They should give him back his money.
No. A contract is a contract
Legitimate tug of war as to which side is right, arguments can be made on either side. Just glad they are mending fences.
I agree. They have been working on it for a few years now, and it has taken a while.
But this same issue occurs now and then in sports, so you would think that it would be added to the boiler plate language on all contracts, so that it is clear and agreed to by both parties. I mean everything else is written down, so why not this? And if it is in the contract, then neither side should be upset.
They ought to find a way to get him paid, make him a team ambassador with a generous salary for minimal obligations. Win-win.
Apparently it isn’t as simple as that. NFL regulations mean that they couldn’t just give him back that money without costs to the cap.
I am certain Sheila Hamp Ford would have cut a check long ago if it was that simple.
That and, that's essentially what they're doing by paying him to run camps and do talks and all this other stuff.
Making it right, while also getting him to be a happy face around the organization again.
About fucking time.
This isn't some new type of news or something they have or been trying to mend this relationship since Sheila took over and hired Spielman. That's why Barry has been around more and others. There are always 2 sides of the story but he was offered that money over a 3 year plan instead of all at once plus the additional $100000 to his charity. Anyways like I said before glad they are back to a relationship and he is at the facility helping the WRs.
He made over $110,000,000 in his career, and had to pay back less than 2 million. Imo he’s acted like a child over the whole thing, and I honestly couldn’t care less if he’s associated with the team or not. His constant whining reminds me of Sprewell, how will he ever feed his family with only $108,000,000🙄
Pocket watching is a nasty habit. Comparing a guy who's been as good in the community to a guy best known for choking his coach is a wild comparison.
Seeking reimbursement for a seemingly insignificant sum, when compared to the billions of dollars the team made in his career, may have appeared vindictive to Johnson. Especially if it is perceived as a form of revenge for retiring due to legitimate concerns about permanent brain damage resulting from continuing his job. At the end of the day it's all about respect and Johnson clearly felt disrespected by the Lions.
The Fords made billions by ripping off us fans by continuously putting mediocre teams together and keeping historically incompetent management in place, I feel I should get some of my season ticket money back as well.
Hood winking fans though are one thing, but blatantly fucking over first ballot HOF's and ambassadors to the city is just bullshit, and it just wasn't Megatron, they did it to Barry as well.
Hot take incoming...
Herman Moore>
Maybe, but has to be Herman Moore + contact lenses.
Also, username checks out.
They have been in a good place for about a year with the Lions trying to mend fences. He wanted the money all at once where Detroit offered it over a 3 year deal with an extra 100000 dollars going to his charity. So to me it falls on both sides. ,Lions didn't technically owe him that money but they could have been nice and said take it for you service but they didn't want to and offered the 3 year plan. But anyways glad he is back
The best leaders are humble enough to understand other people are better than them at certain aspects of their business and confident enough not to be threatened by others' successes.
So true which is why Fat Patricia was a terrible head coach as he always thought he was the smartest guy in the room no matter what.
Could use a deep threat for at least those first six games…..
Sorry, But I am old and Walt Kowalski.
F Barry. And F Calvin.
Now get off my lawn.
+1 This was well played Wally.
Why F Barry? He decided he didn’t want to play anymore and quit. Simple as that. If you had the means to say “take this job and shove it” and you didn’t WANT to work anymore would YOU keep working? I think not. Unfortunate that the timing didn’t work out for the team but that is beside the point.
He was DONE. So he quit!
My memory is that both he and Calvin Johnson criticized the Fords on their way out pretty strongly for not trying to win. Maybe the media over-emphasized that to sell papers or something, but that was my impression. And I always though that was kind of bullshit — the Fords may be incompetent, but in most years, especially with Barry, they definitely tried to put together a winning team (one year they had the highest rated offense in the league before immediately falling flat on their faces in the first playoff game) ... and Barry, for his part, had a run of terrible games in the playoffs.
In any event, the Fords were hardly the only ones responsible for burning bridges, and I guarantee you that if Johnson in particular had left praising the Fords (who did, after all, pay him many many millions of dollars in his career) and expressing love for the fans and his teammates, he would have been allowed to keep his money.
I don't know. I'm hardly a supporter of the Lions ownership — incompetence is putting it mildly. But I still resist the idea that you're allowed to slam the people who have been paying you for a decade when you leave but then be surprised when they don't think fondly of you. (See also: Josh Gattis).
Hard for me to hate Barry. He made watching the Lions fun throughout the 90s for me. I haven't been a consistent fan since (mainly because of time i had to choose Michigan or Lions football and chose the former).
My main beef with his retirement was that I, as a fan, wanted him to have that rushing record. Lion's fans have very little to hang our hat on. To have that would have been something. I know he never really cared about the records, but the fan's needed that win. One year more, and he has the record. Two more years, and he holds the record that Emmitt may never pass. I understand it's his decision, but as a kid who idolized his playing and tried to emulate him in backyard neighborhood pickup games, I really was hoping he'd give us that.
Highly controversial statement incoming.
I never thought he was all-that.
Still mad at Lombardi for basically ending his career. Took a Randy Moss and used him like Wes Welker. Multiple seasons of endless crossing routes, getting him blown up every couple downs by linebackers. What a waste.