And why not!
Actually, he was offered a restructured salary because the Broncos management wanted to bring in fresh recruits so that they could be turned into Super Bowl contenders.A restructured lower pay was way better than getting the pink slip and Elvis agreed to the deal without any hesitation. He was getting $8 million a year and now he would get $5 million in 2013, but Elvis figured that was cool.
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There was just one thing he was required to do.
He was to sign the papers and fax them over to the Broncos management by a certain time. The deadline was set.
Elvis signed the papers and instructed Marty Magid, his agent, to fax the contract over.
That’s when Marty Magid goofed up. He faxed the papers all right, but he missed the deadline by a few minutes!
Maybe he felt lazy bending over and faxing a voluminous contract. Maybe the thought of faxing all that paper over an antiquated fax device, page per page, repulsed him. Maybe the fax device was irritatingly slow and noisy. Maybe Marty was an eco-friendly guy who hated the sight of paper and electricity going to waste along with some toxic ink. No matter what the reason was, the fact remains that Marty faxed the contract after the deadline had passed.
The fax hit the fan after that. The Denver Broncos axed Elvis Dumervile because he missed the deadline. Elvis lost on a $20 million contract. He was furious and he appointed another agent. Marty Magid lost his easy job. Elvis has now reopened negotiations with the Denver Broncos and he may lose out on a few more million dollars. If he doesn’t get back in, his new agent will approach New England Patriots or Tennessee Titans who have evinced interest in him – of course, at a much lower price.
What was the cause of all this unnecessary trouble? A darned antiquated fax device!
Imagine what would have happened if Marty Magid had used an effective online faxing service. All he would have to do was to get Elvis sign electronically on the papers and then simply email-to-fax the contract to the Denver Broncos dudes. The entire process would not have taken more than 5-10 minutes and that includes time Broncos would have gotten the fax!
And Marty would have retained his job. Elvis would be sitting pretty with a cool $20 million contract. And the world would have been a wonderful place for both these guys.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. All thanks to the antiquated fax device.
Norton J. Howard is a sports fanatic and blogger from Colorado, USA.
