Lawyer Milloy: "You can't feed your families off of Super Bowl rings''
 

(While yes, money may be a bottom line, I'd rather have a ring anyday....have a fine time in Buffalo, Bledsoe and Losman.....The Patriots WON three in four.....your team is known for losing FOUR IN A ROW....and NOTHING ELSE..)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu...nnsi&type=lgns

Much more than money
Peter King, SI.com

Lawyer Milloy looks like such a fool today.

Remember when Milloy, the former New England safety now playing for the Bills, told Boston radio station WEEI how the Patriots had such a good thing going with players hypnotically following Bill Belichick like he was Jim Jones, taking less money to stay in New England instead of making bigger paydays elsewhere? "Some of those guys, I think, are underpaid," Milloy said. "It's always been a team thing getting thrown around there, but if some of those guys would test the market, being a champion, they could really go out there and make top dollar. But for some reason, they want to stay.''

For some reason, they want to stay.

That Milloyism is why so many people are turned off to pro sports today. And the New England Patriots' clear rejection of that Milloyism is why so many people from Bangor to Bakersfield -- not just in greater Boston -- love this team right now. The Patriots win, and they win right. Milloy's inference is clear: He is happier being on a team hovering around .500 making more money than he would be on a team winning two straight Super Bowls and making, say, 30 percent less. That is nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, many athletes would do it, and do it every day. But here's where Milloy's a fool: By mocking his teammates for staying, he's saying that the right way to go about your business is my way, and my way is taking the money, not the Super Bowls.

"You can't feed your families off of Super Bowl rings,'' Milloy said. "The more they focus on, 'We don't have any stars' and all that, the more you get overlooked as far as individual accolades and contracts.''

In the last two years, since signing a four-year, $15-million contract with Buffalo, Milloy has made $9.75 million in total. Had he stayed with the Patriots and taken a pay cut, he'd have earned maybe $6.5 million in these two years -- plus, of course, playoff money, and whatever additional money he'd have made in appearances and endorsements by being a three-time Super Bowl winner. Just guessing, but I'd put that extra income at $750,000 over two years. So Milloy, by playing in Buffalo, by my math, has earned $2.5 million more than he'd have made by staying in New England.

Which would you rather do: Make $9.75 million by being on a 15-17 team or make $7.25 million by being on a 34-4 team, with two Super Bowl wins and the pride and exultations that comes with being a key player on the best football team on the planet?

Tedy Bruschi could have had a similar choice this offseason. But last spring, he negotiated his own deal with the Patriots, a four-year, $8.1-million deal, to stay in New England through 2007. I asked him if, knowing what he knew now -- that he'd have made maybe double that on the open market had he played his contract out -- whether he sometimes thinks he made the wrong decision by signing, or whether he thinks he did the right thing.

"Both,'' he said. His honesty surprised me. "I'd be lying if I told you I didn't think about what I could make in free agency after this season. I still think about it. But I love being on this team. I wanted to stay. And I'm happy I'm staying.''

Bruschi will go down in Boston sports history as a big-game player for a championship team, maybe even a sports legend like a John Havlicek. Milloy will go down as a good player who, in the end, chose money over the prospect of more Super Bowls. To each his own. If I ran a team, you can guess which one I'd want as my defensive captain.

Re: Lawyer Milloy: "You can't feed your families off of Super Bowl rings''
 

Oh the poor baby :( He would have had to take a pay cut. Oh, how would he have ever survived on $6.5 million? I am crying inside for him :( :rolleyes:

I am really starting to despise-with a passion-professional athletes:mad:

I hate football, but after reading this article I have a lot of respect for the New England team.

Yes, it's true that you can't feed your family off of Super Bowl rings...but you can feed them with the contract you have.

I don't mind these guys looking for more money; I mean, really, if you think the money is out there, why not explore other options. However, this guy has been gone from New England for over a year and has been largely forgotten in the area. Why come back now and try to cause a ruckus?

dumbass, you can feed your family on endorsements after the superbowl if you're that much of a sell-out.

Whatever happened to the "I'm going to Disneyland" commercials??

i haven't seen one for the super bowl, but Ortiz, Schilling, and Pedro did one after the world series.

From a football fanatic
 

Disney decided to not be a sponsor this year.

I think Lawyer is hatin' because he has no Super Bowl Bling

Hell I could live off of 6.5 mil nooooooo problem

I could feed my families for 6 million a year. I could probably feed an entire village in Indonesia for 6 million a year, plus provide them with adequate housing.