It is the year that Australian football went mad. Tell anyone a fortnight ago that mighty Hawthorn were to trade out Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis, first and second in Crimmins Medal voting in 2016, for a few pieces of silver in the form of draft picks, and you would have been certified.The fans did not even have the chance to say goodbye to a couple of iconic, multiple premiership heroes, so little wonder many of them are shifting about uncomfortably as the AFLs trade period winds to its end.Meanwhile Alastair Clarkson, the Hawthorn coach, has some explaining to do, a point the debate will inevitably reach. Hawthorn have been nothing if not pragmatic and upfront, clearly identifying their list was well off the pace in 2016, despite the top-four finish, and that changes were needed to make room for Jaeger OMeara, Tom Mitchell and Ty Vickery to join the club.But it has shaken the game to its core.Now for perspective: this is part of professional sport. Ask the Adelaide folk how they felt about Patrick Dangerfield winning a Brownlow Medal in blue and white this year, for instance, and that is before you even consider the rest of the world. In truth, we are miles behind the English Premier League or the American professional sports for levels of callous moving of players, although that is the direction we may well take.Is it actually good for footy to see Mitchell, king of the nifty sidestep and slick handball, and Lewis, the bulldozing left-footer, leave a club like Hawthorn? Surely not. Was it good for the game that Steve Johnson, James Kelly and Paul Chapman, Geelongs premiership superstars, had to play out their careers elsewhere when the Cats went in a different direction, or that Jimmy Bartel will be pushed into retirement this week, just as Brent Harvey was by North Melbourne?It is the $10 million salary cap that causes the issue, along with the widely-held belief that success in the AFL comes around in cycles. As Scott Watters, the former St Kilda coach, observed this week, any player now knows he is at the whim of the cycle. ANY player indeed, if you remember that Mitchell is an all-time great Hawthorn and AFL player, a walk-up Hall-of-Famer.But there is a solution right before the AFLs eyes, a feel-good compromise that has been tried before. The veterans list was a fabulous rule introduced a few years ago, initially allowing clubs to nominate one long-term player on their lists so only half of his salary was included in the cap, then tweaked over time to allow an unlimited number of veterans, then watered down more recently so that clubs only have to include a percentage of their salary in their total player payments figures.Instead of diluting this rule, the AFL could have made it stronger, more definitive. It is the rule that might stop us heading down the path of the big professional sports elsewhere, for just because something happens in another country does not make it right. We dont want Moneyball; we dont want players dehumanised, and clubs that draw zero loyalty from their employees.Twelve year, one-club players should have their salaries excluded from the salary cap as iconic players. This would mean, for instance at Hawthorn, that Mitchell, Lewis and Luke Hodge would not be under the scrutiny they have been under this year. Their salaries would be outside the cap and it would at least give a Hawthorn the chance to ride out the end of those great careers.There would be no real advantage to a club with a cluster of great veterans because if they hold on too long, they run the risk of failing to regenerate the list. But at least it gives them a chance to provide something of a farewell tour for their greatest players, for the fans to wave goodbye.Footy is not a business, despite what people say. Its like a business, but in business, your aim is profit, and your ambition is to crush the opposition and create a monopoly. In footy, everyone needs opposition to play against, no matter how bitter the rivalries.There must be room for romance, an explanation for the kid with the No. 5 Sam Mitchell guernsey who cannot work it all out this week. Black Friday Adidas Shoes 2019 . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. Cheap Shoes From China . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. http://www.shoessalecheap.com/ . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Cheap Shoes Outlet . He said Tuesday thats a big reason why he is now the new coach of the Tennessee Titans. Whisenhunt said he hit it off quickly with Ruston Webster when interviewing for the job Friday night. Discount Shoes China . