2/20/2012 - Wow! People are turning on Cliff Avril quicker than a gold-digger would on her newly-bankrupt 80 year old husband after a stock market crash!

Fans have long been known to be fickle creatures, so this doesn’t come as a surprise. But I wish my fellow Detroit Lions fans had a little bit more understanding for a man’s own personal financial decisions that are made public unlike most of ours are.

My question is this? Whose really being the selfish one, Cliff Avril? Detroit Lions fans? Both maybe?

Everyone will obviously have a different opinion and that’s the beauty of debate with other fans of the same team.

Cliff Avril’s decision on what his contract demands are, are his decision and his right as a man. How do you feel when someone tries to count your money? You don’t like it right? Well the messed up thing about a professional football player’s situation is that everybody is counting his money and deciding what is “enough” for him and his family.

It’s funny that so many people love capitalism and free markets until it comes down to a pro athlete who is really a business in and of himself. I especially don’t begrudge a man’s contract demands when he is taking the field in the National Football League.

Why? For the very obvious reason that every time these men take the field they have a very legitimate chance of being carted off that exact same field on that very day. Do you remember Bo Jackson and how great his career would’ve been? Do you remember Detroit Lions Mike Utley or Reggie Brown and how great they could’ve been?

Well that could easily be any NFL player that touches the turf on any given Sunday in the organized violence that we call the NFL, a life full of would’ve beens and could’ve beens. When is the last time those woulda & couldas paid a bill?

One of the interesting things that I often hear from other NFL fans and Detroit Lions fans is that these players don’t know how it is to work a “real job” and that they only “play a game for a living”, well I have a news flash for those who carry that sentiment. These players DO work a “real job”, and just like us they really never even get an offseason. Right now most of theses guys are working out on a regular schedule to keep their “business” in good shape. Not just working out, but working out to remain a world-class athlete.

Who of us works out like an NFL athlete everyday or even once a month? Who of us NEED medics waiting on the “sideline” of our workplace because today could very well be the day we end up with a concussed brain or a knee that’s turned the wrong direction?

Yes, that’s a very real job and a real dangerous one at that. A job neither you or I can do. Don’t get me wrong I KNOW that there are people that work at jobs that massively underpay them, like fire fighters and school teachers and it’s an absolute shame it really is. But again, going back to capitalism and free markets, how much income do those jobs create? It’s not an NFL players fault that dollars speak the loudest in this world. So who can justifiably blame them for wanting to get paid? This world is about supply and demand, period.

Cliff Avril should stay in Detroit, that’s just how I feel. This is THE most rabid football fanbase in the NFL hands down, this team is on the verge of greatness and he’d be a king here. But the man has to do what he has to do. He has been a model citizen, he has produced more and more every year of his career, he admirably endured the Matt Millen induced 0-16 debacle and always has been very friendly and interactive with the fans and I truly believe he wants to be here in Detroit.

It’s really this simple, when he can’t play anymore the any NFL team would discard him, now is his time to secure himself and his family long-term. He wants what’s best for his family, most fans just want their good players to stay put unless they aren’t good anymore, then they want them cut.

Hey look, nothing I say is going to stop some Detroit Lions fans from judging Cliff Avril to all of a sudden be over-rated or selfish. But if he is being selfish, which is debatable, he’s not alone.