On the TunneySide of Sports August 19, 2019, #757 “Will play by my rules!”
After further review… If the NFL preseason hasn’t stimulated your interest perhaps the antics of wide-receiver Antonio Brown #84, now employed by the Oakland Raiders for $30 million will. Fans want their favorites to do well and emerge as the season progresses. Of course, the standard approach is for players to immerse themselves in training camp and pre-season workouts. Some star players are held out of the pre-season games to avoid injury and thus be in their best shape in November and December when games are important. Then there’s “AB.”
AB is what his teammates call him when he’s there. Problem is that AB didn’t show-up for Raiders’ workouts or practices, until last week. You may recall that Brown was traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a third and fifth-round selection in the 2019 draft. The Steelers had signed Brown in 2010 with a signing bonus of $73 million, but he became a disciplinary problem that culminated in an argument with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. After the Raiders signed him, Brown had burnt his feet by not wearing the proper footwear when he entered cryotherapy. His feet became frostbitten. Kinda like the last time you climbed Mount Everest in flip-flops, Hey, it could happen to any of us!
Then, Brown refused to wear the league-approved helmet. He wanted to wear his helmet, called a Schutt Air Advantage, which he had been wearing the last few years. Trouble is, the NFL is adamant about player safety, especially head injuries and thus revised the rule this year that helmets must be approved by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOSCAE). Brown refused to comply by saying “I don’t even have to play football. If they want me to play, they’re going to play by my rules. Ooops!
Brown filed suit against the NFL. However, as of this writing, the helmet issue has been resolved. That decision said players cannot practice or play with equipment that’s not NFL approved. Brown responded with, “While I disagree with the arbitrator’s decision, I’m working on getting back to full health and rejoining my teammates on the field.” Stay tuned.
Football, as well as the real-world, doesn’t work very well if the employees will only play/work under their rules. While NFL teams are not required to operate under the “Shared Governance” model, most T*E*A*M’s management work in a cooperative environment with players when establishing rules, regulations, and policies. Some are league-imposed and thus are mandatory.
Will you comment on whether AB and the Raiders can survive together?
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