Adrian Peterson Calls NFL "Modern Day Slavery"

[SoonerQueen]

Adrian Peterson Calls NFL 'Modern-Day Slavery'

Peterson's controversial comment stirred the pot in an already heated relationship between the players and owners.
Corey DeMoss
OKBlitz.com Staff Writer

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former University of Oklahoma and current Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson made waves recently when an interview surfaced in which he compared the ongoing NFL labor negotiations to “modern-day slavery.”

Peterson’s comment was part of a long interview with Yahoo! Sports writer Doug Farrar. With the NFL players union recently decertifying in preparation of a lockout, Farrar asked Peterson about his take on the situation.

“It’s modern-day slavery, you know?” Peterson said. “People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money … the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money.”

Peterson’s remarks created a firestorm as soon as they went public. Several current and former NFL players spoke in opposition of Peterson’s stance, including Green Bay Packers running back Ryan Grant.

“I have to totally disagree with Adrian Peterson’s comparison to this situation being Modern day slavery…false…” Grant said on Twitter. “Their [sic] is unfortunately actually still slavery existing in our world…Literal modern day slavery…That was a very misinformed statement.”

Farrar conducted the interview with Peterson almost immediately after the union filed for decertification Friday. At one point, Farrar removed the controversial comment before putting it back with an editor’s note saying he did not think Peterson meant the comparison literally.

Peterson’s agent, Ben Dogra, spoke to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in defense of his client Wednesday. He said Peterson currently is doing charity work in Africa and that his comments should not be taken out of context.

“I think anybody that knows Adrian knows that Adrian is a very strong-willed and passionate individual,” Dogra said. “The game means an awful lot to him. People should not just take his statements per se word by word.”

Peterson is scheduled to make more than $10 million next season, and the sticking point in the negotiations between the players union and owners is how they will split more than $9 billion in revenue.

Tensions already had been running high between the two sides, with players calling the owners’ head lawyer a liar and the union reportedly asking incoming rookies not to attend the NFL Draft. Peterson’s comments only made matters worse and poured fuel on an already burning fire.

[MadMonk]

Damn. Respect -10.

[kevinpate]

Damn. Respect -10.

You possess a very generous soul.

[Stan Silliman]

Improperly used, words become devalued. Sarah Palin with her "Blood Libel",etc. Peterson's remark reminds me of the quote from Latrell Sprewell. You know, the one where he says "How am I expected to feed my family?" If you forgot that one, here it is, below.

WACKIEST BASKETBALL QUOTES:


“I’ve got my family to feed.”

That’s it. Right now that’s our nominee for wackiest basketball quote of 2004. The quote comes from the mouth of Latrell Sprewell, basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves who has asked to be traded if the T-Wolves won’t continue to pay him the $14 Mil salary he’s currently receiving. The T-Wolves have offered him a three-year $27 million dollar deal. Spree sees the offer as taking the food right off the table of his six kids. Goodness, it will mean he will only have $25, 280 per day to feed his family.

I’m sorry, but if you can’t provide the grub at 25K per day, something drastic needs to happen. Like maybe ship off one or two of your kids to a Sally Struthers country, where they’ll get by on a less than two dollars per day and with the money you’ll save, the other four kids should be able to eat at the rate they were eating when you were bringing in the big bucks.

And think of the funny story you’ll have to tell the grand kids, someday. About how the mean old basketball team was taking the food off your table so you had to send Page and Pam off to Bangladesh where they almost got eaten by a tiger. Not many grand-dads have the gift to jazz up these trials of life stories and have the wee ones straining to hear what’s next, but you do.

The shame of it is Latrell had worked extremely hard to re-assemble a decent reputation. He won over team mates, fans and even many in the media – not an easy task after his 1997 choking of his coach, P.J. Carlesimo. He had floated from the absolute bottom of the barrel to somewhere near the top.

One insensitive statement can send you back down.

We’re grouping Latrell’s quote in with other dumb basketball quotes. We’re not sure where it’ll rank but here are the others. This first one is close to Latrell’s – from the very quotable Shaquille O’Neal: “I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.”

Of course that’s not quite up there with Winston Bennett, who said “I’ve never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.”

But it’s better than former North Carolina State player, Charles Shackleford, who said “Left hand, right hand. It doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious.”

Or Jason Kidd, who will forever be known for this geometrical quote: “We’re going to turn this team around 360 degrees.”

Vlade Divac, ever the mental evaluator, gave us this one: “We all get heavier as we get older because there’s a lot more information in our heads.”

And then there’s the remarkable passer, Magic Johnson, explaining why he and James Worthy work so well together: “It’s almost like we have ESPN.”

That reminds me. I’ve got television to watch.

[Easy180]

Someone seems just a tad bit out of touch with reality

[Jersey Boss]

Is it possible that he was comparing the situation a player has to being tied to one owner? A player such as himself would be designated a franchise player and not be able to offer his services to another team. The player has no other place to go to offer his services to an owner willing to pay more. Possibly "indentured servant" would be more appropriate.

[MikeOKC]

Sometimes we hear these figures thrown around and they cease to mean much. To put it in perspective: if Adrian Peterson made a flat $10,000,000.00 next year (he's actually getting a bit more), that's equal to one hundred men or women making $100,000.00 a year. If that's slavery - bring me an owner!

[Kerry]

Is it possible that he was comparing the situation a player has to being tied to one owner? A player such as himself would be designated a franchise player and not be able to offer his services to another team. The player has no other place to go to offer his services to an owner willing to pay more. Possibly "indentured servant" would be more appropriate.

There are other football leagues beside the NFL. He could go play in the Canadian league, the Arena league, the indoor football league, the United Football League, and he even could have played his senior year of college football for free. If he doesn't like any of those leagues he can always form his own league. I can clearly see his dad is starting having an impact on his life. His dad thought his employer owed him more than he earned also.

[Jersey Boss]

There are other football leagues beside the NFL. He could go play in the Canadian league, the Arena league, the indoor football league, the United Football League, and he even could have played his senior year of college football for free. If he doesn't like any of those leagues he can always form his own league. I can clearly see his dad is starting having an impact on his life. His dad thought his employer owed him more than he earned also.

C'mon now, those are not viable options and you know it. The Arena League and indoor football league are the same thing and I believe is out of business. Canadian League? Really? The UFL has a total of 5 franchises. Now if the owners refuse to end the lockout then possibly the locked out players could make the UFL a viable entity but I don't see that happening. Currently that league plays in non NFL markets which means lame TV markets. How does a competing league gain access to NFL stadiums?

[Kerry]

Adrian is the one complaining about 'slavery', not me. He has an option to leave the NFL plantation. He doesn't even need to play football at all. 10s of thousands of student athletes turn pro every years in jobs other than sports. If he is a slave, it is because slavery in the NFL pays well. For $10 million a year they could actually whip me and I wouldn't complain.

BTW - Arena Football and Indoor Football League are two different leagues and both are still playing.

http://www.arenafootball.com/

http://www.goifl.com/