Arrowhead Pride

Andrew Brandt of National Football Post has a really interesting look at the Pro Bowl from the perspective of an NFL team and what he calls the "Pro Bowl problem". Basically, when players go to the Pro Bowl and get around the other players, agents, managers, etc, their perspective on their own situation can suddenly change.

The "whisper crews" - agents, financial managers, marketing reps, advisors, enablers, family members, sycophants, etc. - are in players' ears with thoughts on how their team is not treating them properly, how they are underpaid, how their agent should be fired due to lack of aggressiveness in pursuing a better contract, how the player needs more personal attention, better treatment, etc.

That's not to say all players are like that. Take Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson, both of the Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl reps this year. Both received a new deal last year and neither strikes me as the type of guy who would buy into the whisper crew.

But the entire article is an interesting viewpoint on all this. It's nice to know that athletes have the same insecurities the rest of us do. I bet an athlete and his contract is similar to me and my yard. It can always look better and you're always comparing it to your neighbors. (And I bet I could put language in the contract to eliminate the woman who lets that punk dog of hers poop in my yard.)