Friday, February 29, 2008

Free Agency

A little over 15 hours ago the NFL free agency period began marking the one of the most exciting and most disappointing events in sports.

Every fan gets incredibly hyped up over meaningless signings of players who might not even make an impact anyway. Look at the Redskins two years ago when pariahs Adam Archuleta and Brandon Lloyd were supposed to come and save the team on either side of the ball. Neither saw significant time by the end of the season and Archuleta was released after that year and Lloyd was just released after another unproductive season.

But then there are the success stories like Randy Moss and Wes Welker this season in New England. Moss broke the single-season touchdown reception record and Welker was at the top of the league in receptions. Neither player did anything remotely spectacular last season but given a change of scenery, they both bloomed into big-time threats.

The problem with free agency is that it gives the players and the owners a chance to look for greener pastures. If a player doesn't perform up to the team's expectations, the coaches and owners see if they can find a better solution. If the team sucks and the player wants to play for a winner, he can see if there isn't some team who could use his talents.

But there's no loyalty! Today there aren't too many Brett Favres, Peyton Mannings and Tom Bradys who will play on their respective teams until the day they walk away from the game. It just doesn't happen that often that a player stays on the same team through the good and bad moments. People are too driven by money and championships to consider the fans or sporting area that they just left.

The hype of teams is almost unbearable at times. San Francisco was terrible last season and they even turned to former Maryland quarterback Shaun Hill (who had one good week and then tanked after that). But now they have signed seven free agents already today and none of them will probably make an enormous impact.

So beware of the free agency hype until it actually pans out for your team. And get ready because we can all do the same thing (freaking out about signings) in a little over a month when the clock starts on the NFL draft

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This video was for my journalism class again. It was taken at the University of Maryland pool and contains video of the Maryland State Championships in swimming. Ron Chamberlain was also the meet's co-director.

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