[CBFF] Calling Bears cheap is right on the money

[mom2iancal]

Although, I will say, I think they are being cheap where Lovie is 
concerned...or at least that is MY impression.

Does anyone know what the Bears are offering him?  In my humble opinion, if 
it's less the 5 million/year then they are being cheap

teri

~A Morning  Without Coffee is Sleep~
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "mom2iancal" <senzigx4 at charter.net>
To: <post at chicagobearsfanforum.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: [CBFF] Calling Bears cheap is right on the money


> LOL!!!  I thought I was feeling a bit different
>
> teri
>
> ~A Morning  Without Coffee is Sleep~
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kenny Claxton" <kenny.claxton at gmail.com>
> To: <post at chicagobearsfanforum.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 9:58 AM
> Subject: Re: [CBFF] Calling Bears cheap is right on the money
>
>
>> Reading Jay Mariotti lowers your I.Q.
>>
>> On 2/27/07, mom2iancal <senzigx4 at charter.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Calling Bears cheap is right on the money
>>>
>>> February 27, 2007
>>>
>>> BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist
>>>
>>> What's next at Halas Hall, a shaved head and a ratty wig? I don't want 
>>> to
>>> describe the Bears as the Britney Spears of the 2007 sports year, but
>>> they're
>>> perfectly capable of blowing all their credibility and couth with
>>> dizbrain
>>> thinking. A quality organization would have rewarded Lovie Smith long
>>> ago,
>>> paid
>>> Lance Briggs, pacified Thomas Jones and not made another silly blanket
>>> commitment to Rex Grossman, whose raggedy reputation was further singed
>>> by
>>> an
>>> indicting Indianapolis sound bite during the Super Bowl debacle.
>>>
>>> ''He's scared to death,'' noted Colts defensive line coach John
>>> Teerlinck,
>>> echoing the world's thoughts on a waterlogged evening when Prince showed
>>> more
>>> poise then Rexy.
>>>
>>> But the Bears are not a quality organization. At a time when stable
>>> leadership is critical to mending wounds and keeping eyeballs on another
>>> NFC title,
>>> they are proving to be cheap, petty, shortsighted and all those nasty
>>> things
>>> we've always said about the McCaskeys and the former tax accountant who
>>> serves
>>> as their financial henchman, Ted Phillips. Oh, and might I add 
>>> deceptive?
>>> When the Bears demanded public financing for the Soldier Field
>>> renovation,
>>> then
>>> asked fans to buy seat licenses, they did so because they needed to
>>> ''compete'' in the modern NFL. Subsequently, the franchise value ($945
>>> million, Forbes
>>> magazine says) soared as quickly as earnings ($51.5 million in 2005).
>>>
>>> So where are the profits going? As yet, not to Smith, whose status as 
>>> the
>>> league's lowest-paid head coach is more an embarrassment to Halas Hall
>>> than to
>>> him. No more a Teddy Bear at the negotiating table than George Halas was
>>> a
>>> Papa Bear, Phillips is setting the tone for a possible sour encore 
>>> season
>>> by
>>> making Smith sweat through an absurd taffy pull. In virtually any other
>>> pro
>>> franchise, a coach who returns a team to the big game for the first time
>>> in 21
>>> years is merrily handed a market-value deal. In Smith's case, that 
>>> should
>>> be
>>> at least $5 million a season, if not more, seeing how a rookie head
>>> coach,
>>> Atlanta's Bobby Petrino, just received $4.8 million a year, and two 
>>> other
>>> coaches who took teams to Super Bowls and lost, Carolina's John Fox and
>>> Tennessee's
>>> Jeff Fisher, have cracked the $5 million mark.
>>>
>>> Tightwad Ted doesn't subscribe to this fairness doctrine. Despite the
>>> presence of the George S. Halas Trophy at Halas Hall -- the hardware
>>> Smith
>>> vowed to
>>> win for Virginia McCaskey, whose father bought the franchise for $100 --
>>> Phillips prefers to lowball Smith with an offer below $3.5 million a
>>> year.
>>> That
>>> is about the amount offered to Nick Saban three years ago when he was
>>> still a
>>> college coach, a deal he fortunately turned down, making way for Smith's
>>> hire. I inject this because Phillips keeps referring to Smith's original
>>> contract as ''fair'' for a first-time NFL coach, which is bunk when he
>>> offered Saban
>>> nearly three times as much to become, um, a first-time NFL coach. 
>>> Imagine
>>> being Lovie and knowing he's just now getting a similar offer to Saban's
