Kamau Peterson
CFL.ca
I often hear my job spoken of as one of the greatest available. I must say that I agree, as there are tremendous perks. Six months of work, at least one day off per week, 4.5 hour work days, work outdoors, time in the spotlight and the pay is much better than most would think. Really, the list of pros goes on and on but as I often tell people – as different as this occupation is from almost any other, it’s not without its similarities to the everyday working world.
As is evident in most job’s, we players realize fairly early on that no matter what our ideas are for ourselves, our careers hang in the balance of how others see us. While we are all blessed with a considerable measure of talent enabling us to be in these positions, we are all prisoners to opportunity. Without capitalizing on the right opportunities and circumstances regularly, our careers will be snuffed out prematurely – regardless of talent level. Along the way much like with any career in the real world, it’s highly likely that the longer that we play the more likely it is that we will encounter a couple of tough choices that can steer our career one way or another.
The Pay Cut:
All veterans who reach a certain level in this league will grow to fear this one day, whether due to a drop in performance, a perceived drop in performance, a vote of confidence in your back up, a new coaching philosophy, age, or just plain old salary cap issues. At literally any time management can approach a player and ask him to take a pay cut to help the team.
As a player, there are really a couple of options here. One is to refuse the cut in wages and take your chances on the open market should the team release you. Although this sounds like the power play and when ego is talking, it is the one that most players say that they would do – in actuality it’s not quite that simple… especially when you have a family at home.
The other option is to agree to the pay cut and try to either settle into your new role on the team, or begin to re-examine your future with your current team. Usually, this choice is thrust upon you to be made in the offseason but there are times when management pulls the card during the season itself.
To ask a player during the working year to take a pay cut while he’s giving his all on the field, and hasn’t done anything to harm the club is about the most insulting thing that I can think of, which is probably why it isn’t done very often. For this reason, in cases like this the likelihood of the two parties remaining in business together going forward is slim, as it would be difficult for team brass to justify reneging on their previous deal with the player, and actually reconciling.
I mean think about it, what if you went to work after a year or two of doing everything that was asked of you and more – and were suddenly pulled into your manager’s office and told to take a 30% pay cut or to find a new job… Oh, and you have one day to decide. What would you do? With two kids at home and in the middle of a recession – how would you tell your wife?
The Reduced Role – AKA phase out:
Veterans also must keep an eye on change in role throughout the season’s comings and goings, as there are many times in which a major decision must be made by the player during a time when he may least expect it. It is very much our make-up as players to downplay our own shortcomings, while at the same time expounding on high points that we may have had. We tend to develop a tunnel vision at times, and while it seems to benefit us by allowing us to look past things like poor performance, injury, or scheme change – it hurts us in that we tend to see a light at the end of the tunnel in spite of these things due to our tremendous faith in our own ability.
We tend to feel like regardless of what may have happened last week, it only takes you making one big play this week to make everyone forget about it. The problem of course is that often times while we look to our future opportunity to make right the anomaly of last game management has already envisioned life with you in the background.
As always, you have a choice here as a player. Once it becomes evident that the intent is for the team to have great success, but somehow all of the sudden your role must lessen considerably for that to happen – that can be a very difficult pill to swallow for any player, but especially for the types of players that this seems to happen to most often (all-stars, long time veteran starters). And when that decision is made and brought to your attention, your options become somewhat limited as to how you can react.
The initial reaction is usually one of two things. You’ll grudgingly accept this new role and quietly go about your business out of respect for your team, and not wanting to be a cancer or distraction during the season. Or, you could flip out and possibly burn a bridge in a very small league by making a scene.
The former is what most fans would expect that a player would do, while the latter is in actuality what most players would feel like doing with every fiber of their being. In spite of the negative connotations attached, the latter can still work out if you have great value at your position above other starters in the league, because as you burn the bridge with your team – another team bringing you in must view you as a significant upgrade on the man currently playing your spot for them.
Another option is to make your way in to speak with management and express your thoughts about why they don’t see things the same way that you do all of the sudden. The problem with this is that you’re almost always not going to like the answer that you’re given. Whether the move is being made for cap reasons, age, performance, or anything really… it’s going to be very difficult for you as a player to not to take it personally.
After getting this explanation, you can decide to stay the course and accept the role while beginning to consider your future with the team perhaps more immediately than you had intended – or you can ask for a trade.
Mid-season trades of veteran starters however, are difficult in an SMS era simply because with the cap being at just over 4.2 million dollars, most teams are hovering at that mark pretty much all year. I’ve seen it happen though, so it is an option.
New Team/New Coach (Mis-cast):
Occasionally, that team that courts you in the offseason with talk of utilizing you to your full potential is either off about how they see your skill set, or off about the dynamic of their current roster and how you may fit into that. Either way, it’s unfortunate when a great player on another team somehow can’t be worked into a system the following year. This can also occur when a new coach comes in with a system in his pocket that he refuses to adjust to the player’s skill set that he has currently, to run it (i.e. pocket passer being forced to throw on the move constantly, or vice versa.) To me this may be the most frustrating for the player, in that your hands are virtually tied for at least a season. The only window out that I could see is through a trade, but as I mentioned earlier they are quite rare during the season.
I find that it’s extremely easy as a fan of the game to play armchair GM and cut, sign, bench, rotate, and move players on a whim. To do so, really doesn’t require much in the way of investing in the players themselves, their livelihoods, former contributions to the team, family situations, etc.
Playing in this league however, I’ve grown to understand how invaluable quality veteran players are to a team dynamic. It is a team’s treatment of these veteran players that can either aid or cripple them
during the offseason recruiting of free agents, as well as enhance or deflate the team’s reputation with up and coming young players in the league.
In such a small league, players take a keen notice as to the goings on of other players and the situations that they are put into. Much like a player’s reputation is difficult to repair once damaged, the same could be said for an organization that develops a reputation for wronging their players.
While this is no doubt one of the best jobs that anyone could have, it’s not without its rocky roads both on and off the field. Players must be aware and manage these situations when they arise, or better yet have the foresight to see such moves in the making when possible.
Kp8
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