LaDainian Tomlinson Admits He’d Rather Be in the Hall of Fame Than Be a Champion
(Note: The “Choking Hazard” sticker is a nice touch. 2007 AFC Championship Parka sold separately)
PFT – LaDainian Tomlinson retired last week without a Super Bowl ring, but he doesn’t view that as an indication that his career is incomplete. Tomlinson noted on NBC SportsTalk that football is a team sport, and no matter how much a player does individually, he can’t get a Super Bowl ring on his own. And when asked whether he’d rather have a Super Bowl ring but not get into the Hall of Fame, or be a Hall of Famer without a Super Bowl ring, he didn’t hesitate. “Hall of Fame player without a ring, because you’ve got to sacrifice so much individually just to be good,” Tomlinson said. “They draft you individually and you’ve got to back them up and make them right. I think at the end of the day, even though I didn’t win a Super Bowl ring, I felt like I backed them up for drafting me. I backed up the San Diego Chargers for picking me with the fifth pick.”
Ripping LaDainian Tomlinson is no way to win friends and influence people. For some reason Tomlinson is one of those sacred cow athletes that, when you criticize him, people come at you from all directions like ninjas to tell you you’ve got it all wrong, he’s a great player, a good teammate, you’d love to have him on your team and, to use LT’s own words, he’s “a very classy person” and you’re a douche. Well here’s all the proof I need I was right all along. No further question, your honor. The prosecution rests. The verdict is in. Tomlinson is guilty as charged on all counts of being a selfish, me-first, personal stats-obsessed loser.
Look, I appreciate him being honest about this. It takes some integrity for a guy to admit winning was never as important as his own stats and individual honors. It really does. And frankly I don’t have a problem with anyone in this world saying they’re looking out for Number One. I mean, I’d love to see Barstool become the world’s biggest media empire. I’m a team player. But frankly if I had to choose, I’d much rather see me owning the Patriots along with my wife Mrs. Katharine McPhee Thornton. It’s human nature to be selfish so I don’t hold it against Tomlinson. My point is, why would the rest of the public NOT named LaDainian Tomlinson want to root for a guy who thinks that way? As fans, we’re motivated by championships and championships alone. I mean, Jim Rice went to the Hall of Fame and aside from being a nice story for a couple of days it did nothing for us. I’m happy for him. But it certainly didn’t make up for 15 years of him not winning me the World Series I always wanted. Tomlinson openly admits him getting a gold sport coat means more to him than the title the 80,000 people in the stands wanted. And that’s why I never liked the guy. Yes, he was a good running back and maybe the best Fantasy player there’s ever been. But I’ll give you a roster of 53 LTs and I’ll take a roster with 53 Troy Browns and I know I’ll win every time. @JerryThornton1
“Hall of fame player without a ring”… Spoken like a player without a ring
Putty said it best, “You know, support the team.” Tomlinson didn’t bother much with that.
“But I’ll give you a roster of 53 LTs and I’ll take a roster with 53 Troy Browns and I know I’ll win every time”
What a stupid, cliche, immature asshole comment, and I am a Boston sports fan. Jerry plays to the absolute lowest of sports fans. A team of LT’s would destroy a team of Troy Brown’s. LT was saying that he would rather be a Hall a Famer then a middle of the road player with a ring. Seriously, any person who says they would rather be Troy Brown over LT is a fool.
so you never liked him based off of something he said AFTER he retired??
and you do know hes a fucking running back and its a team sport with 21 other positions on the field and he can only do so much, right?
and if you really can honestly look at his stats and everything he did for the chargers/jets and can say with 100% certainty that he did not do everything he could to win them a championship then your just stupid
Well suckfarts, if you are going to look that deeply into it, a team of either is just silly.
But Troy Brown can and has played defense……..but……..
Who is the better punter?
Long snapper?
FG blocker?
I think we should get LT and Troy on the phone and see if we can make this happen.
The strangest part of his explanation was this: “Hall of Fame player without a ring, because you’ve got to sacrifice so much individually just to be good,” umm LT, what did you sacrifice individually just to be good? if anything your team went out of their way to feed you the ball to get all those stats. fucking assclown loser
Pretty sure your Troy Brown team would get smoked.
suckfarts – only someone without a ring would ever say they’d rather be a Hall of Famer than a middle of the road player with a ring.
