Anyone, who has ever lived by this adage, knows the plus and minus, of this story.

An owner, determined to win here, and win now, knows that this can be both a curse, and a blessing.

Say you have an aging star, a good QB, and a decent line. You've been assembling the pieces, for one last trip to the promised land.

This is a simple scene, as any sport can be witnessed to it's action. Take basketball, for example. In LA, with the Lakers, you had Kobe, Shaq, and Jackson, winning a great season, a few years back. one of those touchy-warm feeling moments. Only problem is, the same problem, that happens. When things are good, no one complains.

When things go wrong, everyone complains.

Take Football, now. I'll use the Raiders, obviously, and the Bay Area Retirement community, also known, as the 2002 Raiders. you had, literally, a who's who, of future hall of famers. Rice. Brown. Rod Woodson. Gutsy players, like Gannon, Charles Woodson, James Jett. And the list goes on.

During the season, very little could go wrong, considering this was a well-oiled machine, chewing up the opponents set in front of them, very little could go wrong.

Enter, their own worst enemy.....time, and a former coach, that knew them too well.

About the only thing Gruden didn't do, was steal the signals from the sideline....he didn't need to.

Result, was a crushing defeat, that to this day, leaves the faithful wondering, was 4 draft picks, and the money worth it?

But, let's not get crazy, let's ask about other clubs. Surely, the Raiders aren't the only team to do foolish things.....sure, look at teams like Snyder's Redskins. Or, a few of the Charger's more memorable draft selection.

Probably the bellwether for all things money, comes from baseball, though. Last year, the Yankees were built for a single purpose, and that was the World Series.

The only problem is, that they never got to the World Series. Some would say it's fate, some would even call it a curse. Personally, I believe the Murphy's law still exists, to a larger part, because clubs will waste a lot of money, for one or two free agents, call it a quick fix, and then think things are all hunky-dory.

When in reality, fixing 2 holes out of 20, still means the ship's going to sink.