- Is it important for you to get to play for your favorite team?
- Could you be happy playing for your most-loathed team?
- Would you want to spend your entire career with one team only, or be with several?
- If you’ve spent your entire career with one team to date, would you retire, or go with another team for one last hurrah? (i.e., Peyton Manning with Broncos, Emmitt Smith with Cardinals, Michael Jordan with Wizards)
- Would you want to be the face of the franchise (i.e., Jordan with Bulls), or be a more anonymous low-key player with a less-noticed role?
- How big of a pay cut would you be willing to take to help your team get under the cap and sign good talent?
- Would you ring-chase if it would get you rings? (i.e., join an existing superteam like the 2011-2014 Heat or 2015-2019 Warriors)
- How important would a championship be to you?
- What idiosyncrasies or quirks would you be notable for?
It’s a privilege and an honor to play for the team I’ve rooted for all my life, now that they’ve caved to my salary demands.
My harmless quirk is pointing downward as I circle the bases after hitting a home run.
My favorite team would be the one that pays me well and treats me well.
If they were paying me well, they wouldn’t be my most-loathed team.
- Is it important for you to get to play for your favorite team?
I’m a pro athlete. I play for whomever I’m contracted with.
- Could you be happy playing for your most-loathed team?
my most loathed team is that simply because they keep belting my favourite. So I’m happy because that means more wins.
- Would you want to spend your entire career with one team only, or be with several?
I’m crap at selling myself so I’d try to be one club, til they cut me.
- If you’ve spent your entire career with one team to date, would you retire, or go with another team for one last hurrah?
those who know me reckon the body has gone so rather than a swan song it’d be more of a duck dive
- Would you want to be the face of the franchise (i.e., Jordan with Bulls), or be a more anonymous low-key player with a less-noticed role?
I’d take a pay cut to avoid being the face of the franchise.
- How big of a pay cut would you be willing to take to help your team get under the cap and sign good talent?
pay me my agreed rate or cut me. Not taking a haircut so they can bring in somebody to take my game time.
- Would you ring-chase if it would get you rings? (i.e., join an existing superteam like the 2011-2014 Heat or 2015-2019 Warriors)
have the mindset more of a earnest journeyman
- How important would a championship be to you?
be the absolute dogs bollocks
- What idiosyncrasies or quirks would you be notable for?
I’d say “G’day mate!” to the catcher and plate umpire every at bat.
1,2, 3 - Don’t care who I play for, I’m playing wherever I can get the best contract. As I see it, being a pro athlete is a 2-10 year gig at best for 99% of players, so I’m going to make as much money as possible.
4 - If I’m a superstar like the people you named, sure. But if I’m in the other 99.99%, see above answer.
5 - Don’t care, but if they want me to be a face of the team, my agent will be bringing that up in negotiations.
6 - Would not take a pay cut to get other talent.
7 - If I’ve made F-you money, then sure, I might, might take a deal with another team to get a championship.
8 - Again, if I’ve already made F-you money, a championship might be something I’d look for.
9 - I’d go for a John Kruk level of wackiness.
- I don’t think I’d care who I play for, but I’d have a preference for large metro areas I think.
- Not at all. It’s a business decision.
- I don’t think I’d have cared in my unmarried 20s and 30s.
- I think if I was pretty engaged in that community, then I’d want to stay there, and unless I planned to play another 10 years or something, then I’d probably retire rather than move.
- Being the face gets you paid more, and sets you up for more lucrative/high profile endeavors after your retirement, so yeah, I’d be the face.
- Depends how much I made; If I was Luka Doncic and in 2 years, Cuban asks if I’ll take a 5 million per season pay cut, I’d say sure. But if I was making 2x league minimum? Probably not.
- I don’t think I’d care.
- Probably not that important.
- I suspect I’d be kind of like a more outspoken JJ Watt- I’d try and do a lot of positive community work, but I’d also use my position as the team’s face as something of a bully pulpit and call out BS where I saw it.
- I think my interpretation of favorite team would be very different if I were a pro athlete, rather than a fan. That said, yeah, I would have a favorite, and I would like to play for them.
- Again, if I were a pro athlete, I think I would see all teams in my league as ultimately part of the same organization, rather than as “sworn enemies”. So, I would certainly be happy playing for my least favorite team, if that meant I was still playing.
