Agents

I rarely if ever have seen anything about players agents on boards, but since in this decade of turmoil they just may have played a visible role in the destruction of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I decided to take a look.


https://theundefeated.com/features/steelers-leveon-bell-agent-adisa-bakari-knows-the-struggle/

Paragraph 1 from the article

"Adisa Bakari gives a copy of Forty Million Dollar Slaves to every rookie who signs with his agency. A classic by Undefeated writer-at-large William C. Rhoden, the book argues that despite their high salaries, black athletes remain trapped on figurative plantations controlled by whites, with little influence or power in the multibillion-dollar industries built on black labor. The book urges athletes to retain “a sense of responsibility to the legacy of struggle that made possible this generation’s phenomenal material success.”

---LMAO At least now I know where that nutball slave talk stems from. Ha! Ha! Yeah, I'm sure that slave talk from the highest paid "employees" on the planet is an easy sell. Even the most gullible stupid assholes on the planet must have a hard time buying that BS. But still yet??

Two of the most visible cases were the Wallace and Bell negotiations. The agents were Bus Cook[wallace] and Adisa Bakari[Bell].
It appears that both sides were losers. In the case of Bell he went from a near certain HOF type career to a nickel a bushel status RB this past year.[Although I wouldn't doubt he could rebound]

Paragraph 2 from the article
"“One of the things we try to instill in our clients from the very beginning is understanding their value on and off the field,” Bakari said. “Understanding your worth, understanding your value and being unapologetic about pursuing it.”

---Wallace has practically disappeared the past several years. I guess he just spends most of his time counting his money and foregoing practice. On that count he is a winner but I wonder if that overrides his loss of self respect or his re-evaluation of his real worth.

But TBH after reading their views you do think they are simply doing their jobs. Nonetheless, to some of us casual fans it also looks like a bit of extortion and terrorist type tactics are sprinkled in.

 

Their job is to represent the best interests of their clients. Manipulating those clients into following the philosophy of the agent is not the agent doing his job.

 

Yes, and he makes that point in the article. [of course]

But in looking at those two cases the word unprecedented came up. Do you really believe that Wallace and Bell even though college graduates conceived those brilliant plans to attack the Steelers methods of negotiating. I doubt it and believe they were influenced.

Now who should be outraged and bitching at all these escalating paydays is the loyalists who continue to deposit their loot every week. Although lately I have been hearing some murmurs about ticket prices getting out of reach of a lot of average fans. You would think those murmurs should be a deafening avalanche.

 

I don't know about Wallace, but I'm fairly certain Bell did not graduate from Michigan State. He attended the school, but I don't think he completed the degree requirements.

 

Bell probably didn't and he was probably absent the day the lecture was "How not to destroy an NFL career in three easy steps" 1. Be careful in selecting an agent to rep---etc

 

Who

 

I was trying to find a directory of nfl agents and did not.[at least not free] But I did find the following:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...werful-player-agents-in-the-nfl-today#slide10

Not all agents are created equal, with a handful of men controlling most of the major contracts in the NFL today.

Drew Rosenhaus, Rosenhaus Sports. 8 of 10.
Todd France, France All Pro Athlete Management. 7 of 10. ...
Eugene Parker. 6 of 10. ...
Joel Segal, BEST Football. 5 of 10. ...
David Dunn, Athletes First. 4 of 10. ...
Jason Fletcher. 3 of 10. ...
Leigh Steinberg. 2 of 10. ...
Jimmy Sexton. 1 of 10. ...

Yes, agents, the scum of the Earth in some minds. [but I'll bet none of them pulled any stunts like the 2 mentioned here]

---Hmm! I don't see either of them on that list.---

OK. This topic is a bit heavy so I'm dropping it . Actually there is no story in this. Sports agents are a necessary part of the business. But what's funny about this is in the long run YOU pay for their greed or as they would put it their business acumen.

But one more thing: I wonder if the Steelers are doing any business with either of those agents now. I don't think I would.

 

It is ridiculous and insulting to compare NFL players to slaves. Real slaves lived in shacks, worked sun-up to sun-down for no pay. If they did something that upset their master they were whipped or even killed. If a slave owner from another plantation wanted to buy your wife or daughter you had no say in the matter.
To call millionaires who make a great living playing a ball game "slaves" is extremely insulting.

 

First, Adisa Bakari is a racist.

Second, he cares only about himself. His whole premise is that if he gets 20 of his players to hold out, 15 might get more, and he will get more. If 5 get sacrificed for his own gain, such as Bell, so be it.

Back before the current structuring of rookie contracts, teams would pass on drafting certain players based on their agents. How much money did those bad agents cost young dumb kids?

I did meet one agent once who seemed like an excellent person who cared about his clients. Maybe most are like him?

 

Is he still working?

 

Huh?!?

 

Bell wanted to distance himself from AB. Blamed Ben for it.

Can't bring myself to believe that Bell bought his agent's bs.

 

Oh yeah

 

Has Bell wisened up and cut the cord?