that big mac filled backside, we'll just list him at his playing weight of 190.


What makes this disheartening for both Rubio and Timberwolves fans is he has not only played extremely well all things considered this season, improving week by week and even winning a starting job but this was finally a sign the team was moving in the right direction again for the first time since trading superstar Kevin Garnett. They resigned big-man and all-star Kevin Love to a multi-year deal and have their point guard of the future to go with last years player that was drafted early in the first round Williams and this year again will be picking up someone early and the draft is much much deeper. Things are finally going in the right direction for Minnesota fans before this so I hope its just a speed bump on the road back to relevance, they have waited long enough.






ESPN.com Rubio Article

Guess who said WHAT? "I really do want to play here.....as long as you pay me just $1 more then everyone else. I just want to make as much as I can."

Yardbarker.com Article link here  by Kris Hughes 

 Personally, i'm not surprised at all after hearing that Marlins President David Samson took the first chance he had, (publicly at least) to alienate not only the people that are his naysayers but also his allies.  Some were calling the move to Miami with a publicly funded brand new ballpark a fresh start....what better way to start fresh then to re-open floridians memories of the old Marlins team then with the brash, arrogant, self-rightous, president of that team standing front and center letting those fans that are paying for that field with their tax dollars know that basically he is going to be getting paid whether anyone comes or not.

This is probably the last chance that Reyes has at a big contract in his career, it's the first real free agent opprotunity he's had. Why shouldn't he make as much as he should? I haven't heard any rumors about Samson donating his salary to local charities in need or spending long nights at the homeless shelter after he finishes up his days at the yacht club, have you? No, I don't like hearing stories about athletes and the ridiculous contracts that they sign today and they will continue to sign year after year, it's the nature of the beast. I want to plug my ears and close my eyes and just pretend that there are still some guys that really just play because they enjoy baseball that much, they donate half of the outlandish amount they receive to a battered womens shelter and then they live with their parents in the off-season so they can cut back on their carbon footprint....or something happy sounding like that.