[CBFF] Ct - It's beautiful when heart trumps wallet

[Kenny Claxton]

He has a no trade next season and has a list of teams that he can be traded
to the season after that. No to mention the $20 million that is added to his
deal if he's traded.

On 7/11/07, mactbone <mactbone0 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> BTW, it's a virtual certainty that even with the hometown discount the
> White Sox are going to trade Buehrle in the next two years. Sure gives you a
> warm fuzzy feeling for sports franchises.
>
> -Chris
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Jerry Madsen <jerrywm at gmail.com>
> To: CBFF <post at chicagobearsfanforum.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 12:35:27 PM
> Subject: [CBFF] Ct - It's beautiful when heart trumps wallet
>
>
> It's beautiful when heart trumps wallet
> Rick Morrissey
> In the wake of the news
>
> July 11, 2007
>
> For years, we have been fed a steady diet of depravity—criminal
> activity, drug abuse, infidelity and unbridled greed. But enough about
> the NFL.
>
> Something happened this past weekend that doesn't happen often in the
> world of professional sports. Two athletes in the same town looked
> around, decided their lives weren't going to be enhanced by more money
> and chose to stay put.
>
> Presumably independent of one another, the White Sox's Mark Buehrle
> and the Bulls' Andres Nocioni came to the conclusion that a fellow
> could live quite comfortably on a huge, multimillion-dollar contract
> if he were frugal and kept his Maserati collection down to a workable
> number of, say, 10.
>
> This is not meant as faint praise. The natural instinct is to say that
> it doesn't take a whole lot of character and self-control to say yes
> to a four-year, $56 million contract, in the same way it wouldn't take
> a whole lot of character and self-control for Brad Pitt to hold off
> evicting Angelina Jolie from their thatched hut.
>
> But when Buehrle accepted the above contract and when Nocioni agreed
> to a five-year, $37.5 million contract with the Bulls, it at least
> meant that sanity had established a tiny beachhead, that heart
> mattered and that happiness levels don't necessarily increase as
> salary numbers spin upward.
>
> Buehrle, who would have been a free agent after this season, could
> have received much more money on the open market. If Barry Zito could
> land a seven-year, $126 million contract from the Giants last year,
> then Buehrle surely would have gotten something in that ballpark after
> this season.
>
> But he said he liked playing for the Sox, the organization he grew up
> in as a pro. He said he liked living in Chicago. He said his wife
> liked living in Chicago. Their soon-to-be-born child probably will
> like Chicago, too, though the infant might wonder what general manager
> Ken Williams is going to do about getting the Sox back to the
> playoffs.
>
> Nocioni would have made slightly more money and would have been a
> starter if he had signed with Memphis. But he liked where he was,
> liked his team, liked his life. He liked it so much he was willing to
> stay in Chicago despite the likelihood he will remain a reserve for
> the Bulls, though a valuable reserve.
>
> The money might be greener on the other side of the out-of-bounds
> line, but you can't always trust that it's better.
>
> "I just want to say thank you to the fans, thank you to the
> organization for giving me the opportunity to play five more years in
> the NBA," Nocioni told the Tribune's K.C. Johnson. "I'm really happy
> for this. I want to give everything of me to play hard every night,
> with passion every night, to win for the Chicago Bulls.
>
> Gratitude and hunger from a pro athlete. Interesting concepts.
>
> The Bears' Lance Briggs probably thinks all of this is impossibly
> naïve. And maybe it is. Maybe Buehrle and Nocioni are suckers. The
> Bears exercised their right to place a franchise tag on Briggs for
> this season, meaning he can't sign with any other team but the Bears
> have to pay him $7.2 million in 2007. He doesn't like this and is
> threatening to sit out the year.
>
> You wonder how he would feel if the Bears traded him to Oakland, where
> he would get a long-term contract and the prospect of long-term
> losing. Would that be a victory for him? Would that bring happiness?
>
> The problem is that Briggs and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, can't see
> the forest for the money trees. They can't see the bigger picture—that
> if Briggs ends his silly protest, he will make more money in 2007 than
> 99.9 percent of the population makes in a lifetime and that he will
> play for a Super Bowl contender.
>
> Briggs' fear that it all could end tomorrow because of injury doesn't
> hold up. It indeed could end tomorrow, and Briggs somehow would have
> to make do for the rest of his life on $7.2 million and whatever else
> he has saved. If he got bored, he could spice things up by actually
> finding another profession.
>
> What's missing here is what Nocioni exhibited earlier: gratitude.
> Briggs would be wise to sit back and take stock of what he has. He
> plays a game he apparently loves. He plays for a very good team. He
> can make a huge amount of money this season. He has the opportunity,
> if he has some luck on his side, to make a lot more money in the
> future.
>
> He has friends here too. The other night, Briggs threw a party at a
> Rush Street club that reportedly attracted 1,000 people, including
> many teammates.
>
> But he's obsessed with what he doesn't have—more money and more fame.
> More's the pity.
>
> rmorrissey at tribune.com
>
> Copyright (c) 2007, The Chicago Tribune
>
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