Sometimes, it is in the darkest times where we can see human kindness shine the brightest.

At least, that is how I am choosing to look at the horrible situation that unfolded Sunday night in Cincinnati, when Bill’s safety, Damar Hamlin collapsed after making a routine tackle where he took a sharp blow straight to his heart. As of this writing, there has been no further update since his family reported that he is still in critical condition under sedation at the hospital.

It is no secret that football is a violent sport. It is also no secret that the NFL has had a rough history in terms of how they handle players’ safety. They covered up the repeated head trauma effects for years, but the simple fact here is that this particular injury was a very unique and rare occurrence. Seeing something like this unfold on live television was traumatic for everyone involved, whether it be the players on the field or the fans watching at home.

Often, we see that when people experience trauma they confuse their emotions with anger and need to blame. With the exceptions of a few people on Twitter, I am happy to see how the sporting world and beyond have reacted and come together during this moment. Despite something so terrible happening we have seen some of the best sides of human kindness.

Since the moment Hamlin collapsed, everyone involved did the very best they could do to manage a difficult situation. From the medical staff getting to him right away to administer CPR, to the players surrounding Hamlin on the field to give him much deserved privacy during a moment of life and death, to the NFL eventually making the right decision to postpone the game, everyone who had to make a decision in an unprecedent time acted as human as possible. It is easy to criticize decision making when you are not the one in the moment faced with a very difficult dilemma.

It feels that when terrible things like this happen, it is often to a really good person, and from what I’ve been able to read so far, that’s exactly what Hamlin is. Right after Hamlin was drafted into the NFL in 2020, he started a toy drive in his hometown, Pittsburgh. During the summer of 2020 he was able to raise $5,000 in toys for his community. In just hours following his injury, more than $4 Million had been donated and the current total is now north of $6 million.

I know there will be people that say “it shouldn’t take something like this for people to be nice”. Which is true to some extent, but what is the alternative here? Would we rather nobody donate because it’s only because he was injured. Here’s the thing: most charities are created because something awful is happening. While it is devastating what Hamlin and his family are going through, it is amazing to see that outpouring of love, sympathy, and money in his honor.

I hope that people can take a look at this situation and just process. I hope they keep whatever anger they may have to themselves, not try to blame anyone, and give what they can, whether it just be a prayer or a dollar to his amazing Toy drive. Those are the best actions to take right now collectively as human beings.

Below is a link to donate to Hamlin’s Toy Drive.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mxksc-the-chasing-ms-foundation-community-toy-drive

The NFL has consistently been inconsistent with the way they handle disciplining their star athletes. Their continuous mismanagement has been a PR nightmare on top the myriad issues they have been faced with over the last several years.

On Monday, a judge that was jointly appointed by the NFL and the NFL Player’s Association ruled that Deshaun Watson, quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, will be suspended for 6 games without pay amid (a lot) of sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Watson has been on of leagues biggest stars since he was drafted in 2017 by the Houston Texans, after he won the NCAA Championship at Clemson the year before. During his first 4 years in the league, Watson has emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the league, throwing for more than 14,000 yards and 104 touchdowns. He has also rushed for more than 1,600 yards and 17 touchdowns, proving to be one of the best duel-threat playmakers.

Despite his prowess, Watson did not play a single game in 2021 due to the allegations against him. The Texans traded him to Cleveland this past march, wanting to move away from the drama. Watson was sued by a total of 24 women who worked as massage therapists for the quarterback. All but one of those cases has been settled according to the plaintiffs’ attorney.

The latest lawsuit was filed against Watson in May, where the massage therapist said she had two encounters with the Football star. According to her, the first session was professional, but during the second she alleged that Watson exposed himself and engaged her in unwanted sexual conduct.

Since this is his first offense with the league, the ruling of a 6 game suspension is the maximum penalty for this type of misconduct, which is classified as “conduct detrimental to the league”.

While this is the most significant punishment for an NFL player for a allegations of a non-violent sexual conduct, the league’s punishment system does not seem to follow any consistency or logic, and has led to the public questioning how seriously they take important issues like sexual misconduct and abuse.

The ruling is being compared to the suspension of another star, Calvin Ridley, a prominent wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons. In March, Ridley was suspended for the entire 2022 season for gambling on NFL games, including games his own team played. Ridley wagered a total of $1,500 and it took place when he was not playing with the team. This is not to say that players should gamble on games as it can compromise the integrity of the game, and possibly lead fans to believe certain games are fixed if players are able to make wagers on the game. Ridley should have not done what he did, as the consequences for such an action have been in place for a while and the risk is not worth the reward.

It is also important to note that the NFL was pushing for a more severe punishment for Watson and can still appeal the ruling which came from the independent judge appointed by both sides. Watson has already stated that he will not appeal the ruling.

There have been numerous incidents involving NFL players and misconduct and physical abuse in the past which the NFL has repeatedly mismanaged. The most notorious being the Ray Rice incident, when the Running Back was caught on video punching is wife in the face. The NFL apparently had seen the videos before they were made public and were only going to suspend Rice for two games. After the public backlash following the release of those videos the Rice never played in the NFL again.

While the league went through their protocols in determining the appropriate sentence for Watson, the 6 game suspension pales in comparison to the punishment of Ridley who’s crimes are wayyyyyy less egregious and does not involve sexual misconduct of TWO DOZEN WOMEN!

