AUBREY BRUCE
Yep uh huh. Your eyes are not playing tricks on you. In these fiery days of not drinking too much Lipton tea and risk being a “tea party” sympathizer; or aligning yourself with outgoing Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, you might be at risk for having your travels mapped or your phone tapped. Who knows and who cares? As long as the “affordable care act” remains affordable I am with it, you digg.
The Baltimore Ravens flew into the “Burgh”last Sunday fresh off of a Super Bowl victory, “jawls” and chest still puffed out thinking that regardless of their current won-loss record that their fellow AFC cronies were still going to have a significant amount of fear and trepidation saturating their psyches when faced with the possibility of playing the reigning Super Bowl “Chumps” oops, I meant Champs. But alas, it seems as if the Ravens and Steelers organizations must have been “Skyping” on a “regalah” basis in regards to how to dismantle emerging franchises just to save a few paltry rubles.
We can’t define the offseason moves of the Steelers and the Ravens as, “government shutdowns,” let’s just call a few of the moves that they made as “shutdowns of excellence” Lets’ begin with the “Birds from B-more.”
Baltimore raised the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl XLVII. The pundits then raved about the maturation and growth of the Ravens starting QB Joe Flacco. If he remained healthy, considering that he would be competing in the bloodthirsty AFC North Division, as a result of his new “fat corn fed contract” the development of the Ravens offense would be protected as well.
On March 11, the Ravens traded receiver Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers, the team they beat last February to claim the Super Bowl trophy. The Ravens reportedly received a sixth-round draft choice in return. According to espn.com at the time of the trade; Ravens receiver Torrey Smith took news of the trade hard, venting through his Twitter account [saying] “This business is BS at times.” Also at the time of the transaction [49er’s] quarterback; Colin Kaepernick, was excited by the trade when he spoke with ESPN. “If it’s true, it’s a great trade. We’re happy to have him. Having a playmaker like that at receiver is something you always want. It’s another weapon for our offense and our team. He’s a great player. I don’t think you’re going to find anybody in the sixth round to come in and play better than what he’s doing right now.”
See folks, “the dirty birds have come home to roost” because there must be “equipoise” when it comes to shelling out the dough. Also prior to the trade and according to an espn.com report; “Boldin told USA Today that he was unwilling to slash his salary in order to stay with the team, citing “principles.”
“At no point, no matter how well I played, would I come back to the table and say, ‘I need more money.’ The contract that I signed was the contract that I intended to play out.”
Also on March 2, Jarrett Bell of USA Today wrote; “[Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe] Flacco agreed Friday to the largest contract in NFL history—six years at $120.6 million, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told USA TODAY Sports That person requested anonymity because the contract has not been signed and details of the pact have not been made public by Flacco’s representatives or the Ravens.
In the month since being named Super Bowl MVP, Flacco’s victory lap cruised through Walt Disney World, The Late Show with David Letterman and the grand parade in downtown Baltimore. But the final stop was always going to be at the bank.” Well the way that the 120 million dollar QB is playing without Anquan Boldin, Joe Flacco does not seem to be leading the rest of the Baltimore offense to the bank but rather over an embankment.
Also the Ravens running game is less than stellar because running back Ray Rice is nicked up and less than 100 percent. See folks, Rice, Flacco and Boldin caused the Ravens to be a formidable offense, not just Flacco.
Joe Flacco and his agent were not honorable, they were dark, greedy and selfish. Anquan Boldin was shoved aside because Ozzie Newsome and the rest of the Ravens were held hostage by the greed of Flacco and his “financial representative.”
Ravens fans remember the government shutdown and Anquan Boldin. Did I note Ravens recently departed defensive back Ed Reed? Reed also wanted to get paid. The Ravens like the Steelers abandoned the “team” concept to pay a chosen few or one, but expected the remainder of the players to play for peanuts.
See boys and girls, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is no more of a $120 million quarterback than the Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is worth $100 million plus. It is all about who gets paid, not who should get paid. The Steelers thought that they would be just fine without receivers Plaxico Burress, Santonio Holmes and Mike Wallace. Any extraordinary participant will only be ordinary without a supporting cast.
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