Ralph is out of touch huh?

[FlyingDutchman]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story;jsessionid=3...mp;confirm=true



"Who saw then what the majority of the group sees now? Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson and Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown.

This is interesting because both have been labeled in past years by critics as slightly out of touch and too small-market minded. But Wilson and Brown can fairly assert that their voices should have made more impact."

[Bulldog]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

I side with the owners on this one. The players contracts are way out of control, and we the fans end up eating the majority of this in the form of inflated ticket prices. I love football as much as the next guy, but this is really starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. This all can be summed up in one word : greed!

[ddaryl]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

I side with the owners on this one. The players contracts are way out of control, and we the fans end up eating the majority of this in the form of inflated ticket prices. I love football as much as the next guy, but this is really starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. This all can be summed up in one word : greed!

IMHO there is a lot of that greed stuff going on these days. Politically, corporately, etc...

The counter argument is... what keeps the owners from reducing player salaries successfully through a lockout and fan outrage, and then the owners never really lower ticket prices or anything else for that matter.

under both those scenarios, player greed / owner greed there is one constant... us

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

We're all suckers.

[coastal]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

Ralph was made fun of for not understanding the agreement.

That is all he said...

now who's the fool?

[Goobylal]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

Ralph was made fun of for not understanding the agreement.

That is all he said...

now who's the fool?

Ralph was joking when he said that, but no one knew that because ESPN only showed the part where he said he didn't understand it and not the part where he explained why he voted "no."

[YardRat]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

Some people may think Ralph isn't the smartest business person in the NFL, but he knows the league and what made it successful better than anybody.

[Goobylal]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

Some people may think Ralph isn't the smartest business person in the NFL, but he knows the league and what made it successful better than anybody.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that giving the players a 5% raise is bad business. I said as much at the time, when everyone and their mother was bashing Ralph, including a lot of Bills fans. The owners panicked because the NFLPA wouldn't push-back the start of FA a 3rd time and they risked having to cut players. And in their haste/stupidity, they FUBAR'd the league.

[OpIv37]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

Ralph was made fun of for not understanding the agreement.

That is all he said...

now who's the fool?

Ralph, for picking the wrong words. If he had said "this agreement doesn't make sense," he would have been seen as questioning it from the beginning. But what he said was "I don't understand it," which shows the problem as being with Ralph rather than with the agreement itself.

Admittedly, it's semantics, but that's how it works. We have 2 24-hour ESPN's plus NFL Network plus regional sports network plus sports talk radio plus sports publications plus sports websites all looking for material. They're going to nitpick every word. So, a year later it comes out that Ralph's line was misinterpreted- too late, the damage is done.

[Goobylal]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

Ralph, for picking the wrong words. If he had said "this agreement doesn't make sense," he would have been seen as questioning it from the beginning. But what he said was "I don't understand it," which shows the problem as being with Ralph rather than with the agreement itself.

Wrong. As I said above, ESPN merely showed what they wanted to show, to make Ralph look like a doddering old fool in the face of a great and historic agreement created by the "best and brightest" NFL owners. What they didn't show (enough of) were the clips where Ralph said the CBA gave too much to the players.

[OpIv37]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

Wrong. As I said above, ESPN merely showed what they wanted to show, to make Ralph look like a doddering old fool in the face of a great and historic agreement created by the "best and brightest" NFL owners. What they didn't show (enough of) were the clips where Ralph said the CBA gave too much to the players.

and this is solely ESPN's fault because they're the only sports medium out there? The other stuff I mentioned somehow doesn't exist?

Let's not forget that Ralph does plenty of things to hurt his own credibility, like *****ing about revenue when he ignores a potential revenue stream by keeping his own name on the stadium.

[realdealryan]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

So is Keanu Reeves gonna be our quarterback when this all comes to a head?

[Goobylal]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

and this is solely ESPN's fault because they're the only sports medium out there? The other stuff I mentioned somehow doesn't exist?

What does that other stuff have to do with the CBA? The topic was how ESPN made Ralph look after the CBA was signed, leaving out what he REALLY meant to say, only later-on to be proven right.

Let's not forget that Ralph does plenty of things to hurt his own credibility, like *****ing about revenue when he ignores a potential revenue stream by keeping his own name on the stadium.

Ralph never *****ed until that stupid CBA was passed and the salary cap went up $10M without Ralph seeing an extra dime. And if the owners were feeling so generous to give a 5% raise to the players, what's a little money towards fellow owners? And besides, the $1.5M he's lost in naming rights isn't going to change anything.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

guess what... the nfl is headed for pay per view and all sunday ticket type viewing.

bank on it. the advertisers will still follow it and the fans will pay for it.

And I'll begin spending my time on sunday more productivly

[Michael82]

Re: Ralph is out of touch huh?

So is Keanu Reeves gonna be our quarterback when this all comes to a head?

That would be hilarious! Hopefully we have the stripper cheerleaders too....