brian urlacher

There is yet another side to this discussion and I think some of you are touching on it. My wife's cousin played for the same team for quite sometime (17 years in the league, a big chunk spent with this paticular team). He was still playing great but the team he played for thought it was time to turn the position over to someone younger. He wanted to stay but they parted ways. He went to another team because he wasn't done playing. Thought he would be a back up his last couple of years and ended up starting. After two years with the new team he was asked back by the team that released him. He came back and then retired under his own conditions after two more years. Point is, I remember reading fan comments about him leaving his original team and being a sell-out or tarnishing his career when that wasn't the case at all. I guess what I saying is that most of us don't really know as much as we think we do! When a player and a team can't reach an agreement what are you expecting that player to do, wait I know...retire because it offends your sense of reason.

 

I agree 100%.
The fans are easily more emotionally attached to a team than a player. The player can't be and I guarantee that if fans were in the same situation, they'd change their opinions real quick. In another thread I brought up the comparison between a guy who drives a truck for Coke and a guy who drives for Pepsi and threw out the hypothetical question of one being laid off and going to work for the other. It was poo-poo'ed as different because football is entertainment and players are worshipped and should consider that when making such decisions. To the fan it may be different, but to the player its exactly the same.

BTW, 17 years? He played unitl 40? Must have been a QB or a kicker.