No loyalty in Sports

Ed Bouchette tweeted something a little bit ago that I thought was really a great point. Which surprised me because I hate Bouchette.




Willie Colon signed with us in 2011 despite the Chicago Bears offering him more money... Regardless with 3 years left on his contract the Steelers are ready to kick his butt to the curb. Colon has also continued to be one of the more fiery, driven, players on our roster after cashing in. The problem is staying on the field.

I'm not saying the FO would be wrong to cut him, because it's a business and he's making a lot of money to be injured... But let's just remember stuff like this when Mike Wallace leaves to get more money elsewhere. It's a business, and it goes both ways.

 

can't make the club in the tub....

 

I am in favor of keeping colon. i think he is a good player just not been healthy. i think his injuries are just unlucky. its not like hamstrings or small nagging injuries that he could play through. if he is healthy i think he is worth keeping.

 

SBD, you can talk about fiery, driven attitude all you want, I would think most fans on this board don't mind getting rid of Willie Colon because of his bone headed penalties and lack of quality play. His constant injury situation is just the final straw for a guy who seems to me to balance out as just an average player. He's good against the run and average to below average against the pass. I would much rather have another player similar to Ramon Foster playing Colon's guard spot, technically sound if not spectacular. Releasing Willie Colon is not a great loss on the field.

 

Mike is a better player at his position then colon but I understand the thought process.

 

Colon had enough chances 3 years in a row he goes on injured reserved I think he's due over 5 million in 2013. Good riddance that money can be better spent elsewhere like re-signing Keenan Lewis.

 

Whoa whoa whoa... I like Colon. I think he's a good player and was glad we were able to re-sign him back when that happened. I understand he sacrificed about $2 million to stay here instead of going to Chicago (which was not JUST for loyalty's sake - I'm sure there are other advantages to not picking up and moving to a new city/team).

He signed that big contract with us... but he hasn't given us anything in return yet. I know it's not his fault, but it's not Pittsburgh's fault either. They have been paying him big money and getting nothing in return. Over the last couple of years he's spent more time on IR than Aaron Smith, and he's not even 30! What's he played, like 10 games in the last three seasons? If they kick him to the curb (which I'm not saying they should or will) he will have gotten the better of them by collecting big without performing.

I don't know what should happen here. Even Willie can't deny that he's been picking the team's pocket the last few years. From that perspective, you could say he should be taking a pay cut. Wouldn't THAT be loyalty? But... he doesn't have to. It's up to him. But the team has to do what's best for the team, and cutting a guy like Colon, who, let's recap -- was terrible for the first three years of his career, then got it together and had a great season, then signed a big contract, and then missed 16 games, 15 games, and however many games this year, and took large chunks of the salary cap while missing those games -- isn't exactly the same as trading Heath Miller to the Chiefs for a 7th rounder because he hurt his knee. I'm not sure cutting Colon would be disloyal at all considering how good his end of the deal has been. And if Willie loves us that much and really wants to stay, he can change his contract to make it more fair.

 

http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG...lon-even-thinks-he-would-be-a-pro-bowl-guard/

alot of staying was because willie would rather have stayed a tackle at the time and with his buddy ben. chicago was going to make him a gaurd, so it wasen't all hometown discount. i remembered hearing about this at the time. i hope we do get rid of him and eat the dead money now. let the new concept and attitude on the line make a name for themselves.

 

the other thing is to keep ben happy and willie is bens best friend on the team.. so maybe that had a bit to do with willie staying when offered more money elsewhere

HINES

 

Bouchette (and you) make a good point, and it's one of the elephants in the room when we talk about pro sports and free agency. Is it admirable when a player accepts LESS to stay with a team? If nothing else, it's selfless. I remember Kirby Puckett doing this with the Twins almost 20 years ago. George Brett did it in KC. What bothers me is when a player seems to "forget" that 31 other clubs pass on him. In some case, just ONE team showed any signs of interest and gave that player a shot, and he rewards them by bolting at the first chance.

 

I had a similar situation in my professional life, and I disagree with you about your last statement.

In college (I work in advertising) I did a co-op for a REALLY small company (A) because I wasn't able to get a shot at any of the bigger dogs in the city. I worked there for some time and built a pretty impressive portfolio. After some time I got an offer from a large global marketing agency (B) and went there...

My boss at company A took it very personally and felt like I owed him something for giving me a shot as an intern. I argued that he gave me a shot and in return I delivered quality work for VERY cheap. I worked hard to get to where I was, and he couldn't pay me near what company B did.

At what point have I paid my dues? I worked my butt off and delivered work that was worth more than I was being paid.

 

There is no loyalty in any type of business today, from the company or from the employee.

The "hometown discounts" people talk about could also simply be the player may not want to go there because they have no shot at the Super Bowl, have a screwed up staff, etc.

 

If colon is not willing to take less money and I'm not talk restructure I'm talking pay cut. I'm pretty sure I read that he is one of the highest paid guards in the league and that is horrible imo.

 

I don't think Colon is horrible. I think he was actually a bright spot when healthy last season.

However, I'll say again I'm not saying we shouldn't cut him. We probably should... I'm just saying there's no loyalty there, it's a business... So remember that goes both ways.

 

He was playing well especially when you consider it was his first season at guard so you could argue he is going to be even better this year. The problem is can he stay healthy enough to be a factor. Also he needs to rework his deal to show loyalty to the team. He has basicallyjust been taking hand outs for 2.5 of the last three seasons.

 

Colon can still be an effective player for us. I think the following conversation needs to occur. Do you want a flat out paycut or to be cut? That is your choice.

Personally, I think at the moment he is still the best LG we have on the roster. I am not personally excited about going into next year with 4 guys with UNDER 20 games played for their career. In fact, it is 40 games total between the 4 of them with Gilbert having 19 of those. That doesn't make me excited about our performance for next year. It just doesn't.

We save a total of 1.2 million by cutting him....BUT, if we cut him that immediately puts another player into the group of 51 and his salary offsets some of that savings. In fact the minimum salary is 400,000 in the coming year, meaning that the total savings at BEST is 800,000. In addition, what are we going to do sign a FA just to fill that role and take up even more of it?

The best option is a pay cut.

 

for this season is 800.000 but in 2014 you clean 6 milion , colon is another kemoatu , big mauler with slow foot and slow brain , kemo to the jets and colon to the bears would have been better for us , we already lost to much money with them

 

Sounds to me as though that was a significant upward move. That's a little different than a lateral move. Ben Howland leaving Pitt for UCLA mioght have been a better opportunity, but it was still a lateral move, and one I will never forgive him for, because where the heck was UCLA when he was in Div II at NAU? Pitt took the gamble on him and moved him up, not UCLA. But this is just my quibble with things.

I'm in higher education. I see this all the time, and it ticks me off. Back in the day, you took a tenure track position and you stayed there, all the way through. Now, assistant profs are leaving right and left, and this drains a university's finances and resources to constantly conduct searches to replace faculty. There is a lot of lateral movement, so much so that it is harder now for new PhDs to find jobs because of it.

 

I agree with Freak. I like Colon most of the time when he's not committing bone headed penalties or sitting injured but the money just wasn't/isn't worth what we are paying him. The Steelers would have faired much better had he taken the Bears offer.

 

Loyalty is a two way street, ask your employers if they have
any loyality. Cmon now lets all be honest,