Chargers give Gates ultimatum

This story makes me glad for 2 reasons. First, I am glad that the person before me in the fantasy football draft picked Gates before I was going to. Second, I am glad to see that teams are not buckling to these holdouts. Terrell Owens is another putz that I hope fails in his contract renegotiations.

From FoxSports:

FOXSports.com has learned that the Chargers sent Gates a letter informing him that if he does not sign his tender (reported to be $380,000) by Saturday, he will be held out of both the season opener against Dallas in addition to the last two preseason games.

The letter also states that for every preseason and regular season game he misses after Saturday's game, he will be sat for an extra game. In other words, if Gates does not sign his tender until after the preseason, he will miss the first three games of the season, as the contract impasse between the two sides now hits another level. He will also not receive a game check for those games he is forced to sit.

The only problem I see here is that the Chargers even tried to renegotiate. They have a contract. The rest of society has to follow the contracts that we enter. Why should athletes be different. Let these whining babies (Owens and Gates) sit out. Let them sit on the bench or worse for them, not be listed on the roster. Football careers have a very precious and narrow window of time. Missing a whole year simply because one is not paid enough millions is devastating to a career...and it should be for trying to renege on a contract.

See, when they signed their contracts they had various factors involved. Length of contract is typically negotiated for several factors such as the development of a persons skills. Agents and athletes want their contract to end just before they peak so that they can get the "pay day" on their next contract. Gates took a contract and was happy for the deal he got. Honor it, play hard and if you continue to perform by the end of the contract then ask for more.

Until then...shut the pie hole.