Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnar
You know what, the Cobra has a point when referring to non essential personnel. A distinction I didn't think of with my last post. It's also not just about the players safety, yes they can get there safely, but their families are without them, and for what, football practice?
Right now I am a road maintenance employee and considered essential personnel. When I was a toll collector for 16 years I called out sick every time it snowed.
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I get what you're saying, but they're not leaving their families out in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere without power. I've never in my life seen so many adjectives, colour and drama used to describe a snowstorm and situation. People are equipped to deal with these things, far more so in this day and age then even 20 years ago.
Football Teams are a big family, the families get together. Nobody is going off and leaving their family at risk. It's that funny thing I mentioned earlier, "planning and preparation".
Considering the time of year it is for them, the most important time of their job is happening, the playoffs. There are ample ways and means to mitigate any and all risks, some of which I pointed out.
The bits I could find to read on it indicated the players had no problem with it. The league had no problem with it. The team, owner, coaches had no problem with it. I'm unaware of any member of the Patriots or their families raising a fuss that there was a practice. All the resources and means are there for this practice to occur without risk. The players know the importance of this time of year. I know I would make sure I was there, and I wouldn't use a snowstorm as an excuse when there ample resources available for me to do so. It's not like this practice was an unexpected surprise, nor was the storm.
The players prepared, the families prepared, they made sacrifices for their job. Sacrifices they were more than willing to make. No, their job isn't essential, but they seem to feel it is essential enough to have practice at this time of year. Funny thing I've noticed in life - people who are willing to make sacrifices generally tend to be more successful at what they do.
So maybe Belichick is "insane", or maybe he just realizes that the reason he's won 5 SB's is because he and his team were willing to make sacrifices in order to have success. I won't pass judgement on that, as others have. I'll only say what I said all along - there's nothing wrong with having this practice, it can be easily accomplished without any risk through simple planning and preparation.
As I read this today, I get the impression that if the Vikings had done this, then the thread would never have been started. It's only because of some peoples disdain for the Patriots and Belichick that it was even started. I mean seriously - the thread title in itself is a personal attack.
Cheers
Bruce