I'm a poker player and a Browns fan so maybe only people like me that have the 2 interests in common made this connection but I think back to 2005 when Joe Hachem from Australia won, what was at the time, the biggest poker prize in history.
7.5 million was cashed by Hachem at the World Series of Poker and the poker world went crazy. In fact, so many people entered the next year, first prize was bumped to $12,000,000 (it's since gone down since the internet got shut down for poker for the most part). I remember EVERYONE I played with wanted to win 7.5 million-----hell...most of us said we'd be happy with a cool million.....$500,000.......even 100K--=====-7.5 million seemed like the impossible dream and fueled our card playing fantasies.
Fast forward to August 2007 and read this line from Lane Adkins article (I love the way Lane is covering training camp this year, by the way):
The Browns and Brady Quinn have reportedly agreed to a five-year contract for what is believed to be an estimated $20.2 million, and could reach a total value of $30 million with escalators. The contract contains $7.75 million in guaranteed money................etc. etc.
Read that again to me...................The contract contains $7.75 million in guaranteed money.
In one fell swoop, Quinn is richer than the guy that won the 2nd richest poker tournament in the history of poker and yet when the ESPN cameras panned him on draft day you would have thought his house was being foreclosed on, they just cut off his food stamps and someone stole his last coat on a 2 degree day.
Yes, I get the fact that he didn't exactly know where he was going in the draft when the cameras focused on his sad puppy dog face but let's be real. He had to have known he'd go somewhere in the 20's and it looks like being in the 20's pays pretty well.
So, I ask you...why did the world cheer Hachem and feel sorry for Quinn?
I guess it's because 7.75 million in the NFL isn't as rich as it gets while 7.5 million in poker is pretty damn close to the pinnacle.
Still, I wouldn't mind being 22 knowing I had 7.75 million no matter what I did the rest of my life.
Maybe we should think about that the next time we see a draft pick slide in a similar fashion to Quinn and not feel so bad when they get carted to the green room to avoid the "horrible" consequences of sliding to the lower part of the first round.
Either that, or take up poker and hope we have a Hachem type of run.