Every now and then on this site, we try to offer up some praise to someone. It may be a writer who published a nice article, a celeb doing good, or an athlete being a stand-up guy. This time around, it’s an athlete… Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez. (Yes, we know we made a post making fun of the Chiefs yesterday.)

Tony Gonzalez is the real deal all the way around.  Two weeks ago he became no. 1 on the list in receiving yards for a tight end. He has played his entire career for the Chefs and has played no less than 15 games in a season for them.  But why praise Tony now?

Because he was not traded by the Chiefs.  Here’s how it went down: Gonzalez quietly asked the KC owner to try to trade him to a team contending for the playoffs.  Tony’s getting older and the Chiefs are clearly rebuilding, so he wanted a chance to get to the Super Bowl.  He didn’t make a show, mouth off to reporters, start half-assing it on the field.  He just asked the owner to try to trade him so he could have a chance at a title.

The owner’s price was a bit too high and no deal was worked out.  Of course, Gonzalez was not thrilled that he will remain in KC, but he has said that he will do his best to help out the young guys on the team and move the team forward as best he can.

Compare this to…

(1) Terrell Owens getting the ball thrown his way 18 times and having the nerve to say the Cowboys were  not getting him the ball enough.

(2) Chad Johnson giving an interviews about his potential touchdown dances, despite having scored only one touchdown all season.

(3) Adam Jones doing all his “Pacman” things, no matter how many second chances he gets.

(4) Plaxico Burresss getting suspended for a game because he cannot show up for team meetings on time or even call in.

(5) Steve Smith punching his own team in the face and sending him to the hospital.

And then there’s Tony Gonzalez.  Yeah, Tony was in the news during the off-season… for saving a man’s life in a restaurant.  You can check here to read about Gonzalez helping a man who was choking to death in restaurant in Huntington Beach in July.

It’s just too bad that mostly what year in the NFL are the mouths of guys like T.O. or the actions of guys like Jones.  Or heck, event hat stunt Manny Ramirez pulled in Boston.  He wanted a trade, so he started walking down the first baseline and claiming phantom injuries.  Not Tony’s style, and he should be commended for that.

We’ll end with the following quote from this article on FoxSports about Gonzalez.  We can’t even fathom those yahoos we listed up above even having a thought like this enter their selfish brains…

“But you know what? I can’t cry about it. If anything, this has motivated me even more. I’m a Chief, will be happy to be a Chief and will bust my butt for the Chiefs. I was never not happy being a Chief. I just wanted the chance to spend my last couple of years winning a title, not rebuilding. But I’m here to help rebuild, I’ll work with all our young guys and get after it like I always have.”