@whocares – fuck stats, just look at the 2007 AFCCG, he sat on the bench like a fucking pussy in the biggest game of his life while his QB was giving it his all on field with a fucking torn ACL. so yes, i can say with 100% certainty he did NOT give everything he had to help win them a championship
sacrifice individually = working out, training, getting better, etc. you dont just get good by sitting on your ass.
oh yeah his team went so out of their way to consistently feed the ball to a one of the greatest running backs of all time..
Who do you think would win in a fight?
Kevin Garnett with numchucks vs. a Snow Leopard?
oh shit! LT worked out and trained? i wish other players in the NFL and other professional sports would do that. his team fed him the ball all the time so what the fuck was he “sacrificing individually”? are you retarded?
@ez..thats more a gutsy move by rivers, and if you expect a running back to produce with a bum knee then your out of your mind..hes pretty much useless without a good knee. you know the part of your body which allows you to cut and juke which a running back does alot. while i commend rivers he does not have juke around alot. much easier to play QB with a torn acl than RB.
Let’s phrase the question as whether you would have rather had Patrick Pass’s or Tomlinson’s career. Pass was a journeyman fullback who won a ring with the 04 Pats. According to Thornton Pass had a better career simply because he won a ring.
I hate LT but I think he’s right. I would rather be in the Hall of Fame than have a single championship ring- it is an indictment of being one of the greatest players at your position to ever play the game. If he had said he wanted to get the ring over the HOF, you would have called him a hypocrite and ripped him anyway…right Thornton?
no apparently you can understand simple concepts…he is saying that ALL PLAYERS have to sacrifice individually to be good and that HIS accomplisments mean alot considering the sacrifices HE made.
^ Correction: Spoken like a classy player without a ring
yeah the simple concept of being a professional athlete so working out and training to get the most out of your physical ability IS YOUR FUCKING JOB. you are paid millions of dollars to work out and train so you can be in great shape and perform at a high level in games. you arent “sacrificing” shit. thats like saying some telemarketer made individual sacrifices because he made 200 cold calls in a day.
Football = Team Game, HOF = Individual honor that can’t happen without the help of your teammates.
Therfore Ring should trump HOF to any team player…while “sacrificing to be good” you should be sacrificing to be good in order to try and win a ring, not put up gaudy numbers ( unless the gaudy numbers are necessary in order to win)
Football = Team Game, HOF = Individual honor that can’t happen without the help of your teammates.
Therfore Ring should trump HOF to any team player…while “sacrificing to be good” you should be sacrificing to be good in order to try and win a ring, not put up gaudy numbers ( unless the gaudy numbers are necessary in order to win)
Do any of you defending LT actually think anyone with a ring would trade it to be in the HOF? They would likely laugh at you.
Kay – Snow Leopard. Hands down. Have you seen the leverage those bitches get with their super-long, thick tails??? They’d be tailwhipping KG’s fake-tough-guy-I’m-a-warrior-bullshit ass all day long. KG may knock down a faggot jumper from the elbow, but the Snow Leopard would chase him down, shred him with claws, tail whip him, then bite his pencil neck in half with massive flesh ripping teeth.
Snow Leopard – no contest.
“But I’ll give you a roster of 53 LTs and I’ll take a roster with 53 Troy Browns and I know I’ll win every time”. LT is obviously the better player, but I’m not sure LT the quarterback could get LT the split end the ball on a consistent basis – and that would piss LT off. Both of the them. That kind of dissension could bleed over and affect the other LT’s that were actually playing well. I’m not even going to get into LT’s play calling, because we all know LT is not a big fan of THAT LT and has been known to pout. So…. depending on how many LT’s are on the bench sulking at any one time, there maybe only 9 or 10 LT’s on the field. At that point the Troy Brown’s could run a simple screen and score easily… All 53 LT’s will remain classy throughout the beatdown, though.
olsonm, I don’t know why but I laughed out loud at that comment and I love Troy Brown.
