Let's please let 'voluntary' mean voluntary

[Nas]

Good read...

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/51935/lets-please-let-voluntary-mean-voluntary

 

HILADELPHIA -- It's an ugly, undignified rite of NFL spring, this taking of attendance at voluntary workouts, and it really needs to stop.

 

Last week, New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin expressed his frustration over the absence of star wide receiver Hakeem Nicks from the team's voluntary OTAs. Coughlin said Nicks had told him he'd bet there and hadn't called to explain why he wasn't. Coughlin said he understood these are the rules, but made it clear he doesn't feel the coach has to like it.

 

 

[+] Enlarge

Al Bello/Getty ImagesTom Coughlin was critical of receiver Hakeem Nicks for not showing up at voluntary OTAs.

Down here in Philadelphia, new cornerback Cary Williams missed a big chunk of the voluntary offseason program for a variety of reasons. He got married. His daughter had a dance recital. He had to pick out sconces for his new house. The reasons for his absence subjected Williams to a high level of ridicule from Eagles fans who believed he should be working out with and getting to know his new teammates and coaches. Williams was perplexed by the fuss.

 

"I mean ... fans ... I love you, but jeez," Williams said after Tuesday's mandatory minicamp practice. "If I had three kids with three different women, and if I was a womanizer, you all would be reporting that. But now I'm a guy who wants to see his little girl's recital and I'm a bad guy? Come on."

 

Look, I know I'm not an NFL coach or an NFL fan, but to me Williams sounds like the voice of reason and Coughlin sounds like the cranky old man who wants everybody off his lawn. Words have meaning, and the word "voluntary" means of one's own will and without outside interference. Translated for purposes of this discussion, that means that neither Nicks nor Williams nor any other player in the league has to attend voluntary OTAs or tell his coach, teammates or anyone on the planet why he didn't. This is their right as human beings and as NFL players, and no amount of conventional meathead wisdom changes that. None.

 

The fact that almost everyone else on the team is there practicing doesn't change it. The fact that they make a lot of money and play a game for a living doesn't change it. The fact that coaches and fans prefer players who go above and beyond what's required of them doesn't change it. Nothing does. Every single defense of Coughlin's rant about Nicks is unjustified. Every single bit of scorn directed at Williams for staying home is just another example of the NFL establishment insisting on treating the players like something less than human beings. And it needs to stop.

 

People constantly ask what the players actually got in the most recent collective bargaining negotiations. The salary cap hasn't gone up, and big contracts for veterans aren't any easier to come by than they were in the old system. A rookie salary cap depresses the earning potential of the highest draft picks, and the discipline process is still the domain of the commissioner, with the players in possession of little recourse. But a big part of the answer to "what did the players get?" is a reduction in the amount of work required of them in the offseason -- more time to heal and rest and live their lives outside of football, which is their workplace. The players' union believed this to be a quality-of-life issue that would affect the entirety of its membership, whereas an increased say in discipline matters would have affected only the few who get into trouble. The players wanted this and got it in exchange for their own concessions, and they have every right to take advantage of it without worrying what their fans or their coaches think.

 

Coughlin is out of line and should be told by the league (or at least the NFLPA) to cut it out. Eagles coach Chip Kelly has been careful not to say anything that might be construed as critical of players who stayed away from voluntary work, and that's smart. But those who made fun of Williams for going to his daughter's dance recital are out of line as well. Kudos to him for coming out Tuesday and asking this football-crazed world where exactly the emperor's clothes are in all of this. Kudos for him for wanting to be a present father and husband. He didn't go with his former Ravens teammates to the White House on Wednesday, because the Eagles' practice that day was mandatory. He understands the difference between what's required of him and what's simply available to him, and more importantly he understands the importance of having some level of sane balance in his life.

 

These guys aren't just characters who appear on a weekly TV show on Sundays in the fall. They're human beings. The job they do is brutally tough, exhausting, even crippling, and they do it for our enjoyment. They subject their bodies to pain and exhaustion and breakage from late July through December. And while yes, they are well compensated for that effort, they are putting it forth under an agreement that specifically allows them to live their lives the way they want to live them away from the football field in May and June. They should be allowed to do so without their bosses or their fans making them feel as though they're not living up to their end of the bargain.

