Let ‘em Know How You Really Feel!
Dave and I found this recent article from Monte Burke in Forbes magazine. Sometimes it’s insane trying to keep up with the latest coverage that relates to retired players’ issues and we certainly try to post comments whenever possible and – oftentimes – absolutely necessary. We could swear that this piece came right out of the NFLPR machine in heaping praise on Roger Goodell and the NFL for their bold moves when it comes to concussions. As always, nothing is mentioned about the role that retired players played – and paid – in getting this story to the forefront today. The silence is deafening.
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I posted my comments this morning:
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Most younger fans today – and yes, even players – don’t know the contentious history of the NFL owners and its prized possession: the players. Having only been recently re-introduced to the real game by the retired players, I was shocked to discover that the original “strike” in 50′s was over allowances to cover the costs of their equipment! And that was when the game was still in its infancy. As an $8 BILLION+ industry today with huge profits and antitrust protection, the League enjoys an even more powerful position that allows them to spin a lot of PR to cover its grand mistakes. In no small part, the plight of the older retired players has made the issue of concussions and the safety of the current players a major issue. But nowhere in most of the current reporting is there any coverage of the damage done to those retired players who paid for the NFL’s negligence and denial over the decades. Your own article is a sad reminder of this sorry state of denial.
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This is Forbes Magazine – a major international business publication! If this kind of travesty against an entire workforce were uncovered in any other “unionized” business (such as the auto industry and the UAW) wouldn’t Forbes be at the forefront of reporting it?
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Dave Pear’s blog has been covering much of this injustice for the past year-and-a-half. Unless we all continue the pressure on the NFL to undertake real changes to both past and present care, this issue will get swept under the rug in 6 months like everything else.
What about retired players?
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Dave Pear
davepear.com
NFL 1975-80
Social Security Disability
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Concussions: Inside NFL’s Head Games
Monte Burke, 12.04.09
Two experts on what the next steps may be for pro players.
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This week, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell set new guidelines for the treatment of NFL players who have suffered concussions, decreeing that those who show signs of such injuries must be removed from a game or practice and not allowed to return that day.
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His timing was impeccable. The concussion casualty list grows every week. In the last seven days, Cleveland Browns running back Jamal Lewis has had his season–and perhaps his career–ended by a concussion. His teammate, Brodney Pool, is out for the season because of one. And the two starting quarterback from last year’s Super Bowl, Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals, both sat out games due to the recurring symptoms from concussion suffered the week prior.
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Concussions have become the National Football League’s ”Big Tobacco” moment. Earlier this year, former players were found with dementia from concussions suffered–and sometimes left untreated–during their playing days. Then Goodell was forced to answer questions in an October Congressional hearing. The next month the league’s self-appointed concussion experts resigned after their research was deemed biased and incomplete. A media frenzy ensued.
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Read the rest of Monte Burke’s article – click HERE. And please Let ‘em Know How You Really Feel!
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Lalo Mendoza
December 8th, 2009 at 9:57 pm #
I have known several retired NFL players and I am always appalled at the way they are treated. Often times as players, and especially after retirement. Most are incapacitated in way way or another, have very little resources available to them from the league, and all this while they gave the multimillion dollar owners the best of their youthful years so that these owners can amass the riches in their coffers.
Shame on the NFL owners and the pitiful union leaders who are in these owners’ pockets.
Lalo Mendoza