QB delusional to turn down offer like that
If Prescott did say no to Dallas, he’s tone deaf to what’s happ ening outside sports
In the midst of a pandemic, with millions unemployed, and no assurance there will be an NFL season, Dak Prescott now stands as the leading symbol of professional sporting idiocy.
The rather average quarterback with one playoff win on his football resume has turned down a US$ 35 million a year offer, $175 million for five years in total, from the Dallas Cowboys.
For the record, that’s significantly more than Tom Brady, with all his Super Bowls, will be paid by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That’s way more than Super Bowl winners of days gone by — Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay or Russell Wilson in Seattle — will earn.
It’s remarkable at this time in history that Dallas would make this kind of offer to begin with. And more remarkable that Prescott would turn it down, especially at a time when the world — away from professional sports — is trying to figure out where it’s at.
In fairness, since word of the Prescott offer got out, both the Cowboys and the Prescott camp have denied the story. They will continue to deny it while Prescott apparently seeks $ 45 million on the final year of the deal.
If hockey does find its way back, the Columbus Blue Jackets are a bad matchup for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They are hard on the puck, hard in the corners, and are very well coached by John Tortorella. Of the non- playoff teams added to the 24- team format the NHL owners and players agree on, should it return in July, Columbus is the one out- of- playoffs team you don’t want to play, especially with Norris Trophy- calibre defenceman Seth Jones healthy enough to return. ... Tortorella is a clear candidate to be coach of the year in a deep field. He could win, but so could Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh, Bruce Cassidy in Boston, Alain Vigneault in Philly, Dave Tippett in Edmonton, Jon Cooper in Tampa. All are good choices My three finalists would be Tortorella, Cassidy and Vigneault. ... The NHL has yet to decide what to do about this year’s draft. When to hold it. How to arrange it. But if you’re a team like the Chicago Blackhawks, would you rather be in the lottery with the possibility of picking early or be in the extended playoffs with a chance against the Edmonton Oilers. Or both? And if you’re the Oilers, how happy are you to be in a short series against the experience of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and Corey Crawford in Chicago? ... Nick Nurse’s NBA career as a head coach. Year 1: Win the league championship. Year 2: Win coach of the year? That wouldn’t be a bad way to start for a guy who kicked around forever. ... A player agent on the hockey break: “Some of my clients have never gone this long without skating, probably in their entire lives.”
A different hockey agent took offence at my characterization of Donald Fehr last Sunday as the absentee head of the NHL Players Association. “No one in the hockey industry has been busier since the shutdown,” the agent wrote me. “We are all fortunate to have Don Fehr and his extensive experience, wisdom and intellect working every day for the players.” Two other agents, equally prominent, wrote emails agreeing with what I wrote. ... The last time the Detroit Red Wings needed a superstar as much as they do now, they drafted one. His name, the current general manager, Steve Yzerman. And the truth: They didn’t want Yzerman. They wanted local guy Pat Lafontaine. ... It took a 24- team post- season format for the Arizona Coyotes and kid GM John Chayka to potentially qualify for the playoffs ... Chayka is 30 years old. Toronto GM Kyle Dubas is 34. Their age mattered on the day they were hired. Those were nice stories. The only thing that matters now is how they do their jobs. You don’t hear a lot about Nashville GM David Poile’s age. You hear a lot about him having more wins on the job than anyone in history. And every year I hope just a little that this is the year Poile wins a Stanley Cup. ... When D. J. Smith played and then coached with the Windsor Spitfires, the team he hated most was the London Knights. Now his teenage son, Colton, is going to play in London, for the former enemy, owner Mark Hunter, who worked with Smith on the Leafs.
Wouldn’t it make sense for the Raptors to open some kind of training camp in the United States? Then they wouldn’t have to worry about open borders and quarantine restrictions in holding a camp at home, and then having to go south for the eventual NBA return, scheduled in pencil for late July. ... The best thing about COVID- 19 golf, my only round to date: no scorecards, no pencils, no lying. ... September may be the busiest sporting month ever: The U. S. Opens in golf and tennis. The French Open, tennis. The Kentucky Derby on Labour Day. Possible starts for NFL and CFL. Possible playoffs for NBA and NHL. Possible pennant races for baseball with more playoff teams.
If this is Alphonso Davies now, playing for Bayern Munich, imagine what he’s going to be like when he actually grows up. He doesn’t turn 20 until November. ... I know it’s early but with so many sports being interrupted, cancelled or rescheduled, does a fine season in the Bundesliga put Davies in contention for the Lou Marsh Trophy, as Canada’s athlete of the year? ... A concern with more than 700 NHL players apparently returning sometime this summer; if three per cent of all COVID-19 tests are not accurate, does that mean there are 21 players to worry about every day and all those around those 21 players? ... If the Leafs had come up with a decent backup goaltender earlier in the season, they would have finished with a few more points. Then they’d be scheduled to play someone other than Columbus in the play- in round, if that happens.