RECESSION MY A$$

Did you miss me? Hopefully you did. But after a three week absence STRAIGHT CASH HOMEY!!!! is finally back. Over the past three weeks I have had two exams (remember I am pursuing my MBA), celebrated my mother’s birthday with the family, and also spent a wonderful Valentine’s weekend with my lovely wife. So, I guess you can say that my absence has been a lot of work with a little bit of play mixed in. Even with all that going on, I never forgot about my loyal readers. The wait is over, because I AM BACK!!!! and like always, I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!!!!

I consider myself to be a fairly well-rounded person who likes to keep up with current events and political issues. Over the past two years, there was a heated campaign for the Presidency of the United States. During the campaign, there were many issues that came to the forefront. Among them were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, energy conservation, healthcare, education, and immigration. Although all of these issues are important and garnered a lot of attention and emotion from the candidates as well as the American people, the one issue that virtually everyone could agree was the most important, was the ECONOMY! Everything that I see, hear, and read on a daily basis says one thing. WE ARE IN A RECESSION!

I’m not sure where the NFL gets their news, but it seems to me that they must be getting it from two conflicting sources. Recently some franchises have had layoffs in their support functions (mainly non-football operations i.e. marketing, sales, promotions, and general administrative staff). They have cited the bad economy as the reason for these job reductions. Taken at face value, the average person is not totally shocked by this development. They know first-hand that businesses across virtually all industries are struggling, and the NFL is also a business so they are not immune. However, I AM NOT BUYING IT. As much as I love the NFL (I am possibly the biggest NFL fan in the world), I must question their priorities. I’m having a hard time understanding how teams that sell out every game, have billionaire owners, and millionaire coaches and players must get rid of $40,000 a year employees to make ends meet. To my knowledge the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns, the Washington Redskins, and the NFL offices have all had layoffs. This is ridiculous because this is a league that (according to Wikipedia) receives $ 3.085 billion per year from the television networks just to air its games. Not to mention the millions of dollars that are made each year from game day income (tickets, parking, concessions, etc.), merchandise sales, and licensing for video games, wall graphics, and other products. Are they really struggling financially?

I really have a bone to pick with two of the teams that have had layoffs. That would be the Denver Broncos and the Washington Redskins. The Denver Broncos had a layoff, but also have a former coach in Mike Shanahan that they are paying approximately $20 million dollars over the next three years not to coach. They are also paying Josh McDaniels a total of $8 million over the next four years to actually coach the team.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Washington Redskins have recently signed Defensive Tackle Albert Haynesworth to a seven-year, $100 million contract. Yep, you read that right I said defensive tackle, not quarterback. How stupid can you get? Don’t get it twisted, HE IS THE BEST DEFENSIVE TACKLE IN THE NFL, but no defensive lineman is worth that type of coin. If he doesn’t average 32 sacks a season (two per game), he will be viewed as a failure in my eyes. Not only must he average 32 sacks a season, he must also lead the Washington Redskins to five Super Bowl Championships over the next seven years for me to view this signing as a success. I guarantee that the Redskins will not win five championships in the next seven years. You know why? Because they also signed MeAngelo Fall (aka DeAngelo Hall) to a six-year $54 million contract. No team that pays the most self-hyped, self-overrated player in the NFL that kind of money is ever going to win anything. They are paying him like he is one of the best corners in the game. Obviously they didn’t watch last year’s Broncos – Raiders game in Week 1 of last season. Remember, that was ROOKIE Eddie Royals coming out party. He had 9 catches for 146 yards and a touchdown in HIS FIRST NFL GAME! The vast majority of which came courtesy of stellar coverage from DeAngelo Hall! This is the same guy that GOT CUT BY THE RAIDERS DURING THE SEASON!!!! Man, it’s a good thing that Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is tightening his belt and clipping coupons. This economy is really affecting him. He wouldn’t be able to survive if he didn’t layoff those support staff members.

The bottom line is this. I really don’t understand how the NFL is blaming the tight economy for their need to reduce staffs. They really need a dose of reality. There is just too much money to go around to say that they are feeling the effects of the economy. It’s entirely possible that attendance and merchandise sales are declining due to the tight economy, but they are still making and spending too much money to cry broke due to the economy. For crying out loud, this is a league that will have a salary cap of over $127 million per team for the 2009 season! If NFL teams want to reduce their staffs, it's their prerogative. But don't try to blame it on the economy. There are some industries that are currently suffering due to economic conditions, but I am not buying the NFL as one of them. Are you?

AND NOW FOR MY BALLER & SCRUB OF THE WEEK!

BALLER: Joel Segal & Alvin Keels (Agents for DeAngelo Hall) - They got a player that was cut by the Raiders (not the Patriots, Colts, or Steelers, but the Raiders) in the middle of the season a six-year $54 million contract with $22.5 million guaranteed from the Washington Redskins. The Redskins are the only team that would be stupid enough to make that deal, and fortunately for DeAngelo, his agents knew and exploited that fact. Thanks to his agents, Hall is now BALLIN! with rapper Jim Jones! Which is ironic because he plays about as good as Jim Jones raps (If you aren't familiar with Jim Jones' music, don't bother looking him up. You will be dissapointed.)

SCRUB: Daniel Snyder (Owner of The Washington Redskins) - Paid Albert Haynesworth like a quarterback & paid DeAngelo Hall like a good player (which he is not), and laid off other employees due to economic conditions. That my friends, makes him a SCRUB!