- I would prefer to spend my career with one team, I think there is value in that.
- I feel like the whole “last hurrah” thing is reserved for big name superstars. If I were a big name superstar, then I would probably do a “last hurrah” career move. If I weren’t a big name superstar, and instead a mid-range pro, then retirement (and move into coaching) would be more likely.
- Face of the franchise? Sure, why not? It would up my endorsement contract rates so SO much higher.
- Again, this seems like the whole pay cut thing it is reserved for big name superstars. If that were me, I suspect that I would have multiple revenue streams so a pay cut wouldn’t be my primary money. So, yes, I would do it.
- Yes, gotta have goals!
- Gotta have goals!
- That’s a tough one. If I were a pro athlete, I would be so completely different as a person than what I am now, I wouldn’t expect to have any of my current personality. Maybe use my grandfathers favorite line in all of my interviews, after expressing any opinion, “But I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout nothin’” (wink).
- Is it important for you to get to play for your favorite team?
No.
- Could you be happy playing for your most-loathed team?
Yes.
- Would you want to spend your entire career with one team only, or be with several?
Depends. The situation once you are working for an employer often is not what you expect, or can change over time.
- If you’ve spent your entire career with one team to date, would you retire, or go with another team for one last hurrah? (i.e., Peyton Manning with Broncos, Emmitt Smith with Cardinals, Michael Jordan with Wizards)
Depends.
- Would you want to be the face of the franchise (i.e., Jordan with Bulls), or be a more anonymous low-key player with a less-noticed role?
Go for the glory!
- How big of a pay cut would you be willing to take to help your team get under the cap and sign good talent?
None. It’s not an employee’s job to take a pay cut because the employer can’t budget.
- Would you ring-chase if it would get you rings? (i.e., join an existing superteam like the 2011-2014 Heat or 2015-2019 Warriors)
Sure, if that’s what my career was missing.
- How important would a championship be to you?
I’d have to say very, because it’s awfully important to pro athletes.
- What idiosyncrasies or quirks would you be notable for?
Having an aggressive looking face. I do that when playing sports.
If I were a pro athlete, I would definitely want to play for my favorite team. Except, my perception of “favorite” would be based on how well run the organization is - do they have stable ownership/coaching, do they have top notch facilities, do they use a private plane, that sort of thing.
In playing, I’d view it as the business it is, and expect to be paid as much as I can command. Would I ever agree to a pay cut in pursuit of a championship? Sure, as long as my contract is restructured so that I can recoup my losses on the back end (I don’t know, maybe in bonuses if we reach those championship benchmarks).
Ultimately, of course, winning championships is really important - it’s why you play the game.
But I wouldn’t go to some team at the end of my career just to win a championship - I’m imagining that I’m good enough that I’ll already have some rings before it’s over, and even if I don’t I don’t want to dilute my potential for post career endorsements by giving people something to gripe about (like my “lack of loyalty”).
As far as a quirk? I’d refer to myself in the second person.
Baseball fan here so as a kid, would dream of playing in MLB. Grew up cheering for the Montreal Expos.
Had I realized that dream, yes, would have been great to play for the Expos. Chances are slim however that one is good enough and happen to be drafted by their favourite team. I think it would be an honour just to be drafted by any team, do your best to move up the ranks and finally make the majors. Even if that team happened to be my most-loathed team as a fan.
These days, the way the game is, not many get to play their entire career with one team. Even stars get traded or are let go when they reach free agency for a variety of reasons. If it happens I play for the same team my whole career, great, but wouldn’t expect it.
Play for the team that wants you. I’d play as long as possible, even for a new team, because that’s a lot of money. A few million for a few years would ensure more future security for me, my kids and their kids.
Being the face of the franchise means you’re the best of the best. That’s good, that’s what everyone aspires to and the benefits that come with it. Not everyone however can handle that. I think today I could handle it, maybe not so much in my 20s.
Pay cut? No. It’s a business on both sides. I know my value. I doubt Mike Trout will agree to a cut, even if the Angels never make the playoffs in the next ten years.
Ring chase? Sure. It’s what most athletes say, I would like to get a ring and the team I just signed with gives me a good shot at one.