As we wait for the NFL and the NFLPA* to demonstrate the kind of urgency that will get a labor deal done before we’re completely out of things to write about, we’re nearly out of things to write about.
So the bar has been lowered. As the following story demonstrates.
Buccaneers receiver Mike Williams, whose strong performance as a rookie landed him on the list of the league’s top 100 players, attended the Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament in Buffalo, planning to serve as a coach. But when one of his players was a no-show (maybe he quit the team in an homage to Williams’ college career at Syracuse), Williams had to play.
“I couldn’t leave my team hanging so I went in there,” Williams told Miguel Rodriguez of the Buffalo News. “A lot of people were screaming ‘Mike Williams’ on the sidelines so it feels good to be back home.” (It probably didn’t feel good for the opponent whose nose got bloodied by an accidental elbow from Williams.)
Williams said he wasn’t worried about getting hurt. And he didn’t get hurt. He also spent time signing autographs. And he presumably didn’t get hurt doing that, either.
But the autograph session raises an interesting question. When Bucs receiver Mike Williams signs his name, does he add “not the one who was a top 10 pick but then got fat and now is skinny but is hoping not to get fat again”? Or maybe he just uses his middle initial.