Thread: Urlacher tackles fans, media in defense of Smith

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

What? Are his "customers" going to start supporting another team? Cheer for a new pack of players who don't really care about you? Feel free. I enjoy the players on the Bears. But I do not root for the name on the back. I root for the laundry. It does not matter if the players on the field like me, love me or down right despise me. It does not matter if they are angels off the field or the biggest POS in the world. All that matters to me is them playing the game and winning.

Let's not be silly... Urlacher's livelihood includes how many jerseys he sells. Do his comments make you want to don a #54 Bear jersey? There is NEVER a time when a business should bad mouth their customers. Businesses have to rise above and maintain a sense of class and decency. If Urlacher feels the way he feels, that is great. I appreciate his candor and his honesty but let's not be foolish here. Those comments about the very people that buy his jersey and put money in his pocket are moronic.

Ultimately, you're correct though. I would say that professional athletes that care about their fans are few and far between. The difference is that almost all of them are smart enough to keep those comments to themselves.

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

In the grand scheme of things, jersey sales are pocket money compared to his contract with the team.

In the grand scheme of things, a football player's earning potential is extremely short. Consequently, I would think that Urlacher would want to position himself where his earning potential after football won't be so much smaller. After all, over the years, Urlacher has asked us to buy products like Nike, Old Spice, and Vitamin Water. Not to mention, McDonald's. If this is where Urlacher plans on earning a living once football is over then I would wager that his agent is telling him that what he said was stupid and he needs to apologize or back off of those statements.

Even though his endorsement dollars may be a drop in the bucket, those drops ultimately add up to significant sums of additional income. That additional income may be what he plans on living on once his playing career is over. Plus, we've all seen players accept more money to play somewhere else even if it was a small amount more than a competing offer. Those players realize how finite being a professional athlete is and they recognize that once they can no longer play a game for a living their earning potential is going to drastically decrease. Those men know they need to get that money while they can because it WILL NOT be there forever.

If my earning potential was going to nosedive after MY playing career the very last thing that I would do is belittle my fan base. At the end of the day, it is that fan base that I will have to rely on to provide me a way to earn a living AFTER football is over. Then again, maybe Urlacher is sitting on a huge pile of money that he's made by investing wisely and he's just taking his last few shots at the Bears' fan base before he rides off into the sunset never to be heard from again. Good for him for being a responsible professional athlete that has been able to create a retirement nest egg that will allow him to never work a day in his life after football. Even then, I would question why he would take a shot at a fan base that has done everything short of deify him in Chicago Bear lore? I mean, really, those fans are willing to mention Urlacher in the same breath as Singletary and Butkus and Urlacher thinks that the fans are the ones he should be taking his frustration out on? The fans boo for a couple of games and Urlacher forgets all those unforgiving cold afternoons in Chicago where those same fans cheered him on to make one more play to secure the win? Or to make one last stand on the goal line to beat the hated Packers? Or to jar the ball loose to turn the offense over to secure a trip to the post season? Evidently, for all of Urlacher's piss and vinegar, he's forgotten about those fans that loved him no matter what while they wore his jersey in the stands in freezing cold temperatures at exorbitantly high prices.

No, I do not argue that Urlacher has no right to say the things he said. My argument is that he's a moron for saying them. My message to Brian Urlacher would simply be this... Rise above the drunken imbeciles that would boo your team. Rise above the fans that feel the same frustration that you do at how this team has performed over the past few years. Rise above them because you are a professional and that is what professionals do.