9909160125
DETROIT FREE PRESS
990916
Thursday, September 16, 1999
METRO FINAL
1D
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1999, Detroit Free Press
BARRY SPEAKS VOLUMES WITH CONTINUED SILENCE
AWORD here to Barry Sanders, and I choose it carefully, thoughtfully and
after much consideration:
SPEAK!
Enough already with the silence thing. Barry is pushing goodwill to the edge
of the cliff. He is making fools out of people who defend him. And his
trademark love of quiet is starting to look more and more like a negotiating
ploy.
This was never more evident than two days ago, when David Ware, one of Barry's
two agents, told me that Barry, who hasn't spoken to the media since quitting
football, will agree to pay back the Lions the $5.6-million prorated portion
of his signing bonus if -- and this is a big if -- the Lions "release his
rights or trade him, so that if he decides to play again, he can control his
own destiny."
Whoa. Decides to play again? Control his own destiny? To quote the actress who
suddenly discovers she's supposed to do a nude scene, who put that in the
script?
Weren't we told repeatedly that Barry's abrupt departure this summer -- on the
eve of training camp, the worst possible time -- was not about the Lions,
their sad history, their coaching, or anything like it? Barry loved Detroit,
we were told. Barry was just tired, we were told. Barry wasn't trying to force
his way to another team, he was getting out of the game.
Decides to play again? Control his own destiny?
Excuse me. But isn't walking away from a contract already controlling your
destiny? Holding a team hostage is more like controlling someone else's
destiny.
With a hatchet.
To retire or to refuse
To try to understand who is obligated to whom, I called Chuck Schmidt, the
Lions' chief operating officer, and asked him about Barry's contract.
"It says, very clearly," Schmidt said, "that if Barry 'voluntarily refuses to
report or leaves the club without its consent,' then he will be in 'default.'
And if he is in 'default,' he has to pay back the proportionate share of the
bonus that he hasn't earned."
Clear? Seems so. Unfortunately, it is completely opposite of what Ware, the
agent, told me on Tuesday.
"There is nothing in Barry's signing bonus agreement that says if he retired
he has to pay the money back," Ware declared. "Nothing."
Now, unless Ware is reading the Chinese version, the only way he can draw such
a different conclusion is to claim the word "retire" is not the same as
"voluntarily refuse." The arbitrators will make that call, and the Lions seem
more than confident to leave it in their hands.
After all, if this is true, it opens a pretty dangerous can of worms. Couldn't
any unhappy player say he was "retiring," offer to pay back the club in
exchange for complete freedom, then suddenly "unretire" when a championship
team comes calling?
Already in the NFL this season we had a lineman named Dimitrius Underwood quit
his Minnesota Vikings contract in order to "serve God." A few weeks later, he
was serving the Miami Dolphins.
Why bother with a contract at all?
Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath on Barry playing for another team. The
Lions would rather fold up shop and move to South America than see that
happen. When I asked Schmidt whether there's any way they'll cut, release or
trade Barry, he said "No" faster than I could swallow.
But that won't keep Ware from trying. The agent actually tried to justify this
by telling me, "Nobody in the United States has a contract that says ...if you
retire, you have to pay money back."
Sorry. But that's not true. I, and many people in radio, TV, books and movies,
have contracts that state if we quit early, we have to return advance moneys.
And, in many cases, if we quit with two years left on a deal, we can't work
for anyone else in the industry for those two years.
Ware's response?
"You need a better agent."
Still as elusive as ever
Now, I think Ware knows he's wrong on this. But he is an agent. His job is to
get as much money -- or in this case keep as much money -- as he can. After
all, it's pretty daunting to return $5.6 million -- especially after you've
invested it.
And it can't be easy for an agent to refund around $250,000 in commission.
But Barry needs to understand something here. He is destroying a wonderful
reputation. With these constant contradictions, these new maneuvers, this
continuing portraiture of his victimization (when in fact he was paid well for
his time in Detroit, and is not the only good player to never get a
championship ring) are turning a humble, hard-working image into a haughty,
hardball one.
The only way out of this is stepping into the light. Explain it yourself,
Barry. You're 31, not 13. You have always been admiringly humble, and shy with
publicity, but you can't pretend you don't know what's being said in your
name. You can't pretend your agent doesn't work for you. And you can't expect
the general public to ignore it.
Unless this is what you want said. Unless this whole thing really wasn't about
retirement, it was about slithering away from Detroit. Unless people like
myself, who have defended you consistently, saying until we hear it from your
mouth we shouldn't believe it, have been wrong all along.
In which case, you needn't bother to speak.
Your silence already has.
MITCH ALBOM can be reached at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Listen to
Mitch's radio show, "Albom in the Afternoon," 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM
(760). Also catch "Monday Sports Albom" 6:30-8 p.m. Mondays on WJR.
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