Irsay better give that blank check to Brees....

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Permalink Reply by William on February 8, 2010 at 11:44am

Yes, great game. Congrats to both teams.

Neither of them deserves a "blank check". This is where I have a fundamental problem with the NFL, NBA and MLB...the salaries. They are rediculously high. His current contract was for about $99 million, or about $14 million per year plus a $35 million signing bonus. Does anyone else think that is a little much?

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Permalink Reply by Joe Shearer on February 8, 2010 at 3:41pm

It's always interesting to me to hear people complain about the salaries of sports stars. I understand the complaint that "no one is worth that much," but I'd have to disagree in Peyton Manning's case, because to Jim Irsay and the Colts, and the NFL, I think he is.

People make the mistake of assuming it's a value on the person, when it's not. How much money does Peyton Manning make for the Colts every year, through ticket sales, concessions, parking, etc., not to mention jersey and merchandise sales. He generates that revenue for the team, so why shouldn't he share in some of that profit? It's either he gets the money or Jim Irsay puts it in his already obscenely fat pockets himself.

And I do know Peyton (and many other players) gives back a pretty sizeable portion of that obscene salary to certain other organizations, charities, etc. It would be a great world where Peyton Manning makes the same salary as the average teacher, but such is the state of our country and the world. We are judged financially (all of us, from Manning to me or you) by how much we financially support the company we work for. If we brought in that kind of scratch for our company, we'd be making something similar to what he is.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Shearer on February 8, 2010 at 3:45pm

One more thing regarding the original post: if the Colts and Saints played 10 games, I bet each team would win 5. They were so evenly matched it was ridiculous(ly great to watch). I'm a Colts fan, but I don't see how this game proves or even suggests in any way Drew Brees is a superior quarterback to Peyton Manning. Brees has a LOOONG way to go before he can prove he's as good as Manning.

That's not to knock the guy. He had a great performance, and in terms of quarterbacks he's right up there with Manning, he just has to have 7 or 8 more years like he did this year before he can be mentioned in the same breath with Peyton.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Shearer on February 8, 2010 at 8:17pm

Case in point: Super Bowl XLIV was the highest-rated television program in TV history (not for football...for ANY television program). Ever.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4897094

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Permalink Reply by Dan on February 8, 2010 at 10:14pm

How many Super Bowl rings does Peyton have? How many does Brees have? Ahh, the same. Any other questions?

Joe Shearer said:

One more thing regarding the original post: if the Colts and Saints played 10 games, I bet each team would win 5. They were so evenly matched it was ridiculous(ly great to watch). I'm a Colts fan, but I don't see how this game proves or even suggests in any way Drew Brees is a superior quarterback to Peyton Manning. Brees has a LOOONG way to go before he can prove he's as good as Manning.

That's not to knock the guy. He had a great performance, and in terms of quarterbacks he's right up there with Manning, he just has to have 7 or 8 more years like he did this year before he can be mentioned in the same breath with Peyton.

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Permalink Reply by William on February 8, 2010 at 10:47pm

I don't think any sports player should make $14 million each year, or even 1/2 that. We (Americans) seem to have our priorities mixed up. It seems we pay more for entertainment than we do for education, healthcare, law enforcement and public safety. Heck, Curtis Painter makes $310,000 to ride the pine, yet Indiana teachers average $37-58k.

Sorry, I'm off on a tangent. Over the last decade it has been harder and harder for a family of 4, to go see a professional sports game due to higher ticket prices, which are in part due to higher salaries. If ticket prices were lower, more people would go. Lowering the salary cap would help drive down salaries and the extra $ should be used to pay for the (new) stadiums that seem to cause local and state-wide taxes to increase. I've never understood why taxes are increased to pay for a stadium that the we're told will draw more fans and more events. If revenue is expected to go up in these fancy new stadiums, then use some of the increased revenue to pay for the stadium, not our tax dollars. If they want us to support the stadium, make it more affordable to attend an event there and they'll get more revenue.

And if taxes are going to go up, they should go to support the professions of education, healthcare, law enforcement and public safety.

Sorry, I'm not blaming or attacking any one person for this mess....the whole system is screwed up in my opinion. Maybe I'll write my Congressmen about it. LOL.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Shearer on February 10, 2010 at 11:27am

William: Again, I don't disagree conceptually with the argument that "no one is worth that much, especially for just playing a game," nor do I disagree we should spend much more on education than we do.

I would disagree with you on making more money by lowering ticket prices for Colts games because Colts games have been sellouts for several years now In other words, there are no more tickets to sell. Lowering prices to sold-out games won't bring in more money.

They're selling the games out largely on the presence of Peyton Manning...I remember in the late 90s the Colts fielding a very good team and still having trouble selling out-I remember the ads in the paper about "The NFL's only 4-0 team still has tickets available for this week's game!"

It stinks that it costs so much, and I'm in the same boat you are...I can't afford to take my whole family to a game, much less have season tickets like my cousin does. But the NFL is such a hot ticket these days that we're all up the river until it crashes. I went to one game this year-the preseason game against the Eagles when my same cousin couldn't go. It stinks, but such is the nature of this gigantic cash cow of a beast. As long as people will pay that money they'll keep charging it.

Dan, that is a ridiculous argument, and I'll post again telling you why.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Shearer on February 10, 2010 at 11:36am

Dan: So I guess you're saying Jeff Hostettler, Mark Rypien, Trent Dilfer and Doug Williams are all equally as good as Peyton Manning? All have at least as many rings as Peyton does (I think Hostettler might have two rings-one as a backup and one as the backup playing when Simms was hurt-so is he better than Manning?).

I always laugh when I hear people saying championships are the only or even best measure of what makes a good quarterback. Winning a championship is much more complicated than one player. Yes, the truly great quarterbacks (most of them anyway) have won one or more championships, and that's part of the equation. But it's not the be-all and end-all of judging by any means. Peyton Manning has been an elite quarterback for a decade now, been to two Super Bowls, has a ring, 4 MVPs, and has done it with many different players (I remember the TE progression from Ken Dilger to Marcus Pollard to Dallas Clark, and every one of those guys had great seasons with Manning. Pollard went to Detroit and was never heard from again). He made Reggie Wayne one of the best receivers in the league. He got his team to the Super Bowl this year with two of his top WRs who were either low draft picks, or in Garcon's case wasn't even drafted.

He has consistently over the past decade-plus put up league-leading numbers, and every week there's a new legit stat you hear about how he's done X and no one else ever has. He has never missed a single game due to injury and blah blah blah. All of the other stuff.

Nothing against Brees. He's done great and has been one of the elite QBs the past 4 or 5 years. Peyton has done everything Brees has done twice over already. That's my point. Brees is great, and he's top 3 in terms of current QBs in the NFL. But he's not as great a QB as Peyton Manning yet.

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