Mike Williams cut by.................

[Chandler#81]

Southern Man's Theme Time Internet Hour

 

Correction...

 

"Born under a Bad Sign"

Not Clapton...originally recorded by Albert King.

 

Co-Written by Booker T, of MGs fame (Green Onions)

 

Clapton is a great interpreter of Chicago, Missisippi, and Memphis blues, but after you become familiar with the work of all the originals - Robert Johnson, Albert Lee, Albert King, BB King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, The Wolf, Hubert Sumlin, Muddy, etc.,... you quickly realize that there was little originality in much of Clapton's work. Clapton had technical advantages with better instruments, sustain, and amplification that helped modify the texture and sound, but the notes and the feel are all from his American blues idols. I don't think he'd deny it.

 

Clapton's a smooth player, an underrated vocalist, and decent songwriter, but most of his licks are secondhand.

 

Give credit where it's due - William Bell came up with the lyrics for Born Under a Bad Sign, including the classic "no luck at all" line, though it's probably an old saying used long before the song was penned.

 

BTW - I saw Clapton and Winwood at the Garden in NYC last February. 10th Row Center Section. He's like a fine wine getting better with age.

 

Wow!

 

I stand humbly corrected.

 

 

Saw him recently as well. Still fantastic!

[Ramius]

I don't disagree about the NCAA (as I posted above) but Williams and Clarett's failures essentially reinforced made the NFL's argument - that younger players should be excluded from the draft and NFL because they aren't physically, mentally or emotionally mature enough to handle the responsibilities and demands of the pro game.

 

I don't see where the NFL gets "blame" in this. They didn't want either player in the draft, and IIRC only let them in after a judge ruled they couldn't bar him from the draft, but that decision was reversed on appeal.

 

I'm with you in that i agree with the 3 year rule. But, as an above poster said, when Mike Williams declared for the NFL draft, technically, he was eligible to do so, so he wasnt breaking any rules.

[HardyBoy]

That isn't all that surprising, I mean the Titans have a great wide receiver group!

[Bmwolf21]

And furthermore, you could argue that it was the year off from football that killed their careers. I know Clarett is a complete waste and Williams seems lazy, but the league is full of stupid, crazy and lazy players who can get by on extreme talent (which both of those guys had). I think a full year away from the sport at such a critical learning time could have been the death blow. But then again it could very well have been that both these guys would have washed out anyway.

I don't shed a single tear for these guys, and I don't think the year off is to blame. If these guys were supposedly mentally and emotionally mature enough to handle being NFL players, then they would have gone somewhere - one of the agents' training compounds, for instance - and kept their noses clean and worked hard until they got into the NFL. Instead they hung out with the wrong crowd, didn't train as hard as they could have/should have, and they screwed themselves.

 

I'm with you in that i agree with the 3 year rule. But, as an above poster said, when Mike Williams declared for the NFL draft, technically, he was eligible to do so, so he wasnt breaking any rules.

I agree that the NFL should have honored Williams' draft status. That being said, I cannot believe that Williams was not warned by anyone that if he signs with an agent and the NFL gets the courts to overturn the earlier ruling that he'd be schitt outta luck.

 

Neither of these players are blameless, but the NCAA and the NFL get more of the blame.

[bartshan-83]

I don't shed a single tear for these guys, and I don't think the year off is to blame. If these guys were supposedly mentally and emotionally mature enough to handle being NFL players, then they would have gone somewhere - one of the agents' training compounds, for instance - and kept their noses clean and worked hard until they got into the NFL. Instead they hung out with the wrong crowd, didn't train as hard as they could have/should have, and they screwed themselves.

