ADB goes on twitter rant

[chris98251]

The who;e point made is how the media can undermine a player that is good enough to play in the NFL, be it all the stats or their background and making a mistake or two as young kids.

It never takes into account the human factor or heart and desire really.

He just feels that the experts have to much sway in a persons career.

I don't see a problem with that.

As far as Hawkbrah's comments, yes they are athletes and play a game for a living, if they are damn good and damn lucky. They also have sacraficed a whole lot to get here in so much as enduring pain, years of preperation to push themselves to be a hand full of people at anyone time that made it through a gauntlet of scrutiny, and tests every day, every game, they have played in their whole life. Most of us wish we had the ability and chance they have had. At least Doug is calling out the ugly side of what they go through.

Also they give up all sense of normalisy as a person, scrutinized and on a alert for anything in their life that could be written or photographed concerning their personnal life and that of their familys.

 

[BHF]

Surprised no one commented on the possible subtext of his last couple tweets: "Get ready to effin' pay me a lot of money, or see me walk."

 

[Jazzhawk]

I love me some ADB, but I'm kind of surprised he didn't realize this until now.

This. Frankly, for such an obviously smart, intelligent and high character guy, to only be realizing this now is confusing to me. As a fan I, and many others have known this for many, many years.

 

[hawk45]

I love me some ADB, but I'm kind of surprised he didn't realize this until now.

This. Frankly, for such an obviously smart, intelligent and high character guy, to only be realizing this now is confusing to me. As a fan I, and many others have known this for many, many years.

This is why I think the rant is kind of silly. If you're generating outrage at the nature of the business at this point, it's because you had some really, really naive opinions in the first place.

I have a hard time understanding how athletes who are celebrated and given scholarships based on their physical prowess do not understand precisely what is going on, but then again I'm not a 20-something kid.

Whatever. Doug's communication skills do him credit certainly, but he's not defending freedom here or even pointing out something significant that anyone else has missed. He's just garnering attention on twitter. Not evil, but not admirable either.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

I have a hard time understanding how athletes who are celebrated and given scholarships based on their physical prowess do not understand precisely what is going on, but then again I'm not a 20-something kid.

Think about the nature of recruiting and coaching, though. You get coaches acting as though they are friends and mentors to you, recruiters and GMs forging friendships with you and telling you how valuable you are to the organization. Logically, yeah, obviously you have something they want. But do most people in general, much less most twenty-somethings, want to be that cynical?

It's the same as when people work hard for some multinational that lays them off to preserve CEO bonuses. Logically, that's how our economic system works. Emotionally, it still hurts that you put so much into a relationship that ended up being a mirage.

 

[SouthSoundHawk]

garbage

What a tool of a post. Jealous, much?

Please don't quote that twat. I have his posts blocked, so I don't have to see his crap unless someone quotes it.

+1

This thread was hilarious.

Props to ADB for telling it like it is.

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

Don't really get the point of this rant.

Of course ESPN and the NFL Network are about ratings only. They won't argue otherwise.

And quite frankly, millions of people enjoy the debate that surrounds the combine. We fans can't get enough. This is the next thing on the NFL calendar and I'm not sure why fans need to think about anything. We do enough thinking at work. The NFL is pure entertainment.

Players will always get overlooked and then make a great play, season or career. It's part of the game.

It doesn't mean we should ignore any form of analysis or opinion on the major networks, just because they don't get everything right or are mainly focused on ratings.

 

[HawkRiderFan]

I think his rant was totally based on rankings based on the combine and how players can rise or drop in the ranking and the influence the experts have on it. For the players, dropping in the draft has a cold hard $ implication. The chip on his shoulder Baldwin has over what happened to him is no different to me that Steve Smith still being angry at his draft spot as motivation. Then you have guys like Cris Carter who add fuel to the fire

 

[MVP53]

I get what he's saying, but honestly don't understand players beef with the league being focused on promoting their product. Without the league, their network and ESPN making money, he doesn't make money.

Is the combine a little silly? Sure. But, you know what, it's got people talking football in late February. Then we're into free agent season, then the draft, then camps. The NFL has made itself into a year round sport. All the while, Mel Kiper & Todd McShay & Adam Schefter & John Clayton & Jon Gruden will be giving us their opinions because the coverage is what people want.

This is the kind of stuff that allows Doug Baldwin to make $400-whatever-K a year.

With all respect, I don't think there's anything funny about the combine. Firemen, cops etc must pass physical and mental exams be fore being deemed eligible for hire. Football is typically much more demanding than those occupations, at least for short periods. And the employees of the NFL definitely make more money. The employers have a right to know whether or not their new employee can stand up to the rigors of the job.

Further, the combine is like the ultimate physical exam. Many young athletes have learned of physical impairments while at the combine that might have later killed them had they not found out.

