The National Football League has now proven that it, too, can recycle trash. In a league comprised of just 30 teams, the same bad players are simply passed from team to team.
Last week, the Dallas Cowboys cut Tony Banks, the free agent that they had signed this past off-season as quarterback. I guess the Cowboys didn’t get the memo that the entire football-viewing world easily saw: Tony Banks plays quarterback about as well as Roseanne Barr sang the National Anthem.
In a multibillion-dollar industry, it is simply obscene that over and over again the same failing players are given chances.
When Banks played quarterback for the Rams, it was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters. For three hours every Sunday the people of St. Louis watched Banks do his best basketball impression, dribbling the ball around in the backfield.
Once Banks was sent away from St. Louis, the Rams actually did find a quarterback, and lo and behold, they won a Super Bowl. Then Banks went to the Baltimore Ravens and became a magician. His magic was spectacular because every time the Ravens had the ball Banks made it magically disappear.
Finally, in mid-season of last year, the Ravens benched Banks, and they, too, went on to win the Super Bowl. Perhaps there is a pattern emerging here. But after being released twice, Banks was immediately signed by the Dallas Cowboys.
His stay in Dallas lasted about as long as it takes for a Jean Claude Van Damme movie to go into and out of theaters – roughly two weeks. Were the Cowboys that much smarter than the Ravens and Rams because they released Banks quicker? Or were they stupider for simply signing him? Now, in the oddest move of all, the Washington Redskins signed Banks just one day after the Cowboys released him.
The Redskins signing of Banks is an insult to every other person that plays quarterback in the league. By signing Banks, the Redskins have told every college quarterback, Arena League quarterback, NFL Europe quarterback, and, Heaven forbid, every former XFL quarterback that Banks was the best quarterback available.
The depressing truth is that Banks isn’t the only player like this in sports. Take, for example, quarterback Ryan Leaf, the man more commonly known as the worst mistake in NFL draft history. Leaf was released (finally) by the San Diego Chargers, only to be quickly gobbled up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Unfortunately, the NFL isn’t the only organization that is making these same mistakes. Even the Los Angeles Lakers, back-to-back NBA champions, have made the same mistake. Last year, the Lakers went out and acquired Isaiah Rider… only to leave him off their playoff roster later in the year.
Are the organizations in professional sports so blind to the fact that great physical specimens don’t always make great athletes? In a business where success is key, wouldn’t it be logical to find someone that produces at a certain position? How quickly it is that professional team owners forget the success that players have had when a chance to succeed is evident.
Players like Kurt Warner, Aaron Brooks and Mike Anderson have all thrived at their respective positions when they were simply given a chance. Players that are simply given chances will often surprise everyone with what they are capable of doing. Players like Banks and Leaf had their chances, and now it is time to open the door for those who have not yet had their chance.
However, if the Redskins do choose to go with Banks as their quarterback, the people of Washington might get the chance to see the best point guard the city has had in years.
