Contract leaves Bulger one thing on his to-do list

[RamWraith]

By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Wednesday, Aug. 01 2007

On the night he hit the salary cap lottery, Marc Bulger slowly cruised his Land
Rover through the parking lot of the Rams training facility. As he hit the
button that slowly lowered the tinted windows, the first thing you noticed
inside the darkened interior of his luxury SUV was a pearly million-dollar
smile.

It had been an eventful 24 hours for Bulger, one that began with a bold but
brief training camp no-show but ended with a news conference full of smiling
faces and a freshly signed $65 million contract that made the quarterback the
highest-paid Ram in history. In between, there was a lot of hand-wringing and
plenty of frayed nerves during a contentious overnight negotiating session that
produced the one elusive intangible Bulger had sought his entire football life.

True affirmation.

"It's always been a struggle for me to gain real acceptance in football,"
Bulger said. "There was always someone in control who never quite bought into
me and my abilities. In high school, they didn't let me start until my senior
year. In college, they were always trying to replace me. In the pros, I was cut
after six weeks my rookie year in New Orleans without ever getting on the
field."

So now he was at the end of a fantastic journey that took him from the bottom
of the waiver wire to near the top of the NFL salary scale. In the world of pro
sports, it's downright ridiculous to try and tell you that this game of
negotiating chicken between Bulger and his agents and the Rams' front office
wasn't about the money, because everything in pro sports inevitably is about
the money. Status and acceptance are calculated by decimal points, signing
bonuses and guaranteed cash.

So yes, the little negotiating dance between Bulger and the Rams was about the
money. But the larger truth for Bulger is how all this money changes a few
things in Bulger's football life other than his bank account. He had spent the
last 15 years with that big "nobody respects me" chip on his shoulder,
motivating him every step of the way. He kept it all bottled up deep inside
that quiet exterior, only occasionally letting on how often he catalogued every
real and imagined insult.

He remembered how his hometown Pitt Panthers never recruited him, and how even
after getting a scholarship to West Virginia, and winning the starting job as a
sophomore, and setting 30 school passing records along the way, the Mountaineer
coaches basically held open auditions for his job every year. He remembered
being cut by New Orleans, being released again in Atlanta and patiently waiting
for a chance in St. Louis.

"It's still hard to imagine how I got to this point," he said on Tuesday
afternoon. "So I guess I'll have to find another chip to put on my shoulder,
huh?"

The new chip goes something like this: OK, they just gave you all that money,
now prove you're worth it.

The only way to do that is to get the Rams back to the postseason and put
another Super Bowl trophy in the lobby trophy case. That Lombardi Trophy from
Super Bowl XXXIV is starting to look rather lonely.

"There isn't a guy on the field who isn't trying to do whatever he can to win a
Super Bowl," Bulger said. "But not every player can honestly say that's their
total focus, because for a lot of guys it isn't. All those rookies go out there
on the field every day and in the back of their minds they're thinking Super
Bowl. But you know what's on the front of their minds right now? They're trying
to play for a spot on the roster. If they can get that first, then they'll be
able to start worrying about the Super Bowl.

"Well, I'm finally beyond all those distractions," he said. "I don't have to
worry about making the team. I don't have to worry about trying to prove to my
teammates and coaches that I belong. I'm not trying to earn a starting position
or trying to get that first big contract and earn some job security. For the
first time in my life, my sole existence is to concentrate 100 percent on that
goal of winning a Super Bowl."

[UtterBlitz]

Look Bulger is still talking to the press.....Maybe, just maybe, we will hear more from him this year.....I wonder if z.nrd thinks this is a good idea?

For the first time in my life, my sole existence is to concentrate 100 percent on that goal of winning a Super Bowl."

These are some good words to hear.

[RamWraith]

Just think...

if the kid would have bagged groceries prior to coming to the NFL how much press he would get ;-)

[laram0]

Just think...

if the kid would have bagged groceries prior to coming to the NFL how much press he would get ;-)

Paper or plastic?

Marc is a great story that only we know about. Now if he leads our RAMS to the big dance the whole world will know.:r

[mikhal5569]

Oh yeah! It seems like a lot of the players we have are coming in with a chip on their shoulder, D Hall, J, Hall, C Draft even some of our own veterans like L Little.. Of course all those guys will down play it to be professional, but I think the Rams team 'as a whole' are coming out this year with something to prove. Looking back at some of the past years, it often seemed like the players knew we still missed a key piece or two. Looking at the roster this year there is a whole lot of reason to hope.