[Sephiroth]

How long does it take a player to pick up a cell phone and text "not gonna make it Personal reasons"

 

As I understand it, Coughlin isn't upset they're not there, he's mad that Nicks SAID he'd be there and didn't show up anyway. Coaches have families, lives, recitals, etc. that they give up time for as well with the expectation of certain people participating in these things. I don't blame the coaches and other players for being angry when someone can't pick up a phone to say they're not gonna make it.

[Virginia Giant]

I wish my job allowed me to be off from January to June with only voluntary work for a few weeks in between.

 

I get these guys have families and other responsibilities and OTA's are officially voluntary, but they are making a lot of money so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect they take every opportunity to work out as a team.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

This is what I posted in a similar thread...listen the union negotiated and gave up a lot...they want these guys to have a semblance of a human life. The league agreed to this...if they are not voluntary call them something else then...but for now this is a negotiated process that the league agreed to. So next contract give them more money (or less) and lock them out ....negotiate and/or whatever to make them mandatory workouts. Its funny how people see the money the athletes are making millions (some of them) but never look at the poor poor owners making tens to hundreds of millions which in turn make more millions. Football is a brutal sport where today's superstar is one mishap away from having a career ending injury and/or not being able to walk correctly in their fifties. Nicks was stupid in my opinion for lying if that is what he did. If Cheer Leader called me up or out... I would say ... "well in the dictionaries I have come across voluntary means that adults get to choose what their actions will be...maybe the coach has another definition...I will go with the most commonly held one...".

[MattMeyerBUD]

How long does it take a player to pick up a cell phone and text "not gonna make it Personal reasons"

 

As I understand it, Coughlin isn't upset they're not there, he's mad that Nicks SAID he'd be there and didn't show up anyway. Coaches have families, lives, recitals, etc. that they give up time for as well with the expectation of certain people participating in these things. I don't blame the coaches and other players for being angry when someone can't pick up a phone to say they're not gonna make it.

 

It's further come out that Nicks did infant tell them. And infact, I got a connection to Nicks who told me he did tell them as well. Not sure if it was Cughlin personally though, but the organization def knew

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

It's further come out that Nicks did infant tell them. And infact, I got a connection to Nicks who told me he did tell them as well. Not sure if it was Cughlin personally though, but the organization def knew

 

Welcome to the Wrath...JoeMorrisForPresident told us jacks to expect some new jacks from the main board.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Oh by the way feel free to browse and post in the other sections...its a free for all in here...best to just dive right in...

[MattMeyerBUD]

 

 

Welcome to the Wrath...JoeMorrisForPresident told us jacks to expect some new jacks from the main board.

 

Thanks man. Yea I can't do it over there anymore. I like to talk football and break balls, too frustrating to do that over there

[MattMeyerBUD]

Oh by the way feel free to browse and post in the other sections...its a free for all in here...best to just dive right in...

 

Yea ill jump around

[Virginia Giant]

FYI after 1000 posts you get access to the porn section.

[osi724dasack]

Welcome Aboard

 

I'm Osi

 

Aka NyKAllDay1

[Nas]

I wish my job allowed me to be off from January to June with only voluntary work for a few weeks in between.

 

I get these guys have families and other responsibilities and OTA's are officially voluntary, but they are making a lot of money so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect they take every opportunity to work out as a team.

 

I see what you're saying.. but a contract is a contract.. and voluntary means that. I agree with Seph about the courtesy of a phone call or even a text message.. beyond that.. there's no there there.

[Nas]

FYI after 1000 posts you get access to the porn section.

 

 

Not true. There's a secret panel that goes thru a rigorous approval process. 1000 posts gets you a bench-warmer status nothing else.

[Virginia Giant]

I see what you're saying.. but a contract is a contract.. and voluntary means that. I agree with Seph about the courtesy of a phone call or even a text message.. beyond that.. there's no there there.

 

I get that this was the agreed upon deal. But that doesn't mean as a fan I can't expect the players to take every opportunity to make themselves and the team better. Voluntary or not it's a few weeks during their "summer vacation".

 

And the owners do their part in all this by offering these guys huge contracts and try to field a competitive team each year. And when they fail to do that or come off as cheap in some way fans let them have it.