A New Way for Athletes to Bargain: Sabotage
Play me or trade me? How passe. How 20th century.
William Gallas, disgruntled defender who recently talked/balked his way into a move from Chelsea to Arsenal, has pioneered a new strategy for athletes hoping to be dealt as quickly as possible: Trade me or I’ll score for the other team.
Earlier this week, Chelsea issued a statement explaining why the team had shipped Gallas to London rival Arsenal in exchange for Ashley Cole and $9.52 million. The statement read in part: “Before the first game of the season, against Manchester City, when only four defenders were available and John Terry was doubtful with an injury, [Gallas] refused to play. He went on to threaten that if he was forced to play, or if he was disciplined and financially punished for his breach of the rules, that he could score an own goal or get himself sent off, or make deliberate mistakes.”
Gallas had asked to leave Chelsea since May. It took him all summer, but give Gallas credit: He found an imaginative way to get what he wanted.
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Trivia time: As general manager of the Dodgers, Buzzie Bavasi once had a player who demanded, “Play me or trade me.” Who was the player, who prompted Bavasi to famously comment, “We played him and now we can’t trade him”?
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Big brother act: Sunday’s NFL matchup between Peyton and Eli Manning has earned the hype, and the goofy ESPN commercial, but their combined career production pales in comparison to the two football-playing brothers who convened on a field in Toronto on Labor Day.
There, Damon Allen became professional football’s all-time leading passer while big brother Marcus, an NFL Hall of Famer, watched from the sideline.
Damon, now in his 22nd season in the Canadian Football League, passed for 207 yards in the Toronto Argonauts’ 40-6 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to boost his career passing yardage total to 70,596, breaking Warren Moon’s record of 70,533.
Marcus, the first NFL player to amass 10,000 rushing and 5,000 receiving yards in a career, ranks 10th among NFL rushers with 12,243 yards.
The Mannings, by comparison, have combined to pass for 38,094 NFL yards.
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Remember those Titans? Long before Tennessee got its Titans, Cal State Fullerton had the most renowned football-playing Titans in, well, all of Fullerton.
Damon Allen played his collegiate ball there, as did Mike Pringle, the CFL’s all-time leading rusher, and Allen Pitts, who was the CFL’s all-time leading pass receiver until Darren Flutie passed him.
Not bad for a football program that hasn’t produced any football players in nearly 15 years. Fullerton abandoned its football program in 1992.
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Trivia answer: Don Zimmer, who played for the Dodgers from 1954 to 1959 and again for part of 1963. In 12 major-league seasons, Zimmer batted .235.
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And finally: Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post is worried about the streaking Tiger Woods at the Ryder Cup: “When Woods gets to Ireland, will he be unbeatably confident? Or ready to be beaten?”
