Faneca situation proves football is still a business
PITTSBURGH – Alan Faneca has a permanent dent in his forehead, which is a pretty good indication of what he’s given to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Nine years of blocking has left Faneca with an impression dug by his helmet being driven into his head with each collision.
Faneca has learned to live with that; the real wound comes from realizing the Steelers don’t want him at the price he has in mind for his services.
Sympathy for millionaires is often in short supply, the Ron Burkle-Mario Lemieux campaign for a new arena notwithstanding.
So it seemed that public sentiment was mostly against Faneca after his amazingly frank assessment of the situation on Friday.
You can’t blame a guy for feeling hurt, though. Faneca has been an exceptional player and a solid citizen. When the line was struggling a few years ago, he willingly switched positions to help.
But in an NFL ruled by a salary cap, exemplary play and behavior aren’t always rewarded.
The cap creates cold decisions that focus strictly on the future. There’s a dollar sign on every player.
Spend too much to feel good in 2007 and you might have a crisis in 2010.
The planning is more important than any blueprint the coaches create for a game.
Faneca wondered what his situation says to the rest of the players.
It says that pro football is a very tough business, and not just on game days.
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It’s become popular to suggest the Pirates should send slumping first baseman Adam LaRoche to the minor leagues, “just like they did with Jay Bell.”
Not quite. The Pirates did indeed send Bell to Class AAA Buffalo after he started the 1989 season 1-for-20. But the demotion came about because the Pirates gave up on Bell.
On April 21, they acquired shortstop Rey Quinones from Seattle to replace Bell. They gave up a starting pitcher (Mike Dunne) and former No. 1 draft pick (Mark Merchant) to get Quinones.
He was supposed to be their shortstop until his lousy play and shady off-the-field life led to his sudden release on July 22. Quinones was 25 and never played another major league game.
The Pirates were greatly relieved that Bell found his game and played well enough to cover up the huge mistake they made with Quinones.
When Bell was sent down, he had never spent a full season in the major leagues and had just 350 major league at-bats over three years.
LaRoche has spent three years in the major leagues and had 32 home runs last season. He entered this season with 1,267 at-bats, more than Freddy Sanchez and Xavier Nady.
There’s no comparison to his situation and Bell’s.
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Happy Mother’s Day, and an extra big slice of strawberry pie for the saintly moms who didn’t throw out the baseball cards.
John Mehno can be reached at johnmehno@lycos.com