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Originally Posted by SBXVII
I think the problem is people take a blanket statement and will run with it for years. They fail to look at the circumstances at the time the player played and the why's and what for's.
Remember folks back in the 80's and some of the 90's the players did not get very much money and did not get very much for their jersey sales. The way they made extra money was to do show up at events, commercials, and signing autographs. When DG was first brought on board I think he was decent and was signing everything and shortly after something happened. I've heard a rumor that he found out people were asking him to sign items then they would sell them to the public for $$$ which he was not reaping any benifits from. Because of this he stopped signing autographs and would only do it for kids.
The other thing is why sign a ton of autographs and at your next signing session no one shows up? Thats when he was supposed to be making money.
Then there is his foundation. All he asked was when doing interviews if he could announce his foundation on the air to make people aware. I think it got to a point some news feeds said no and he wouldn't do interviews with them. I think he felt if he was doing them a favor with the interview they could do him a favor and allow him to announce his foundation. Seems fair to me.
The thing to keep in mind with him is he's passionate about his foundation, he was a loyal Redskin, he didn't cause any problems in the locker room, he did his job, he didn't hold out, he didn't commit any crimes, he didn't change teams mulitple times, he didn't do pushups in his driveway and he didn't cry on tv taling about his QB.
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Good post.
He was a leader on the field for longer than most NFL players could dream of playing. That's all we can ask of a football player. Off the field, they are no different than the general public and there's going to be some we can get along with and some we won't. We shouldn't hold any of them up as better than us or have great expectations of them personally. We should only be fans of football players for what they do on the field, or we'll be disappointed.
It's great to commend and appreciate those who use their talents, name recognition and money for good charitable causes, but it should nor be automatically expected or be used as a measuring stick of how good of a person they are or aren't.
Football was their job. We should understand that. They're not idols or better/different than any of us outside of their career choice. There's going to be good ones and bad ones just like the people at our own workplaces.
I thank Green for the memories he provided in the Redskins uniform and beyond that, I don't expect anything else from him. I'm a big fan of #28 the player. I don't watch football to make friends or find men to admire.
Sure, some like Art Monk, London Fletcher and I'm going to say it, Tim Tebow, I am a fan of who they are personally and how they live their lives, but that's just an added bonus on top of the football entertainment.