It’s that season again.
That magical hockey run is now a warm-fuzzy, Stanley Cup memory. Basketball finally ended, and Kobe is now a full-time defendant. Baseball, where the locals are no longer the Bedeviled Rays or the Bob and Rays, is still in its pre pennant-race prelude.
But football is already into its mini camp hold-out mode. Sportswriters are writing about something other than who looks good running around in shorts and helmets. Those on the Buccaneer beat are writing about the strife and times of the obscenely underpaid Keenan McCardell.
This is not one of those columns that deplores the fact that some people are fortunate enough to make a whole lot of money playing a game. That’s capitalism. That’s supply and demand. That’s show biz.
This is about “principle,” however oxymoronic that can be among those who play for pay. The issue, as McCardell explains it, is about what is “fair.” He and his agent have some league-average statistics that purport to show he’s underpaid. “I’m fighting over a principle,” says McCardell. What is fair and just