Give us free!!!

First an foremost I would like to send my prayers out to the people of Japan during this trying time.Now let's get right to it. Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Petersen caught a case of "foot in mouth" disease the other day.While being interviewed by Doug Farrar of yahoo.com "Shutdown Corner" he stated that the current labor dispute going on between the NFL owners and Players was akin to "modern day slavery".Here is part of the exchange;

AP: We're business-minded, also. It's not just fun and games. A lot of football players, whether it's Sunday or Monday night — we're out there on the field, competing, hitting each other. But people don't see everything else behind it. It's a job for us, too — every day of the week. We're in different states, sometimes thousands of miles away from our families and kids, and a lot of people don't look at it like that.

SC: It's nothing that I haven't heard from other players, believe me.

AP: It's modern-day slavery, you know? People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too.

I don't think he meant that literally in the context of braving The Middle Passage and working for tattered clothes and grits.I don't know the man, so I can't say.I will however wait for the inevitable apology and clarification. The thing is, he was not that far off. I had a conversation with a good friend of mine about his comment.This is a condensed version of of what he thought "Of course his comment was way off base. I mean, how can a millionaire use the word slavery? That doesn't even make sense. Look, these guys get paid millions of dollars to play a game. MILLIONS. so to infer that the players are slaves or they make slave wages or they are treated like slaves, or just even mention the thought of slavery is asinine. Remember, these players agreed to play this game.Nobody is forcing them to play".That has been the major consensus across the board. Quit crying and play!

Every year the best college football players are invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indiana.Executives, coaches, scouts and doctors from all 32 NFL teams conduct an intense, four-day job interview in advance of the NFL Draft. Here is a brief breakdown of the skills they measure The 40-yard dash which is about about speed, explosion and seeing who can run the fastest. The bench press is a test of strength and endurance .The vertical jump which is all about lower-body explosion and power. The athlete stands flat-footed and they measure his reach.These are just a few.They also administer the 50-question Wonderlic test to all prospects, the test’s supporters believe that it can measure how mentally prepared a player is to handle the NFL’s demands. A high score say 20 is considered average. The standard is closer to 25 for positions that require quick thought, such as quarterback.A high score can solidify a player as a can’t-miss draft pick. A low score is seen as a red flag that can overshadow a player’s physical ability.This is from a slave auction in 1859 .Replace "slaves" with "players" and "buyers" with "teams". "The slaves were brought in early so that buyers who desired to inspect them might enjoy that privilege, although none of them were sold at private sale. The slaves were examined with as little consideration as if they had been brutes indeed; the buyers pulling their mouths open to see their teeth, pinching their limbs to find how muscular they were, walking them up and down to detect any signs of lameness, making them stoop and bend in different ways that they might be certain there was no concealed rupture or wound; and in addition to all this treatment, asking them scores of questions relative to their qualifications and accomplishments."Hmmm... NFL Combine anyone??

I am by no means making light of Slavery at all.The correlation between the two cannot just be ignored, or written off as the ignorant ramblings of a spoiled athlete. Before free agency, players were treated like property/slaves. They could be traded(sold literally) to another team (plantation,)uprooted from wife,kids and a city they had grown accustomed too. They are paid handsomely to play a sport. Now for those saying "come work at my job",don't get mad at the "slave" for feeling undervalued. Your job doesn't generate billions in revenue from TV,merchandising, or concessions . Think about this, if your job had a three and a half year career window, you would be trying to get as much compensation as you could. I will admit using the term slavery may have been a bit harsh.Especially when you are scheduled to make over 10 mill next year...but how much is Massa going to make off the sweat of these big bucks ? A lot more than 10 million. If you really want a better understanding of the sports and slavery connection read "$40 Million Dollar Slave" by William Rhoden "How sports stardom has brought black athletes wealth without progress and prosperity without freedom."review By Elizabeth Gettelman.So I sign off with the words of Cinque "Give us Free!!"