“Well, those are what my beliefs are. I believe you know as a country that we are given the opportunity to succeed or not succeed. And, I think for us to be able to, I don’t believe in safety nets, obviously we have to have some kind of safety nets, but I think… My philosophy is when you’re given the opportunity you take advantage of that and I think that’s when you get the best out of people.”
Ha! Elway grew up in a wealthy family with all the trappings of privilege that you can imagine. He went to elite schools and played for Stanford. He never would have had the success he had without that cushy upbringing...N-E-V-E-R!
Yet Elway would deny someone else who did not have the fortune he did.
What an ass. I'm even happier now that the Seahawks won.
Completely agree with your sentiments Mike.
ReplyDeleteBack in 2000 when the Broncos didn't believe in a safety net.
Why do the Broncos want a new stadium?
Team owner Pat Bowlen says a new facility would keep the team "competitive,'' meaning he and the franchise would get more income from a new stadium to pay the high salaries commanded by top-notch players.
How would the new stadium be financed?
Taxpayers in six counties - Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder Jefferson and Douglas - would pay 75 percent of the new stadium's cost. The Broncos would pay 25 percent.
"He never would have had the success he had without that cushy upbringing...N-E-V-E-R!"
ReplyDeleteYou are a screaming dumbass. He was an elite QB in the NFL. Did every single one of the elite QBs in the NFL have a "cushy unbringing"? Obviously, none of them could have success without a cushy upbringing. His unbringing had absolutely nothing to do with his physical talents.
Seve, great point.
ReplyDeleteI've been mulling this over for a while and the more I think about it, the more I think these people who don't support safety nets and claim that society would function better if everyone pulled themelves up by their own bootstraps… etc… they are just selfish.
It's no assistance for anyone else, but when it benefits me? Sure. Absolutely. I'll take it.
Seve's example above fits. When a conservative governer gets hit by a natural distater they always welcome the Fed.Govs. help with open arms. The quintessential example is Ayn Ran using Medicare and Social Security in her old age.
What's the common thread between their behavior when they don't need the assistance and their behavior when they do?
Pure Selfishness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Elway
ReplyDelete"Elway and his twin sister were born in Port Angeles, Washington, on June 28, 1960, to Janet (née Jordan) and Jack Elway, then a high school head coach at Port Angeles High School on the Olympic Peninsula. The following year, the family of five which included sister Lee Ann, a year older than the twins, moved to southwestern Washington where Jack was the junior college football coach at Grays Harbor Community College in Aberdeen for five seasons. As a youth he lived primarily in Missoula, Montana, and Pullman, Washington, when his father was an assistant coach at Montana and Washington State, respectively.
His father became the head coach at Cal State-Northridge in March 1976, and the Elways moved from Pullman to the San Fernando Valley in southern California, where John played his final three years of football at Granada Hills High School in Granada Hills."
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBullish_Bear,
ReplyDeleteYou made your point. It was a good one. Elway's family history is laregly irrelevant to his success as an athlete. No need to run with this.
The broader point has to do with what Seve highlighted and I added to, which makes Elway still an ass.
Isn't it NOT coincidental that he made this glorious dissertation on Fox News ?
ReplyDeleteHe is gerry mandering for a new job evidently ...
That means he is prolife for the task of increasing the pool of slaves and the pitfalls of life which trap mostly people who never have had the privileged safety net he had ...
pitfalls like prison farms that are privately owned and invested in by VANGUARD MUTUAL FUNDS
some how connected to Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzalez
Obama should bring that up at his next state of the union which was devoid of Latino Hispanic anything
Yes, the more relevant point is the athletic talent he was born with.
ReplyDeleteTo his credit, he worked hard to take advantage of this talent (while others also gifted "flamed out"). However, he obviously isn't even thinking about all those born with or living with severe disadvantages who never can have a chance. We all should try our best, but a "safety-net" is still a necessity in a humane society. He should have said something like "I'm a Republican because we need to reduce government to allow the private sector to thrive - improving the lives of everyone". While such a statement would demonstrate his ignorance - it presumably would be a "well-intentioned" ignoramce. As it was, he made himself a poster child for insensitivity.
JK,
ReplyDelete"Elway's family history is laregly irrelevant to his success as an athlete."
From what I have seen these kids need mucho family support in order to reach the professional level... this includes amateur leagues (that come with 1000's of $ of expenses), summer camps (again $1,000's), transport to/from games and practices, memberships to gyms and training facilities, etc...
I could almost guaranty that if Elway was fatherless he would have never made it to the NFL... same thing for Peyton/Eli if their father wasnt Archie Manning...
Baseball here is Miguel Cabrera:
"Cabrera came from a poor family that was steeped in baseball. His mother, Gregoria, played 12 years on Venezuela's national softball team. An uncle, Jose Torres, still runs a baseball school in the city of Maracay where Cabrera started playing at age 4."
His uncle runs a baseball academy for crying out loud... there are claims that this uncle of his is the top batting instructor in Venuzuela... etc...
I dont think Mike is asserting that he was super wealthy but rather he had every opportunity provided to him.... and now he is manifestly ungrateful...
And dont get me started on how these owners are the biggest welfare recipients in the USA...
rsp,
Matt Franko,
ReplyDeleteSure. But I don't think the point is worth pursuing. Of course if a child has little to no family support that definitely hurts their chances but I suspect professional football and basketball in the USA has a fair share of athletes that didn't come from upper middle class backgrounds.
Franko, want to write up a post on how much NFL owners are welfare queens? Or link me to some good information?
I wonder how Aaron Hernandez would have turned out if he grew up in the suburbs of Washington.
ReplyDeletePeople that have never experienced crushing poverty or a violent childhood believe it is an easy obstacle to overcome. Of course that is until reality slaps them in the face.
I would challenge anyone to list an athletic team position (QB) that for intrinsic reasons relied more on his/her fellow team-mates for their own personal success.
ReplyDeleteWitness the latest SB
Elway is delusional and disingenuous if he thinks his personal success was solely due to his own efforts.