Was one of them the Roughriders and the other the Rough Riders? What happened when they'd play each other. Must have been a bit confusing for a radio announcer unless he called them by their location name. Didn't they use to call them the "green" Riders (Sask.) and the "black" Riders (Ott.)?
To the best of my knowledge, Lou Imbriano's organization did not have anything to do with Taylor's last contract negotiation. I think Imbriano's group came into existence right around the time of the last contract and, at least at the beginning, did only marketing. Trinity is (to the best of my knowlege) mostly a marketing company still, although they may be overall agents to some athletes now. As far as I know, MLS refused to put buy out clauses in contracts as a general principle. EJ was an exception. I don't think Taylor had the same leverage two years ago that EJ had (since there was the Benfica offer on the table), ergo, no buyout clause. He and his agent might have wanted it, but MLS was not going to provide it. I really don't get the negativity on Twellman here. He has been a loyal soldier to this team and this organization ever since he came here. I have no doubt he will continue to be. Who wouldn't be angry if they just lost the opporunity to have a $ 400,000 payday up front with a doubling or tripling of their salary for the next few years ? What, you expect him to be happy ?
Quick question about something that has bothered me. What's up with TT wearing the too-tight jerseys? Is that part of his contract too? lol I've always wondered...
He just prefers that size jersey. I don't get why all the Twellman haters use that to try and get a quick little insult in on him all the time.
I can't explain why he does, but I prefer the tighter jerseys (not skin tight, just not much room) because they're lighter and not as easy to grab for a defender. I'd assume the same would be said for Twellman.
I see nothing unfair at all. Both Pbady & Twellman signed contracts and both have increased in value. That does not mean that they have any right to complain because they could now earn more money. There comes a time when people have to honor the contract they signed and not complain if they mad a mistake. Twellman agreed to work XXX years for a certain amount. There is no other point that matters. If he got hurt and could not play this year would he step up and say, here's my salary back? Of course not, he has a contract. You can't pick and choose when you want to honor a commitment you made of your own free will
What does the team matter? It has nothing at all to do with anything. These are businesses and a contract is a legal agreement. End of story
I'm not arguing about his contract status. I'm telling you there's a huge difference in the two situations you stated. In the NFL, you don't have a choice. You either sit out (or threaten to do so) or you play for your contract (ie Branch and Samuel respectively). It's not like you've got an option to go and play in a better league around the world. In MLS you do have that option. And in soccer, your contract can be bought out. In football, it really can't. The Jets can't just come up to the Pats and give them $100m to buy out Brady's contract. They can trade for it, if they wanted to try that, but they can't just go in and offer $$ and get the player. Hell, I don't even think the NFL would allow that. In soccer, that can happen, if the willing team is going to take that $$. Big differences. I will say, I wind up siding with players in most of the situations you're talking about. You're right, the player may not have the option, but the team sure as hell does. "See ya, you're waived. Hey, the June deadline's coming up, let's just cut him so we don't have to pay his salary and he's not going to hit our cap too much anymore." Pluses and minuses on both sides.