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Stayaway's ego won't let logic enter picture
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By ART THIEL
Asked yesterday if there were a threshold beyond which the asset of Joey Galloway will be squandered for 1999, Mike Holmgren glumly said, "I suppose, but we're not there yet."
The guess here is the threshold already has been crossed.
Joey Stayaway really is going to stay away, for all of '99.
On the local scale of self-destructive sports dumbness, it's not quite a Vin Baker, but Galloway has eased past the Mariners owners into second place.
There was no news yesterday on this frontier of absurdity. But there has been an accumulation of small developments that indicate the fiasco will put a fetching, fresh scar on a decade of Seahawks futility.
Recently, Galloway smugly has gone public with what his agents have been contending all along: The 27-year-old, nearing the peak of his career, is prepared to sit out the season if he is not made the NFL's richest receiver.
His holdout will have reached two regular-season games Sunday when the Seahawks play in Chicago. Since the NFL trading deadline is Oct. 17, the Seahawks are down to one month to get him in or get him gone to a team that can provide the Seahawks players for '99.
Given the entrenchment of both sides, position changes seem unlikely. Holmgren said yesterday that his weekend call to Galloway's agents went unreturned, just as with the previous calls after Holmgren made a "final" proposal.
After the Seahawks stepped on a rake in the season opener, Galloway's already mammoth self-image went up another hat size. The Seahawks are embarrassingly weak at his position, and the offensive injuries Sunday ratcheted up the club's vulnerability. The Seahawks could easily be 0-2 when they and most football observers figured a 2-0 start was likely.
Despite the increased pressure, there is a third option, less understood than either capitulation or trade. The Seahawks can let him stew the whole year, and be in no worse position in the off-season.
Because Galloway has been placed by the Seahawks on the "reserve -- did not report" personnel category, the clock on his contract is suspended. That means if he plays for the Seahawks or any other team next year, he will be on the same fifth and final year of his contract. He won't reach free agency by sitting out.
During the off-season, Galloway's trade value will be higher, because the salary cap will have risen, Galloway's first-year cost will be relatively cheap, and more teams will be in position to give him the extension he wants.
Dealing Galloway in the next month limits the Seahawks' trade partners, because most clubs are up against the cap. Even teams that can afford Galloway will smell desperation, and make lowball offers.
Unfortunately for the Seahawks, the third option means that they will get little from Galloway in '99.
The one help is that for each week Galloway sits out, the club gains 1/16th of his $1.6 million salary against the cap (about $93,000 a week).
Whatever choice is made, the costs to both sides have exceeded the values of their respective stands.
Though the Seahawks understandably want to draw a line for future renegotiations, the fact is the club can manipulate the situation to disguise any "give" on their part, somewhat like what they did for Warren Moon, who held out last season.
The Seahawks had the hammer and eventually broke Moon, but they let him brag it up as a victory to save face.
Through bonuses, incentive clauses, voidable years and other machinations, the Seahawks on any contract can work their way around the appearance of capitulation.
Galloway's position is even more recklessly stubborn. He wants to be the game's highest-paid receiver for several years, but the accomplishments of a non-all-star do not merit such a reward.
The current Seahawks offer would make him the highest-paid receiver behind Green Bay's Antonio Freeman, who not only has better hands, runs better routes and plays hard all the time, but also was a free agent.
Something beyond money and logic is driving Galloway.
Perhaps his agent, Eric Metz, who also held out rookies Lamar King and John Tait, is desperate to make a mark for his agency, which has had player defections.
Perhaps Galloway doesn't like Seattle and wants to be closer to his Ohio home.
Though professing to be excited about operating in Holmgren's offense, maybe Galloway knows he won't push around Holmgren as he did his predecessor, Dennis Erickson, who let Galloway take himself out of games.
Or it could be that Galloway has lost his guts to play.
What's known for sure is that receivers don't get faster as they get older and more beat up. For a guy whose game is based almost entirely on speed, throwing away a season is costly in more precious things than dollars.
And for a team trying to sell significant change to a skeptical football constituency, throwing away its only game-breaking player is costly in more precious things than precedent.
P-I columnist Art Thiel can be reached at 206-448-8135 or artthiel@seattle-pi.com
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