How Important is Winning?:
In the wake of St. Louis' Az-Zahir Hakim's signing with the 1-15 Detroit Lions and London Fletcher singing with the 1-15 Buffalo Bills, got me thinking a very tough question.
How important is winning a Super Bowl to these two guys?
The Rams have been to two Super Bowls in the last three years. The Lions and Bills combined win total of 2 equals the Rams win total in the post-season.
Every athlete in sports talks about the importance of winning a Championship. But once you have a ring, is money all that matters?
In Fletcher's case, the Rams grew frustrated in trying to re-sign him, according to Len Pasquarelli of ESPN, and instead went with Jaime Duncan. Duncan, a starter since 2000 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, became a free agent as well.
Fletcher was scheduled to meet with Pittsburgh and Detroit, but cancelled both and signed with Buffalo. Pittsburgh was a game away from the Super Bowl, but both the Bills and Lions had horrible seasons in 2001.
Why didn't Fletcher visit with Pittsburgh? If he has a great drive to win another title, why go to team in the re-building process?
Buffalo and Detroit are both going to head into the 2002 season with no proven quarterback, no proven running back, and plenty of youth on the defensive side of the ball.
Az-Zahir Hakim signed the following day with Detroit. With Herman Moore struggling with nagging injuries since 1999 and Germane Crowell on the free agent market, Johnnie Morton needed some help.
Hakim has tremendous speed and can definitely help their receiving corps. But Hakim might never get back to the Big Show playing for a team that has never been there.
John Salley, an analyst on The Best Damn Sports Show and a former pro athlete, mentions time and again on the show how he wishes he had tried to earn more money during his playing days. He won four rings during his career.
Steve Lyons, another analyst on the show, has never won a title and didn't earn millions as a player. His opinion is simple. He would have done anything for a ring.
Salley regrets not earning the money of some of the players playing today. But would his opinion be different had he never won a title? We might never know the answer to that question or mine.
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