Who Cares About a Million Dollars? We Want You to Play Football!

Look very carefully. This is the face of the devil... Possibly.

I think it's hard for us as fans to understand the business aspect of playing in the NFL. It's not that we don't understand that it's partially a full time job, it's that we often let our emotions get the best of us. We want these players to all have a passion for the game, to play lights-out every night just like they did when we watched them in college.

We wonder why this or that player, like Kurt Warner, on our favorite team is crying because he's being offered $7 million and not $8 million a year. It's still a lot of money, we are quick to point out. They'll still be able to live, eat and have a place to stay, right?

Wrong.

We don't take into account that these same players are risking life and limb everyday, even when just training or practicing. Look at the great notable players who never really even got a chance to shine on the field because they died or got injured after only a season or two learning the game.

The business aspect of this game often doesn't take into account that NFL teams almost always low-ball their players when it comes down to signing a new contract.

If these players didn't have union representatives and agents to take a look at how these contracts are actually written, they would never figure out what it takes to actually paid all those bonuses and performance-based incentives.

Take into account all of the money the players end up paying to their agents, lawyers and union fees and your looking at more then a quarter of that 8 million dollar signing bonus going down the drain.

So out of 8 million, let's say 2.2 million went to those people. Another 1-2 million go towards buying a home, another 200 thousand goes towards wife and children, another 1.6 million or so goes towards taxes and now your left with at best they've got around 3 million left.

That's if they got 8, instead of 7 million. And that money doesn't stretch as far as we think. What happens if they suffer a season-ending injury in the regular season opener?

Take into account that most contracts these days are pretty much always back-loaded and you end up with a player who now has to support his lavish lifestyle on a couple million dollars for the rest of his life.

That doesn't even include the charities they are now honor bound to donate to every year.

At best, the average NFL player ends up after his career with a couple million dollars to his name. He's now 31 years old, physically-handicapped, partially mentally-retarded and everyone he's ever known including his own family is looking for handouts.

That's not even as much money as a good lawyer or doctor makes over his lifetime. And he never had to worry about his spine breaking when some crazy rookie drafted in the 7th round smashes into him from 50 yards out, trying to make a name for himself and grab hold of a final roster spot.

Even if it seems to be a lot of money to us as normal, hardworking fans, we expect these players to stretch beyond their physical limits, sometimes upwards of a decade, just to entertain us for a couple of hours each Sunday.

American football is the hardest hitting, most vicious sport on the face of the planet. Players in the MLB don't get hit nearly as often and look at some of their guaranteed paychecks.

C.C. Sabathia just signed a seven-year, $161 million tender with the New York Yankees just to be a part of a starting pitcher rotation. At worst he will get hit by a baseball two or three times in the rest of his illustrious career.

So I think that we as fans should be more understanding to these players, even if we have to start looking at them as people instead of players, trying to put together a nest-egg for the future. They often times are just like you or me. Just much bigger.

Maybe stronger or faster.

So the next time you boo vehemently at your favorite player because he has decided to take a dip in the free-agency waters, just understand that even if he loves your team or even if he knows and loves you personally, he may just be trying to make his organization realize how valuable his time and effort really is (thanks for staying with the Ravens, Ray).

Who knows, he might get paralyzed from the waist down from an exuberant and young player accidentally on the first play of the first game of next season.

Michael is an avid sportswriter/blogger for the Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL in general. He cheerfully lives in Baltimore, MD, where he spends his time staring at computer/TV screens waiting for the next juicy story to pop up on ESPN or the NFL Network.

If you'd like to contact him in person, for questions or just to eat at his restaurant, you can reach him at: [e-mail].