Jackson's Holdout

I'm most definitely with Patti on objecting to Jackson's (or any professional athlete's holdout). These people sign contracts and should expect to have to abide by them. In Stephen's case, my understanding is that the Rams did not have the new agents name provided to them until very recently. How can you negotiate an agreement if you don't know who is doing the negotiation? Professional athletes' astronomical pay scale makes it very hard to find any sympathy for their 'plight' in contract negotiations. Here we are looking at millionaires negotiationg with billionaires again. The only difference for a football player is that NFL owners do seem to be able to slide out of contracts easier, with 'guaranteed money' being much less prevalent than in baseball. Nonetheless Stephen, please get yourself into camp, and make it quick!!

LaRoi Glover

There was very nice article on LaRoi in the St Louis Post Dispatch on July 1. He had not completed requirements for his college degree when he left for the NFL in 1996, and recently completed the full two semesters of courses he was lacking and finally received his degree.

One of the reasons he cited was to be an example for his 3 children, that this was an important thing to complete.

We have many examples of selfish, grandstanding, and even criminal behavior by professional athletes, and its refreshing to read about a good example being set by someone.

There are far more stories like this, and more inspirational ones where athletes use their name and fame to promote charitable causes in ways not possible if they hadn't gained recognition through their athletic talent.

These stories are often not publicized because the media and we the public don't pay as much attention to that type of story. Thanks to the Post Dispatch for running this story.