But OT, I am anti twitter for athletes. Doug presents himself well, but these guys don't always scholarship at Stanford. I am all about free speech but believe sometimes these guys do harm to themselves. I never would have known our own Percy spells the word have.. h a l f. I didn't need to know that. LOL.

In all, I was very happy to read Doug's msgs today. I was concerned Angry Doug may now be less angry. But I see that is not the case. ; ) Keep that chip mofo!

I should clarify, the COVERAGE of the combine is a little silly.

The combine itself must serve some purpose otherwise GMs wouldn't waste their time on it.

 

[MVP53]

He's not bashing the idea of scouting. He's saying the combine is a circus that's put on primarily for entertainment purposes. The measurables that come out of it only tell a small part of the story. I think even most GMs would agree with this. I believe JS even said yesterday that the player interviews were more important than their combine performance.

Everything he bashed is essentially what pays his bills. It's not A matter of him being wrong, but it's just ignorant really. He doesn't like the media cause they clown him, he didn't specifically say that but that's what a lot of it comes down to, dudes just a cry baby. I'm glad he's on our team and all but I'm just being 100.

The Combine doesn't pay his bills. I suspect the Combine diminished his value because it does little in taking into account the things that aren't easily measurable. What he seems to be saying is that people, fans, GM etc., should not forget that these athletes are not simply a 40 time, or a vertical jump, but something more. For example, how would Steve Largent have done in the combine? Or Dave Krieg?

All of this nattering simply misleads and it does so for the entertainment value. So that people have raw material for their mock draft and later for their fantasy football games.

The reality is something different and people should not get seduced by this stuff.

No, the combine doesn't directly pay his bills, but it does do a small part to market the league & the league's popularity pays his bills.

And Baldwin wasn't an undrafted free agent because of Mel Kiper & Todd McShay. While fans may get too hung up on what they think, I can't imagine NFL GMs do.

 

[rigelian]

He's not bashing the idea of scouting. He's saying the combine is a circus that's put on primarily for entertainment purposes. The measurables that come out of it only tell a small part of the story. I think even most GMs would agree with this. I believe JS even said yesterday that the player interviews were more important than their combine performance.

Everything he bashed is essentially what pays his bills. It's not A matter of him being wrong, but it's just ignorant really. He doesn't like the media cause they clown him, he didn't specifically say that but that's what a lot of it comes down to, dudes just a cry baby. I'm glad he's on our team and all but I'm just being 100.

The Combine doesn't pay his bills. I suspect the Combine diminished his value because it does little in taking into account the things that aren't easily measurable. What he seems to be saying is that people, fans, GM etc., should not forget that these athletes are not simply a 40 time, or a vertical jump, but something more. For example, how would Steve Largent have done in the combine? Or Dave Krieg?

All of this nattering simply misleads and it does so for the entertainment value. So that people have raw material for their mock draft and later for their fantasy football games.

The reality is something different and people should not get seduced by this stuff.

No, the combine doesn't directly pay his bills, but it does do a small part to market the league & the league's popularity pays his bills.

And Baldwin wasn't an undrafted free agent because of Mel Kiper & Todd McShay. While fans may get too hung up on what they think, I can't imagine NFL GMs do.

I think you have backwards. I think that Kiper, McShay et. al., reflect the thinking of the GM community not the other way round. I think they listen to GMs and pick based on criteria the GMs have established.

The Combine just distills this thinking into some massive form of group think.

Keep in mind that Baldwin was never even invited to the Combine. I think the Combine culture definitely contributed to him being an undrafted free agent.

The reason why GMs like the combine structure is that it is a cheap and easy way for them to get together meet with agents etc.

It exists on tv as entertainment value.

 

[MVP53]

The who;e point made is how the media can undermine a player that is good enough to play in the NFL, be it all the stats or their background and making a mistake or two as young kids.

It never takes into account the human factor or heart and desire really.

He just feels that the experts have to much sway in a persons career.

And I don't know that I buy that argument.

John Schneider doesn't call Mel Kiper to ask him who to draft.

 

[MVP53]

You're right rigelian. Kiper basically predicts what he thinks WILL happens, not what he thinks SHOULD happen.

And I think GMs like the player interview aspect of the combine. If it was just 40s & bench press, they probably wouldn't attend.

 

[BHF]

The who;e point made is how the media can undermine a player that is good enough to play in the NFL, be it all the stats or their background and making a mistake or two as young kids.

It never takes into account the human factor or heart and desire really.

He just feels that the experts have to much sway in a persons career.

And I don't know that I buy that argument.

John Schneider doesn't call Mel Kiper to ask him who to draft.

No, but it's worth mentioning that Kiper calls Schneider (and others in the FO, as well as other FOs around the league), and find out who they are looking at, and what they think of particular players.