The Raiders are apparently chasing after Jamarcus Russell for him to return a portion of the salary paid to him over his less-than-stellar stay in the Bay Area. The Raiders want Russell to pay back the upfront guaranteed money he was paid for playing seasons 2010-2012 of his contract. You know the seasons he won’t play, now that the Raiders cut him.
It isn’t my place to question one of the country’s model sports organizations (it is still 1985 right?), but do the Raiders really think that Russell should pay them back because the Raiders agreed to pay him too much money and he turned out to not be very good at football?
Do I get to ask for some of money back when a restaurant billing itself as having the World’s Best Coffee serves me undrinkable sludge?
Do I get a portion of my money back from a restaurant when I am too full to eat all of the dessert I ordered?
For the record, Jamarcus doesn’t understand the last analogy as he has never not finished dessert. Which in hindsight might have been part of his problem.
Do I get my money back when the new golf clubs I spent top dollar on, don’t improve my golf game, instead sending every ball exactly where I don’t want it to go?
No, of course not. In the real world, there is a phrase that says ‘buyer beware’ and ‘you break it, you bought it’. In other words, if you make a mistake in acquiring something that turns out to not be what you wanted. Too bad, sucker.
The Raiders apparently don’t see it this way. In their view, a horribly run organization spending entirely too much money on a quarterback who turns out to not be very good, is 100% the quarterback’s fault.
NOTE: All of this assumes Jamarcus didn’t breach a specific term in his contract, like taking drugs, committing a felony or eating entire gallons of ice cream at each water break in practice. If he did actually breach his contract, than I apologize to the Crypt Keeper and you can stop reading.
The Raiders are, in essence, blaming Jamarcus for their own ignorance. They probably agree with FIFA when it debated punishing Thierry Henry for scoring the winning goal against Ireland after a hands penalty was never called. Yes, FIFA, it is Henry’s fault your refs were so bad that game that even NBA refs looked at them and said “wow, how did he miss that?”
What’s next Raiders? Are you going to sue Darius Heyward-Bey for not being able to catch?
For the first time since he played Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, I am on Jamarcus’ side in this one. Though you probably can’t see me behind his gut.
Sports teams can not be allowed to sue their way out of stupid decisions. That is a bad precedent to set. If an organization is run by a guy that can’t tell whether his lunch is vanilla or chocolate pudding and therefore manages a sports team worse than anyone not named Isaiah Thomas, the beneficiaries of his idiocy shouldn’t be held responsible. The Raiders have scouts and a (figurehead) GM. It isn’t Russell’s fault that all of these people thought he was good, and deserved a huge contract.
If teams were allowed a Get Out of Jail Free Card for every contract given to a player that didn’t live up to their salary, half of the teams in the NBA and Major League Baseball wouldn’t be able to field a team.
For once teams need to think of their fans. If they can’t field a decent team then the least they can do is give us busts and their awful contracts laugh at.