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. As entertaining as Les Miles teams have been, the Mad Hatter has been equally fun with a microphone in front of him. Whether he was opining on a family vacation, the importance of Election Day or which stadium has the best-tasting grass, Miles was always required listening. Miles time in Baton Rouge as LSUs football coach may be up, but these quotes will live on.Here are our favorites from Miles LSU tenure:What Miles did on his summer vacation The Miles family, [daughter and Texas student] Smacker Miles, I took a vacation. I went to Austin, took my three children with me, so we had six, two parents and four children on that campus. It was miserable. I hated it. But it was great fun. I mean, it was not a beach, it was not sand, but it was my family, and that was the best.Have a great day Im the head coach at LSU. I will be the head coach at LSU. I have no interest in talking to anybody else. Ive got a championship game to play, and Im excited about the opportunity of my damn strong football team to play in it. Its really all Id like to say. It was unfortunate that I had to address my team with this information this morning. But that being done, I think well be ready to play. Therell be no questions for me. I represent me in this issue. Please ask me after. Im busy. Thank you very much. Have a great day. -- Miles, during an impromptu news conference called before the 2007 SEC championship game, responding to reports that he was a candidate for a job at his alma mater, MichiganGive them a big kiss on the mouth Im proud of those men. How fricking easy it would have been to say it was their night. How [expletive] easy. Excuse my language. Spectacular group of men. You go find them, you throw your arms around them, you give them a big kiss them on the mouth ... if youre a girl. -- Miles after beating Ole Miss in 2012Les talks holidaysColumbus Day I just want to remind everybody that its Columbus Day, that all those of you that know Italians and like Italians are the people that might venture onto a ship and travel to explore and find new lands: This is your day. So its not St. Pattys Day. Thats a different day entirely.Election Day Just recognize that its Election Day coming up, where all those model citizens will get off and take care of their duties to the country. This is not Columbus Day, its not just for the Italians. Its certainly not St. Pattys Day, its not just for the Irish. Its for all of those who have the ability to vote in our country. So get out and do that, please.The grass in Tiger Stadium tastes best I have a little tradition that humbles me as a man, that lets me know that Im a part of the field and part of the game, and its the very bottom as well as the very top. Yeah, thats going to be all over the internet. You know what, you should have seen some games before this. I can tell you one thing: The grass in Tiger Stadium tastes best. -- Miles on eating grass against Alabama during a game in 2010A very stiff dew It would be far from me to say that it ever rained Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. But it was very close to rrain, if not a very stiff dew.dddddddddddd -- Miles on playing Auburn during a rainy night in 2013.If I read books ... When I wake up in the morning and I turn that film on, its like reading a book and its exciting. I dont read books. But if I read books, it would be like reading a book.?The hammer and the nail Two very quality teams take the field and compete like a son of a b---- for victory, and you know what, its not a hammer-and-a-nail relationship. Its an opportunity for an opponent to be equal and to raise their level of play in such a fashion that they win. And thats how this thing works. That in fact you respect the opponent and hes not the hammer and hes not the fricking nail, hes the opponent. You understand? Im just letting you know I resent that. I resent the fact that suddenly we were nailed. You got it? I mean honest to Petes. I mean, s---, we were a pretty good team last year. I thought we played like a son of a b---- in that stadium. Im just letting you know, I felt differently than the nail, so you know. -- Miles discussing a reporters inference that LSU had been the hammer and Florida the nail in a 17-6 win in 2013 compared to the opposite being true when they met the previous seasonThe upper quadrant of speed I brought the team to the field, and I just want you to know that it appeared to me that the field was strong with excess band members and people with flags and maybe even an occasional mascot or two. And as I made my way through what appeared, again, to be a minefield of people, from the side unbeknownst to me, there was a contact between one of our players and a cheerleader -- male, I might add. That male cheerleader kind of clipped me from the side as I was running full speed, or slower than full speed, but generally in the upper quadrant of speed. And I hit the ground pretty good. But I was masked by the flag. There was a flag waver there that certainly hid my embarrassing tumble. ... I was not nicked. I came up gingerly, but kind of walked it off and avoided a baton twirler as I got to the bench. -- Miles on falling down while leading the team out of the tunnel before the Alabama game in 2011Beach vs. beach location He went to a beach location. It wasnt a beach. He had no problem in the beach at all. The beach was not sandy where he was at. It was not ... for instance, there was no, like, crabs there. -- Miles just before spring break in 2016 when asked whether he barred players from visiting places like Panama City Beach, where Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott had been assaulted in a parking-lot fight a year earlierThe chest to lead a program We needed a quarterback. We lost two. We needed a quarterback in this class. There was a gentleman from Indiana that thought about coming to the Bayou State. He did not necessarily have the chest and the ability to lead a program, so you know. -- Miles criticizing Gunner Kiel for decommitting from LSU and switching to Notre Dame ' ' '