A Tale of Two Quarterbacks

One of the biggest disappointments in the National Football League this year is undoubtedly Chicago Bears' franchise quarterback Jay Cutler (Ooook, fine. So maybe Jonny Manziel is a pretty big disillusionment also, but I mean the kid's just a rookie and has still got quite a bit of time to redeem himself... In fact, some people are saying that it's even good for him to fail so miserably like this in his first season just because that will sack some humility into him and he might start training harder next season*).

Jay Cutler though man, he seemed to have it all.

Ability, athleticism, strong arm, toughness, experience, you name it - some people may have even thought he was actually worth his salt as the highest paid offensive player in the NFL at the beginning of this season (that would be $22.5 million dollars guaranteed, to be exact)...

But no such luck. That $22.5 million would have been better spent paying for Barrack Obama's combined 4 year presidential vacations to Hawaii * than by paying for this guy's embarrassing performances (which incidentally also ran in the $20 million ballpark believe it or not).

But $22.5 million dollars!... can you imagine that? That's probably more money than all of my readers for this blog will make in the next 10 years combined (unless of course this post goes viral).

...And that's just 1 year!  

Now think of this: Russell Wilson, the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks who is responsible for already taking his team to the divisional round of the Playoff's in 2012, winning the Super Bowl in 2013, and now being well on his way to clinching the number 1 seed for the NFC division title in the 2014 Playoffs; only makes $662,434*.

What?!?

...According to USA Today, that's actually less than what either the second or third string quarterbacks for the Seahawks make themselves*, and if I've ever heard of anything ironic, this would be it.

Cause see, on the one hand you got Cutler - an arrogant, snobby, bad attitude-loser making more money than he can count (while producing nothing with it); and on the other hand you see Wilson - a young, solid, dynamic-winning leader making very little money comparatively speaking; and yet tearing it up completely in the whole NFL.

Now don't get me wrong. I am definitely no Seahawks fan (never have been, never will be), but you got to give it to him - Russell Wilson is really amazing; and the fact that he makes so little money while at it, makes him even cooler still.

...A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak at a church's youth group a little ways outside of Bogota, and as I was just getting to know the kids - I decided to teach them how to play 'Scum'.

Duitama Youth Group Playing Scum

The idea in the game is that everyone gets an even amount of randomly distributed cards, and turn by turn each player tries to successively and systematically get rid of their cards as fast as they can until they're all gone.

...It's a fun game, but the interesting part is that at the end of each round, the player who performed the best gets ranked as 'King', and then the player who performed the worst gets ranked as 'Scum'.

That's all nice and well, but what this actually means in practice, is that for the next round the 'King' automatically gets the 'Scum's' two best cards, and the 'Scum' automatically gets any two of the  'King's' cards (which are usually his or her worst).

...So that kind of puts a curious twist on everything, and it also gives quite a significant incentive in the card playing world for everyone to try their hardest and do their best... cause if you lose, you lose what you most need for the next game.

So we played that, right? We played it and then I proceeded to speak on the Parable of the Minas (Luke 19:11-26) where Jesus' underlying message is that those who put the resources that they have been given to good use in the Lord's business - well, they're going to receive even more; and those who do nothing at all with the things that God has given them to advance His Kingdom - well, even what they have will be taken away from them.

Fortunately for Cutler, all his money is guaranteed and so nobody can just come along and take it away from him and give it to Wilson... but yet it is pretty likely that as soon as Cutler's contract is over, nobody in their right mind is going to want to renew it, and he'll simply be left without a job.

But Wilson on the other hand? Well, those $663,000 dollars are about to turn into $100 million.*

...So that's just an interesting real life story to get you thinking.

Because clearly this season Cutler has been a joke while Wilson has definitely earned his two cents, but what about you? Are you effectively glorifying God and exponentially using his resources to expand his Kingdom on Earth?... Or are you squandering the nothing that you have so that even what you do have will be taken away from you and you'll be brought before the Lord at the day of judgement only to be killed before him? (Luke 19:26-27).

How about me? ...Cause I mean I can talk about everyone else all I want, but at the end of the day it's me that I'm going to primarily have to be responsible for.

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Works referenced:

Cutler's Fans Burn His Jersey
Wikipedia - Russel Wilson
Obama's family Vacations
Cutler's Contract
Russell Wilson - Next $100 Million Quarterback
NFL Salary Cap
Russell Wilson Makes Less Than His Replacemente