icehound wrote:
They're going to have to buy him out, or send him down.
The key to being competitive, for a great number of teams (like: ALL THE ONES WHO WANT TO WIN THE STANLEY CUP) is having their players arrive at camp in top shape - No longer are they afforded the luxury of using camp to shed pounds, begin a conditioning regimen and shake out the cobwebs. Camp is about fine-tuning your timing.
Every year, more and more athletes are using the off-season to get stronger and faster - To show up looking like you've been loafing around, sucking beer and getting fat on mama's cooking is such an enormous handicap, and reflects an indifference and a defiance that are highly undesirable.
When are these highly paid professionals going to realize that it is a full time job. The professional athletes who work and breathe their sport, their team (like the Yankees or not (love the Yankees), like Derek Jeter, or Melky, or Tex) will always be the best. Physical, mental, emotional, and mechanical conditioning are full time, year around, and plenty of overtime aspects of team oriented success. Seems like these guys have fallen short.....Hope something changes or it's going to be a long season with plenty of wasted tequila......
i agree completely....seems as if some players decide to lolligag for a year or more once they get that fat contract....imo, a team should be able to terminate a contract at any time due to poor performance....might make them player a bit harder, eh ?