I don't shed a tear for them either...especially not Clarett. However, I think the situation they found themselves in was not as clearly recoverable as you paint it to be. They could lift weights and do cone drills until they were blue in the face. They even could have watched game film. But I still don't think any of that can make up for the loss of round-the-clock coaching at football factory programs as well as intense competition against other elite athletes in practice and real game situations. Their growth was stunted at a very crucial time. And I just find it interesting that two of the biggest talents in college football couldn't even cut it for a few seasons in the NFL (Clarett a few weeks). It would be one thing if Mike Williams had an unremarkable career and never lived up to his billing, but he was gone in the blink of an eye.

 

Now obviously this is just a hypothesis. I'm not saying this was definitely what happened and they would have had solid/great careers otherwise. But on the other hand, I'm not so sure they are good examples of why players shouldn't be able to enter the draft earlier. If these guys were such immature knuckleheads that they couldn't even survive in the pros, do you really think 12 months would have made any difference?

[Bmwolf21]

Williams and Clarrett are not comparable in my opinion. Yes they were both affected by the same law/ruling. If I remember correctly wasn't Clarrett was the reason that Williams was kicked out of the draft? Clarrett got kicked out of OSU for academic reasons (cheating) and then tried to enter the draft and the NFL got him banned and as a result banned Williams. Clarrett eventually got busted on gun charges and clearly has no integrity. Williams' reasons for entering the draft are unknown to me, but it is definetly a personal or family decision if a person chooses to leave school early to go work and support his family, and I can pass no judgment on him for that decision. Signing an agent, poor choice clearly in hindsight, but if Clarrett doesn't make the NFL stop a crazy precident I think Williams has no problems. Essentially they were affected by the same rulings, but they are two separate cases, and it is unfair to almost anyone to be compaired with Clarrett.

Honestly I couldn't care less about the crap Clarett did.

 

Maybe we should start a poll to determine who is to blame for Williams' situation. It's the NFL and the NFLPA; no, wait - it's the NCAA. Nope, gotta be Clarett. When does Mike Williams take responsibility for his career? Who forced him to sign with an agent, knowing that once you do that your NCAA eligibility is gone? He took a chance when the courts ruled in Clarett's favor, and the NFL got an appeals court to overturn the ruling. Williams gambled and he lost. And along the way he became fat, lazy and apparently disinterested in football.

 

Their college situations might not be the same, but the end result of their NFL careers are - they're both out of football right now.

[Bmwolf21]

I don't shed a tear for them either...especially not Clarett. However, I think the situation they found themselves in was not as clearly recoverable as you paint it to be. They could lift weights and do cone drills until they were blue in the face. They even could have watched game film. But I still don't think any of that can make up for the loss of round-the-clock coaching at football factory programs as well as intense competition against other elite athletes in practice and real game situations. Their growth was stunted at a very crucial time. And I just find it interesting that two of the biggest talents in college football couldn't even cut it for a few seasons in the NFL (Clarett a few weeks). It would be one thing if Mike Williams had an unremarkable career and never lived up to his billing, but he was gone in the blink of an eye.

 

Now obviously this is just a hypothesis. I'm not saying this was definitely what happened and they would have had solid/great careers otherwise. But on the other hand, I'm not so sure they are good examples of why players shouldn't be able to enter the draft earlier. If these guys were such immature knuckleheads that they couldn't even survive in the pros, do you really think 12 months would have made any difference?

The only part I agree with in the whole post is the idea that these are two idiots who probably were never going to make it in the NFL, since they apparently thought playing in the NFL was a birthright and not a privilege, and thought it should be handed to them when they wanted it.

 

But like it or not, the NFL is going to hold them up as shining examples of why the age restriction works.

[Exit_58]

that's a big cut

[BobbyC81]

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/wcStory?con...8#story=8399698

 

No, not that Mike Williams, the Overweight, out of shape, motivational problem former Detroit Lions WR

 

Now just because you know someone will ask, "Do you think he could be converted into a TE?"

 

He came to the Titans weighing 270lbs, and lost 30lbs over the offseason, trying to get his career back on track, but it wasn't enough

 

Pretty pathetic. I guess he's just another guy with all the talent who doesn't have the commitment and/or drive.