A problem with color: The only one that matters is green

Without kicker Adam Vinatieri the New England Patriots would just be another one-team, one-year Super Bowl champion. Without Vinatieri, the Patriots would not have beaten the Oakland Raiders in the snow in the AFC Championship game, and the Tuck Rule would still apply to guys who sit in class day-dreaming. Without Vinatieri, the Patriots would have given Kurt Warner his second Super Bowl ring. \nAnd now the Patriots are without Vinatieri. \nHe has leapt head-first into the fountains of free agency, and is currently swimming sweetly in a multi-year deal that includes a $3.5 million signing bonus and $2.5 million for each of his first three years. Meanwhile, the cherry on top of the NFL Sundae is that he is going to the Indianapolis Colts.\n"Mike Vanderjadt out, Adam Vinatieri in" is certainly one of those Who'd-A-Thunk-It moments in recent sports history.\nYet, amidst the golden age of free agency, this is not the first time this year that a player has switched allegiances and signed with the enemy.\nNo, I am not talking about newly-minted Dallas Cowboy, Terrell Owens. \nIf there is one thing I have learned from Owens it is to never, ever let Drew Rosenhaus speak without a choke collar at your disposal -- and that money melts memories ... Okay, so two things. Owens and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones are trying hard to ignore the pink elephant in the middle of the room. While playing for San Francisco, Owens basked in the light of the 50-yardline Dallas Star after scoring a touchdown. So like I said, repeat after me: money melts memories. \nJohnny Damon melted everything but the memories of Red Sox fans when he signed his name (and his soul) to the New York Yankees -- commonly referred to as Major League Baseball's Evil Empire. Damon signed a four-year, $52 million contract with the Dark Side, and now dons the pinstripes.\nSeeing Damon in a Yankees jersey this season will be like seeing Vinatieri in a Colts jersey next season. Damon was the icon of "The Idiots." He was immortalized as the actual Jesus Christ when he won Boston's first World Series in 86 years. He even did so by slaying the Dragon of the Dark Side -- turning on a fastball from Kevin Brown in Game 7 of the American League Championship and belting a grand slam into the stands of Yankee Stadium. He was Boston's leadoff man, in spirit and in the batting order. \nSo what is it about free agency that turns our heroes from hailed to hated? We find that they are human and that they also have a price. Is it a lack of loyalty or is it an assertion of independence? Loyalty? Please. Every athlete in sports has a price. What free agency has done is expose the dark side of the sport industry's moon -- that sports are, in fact, a business and the players who perform are merely employees of entertainment. And so, Vinatieri will be a Colt. Owens will be a Cowboy. And Damon will still be an idiot -- oops, sorry -- a Yankee. \nThis is the new face of sports, a footnote on the lifetime contracts that fans and fanatics sign. This is the golden age of free agency. And it is no secret that sports, for the first time in decades, has a color problem. \nThe color is green. Money, you see, melts memories.