“The NFL’s leading rusher who is having a historic start to the season helped spread the love Wednesday in the Dallas Cowboys locker room,” Brandon George reports for The Dallas Morning News.
“Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray bought new iMac desktop computers for each of the five starting offensive linemen and had them delivered to their lockers at Valley Ranch on Wednesday,” George reports. “Murray leads the NFL with 913 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns on 187 carries through the first seven games. Murray has rushed for 100 or more yards in each of the Cowboys’ first seven games, breaking Jim Brown’s 1958 NFL record of six straight 100-yard games to begin the season.”
“Murray went all-out on the iMacs,” George reports. “They were 21.5-inch screens and 8GB memory. The retail price for one at Best Buy is $1,299.99.”
MacDailyNews Take: No, he didn’t go “all-out.” Only a Windows PC sufferer would see that sticker price and think that. Go look at the Apple website for 5 seconds before you report something, lest you look like a dunce. If that’s “going all out,” we’d hate to see what “holding back” looks like. (Dell. smirk.) Still, it is a nice gesture and an excellent choice of computer, that’s for sure.
“‘It’s pretty nice. It was pretty cool,’ Cowboys starting rookie right guard Zack Martin said. ‘I don’t have a desktop, so it’ll look pretty good in my apartment.’ Martin said he’s a Mac guy and not a PC guy. ‘I’m Mac all the way,’ Martin said. Someone from the media said, ‘Once you go Mac.’ And Martin responded, ‘You can’t go back,’ drawing a round of laughs. Starting left guard Ron Leary appreciated the new iMac. ‘We appreciate it, but DeMarco deserves all the credit,’ Leary said. ‘That just shows how much respect he has for us and how much he appreciates us doing our job for him. It’s a great gift.’ Leary was asked if he was a Mac or PC guy before. ‘I’ll take whatever I can get,’ Leary said. ‘If it’s free, I’ll take it.’ Leary was then asked if he already had an iMac. ‘I can’t afford that,’ he said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Sheesh, how much is Jerry Jones (not) paying you that you “can’t afford a Mac?” That someone even thinks that, much less says it aloud, in 2014 is proof that it takes many years to obliterate certain reputations.
BTW, we did some research: This year, the average salary of an NFL offensive lineman, any position, is $1,267,402. In December 2012, guard Ronald Leary signed a three-year, $1.44 million contract and is making $495,000 this year. In June, Zack Martin signed a four-year, $8.967 million contract which also included a tidy $4.842 million signing bonus. The lowest paid offensive linemen in the NFL make the league’s base salary of $310,000. So, yes, they can all afford any Mac(s) they desire.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: For Dallas Cowboys linemen and any poor Windows suffering Cowboy fans who’ve stumbled here from search engine land:
Brand new Apple Macs start at just $499. Go check out Apple’s Mac prices here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lance” for the heads up.]
More like wont afford it, cause they think everything should just be given to them, because of the inflated celebrity egos.
Lineman. Celebrities. Right.
The more money you earn the more you need even multi millionaires claim they are down to their last Porsche these days.
He better hope the coach doesn’t put in any subs.
Retina iMacs would have been nicer, but hey, he’s still a young guy. Gotta build that nest egg. Especially as a running back.
Based on the headline I was expecting top-of-the-line retina iMacs. But who am I to criticize him for going with the 21.5″ iMac? DeMarco did have the good sense and good taste to choose Macs as his gift, after all. I don’t think that people should dump on him for that, or disparage sports celebrities, in general. Also, he showed his appreciation for his offensive line. Not only is that smart, since those are the guys risking their joints and bones on every play to create the running lanes that are critical to his success, but it is great to see some love given to the offensive line. The guys in the trenches slog it out play after play and seldom get any props. They generally get singled out only when they screw up.
It is also worth considering that NFL RBs tend to have very short careers. I recall hearing that it is perhaps four years on average (I could be mistaken). So they don’t have a lot of time to make big bucks, and most of them do not become high-paid superstars. For instance, Arian Foster of the Houston Texans was getting paid relative peanuts while racking up 100+ yard games in previous years. Additionally, a significant amount of a football player’s salary typically goes to an agent and another chunk goes to taxes. They need to save something.
Finally, many football players, particularly RBs, end up with a lot of chronic physical damage and undergo multiple surgeries at a young age. Those injuries and the chronic pain often follow them for the rest of their lives.
i am not necessarily saying that sports figures should be paid many millions of dollars each year. But, even for those that are highly paid, there is a lot of potential downside.
Since they travel a lot, a 15-inch MacBook Pro makes more sense… 🙂
This is just perfect. Two of my favorite areas of interest: Apple and the Cowboys. DeMarco has taste to go with all that talent.
Second that! Great to see Apple getting some more free adverts with the NFL. Also, a guy in the NFL making 300k is not rollin in the dough after paying taxes, agent, mortgage and car payments etc. If he is smart he is living frugally…most only last a few yrs- so maybe entry level iMac is about right
PC sufferers know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
LMAO at the ‘all out’ comment. but it’s a fine gesture by the young RB
MDN have an ego that might compel them to remove pinpricks such as yours, but they will likely not bother. Life is good right now. Should it become less good, recriminations and suppressions would be expected to increase. This is not an indictment of MDN in particular but a general observation of the greed and cowardice that governs the exchange of ideas on the Internet, the ultimate stacked deck.
Aw stuff it, blabbermouth.
Finally, someone to stand up to hannahjs, even if they are rude and wrong.
I’m sure I deserved it this time, and there have been other times as well that I posted drivel and did not get away with it.
Going all out: here have a computer that’s half the cost of the 5K model you really wanted.
is it to overcome their frustration with the Surface tables that NFL got saddled with?
I suspect he didn’t buy them iPads because it would cause a stink up with NFL management who have contracts with Msft.
I was just wondering how much Murray’s gonna get fined for NOT buying them Surfaces.
Wow, these guys get very poor pay compared to any other major sport out there. I never knew!!
More like they can’t afford it because they need them those big fancy houses and yachts and Lamborghini’s/Bentley’s.
I don’t think we should dump on Leary. He has a limited career that could end at the next game. The smarter players sign over their checks to a respectable financial planner, who invests the money and gives them an allowance to live on. Without knowing how much that is, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
“That just shows how much respect he has for us and how much he appreciates us doing our job for him. It’s a great gift.”
I think that about says it all.
Boomer Sooner, DeMarco.
Doesn’t matter if it’s not the new 5K iMac. What matters is they are all new Macs to spread the love around.
Maybe he can’t afford it because he’s investing a large portion for retirement and gives large amounts to charity?
I bought my dad a new 21.5″ iMac and it’s a great desktop machine… swapped the Magic Mouse for the wireless trackpad, and it’s was good to go. One power cord, minimal footprint, up and running in a couple minutes.
Sure, Murray could have sprung for the new retina model for his ‘boys, but he did good by them no matter how you look at it. And who knows…if he wins the rushing title (very likely if he doesn’t get hurt) he’ll probably get them all a free, all expenses paid trip to the nearest Apple Store for some more nifty gadgets.
That is just Cheap….. That’s like saying I’m buying everyone an iPhone 5c…..
Hopefully they can trade them in toward the new 5k displays.
Unfortunately, they wouldn’t know that there was a new Retina 4k iMac.
And that goes for most people.
There isn’t a new “Retina 4k iMac.”
You are absolutely correct.
Thank you.
P.S. I would be surprised if anyone else caught that.
That should have read, “…most others caught that.”