Senior Writer
In the latest comment in a string of NFL offseason arrogance, Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans, recently took to Twitter to address his critics.
"Can these fake Titan fans STFU (shut the [expletive] up) on my timeline I don't have a regular job so don't compare me to you and I can care less if uthink I'm greedy."
A regular job is certainly something that Johnson does not have. Each day, he lives out a dream that fans would give their left arm to achieve, a fact that he takes for granted. Walt Disney once proclaimed that "if you can dream it, you can do it." While that thought is comforting, let's face it, not everyone was born with the physical tools to be a running back in the National Football League.
Johnson has since backpedaled on his statement, claiming it was mis-interpreted, but the funny part is that he still does not understand why fans were enraged in the first place. It's not that he called the fans who were concerned, fake. It's the growing sense of entitlement and greed from athletes while the United States is in a down economy.
The Bottom Line:
While most blue-collared hard-working men and women struggle to make ends meet from paycheck to paycheck, Johnson had been in negotiations to make an astronomical sum of money--to play football. While a lot of fans would pay money just to take a hand-off from an NFL quarterback on LP Field, Johnson gets to do this while making an exorbitant sum of money per year, a number that the vast majority of the population will not even see in their lifetime.
It may not help that this comes on the heels of the NFL lockout, a feud between the owners and players to divide up a $9 billion dollar pie, which was made possible by the continued dedication of NFL fans each year to the sport.
Regardless of how broke and out of work the population gets, each season fans suit up in their $80 favorite team jersey, their $20 team hat, their $40 team sweatpants, buy their $60 game ticket, pay $20 to park and proceed to watch their favorite athletes compete on the field. Fans do not do this for players like Johnson to make $13 million dollars a season, but it is an inadvertent byproduct of it.
For many people, "Football Sunday" is the highlight of their week. The day that concludes the 40-60 hour work week that countless workers have to break their backs doing, just to take care of their families. Depriving Titans and NFL fans alike, of watching Johnson suit up and pound the football into the opposing defensive line this season is just a selfish slap in the face to the fans that support him.
Does Johnson deserve to be paid as a top running back in the league? Of course. Does he deserve to holdout the season and demand to be one of the highest paid in the league? Maybe. But does any athlete really deserve multi-million dollars per season?
In the words of the ESPN football crew: "C'mon man!"
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