One thing’s for sure about Maurice Clarett: He has balls. Not a lot of brains, presumably, but he’s got stones. He said all along that he was a first-round talent so when it came time to negotiate his contract with the Denver Broncos, who chose Clarett with the final pick in the third round of last April’s draft, Clarett elected to forgo $410,000 in guaranteed money to sign an incentive-laden deal that could net him as much as $7 million. ESPN reports that, while the details of the contract are sketchy, Clarett could hit an escalator worth more than $1 million if he rushes for 1,000 yards, and the money continues to increase along with the yardage totals. While you’ve got to admire Clarett’s desire to prove his doubters wrong and his willingness to put his money where his mouth is, this seems like an awful big risk for the former Ohio State back to take. The Broncos, as always, are loaded at running back, with Ron Dayne, Quentin Griffin and, the two backs with the best shot at starting this year, Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell. There’s no guarantee that Clarett is going to see much playing time at all this season and, while Dayne has proven he’s anything but an every-down NFL back and Anderson may not be a long-term solution, the Broncos love Bell, a 5-11 second-year back out of Oklahoma State who ran for nearly 400 yards on just 75 carries last year. Clarett obviously is confident that his skills will translate into first-round money sometime down the road, but this may very well prove to be a decision he regrets before it’s all said and done.
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The boo-birds at Wrigley Field this year are out of hand. It used to be that a Cub player could do no wrong. Now, Cub legend Ron Santo would be booed out of the building for not walking fast enough on his two prosthetic legs. Any fan base within five outs of the World Series two years ago is going to have higher expectations than before, especially after a century of losing. I can understand the occasional boos. However, this used to be amongst the most congenial crowds in sports, everybody drunk on beer, chatting on cell phones, and maybe even watching the game. The Cubs have spent the money, have the talent (although injured most of the year), and should be competing every game. With Prior, Zambrano, Maddux, young lefty Rich Hill, and the occasional Kerry Wood start and now relief appearance, we are right to expect wins. But boos are now as common as cheers at Wrigley. Crowds are chomping at the bit for either manager to put in a player they can jeer with the two most common players this year being LaTroy Hawkins and Corey “Trade Bait” Patterson. On Tuesday, the crowd at Wrigley led an inning long “Hawkins sucks” chant after he came in for the Giants in the eighth. An inning long! Even current Cubs players such as Derrek Lee and Ryan Dempster told the media it crossed the line. I can understand booing an opposing pitcher on his way to and from the mound, but a whole inning? Hawkins is lucky Cubs fans didn’t take a cue from Phillies fans and start throwing batteries. But, then their cell phones wouldn’t work. If you have to boo, boo someone deserving, like all of the St. Louis Cardinals.
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