A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2021
SPORTS
Soccer fans should be mad at FC Barcelona, not Messi, for his exit
The 34-year old Messi signs a two-year deal
with Paris Saint-Germain, thus ending his
17-year tenure with FC Barcelona
the position of President after a
six-year run with his extrava-
gant spending that led to over
$1.4 billion in debt.
After watching his tear-
commit to the initial fi ve-year ful conference thanking the
organization and their fans for
contract that they had in the
COREY
the 17-year run, I was taken
works
with
the
34-year-old
KIRK
superstar, one that would have aback by the conversation
that dominates all different
seen him fi nish his career in
domains of sports.
n the world of soccer, news Catalunya. What impressed
I recognize that athletes
recently broke that has left me was what Messi decided to
in recent memory have often
a state of chaos in the sport. do next.
been seen taken by the highest
He was ready to play for
Lionel Messi, who has graced
bidder, focused on making
less.
the world of international
money that most dream of,
He offered to play with up
soccer from the age of 17, has
which sometimes may lie with
spent half of his life draped in to a 50% pay cut to remain
championship aspirations.
the red and blue of Futbol Club with the club — yet FC Bar-
celona still wouldn’t be able to We have seen athletes getting
Barcelona.
afford his services at that price huge paydays to profi t off
Well, until this past week.
their skillset or willingly take
tag. It was quite evident that
Facing a fi nancial crisis
Messi would have loved to stay, a pay cut to join a talented
and structural obstacles as
however, after the tumultuous team at a chance to win a title.
they attempt to maintain
Though Barcelona was paying
run with Josep Maria Bar-
being competitive in La Liga,
tameu, who was pushed out of Messi handsomely with his
FC Barcelona was unable to
I
last contract, where he was
nearly making a million dollars
a week, it was evident that
money was no longer motivat-
ing where he was wanting to
play. He wanted to start his
career and fi nish it with FC
Barcelona.
“I gave everything for
Barcelona from the fi rst day
that I arrived right to the last.
I never imagined having to say
goodbye,” Messi told the news
conference on Sunday.
I’ve always enjoyed that
athletes, no matter the sport,
feel loyalty to the organization
and the city that brought them
in to compete professionally. It’s
even better when we see these
athletes reward their team
like Giannis Antetokounmpo
bringing the Milwaukee Bucks
their fi rst championship in
over 50 years in basketball,
and we saw Messi since the
age of 13 — when he played for
Barcelona’s youth academy —
win numerous championships
and score 672 goals during his
tenure.
Messi’s offseason will prove
one thing that is evident in
sports, the business side of the
organization won’t be able to
reward loyalty all the time.
If success comes from the
athlete playing with their
organization, and they are
happy to be there, then con-
tract negotiations are normally
simple. However, the upper
brass from FC Barcelona failed
themselves by keeping a big
spender like Bartameu at the
helm spoiling their chances to
keep a generational talent like
Messi in their ranks.
Being a free agent for the
blink of an eye, Messi now joins
the likes of Neymar Jr. and
Ángel Di María on the Paris
Saint-Germain team, and now
they are going to be the most
anticipated team to watch in
the Ligue de Football Profes-
sionnel. Fans of FC Barcelona
shouldn’t direct their anger
toward Messi, because it was
evident that he wanted to stay.
This could have been pre-
vented. If the right person was
in charge of how their money
was spent, both sides would be
happy. One of the best players
in the world would remain un-
der contract, and Messi would
have retired where he probably
preferred to retire.
Messi may not have the
storybook ending to his career
that he truly deserved.
———
Corey Kirk is the sports editor
at the Baker City Herald.
Seahawks practice in front of fans at Lumen Field
For the fi rst time since the end of the 2019 season, fans packed
Lumen Field to watch the Seahawks in person as they practiced
have that whole setting,” Car-
roll added.
The practice saw Wilson
SEATTLE — As Rus-
unoffi cially complete 13 of 20
sell Wilson and the Seattle
Seahawks walked to the line passes for 196 yards, running
back Chris Carson score the
of scrimmage to run out the
only offensive touchdown,
remaining two minutes of
clock, boos rained down on the and defensive tackle Poona
team from the 15,758 fans in Ford scoop up a fumble for a
15-yard defensive score in a
attendance at Lumen Field.
22-3 win over the Blue team.
“That was great,” head
coach Pete Carroll remarked It was the team’s rehearsal
before their fi rst preseason
afterward.
game of the year next Satur-
After all, it was the fi rst
day on the road against the
time fans have been able to
watch the Seahawks perform Las Vegas Raiders.
“That was a really good
in any fashion inside Lumen
day,” Carroll said. “That was
Field since the end of the
2019 regular season. All nine what we wanted to get done.
We wanted to get over here,
of Seattle’s home games last
season came without fans in get the feeling of what it’s
like to be at Lumen Field. …
attendance.
So even some well-natured The guys did a really nice job
of using their imagination to
boos were a welcome occur-
make this a good event that
rence for the Seahawks.
“It was fun for our guys to will make some sense for us
By CURTIS CRABTREE
Associated Press
as we come back in a couple
weeks. We accomplished a lot.”
The team was rather short-
handed at a couple positions.
Tackles Jamarco Jones (back
spasms), Cedric Ogbuehi
(biceps strain) and Tommy
Champion (groin) all were
hurt in Saturday’s practice
and held out. With starting
left tackle Duane Brown and
safety Jamal Adams both not
practicing as part of contract
disputes, the team was testing
its depth to get the practice
completed.
Carroll said that Brown is
“making a statement” about
his contract, which is set to
pay him $10 million in base
salary in the fi nal year of his
deal.
“He’s making a statement
about what he feels he needs
to have happen,” Carroll said.
“He’s not going to play in pre-
Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson stretches
at the start of practice on Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in
Renton, Washington.
Wilson uncharacteristi-
season. He wasn’t going to. It’s
not going to make a difference cally expressed displeasure
this offseason at “getting hit
right now.”
too much.” He made clear
his hope the Seahawks can
resolve Brown’s situation.
“Not having Duane
Brown out there is a pretty
signifi cant deal. ... We’ve got
to fi gure that out because
we need Duane Brown,”
Wilson said.
Wilson and the Se-
ahawks’ offense is working
to get up to speed with new
offensive coordinator Shane
Waldron. Wilson said Wal-
dron’s offense allows him to
have more plays to change
to at the line of scrimmage
than he’s had previously
and the trust to change it
up based on what he sees on
the fi eld. Wilson is bullish on
what the team can accom-
plish offensively this season
with Waldron calling plays.
“I think we can be the No.
1 offense in football,” Wilson
said. “I don’t see why not.”
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