Two recent pigskin-related items:

1. New York Giant quarterback Eli Manning signed a $97 million 6-year deal. While not the best QB in the NFL (or his immediate family), he is an All-Pro and a Super Bowl MVP. He is guaranteed $41 million, meaning if someone Theismanns him $56 million reverts to the Giants before the bone’s back in his leg.

By contrast, the Detroit Lion rookie Matt Stafford is guaranteed $41.7 million of his $78 million deal. Stafford has yet to play a down in the league and is by no means a lock to be a starter, much less a star.

2. It’s an open secret major NCAA football programs practice more than the mandated 20 hours a week in-season and eight hours in the off-season, but it was surprising to hear allegations Michigan consistently doubled these amounts (notably by having nine to eleven hour Sunday workouts when the daily limit is four), particularly since they still managed to suck and went 3-9 in 2008.

 

So it is with football. It is the one sport where I feel the players deserve every penny, because each week — hell, each play — they risk their health and future quality of life. That’s why it always shocks me the few men able to last long enough to become real stars can’t even guarantee the bulk of their contracts, as NBA and MLB players do… yet NFL teams happily plunk down tens of nonrefundable millions for utterly unproven college QBs, who wash out in three years as often as they thrive. And college players don’t get paid (free cars and coed poon notwithstanding), but have the privilege of putting in lawyer-preparing-for-a-trial type hours on the field and weight room while still occasionally going to class, and in the Wolverines’ case they did it all so they could know what it feels like to be utterly despised by your own fans.

Of course, this is to be expected. As anyone who played the game at any level knows, football is a great way to teach kids the key lessons of life, including:

-Things can go from fun to excruciating in seconds.

-The bigger man doesn’t always win, but he does a disproportionate amount of the time.

-Winning makes the hurt go away (momentarily).

-The rest of the world doesn’t know what they’re missing.

__ of the Moment appears each Wednesday.

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