>>> in
>>> 2004, even though he reached a Super Bowl while Saban bombed out with 
>>> the
>>> Dolphins. Most people won't weep for Lovie or start a salary fund, but 
>>> if
>>> you're
>>> interested in the well-being of the Bears, this is distressing stuff.
>>>
>>> Lovie has all the leverage
>>>
>>> Already, management has sucked any redeeming joy from the season by
>>> making
>>> us wonder again about priorities. Is the aim to win a championship or
>>> have
>>> the
>>> highest profit margin? The last thing the Bears want to do is send a
>>> negative message to their players, but that's exactly what they've done
>>> in
>>> the Lovie
>>> saga. As it is, the vibes are bad in the case of Briggs, who should be
>>> locked up long-term via a lucrative deal under a cushy salary cap. Now
>>> they have
>>> to watch their coach and his agent, Frank Bauer, turn the squabble into 
>>> a
>>> public brawl, which isn't Smith's style but certainly is necessary.
>>>
>>> ''Ted can't bring himself to do what I think is right,'' Bauer told the
>>> Sun-Times. ''It's a situation where we're not close, and I feel it is
>>> going to
>>> take a miracle to get this thing broken open.''
>>>
>>> I would urge Smith not to budge until his price is met. He has all the
>>> leverage, with even NFL people condemning the Bears for their Misers of
>>> the Midway
>>> approach. Should Phillips be crazy enough to let Smith enter the season
>>> as
>>> a
>>> lame duck, the Bears would be lampooned nationally for wrecking a great
>>> thing, just as they were lampooned when Michael McCaskey's buffoonery
>>> cost
>>> them
>>> Dave McGinnis. Anything less than a return to the Super Bowl would turn
>>> the
>>> town angrily against management and prompt another lame search for a
>>> cheap
>>> candidate. The season would be a miserable, nonstop Lovie watch. And not
>>> a
>>> soul
>>> would blame the coach, though general manager Jerry Angelo will blame 
>>> the
>>> media.
>>>
>>> ''It's big because you're making it big,'' said Angelo, who is about to
>>> sign
>>> his extension. ''You were having a dormant offseason. It gives you
>>> something
>>> to write about, something to talk about. You can get your conspiracy
>>> theories going.''
>>>
>>> Truth be known, Jerry, the media would prefer to discuss how the Bears
>>> are
>>> committed to a championship after coming so close. They'd prefer to 
>>> write
>>> that
>>> Smith is locked in, Briggs is happy and Jones won't be traded, a bad 
>>> idea
>>> that Angelo is courting even though Cedric Benson is an injury 
>>> liability,
>>> still
>>> unproven as a starting back and always a potential distraction. Most
>>> media
>>> preferred to see continuity within the coaching staff and a new,
>>> deserving
>>> deal for Ron Rivera, not a Smith-led purge of Rivera and other 
>>> assistants
>>> that
>>> smacks of finger-pointing. They might like an open competition at
>>> quarterback,
>>> not the latest endorsement of Grossman.
>>>
>>> Bears figure to follow Seahawks
>>>
>>> But Halas Hall is stubborn this way. Never mind that memories are still
>>> fresh of the Dolphin Stadium interview room, where Muhsin Muhammad was
>>> dissing
>>> Grossman at a podium while Rex, a few feet away, wondered why 
>>> Muhammad --
>>> no
>>> world-class leaper -- couldn't soar for one of his misguided quails.
>>> Never
>>> mind
>>> that Grossman has been chided by media and fans nationwide, all 
>>> convinced
>>> he
>>> isn't championship material. All together now: Rex is still the guy. And
>>> if
>>> Wade Wilson couldn't help tutor him, someone named Pep Hamilton will,
>>> dammit.
>>>
>>> Hate to break the news, but five of the last six Super Bowl losers 
>>> didn't
>>> make the playoffs. Don't be shocked if the Bears fare like the exception
>>> to
>>> that trend, the Seattle Seahawks, as second-round losers. Last season 
>>> was
>>> about
>>> Lovie Love, about a united team defending Rex and Tank Johnson when the
>>> masses were piling on.
>>>
>>> The love, I'm afraid, has been overwhelmed by dysfunction.
>>>
>>> Jay Mariotti is a regular on ''Around the Horn'' at 4 p.m. on ESPN. Send
>>> e-mail to _inbox at suntimes.com_ (mailto:inbox at suntimes.com) with name,
>>> hometown
>>> and daytime phone number (letters run Sunday).
>>>
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>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>
>>>
>>>
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