Written by Chris O’Dell
Some things never seem to fade away. Like Paris Hilton in the tabloid headlines, Michael Jackson death rumors and rerun episodes of “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” the painful-to-watch soap opera known as the Michael Crabtree contract negotiations still lingers in San Francisco.
Crabtree, who has been holding out for a better contract than the 49’ers offered, or maybe just for the attention he knew he would receive, feels he should be paid like a top five pick, despite being the 10th overall pick in this year’s NFL draft. He has also made it clear he should be the highest-paid wide receiver in the draft, regardless of being the second receiver taken in the first round.
As if that wasn’t idiotic enough, the former Texas Tech Red Raider has even said he is prepared to sit out the entire 2009 NFL season and re-enter the draft next year. Can he really be serious?
First came reports during the NFL Combine that Crabtree was a “diva” receiver who craves attention. Then the receiver’s college head coach, Mike Leach, publically stood up for his former player and bashed Eric Mangini for calling Crabtree a diva. Leach even said he never once saw “diva-type behavior” from his star wide receiver.
Way to make not only yourself but also your former coach look like a complete fool.
Someone might want to remind Crabtree who the head coach of the 49’ers is, because he isn’t dealing with Mike Leach anymore. For those of you who might not know, a hard-nosed former NFL great by the name of Mike Singletary now runs San Francisco’s football team. And he is not the man you want to mess with, especially when you have yet to prove anything in the NFL. It is highly unlikely Singletary will cave and suggest offering Crabtree more money than the 49’ers initial offer. He is more likely to be the person to suggest completely pulling the offer off the table altogether.
On what planet does the position several mock drafts have you going at guarantee you money in the biggest sports league in America? Because although the mock drafts might have had Crabtree going in the top five, the only draft that matters, the NFL draft, had him 10th.
Yes, Michael Crabtree might end up being a star receiver in the NFL. Some scouts have used words like “spectacular” and “unparalleled” to describe his ability on the football field. However, the road Crabtree is heading down is a very dangerous one. In fact, unparalleled might be a good word to use for Crabtree’s stupidity. Multiple athletes have had “spectacular” ability coming out of college, only to end up using that ability working for minimum wage.
Take Matt Harrington for example. The former high school pitching phenom from California was as highly touted as they come. He showed enough potential that the Colorado Rockies drafted Harrington with the seventh overall pick in the 2000 MLB draft.
However, Harrington thought he was better than the $4.9 million offer the Rockies offered, and he decided to re-enter the 2001 draft. He then re-entered the 2002 draft, the 2003 draft, the 2004 draft and so on.
It was reported earlier this year that Harrington is now earning $11.50 an hour installing tires at Costco.
And how can anyone forget former NBA star Latrell Sprewell? The four-time NBA All-Star rejected a three-year deal from the Minnesota Timberwolves worth $21 million because he said it wasn’t enough money to “feed his family.” Not only did the Timberwolves not re-sign Sprewell, but Sprewell and his ego never played in the NBA again.
ESPN featured a story on Sprewell last year, and the former T-Wolves guard recently defaulted on a $1.5 million mortgage and has been forced to sell his private yacht for far less than market value.
These are just a few of the stories for young athletes to be aware of.
Who knows, maybe Crabtree will use this season to bulk up on muscle, improve his 40 time and rest his injury-prone ankle. Then perhaps he could find a better home in next year’s draft – one that will pay him what he thinks he deserves.
More than likely, however, he, Harrington and Sprewell will find themselves in very similar situations: gone from the public eye, depressed, forgotten and reminiscing about what could have been. If only they had not let their ego and their greed get the best of them.