“It’s funny because it’s true”.
B
Id rather be a hall of famer than be a shitty backup who won a ring. Dan Marino does not wake up everyday angry. Trust me.
Snow leopard – no question.
Vivalastool, that was the most moronic comment so far on a string of idiotic commenting. Anyone supporting LT here is a fucking retard. EZbreezey, you’re dead-on here bro. And Viva, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, I would strongly suggest not interjecting anything because Marino has actually been documented at least half a dozen times over the years as saying he’d trade all of his stats and records and accolades for just ONE championship ring. You fuckin dumbass
kickthepuppy and any other moron actually against LT here. He was asked if he would rather be a guy who won a ring and not be in the HOF or the guy who got in the HOF but didnt get the ring. There was no other option in between! Of course he’s going with in the HOF over the ring, do you even know what agreeing to the other implies?! Let’s take this season’s superbowl champs. Imagine you were Eli’s third string back up! Guess what, you get a ring but wont be in the hall of fame because you were A FUCKING BACK UP. So by disagreeing with LT, you’re basically saying you’re happy with being some loser that got lucky to be on the right team at the right time! What does the back up really do for a team then just help make up the rest of the roster?! He would rather be the guy that made an impact and helped his team win with hard work and his abilities than be the asshat that got the ring even though he may have never set foot on an NFL field during a real game that season.
LT can’t help that one player can’t win a SB, look @ Marino, bench riders that get rings (Juan Howard). He was a stud RB and will make it into HOF.
Rather be a HOFer who made a shitload of money than a guy with a ring who probably has to pawn it someday anytime. You think LT is selling the HOF jacket anytime soon. It is the ultimate honor for a football player.
ezbreezey really? even though their getting paid to do it its still a fucking sacrifice. as a RB every game he has to avoid being tackled and hit by some scary motherfuckers that would make you shit your pants. he put his body on the line for 10+ years. he is risking concussions, torn acls, broken bones etc. thus he gets paid millions of dollars to make these individual sacrifices.
and if ur really comparing picking up a phone 200 times a day to working your body to its most extreme abilities for a fucking decade, your fucking stupid
Cant believe LT took that softball of a question and made an ass out of himself. All he had to say was he would’ve traded all his stats for a ring, but he would’ve been lying so he went the complete opposite way. Explains why he pussed out on the sidelines in the 07 AFC title game. Yeah LT was only a runningback and one player, but someone as good as he was should’ve run over everyone in the playoffs. He obviously didn’t have the heart to do it. Wouldn’t want to risk injury and lose out on regular season stats…Loser.
its not a sacrifice you fucking shithead. how do you not get this? they ALL risk concussions. they ALL risk torn acl’s and broken bones. they ALL have to avoid being killed by big mother fuckers on the other team. IT IS THEIR JOB. i dont know how many fucking times i have to say that before you get it. they chose to play football. they knew going into it that this JOB has a risk for injury and that they are putting their body on the line. how you continue to defend this fraud is simply laughable. can you next tell me about how Lebron is actually a good guy and has just been misunderstood all these years?
First off… This dude is NOT even in the hall of fame yet.
^great comment, he’ll be there easily so that was pointless to say
You idiots have it all wrong. All LT would’ve had to say here was “both would’ve been nice…”.
you all should get jobs
who the fuck is murray chadwick taking shots at KG on an LT blog? that fake tough guy would knock your pussy ass out
Nothing pleases me more than this frontrunner being denied a ring and having to stumble around, pretending he doesn’t care. LDT does care and it eats him up inside everyday. Hahahahahahaah
EZBreezey, how out of it are you to believe the shit you say?! Are you really THAT dumb? There’s no way, just no way. It has to be some fueled hatred for the guy. His statement is clear, to play football and compete at HIS level requires a LOT of sacrifice. You’re comparing him to every NFL player? Defensive coordinators have to prepare for a RB of his talent which they couldn’t because of the hard work he put in himself to compete at that level as shown in his ’07 season! He didnt just wake up with talent one day and try and play off the whole “yeah I work out a lot” to the media, he did it! You think someone like Cedric Benson has to prepare as hard against a defense as LT?!