]Ryan Clark goes to town on owners

[mesaSteeler]

Ryan Clark goes to town on owners
Posted on: March 15, 2011 3:56 pm
http://eye-on-football.blogs.cbsspor...75988/27916579

Posted by Andy Benoit

Adrian Peterson had some very harsh words about NFL owners on Tuesday, but Ryan Clark may have done him one better. The Steelers safety (and respected player rep) recently spoke with KDKA-FM.

Steelers Rapid Reporter Chuck Finder passed along some of the quotes.
In the interview, Clark took a shot at hereditary owners, including his own. “The difference between us and the owners is, my daddy didn’t give me this job. . . . When I leave this game, I can’t give my jersey to [son] Jordan and tell him to play,” he said. “There are going to be [the Giants’] Maras and Rooneys and all these guys forever who own these teams.”

He reiterated that the CBA is all about money. “We’re not going to play 18 games. That’s not even part of why we don’t have a CBA. You know if they get that money, they don’t care if we play 14 games. That CBA is not getting done because of the money.”

As for what he thinks about NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash and the league’s proposal on Friday? “There were a lot of things that were brought to us ... it was just insane for us to think about taking. Pash actually just got on TV and lied [about financial statements and proposals]. I think it was extremely clever word play by an obviously deceitful man.”

Clark said he wanted to apologize to fans but couldn’t because the players were never even presented with a reasonable deal. “If there’s a way we can play football and not be a victim of robbery, we’ll be out there,” he said. “But we can’t make the owners come to us and give us a fair deal. It’s something that has to be negotiated; it’s going to take some time.”

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[Atlanta Dan]

If Ryan Clark wants to lose the fans in Pittsburgh on this issue real quick trashing the Rooneys will get the job done

Ignorant statement by Clark - look for him to try to walk it back somehow but IMO the damage is done

[mesaSteeler]

Agree, Very stupid thing for Clark to do.

[PhantomJB93]

I got the impresison he was using the Rooneys just to prove that point about passing his job down than to thrash them in particular for the labor situation...they were obviously just one of the first ownership "families" that came to his mind.

I'm willing to bet the Rooneys are the only owners of the 32 teams willing to give the players a fair deal, though, the problem is they're outnumbered. I remember Dan saying he didn't care about the money and that he didn't want 18 games earlier this year.

[BigRick]

I can understand his frustration. But why say this about one of the most respected and gracious owners in any proffeional sport.

[austinfrench76]

I DON'T understand his frustration actually. He is not being "robbed" and this is not "slavery". If it is, I wouldn't mind being a slave or being robbed.

Stupid statements by Clark and Peterson. Millions of dollars being made, no matter what your argument. The owners are greedy too but these players are the ones sticking their feet in their mouths.

[BigRick]

Originally Posted by austinfrench76

I DON'T understand his frustration actually. He is not being "robbed" and this is not "slavery". If it is, I wouldn't mind being a slave or being robbed.

Stupid statements by Clark and Peterson. Millions of dollars being made, no matter what your argument. The owners are greedy too but these players are the ones sticking their feet in their mouths.

Nobody said he was being robbed, as a matter of fact I thing that for the most part the players are paid damnned well. And a lot of them are over paid. But any time you have a labor dispute it can be very a frustrating situation no matter which side you are on.

[ricardisimo]

I don't see anything at all off-base about his comments. Not only is he spot-on in his assessment, but I think it shows quite a strong rhetorical flourish to make that particular point about - specifically - the Rooneys and the Maras. Because, of course, it only goes downhill from them, way downhill to the scum-suckers (or just plain weirdos) like Jerry Jones, Dan Snyder and Al Davis. We won't even get into the Bidwills and Browns.

Originally Posted by BigRick

Nobody said he was being robbed

Clark said it himself ...

“If there’s a way we can play football and not be a victim of robbery, we’ll be out there,”

Originally Posted by ricardisimo

I don't see anything at all off-base about his comments. Not only is he spot-on in his assessment, but I think it shows quite a strong rhetorical flourish to make that particular point about - specifically - the Rooneys and the Maras.

The problem I have with Clark's comments is that he makes it sound like a father passing down the family business to his son (or other family members) is exclusive only to the NFL. It's quite common in a lot of businesses. In those cases where the family members are capable, the businesses continue to flourish. If they're not capable, then the businesses suffer.

Clark also made the point that he can't pass along his job to his son like the Rooney's have done. That's true. But Clark's son will have MANY opportunities in life that most of our children won't because we're not multimillionaire football players. That's life. There's always going to be someone more fortunate. And there's always going to be someone less fortunate.
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I'm not feeling a whole lot of sympathy for Clark and the other players right now. There are middle-class union members in several states who are being stripped of their collective bargaining rights (whether this is right or wrong is for another debate). Regardless, it's happening ... and I can't bring myself to feel sorry for multimillionaires while so many middle-class families are struggling. If economic times were different, I might feel differently. For the players, I don't think this is the right time to be engaging in this fight.

[DanRooney]

I'm hoping Ryan Clark keeps it going so we can get rid of this mediocre safety with zero closing speed.