E-Mail This Article to a Friend Choosing between the money and the life BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Karl Malone has waited for a long time. The guy’s 40 years old, is playing in his 19th NBA season, and yet has never won a world title. The closest he got was in 1997 and 1998, when his Utah Jazz squad made back-to-back appearances in the NBA Finals but were unlucky enough to be opposed by the Michael Jordan–led Chicago Bulls, who were in the concluding years of their dynasty. Fed up with being on a good team that was just not great enough to win a championship, Malone finally looked elsewhere and last winter signed a one-year deal with the Lakers that will give him one last shot.

Baseball’s Ernie Banks never got the chance, nor did other Hall-of-Famers like Robin Yount, Carlton Fisk, Rod Carew, Carl Yastrzemski, or Ted Williams. Given the opportunity, I expect, any of them would have traded their impressive stats for a chance to experience post-season glory.

Others, of course, have been somewhat spoiled in their brief careers, collecting championship hardware in their first seasons playing at the professional level. Guys like Derek Jeter and Bret Saberhagen both were crowned champions as rookies, while some guys like Dan Marino and Fred Lynn got to the championship round in their first season but never got another chance and retired ring-less. Sometimes it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, while others make distinctive choices that lead them on a path toward a championship — or irreversibly away from it.

In our fair city, there are some interesting stories unfolding about members of the local football and baseball teams. One team, as we know, has recently experienced the taste of champagne — twice, in fact — while the other seems almost on the precipice of getting the glass poured. The bottle’s chilling, but it’s nowhere near ready to open despite its "readiness" and "drinkability." Let’s look at the Patriots first.

Center Damien Woody earlier this season reportedly turned down a six-year, $22-million contract to remain with the champs. Now the free agent has found out that the team will not tag him with the "franchise" label (which would have given him a salary that averaged that of the top five interior linemen in the game), thus allowing him to pursue greener pastures. What greener pastures? What player in his right mind would leave a team that has just won Super Bowls in two of the past three seasons — a team that has become the benchmark for building a championship franchise? Woody had earlier said he would take a "hometown discount," but apparently he wouldn’t lower his standards enough to accept the team’s generous offer. It would appear that the lure of big money was too good to pass up, but the five-year veteran (who missed the entire post-season with a knee injury) may find that the next place he ends up doesn’t have Lombardi trophies in its foyer, and may not even have much to offer at all (hello, Tempe!).

Let’s move to another big guy, Ted Washington. Obviously an integral part of the Patriots’ championship run, the super-size nose tackle did not become a champion until the 13th season of his career. But after just one year in New England, the premier run-stopper has decided to play hardball in negotiations, despite the fact that the Patriots took a chance and acquired him even though he missed 14 games to injury in 2002, thereby giving him the opportunity to become a Super Bowl victor. Washington’s 35 now, and apparently he wants one more shot at the big money in free agency. But given his lengthy career, it would seem that he should have all the money he needs and should instead focus on going out on top, thereby cementing his reputation as a championship player.

Other critical members of the Patriots roster will most likely be asked and likely agree to restructure their existing contracts to help the team get under the $80-million salary cap. Guys like Tom Brady, Willie McGinest, Ted Johnson, and Troy Brown have done this in the past, and they complied because they value their situations and want to stay and play for a winner. Why play otherwise?

Former Sox slugger Mo Vaughn got a heap o’ grief upon his departure from town in 1998 when he insisted, "It wasn’t about the money." After spurning the Sox’ three-year, $30-million offer, the once-formidable Hit Dog went out and signed a (much-lamented) six-year, $80-million free-agent contract with the Angels, thereby taking a PR hit and also paving the way for a downward-spiraling, injury-riddled post-Sox career that is now teetering on the verge of retirement. Obviously, it was about the money, and Vaughn gradually came to miss the passion of Boston’s hardball fans and the unique opportunity and place in history that he had earned in the Hub. But it was too late, and like Bruce Hurst and Fred Lynn before him, Mo chose the team that showed him the money — and regretted it for the rest of his days despite his millions in the bank.

Similar issues are now being raised with current roster members of the Olde Towne Team. Among the soon-to-be free agents on the squad, only hometown favorite Trot Nixon has come to his senses and signed a long-term deal (three years, $19 million). Maybe Trot could have made more on the open market, but it’s obvious that he cares about this team and its potential. His future earnings were secondary to the truly important issues: the atmosphere and the opportunity to win — now.

If only it were so easy for the other vital components of the team gathering in Fort Myers at this moment. It is likely that catcher Jason Varitek is a high priority for the Sox brass, and ’tek, like Nixon, has always been about the passion and the winning. No one sees him as a prima donna who will hold the team hostage for an exorbitant contract, and that’s why it’s likely he’ll be the next Soxer who will re-up for the long haul.

The other three fellows are a bit more complicated. Pedro Martinez (a/k/a the Dominican Diva, as tagged by Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy) continues to play a cat-and-mouse financial game with the team, oblivious to the fact that the market has changed, and that he’s now 32 and has suffered significant physical breakdowns in each of the past four seasons. As the highest-paid pitcher in the game this season ($17.5 million) and coming off a six-year, $72-million deal signed in 1997, Pedro should also be content with the money he has salted away and should instead be harboring hopes of championship parades and an enduring legacy before his fragile physique breaks down one last time. Indeed, if Pedro marched into the GM’s office tomorrow and asked for a three-year, $30-million deal, Theo would be grabbing his Bic faster than you can say "Ay carumba!" But no. With Pedro, it’s about "respect" and ego, and that’s why any kind of contract extension will be drenched in soap-opera drama, and will more likely lead to Pedro in pinstripes in 2005.

Maybe Sox fans could handle that, since the fireballing Dominican has regularly tested their patience over the years and is very close to overstaying his welcome. Given his physical history, he’s no longer worth $15 mil a year, but that or Schilling-like money is likely what he’ll ask for, and that will be deemed unacceptable to a team already testing the limits of the luxury-tax limit.

Derek Lowe’s another enigma. The 30-year-old sinkerballer has collected 38 wins for Boston over the past two seasons, but it seems that the organization is just not sure he’s worth $10-million-plus per season. Most likely the team will wait and see how D-Lowe’s season unfolds this season before making serious overtures for a commitment beyond 2004.

Then there’s Nomar. As the Sox’ unchallenged homegrown superstar, nearly everyone wants him to sign on for another 10 years or so. So why won’t he? Ask him, but he ain’t talking (other than the language of mind-numbing clichés). He claimed in an emotional interview with the local sports talk-radio station in December that he was hurt by the A-Rod negotiations, and that he really wanted to stay with the Red Sox, but now that Rodriguez is with the Theybetterwinstripers and Miguel Tejada signed with the Orioles, Garciaparra believes he has the upper hand. Fans around here are still a little miffed that he reportedly turned down four years and $60 million last spring, and if Nomar persists in his stand-offishness and makes no effort to make reasonable in-roads on the contract situation, then even his most die-hard supporters will question his commitment here.

Number Five (along with the missus, Number Nine) recently built a house on the Cape, and he contends that he loves playing in Boston. And again — why wouldn’t he, given the unrequited love shown him by the team’s followers and the best chance for a ring outside of the Bronx?

It’s time for Boston’s preeminent athletes to stop taking the money and running, and instead mean it when they say it’s not about the money — it’s about the chance to win.

Well, the chance to win is undoubtedly here, and the opportunity to become a champion — perhaps again and again — is but a dotted line away.

Need a Bic?

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com