Loyalty

Tonight I went and saw Up in the Air (which by the way is a great movie) and found myself pretty pissed off at one of the major plot twists in the movie.

*spoiler alert*

The girl that George Clooney falls for in the movie ends up having a husband and kids. Clooney thought she was single and goes to her house to surprise only to discover this fact. Basically the woman was cheating on her husband with Clooney.

The character later calls Clooney to explain herself and pretty much tells him off because he, "could have ruined everything. That is my real life."

Why did this piss me off? It speaks to the fact that people cheating on one another is becoming a more prevalent theme in our society and it isn't a good thing.

Before the movie even started there was a preview for this movie called Leap Year where the main female lead decides to fly to Ireland and propose to her boyfriend. However in order to get there she needs to get a drive from some stranger who by the end of the preview she has fallen in love with. Basically this movie promotes throwing away a relationship over someone you have only just met.

I realise none of this is sports related but here comes the seamless transition.

After seeing all this and thinking about how people are no longer faithful in relationships and how it is becoming more common to see people cheating with little or no scruples about the whole thing I came home to see this...

"Giants embarrassed by Panthers. Coughlin Is Problem"

The line had been crossed and it forced me to write this and go on another grammatically weak rant that I am sure will do little to get people as fired up as I am.

Fire Tom Coughlin? Are you kidding me? The guy won a SuperBowl for the Giants 2 years ago, 2 years and fans are calling for his firing because he lost 1 game? He didn't even lose the game the players did.

Did Coughlin give up 416 total yards to Matt Moore and the Panthers offense? No that was the defense.

Did Coughlin throw 2 interceptions and fumble 3 times? No that was Eli Manning.

I am not even a Giants fan and I am writing this. It is just really sad and speaks to one of the biggest problems in our society today, loyalty.

If you ask someone what the #1 quality they look for in a friend is the answer will more than likely be loyalty. People like loyalty and they respect it, or at least they used to.

It's weird looking at players that have stayed with the same team their whole career. Guys like Peyton Manning and Martin Brodeur who never put on a different jersey and become synonymous with their teams. These guys get looked at as the exception rather than the rule and are real oddities in the modern landscape of sports.

These guys could both make more money on the open market but yet they have made the decision that they want to remain loyal and will even take a pay cut in order to help the team win. In the case of Brodeur he is making less money than Cristobel Huet.

Look no further than Brett Favre to see what I am talking about. Here is a man who was a God in Green Bay. He could do no wrong and everyone loved him. If he wanted to he could have played until he was 65 and fans would have cheered him on the whole way. Instead of being faithful and loyal he opted to leave the team and sign with the Jets and then the Vikings which was basically the ultimate F U to Packers fans.

That's why I hate him so much. It is also one of the reasons that I secretly respect Derek Jeter. For all the reasons to hate him you have to respect the fact that he has stayed with the Yankees his entire career and will no doubt retire as a Yankee.

Although the Yankees are notorious for not showing any loyalty. When Bernie Williams was in the twilight of his career they refused to sign him to a new contract and allow him to retire with some class and dignity as a Yankee. The man was a loyal player who gave his all and yet the Yankees rejected him like he was trash. They just did the same thing to Matsui after he won the World Series MVP. I am not saying they need to become a charity and just give guys who can't play money but they need to reward loyalty.

Only 8 coaches in the NFL have been with their current teams for 5 seasons. 8. Does that not seem wrong in so many ways?

Sports is a results based industry. The point is to win and if can't win then you will be replaced by someone that can. I understand that and I can appreciate it but I can't appreciate when players switch teams just to make a quick buck and turn their backs on a fanbase that loves them.

It goes both ways though. Fans need to be loyal to their teams and to their players. How a Giants fan could want to fire a coach that won a SuperBowl only 2 seasons ago is beyond me. I know they have had a rough season and did just lose to the lowly Panthers but come on firing Coughlin would be a brutal move. Giants fans need to smarten up.

I don't see this trend changing anytime soon as pressure to win and chances for more money will continue to create turnover within sports franchises I just hope that more players like Manning and Brodeur will emerge and show that not everyone can be bought and that loyalty is something that pays off in the end.

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