The NFL’s consistent mismanagement has proven to be a PR nightmare, and puts their integrity at stake in the public eye. Viewers are forced to ask themself if the NFL only cares about the money, or they truly care about serious issues like sexual misconduct and abuse. Ridley’s offense could have a serious impact on the league’s bottom line, and his punishment serves as a huge deterrence for other players in the future. Watson on the other hand comes out with a mere slap on the wrist because he makes the league a lot of money by performing on the field, but what message is the NFL trying to send out?

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/01/sport/deshaun-watson-latest-civil-suit-23rd-intl-spt/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/sport/deshaun-watson-nfl-suspension-decision-spt-intl/index.html

Imagine you are negotiating a raise with your manager…

They look at your proposal and say, “sorry, you’re a great asset to us, but this raise would put us over our salary limit for the company.”

And you respond, “but the company has enough money to give me this raise?”

“…yes.”

“And you believe I’m worth it?”

“Without a doubt.”

“But you can’t give me the raise because there’s a salary limit?”

“Yes, but it’s not our company’s policy, it’s the industry’s. Every company in our industry has to abide by the same limit,” they say.

You consider your options. “So, I could either stay here and make less money than we both know I’m worth, or I could find another company with more salary ‘room’?”

“That’s right, except there are only about 30 other companies, and only about 5 of them have enough room for this type of salary”

“I see.”

“Oh and they’re located in very random places across the country. Milwaukee, Indianapolis, maybe Utah?”

“Okay…”

“But even they probably wouldn’t want to pay you.”

“So what can I do?”

“Sign this deal.”

End scene.

While professional athletes are known for signing astronomically high contracts, they are subject to scenarios like this one.

Collective bargaining agreements known as (CBAs) are agreements between player organizations of professional sports leagues and the team owner’s. You may have heard the term “lockout” before, and that is what comes when the two sides can’t come to an agreement on a new CBA prior to the expiration of the one in place. Currently, the MLB and the MLBPA have not agreed to a new CBA and are facing a potential lockout, as their current CBA is set to expire tomorrow, 2/28/2022.

Baseball is unique to the other sports in the sense that it does not utilize a “Salary Cap”, however under the previous CBA if team payroll went over a certain amount, they were financially penalized with a “luxury tax” penalty. The NBA & NFL both utilize a salary cap that is derived from a certain percentage of the league revenue, while the NHL utilizes upper and lower “limits” for their salaries (very similar to a Salary Cap).

Let’s take a look at how the salary caps (and limits) are calculated for these three leagues, as well as how the luxury tax was assessed in the expring MLB CBA:

The NBA (2017 CBA)

Calculated by multiplying projected “Basketball Related Income” by 44.74%, subtracting projected player benefits, and then dividing the result by 30 (the amount of teams).

The “Minimum Team Salary” is the minimum total team salary that a team must have for a Salary Cap Year (90% of the Salary Cap).

NFL (2020 CBA)

The NFL breaks up their revenue into three different categories and assigns a different percentage for each awarded to the players, which they refer to as “The Player Cost”. According to the current CBA, The “Player Cost Amount” is be calculated by the sum of 55% of projected League Media Revenue, 45% of projected NFL Ventures/Postseason Revenue, 40% of projected Local Revenue, and 50% of the net revenue for new line of business projects, less 47.5% of the Joint Contribution Amount (amount contributed to retirement and benefits).

NHL (2020 CBA)

During the 2020-2021 season, the limits were set at the following amounts:
• Upper Limit = $81.5 Million
• Midpoint = $70.9 Million
• Lower Limit = $60.2 Million

According to the CBA, the Upper Limit increases if “Hockey Related Revenue” surpasses $3.3 Billion.

MLB Luxury Tax

Each year, clubs who carry payrolls above a threshold are taxed on each dollar above the threshold, with the tax rate increasing based on the number of consecutive years a club has exceeded the threshold.

A team’s Competitive Balance Tax figure is determined using the average annual value of each player’s contract on the 40-man roster, plus any additional player benefits. Every team’s final CBT figure is calculated at the end of each season.

In 2021 the threshold was $210 Million Dollars.

Now with all these restrictions in mind, let’s look at how the average player salaries looked during the 2019-2020 season:

As we see here, of the 4 major sports described above, it looks like the NBA players get the best deal, but this is largely due in part because they have the fewest amount of players on each team.

Now, let’s take a look at the 20 largest sports contracts in America:

Despite the NBA having the highest average, only two of them made this list which has 15 different MLB players on it (A-Rod twice). While the MLB system is definitely far from perfect, it is closer to real world scenario than the other sports as despite making half the annual average revnue as the NFL, their best players dominate the top of this list. Probably, because there is no “hard” cap on the salaries they can offer, allowing them to go “all in” on certain players, while the other league’s are bound by these hard limits.

Anyways, the point of this is not to throw a pity party for billionaire athlete’s, but just to say that these salary limits the league’s get away with imposing on their players goes directly against the American idea of free trade, market value, and basic anti-trust laws. Each of these leagues, essentially operate monopolies, generate billions of dollars, and use their monopolistic authority to control how their employees are compensated.

And yes you did read this right, Robinson Cano has a $240 Million contract.