30% of people are morons

I wrote on Full Court Press last week about the public’s strange reaction to Urlacher’s contract situation. Basically, I said that if the team has left over money, there is nothing wrong with giving it to a guy who has been your best player for ten years, and has acted about as close to a model citizen as an NFL player can these days. Still, people were pissed, saying Urlacher should honor the 9-year contract he never should have signed. The NFL doesn’t have guaranteed contracts, which is why teams give veterans a seemingly crazy amount of money only to cut them after two seasons. It works both ways in the NFL, and it’s hardly like Urlacher was the first player to ever think he deserved more money.

Yet, with the Urlacher situation, you could tell some people were mad because they thought he was regressing as a player. That’s probably true since he’s on the wrong side of 30 now, though I expect him to have a huge season this year. But how could a substantial number of people think the Bears were too generous to Devin Hester? In an online Trib poll, 30% of the people voted to say the Bears gave Hester too much dough. Keep in mind that this is an organization that is always referred to as cheap. You can’t have it both ways, people: either you give money to the players you drafted, or you lose them for nothing. How can 30% of Bears fans really think Hester- who is probably the most enjoyable athlete to watch this side of LeBron- was given too much dough? It makes no sense to me.

What’s worse, though, are people who say stuff like this:

While DH said some stupid things like $445k "isn't worth it" to his blue-collar fans in Chicago, the contract extension should have been handled before camp. Don't talk Hester - just run. go cubs Submitted by wrigleyinseattle

10:57 PM CDT, Jul 27, 2008

Not that I need to tell anyone this, but that argument is without a doubt the stupidest one of all-time. I’m sorry, but the best return man in NFL history probably should make a little more money than a construction worker from Orland Park.

What I’m trying to say here is that Bears fans should be happy about their two best players given contract extensions. Finally, the Bears not pinching pennies, and yet a lot of fans are still upset. The worst was the headline from the Sun-Times the day after Urlacher was given an extension that read NOW HE HAS TO EARN IT. Give me a break, and be grateful that the Bears even have players who deserve that type of money.