Scenario: you're a very good to great professional athlete in his prime on a team that stinks. All the moves around you make it painfully obvious that the team is trying to crater this season in order to have a higher draft pick next year.
(note that you're in your prime, so it's not like you're a rookie and have plenty of time to spare, or you're an older vet whose clock is winding down.)
Do you:
- (a) accept it, because the team needs all the help it can get and won't be able to do it all in FA
- (b) resent it, seeing it as a wasted season in what is a limited career that could end at any time due to injury, or the team could not recover it's prospects in time for you to reap the benefits.
- (c) be indifferent to it, can't control it anyway and it doesn't affect your individual play, just your long term prospects of winning a championship
I'm not sure how I'd feel about this. I'd like to say I'd really want the team to improve as much and as quickly as possible, but knowing that at any moment your career could be over, and that they'd basically be telling you that one season out of that limited career would be shot would hurt. Not to mention the fact that you could be cut at any time, and your career prospects could be hurt because poor performance by the team might limit your individual performance.
What say you?
If we already have the pieces to make another run at the title and the team was planning to tank just to get another high level young talent on the roster, I might be OK with it for just one year.
You go out play hard, as long as you put in the effort and the team loses out, you can keep your head high.
You go out play hard, as long as you put in the effort and the team loses out, you can keep your head high.
Forgot the C
+1
In football however I'd feel differently because there are so many variables. If my team opened up 0-10 I'd still want to do what I could to win the next game. There's only 6 left. I know in football all teams can turn things around. Nothing like a hot streak of winning your last 5-6 games to give you the energy to really go after it in the offseason. I'd be pissed if my teammates were quitting on me. On the other hand, in football draft position means so much and a 1 or 2 spot difference can mean everything. If I felt like there was a shot to get a difference maker but only with the first pick overall in the draft I wouldn't be too upset with everyone tanking. I still think I'd be working my butt off though - in a career your prime might be <75 games. I wouldn't want to throw 5-6 of them away no matter what.
Im probably more pissed about stinking than the intent. If there is a plan to compete the following season, Im ok. If it's a multi-year tear down, then I ask to be traded.
Some interesting responses thus far...
You expect your ballpayers to be unhappy with it. From the bench.
In football however I'd feel differently because there are so many variables. If my team opened up 0-10 I'd still want to do what I could to win the next game. There's only 6 left. I know in football all teams can turn things around. Nothing like a hot streak of winning your last 5-6 games to give you the energy to really go after it in the offseason. I'd be pissed if my teammates were quitting on me. On the other hand, in football draft position means so much and a 1 or 2 spot difference can mean everything. If I felt like there was a shot to get a difference maker but only with the first pick overall in the draft I wouldn't be too upset with everyone tanking. I still think I'd be working my butt off though - in a career your prime might be <75 games. I wouldn't want to throw 5-6 of them away no matter what.
I agree it would vary with the sport. I'd always go 100% personally. But with football, your career is on the line every time you're on the field for a snap. I wouldn't take that risk on a team that's purposely tanking. Sit me or trade me in that scenario. With baseball, the career threat is much smaller and my reaction would be less intense.
Rimshot!!
----H.E.
Teams tank because they want a high draft pick to get that one magic player that instantly transforms them into contenders. Teams sucked for Luck and to a much lesser extent clowned for Clowney, but it's not often that can't miss, sure thing gamechanger comes along in football. It's only basketball where a LeBron James or Shaquille O'Neal at the #1 pick instantly makes your team a title contender.
The closest I've ever seen to a #1 pick in football carrying a rotten roster to a championship would be Eli in 2011, but it took years for him to develop into that.
my thoughts on it if I were a star would probably be related to if I had won any rings with the franchise yet and if I'm being paid already like an establishes star.
because winning and money IMO are the two main considerations for pro athletes.
If I've already won rings with this team and I'm getting paid millions I'd probably accept it as a cycle teams go through.
those two things have to be answered yes (rings and cash) for me to feel that way.
if I haven't won yet I'd probably feel like my chances at winning a title were being reduced and if I haven't been paid yet I'd feel like my personal earning potential was being impacted by a shitty team
thier best players were marshall,decker,harris,mangold etc are all on the back nine of thier careers they have watched cleveland build up a huge array of talent and benefit from qb hungry teams giving them gang buster trades and decided they should push to finish lower to get some of the benefits cleveland has had
clear the decks of high priced veterans and see what they have with the backhalf of the roster now and hope a few of these guys step up now the marque guys like marshall and decker are gone while they plot for a franchise QB next offseason and to garner players to support him along with more cap space to rebuild some areas with FA signings
from the gm and team position it makes sense but for the fans and players it stinks you are deliberately trying not to win and that is a hard pill to swallow particularly for the rest of the league as it all but gift wraps 2 wins to the pats before the first training camp as it stands
Now, as an elite athlete, I would have high expectations to begin with. Then you realize, even with the top pick or trades for top prospects, nothing is guaranteed. So, tanking a year or two in hopes of making better moves doen the road wouldn't sit well with me. I would want out and want to end up on a contender.
So easy to lose a game through coaching in the modern NFL.
Players can do their best and be undermined by poor schemes or decisions by the coaching staff. They should never consider having to doing a poor job on the field, and no good team should ever encourage that.
I always thought a more fun way to tank is just to take a lot of risks -- lots of blitzes, man coverage all day long, lots of deep passes, etc. The funny thing is that even a poor team can get lucky playing too aggressively, and the rewards for everyone is huge when it happens.
As for the roster fit aspect, many players are savvy enough to know what's up. They should hopefully trust the front office if indeed the tank is worth it, and that a plan is in place for the team to get better.
Worst are scenarios like the Niners the last two years where the GM truly thought everything was a-ok and did almost nothing in the offseason to remedy it. Tanking is definitely better than blind incompetence.