Change We Can Believe In?
Dave Pear Oakland Raiders Superbowl XV - Former Teammate with Gene Upshaw
Dave Pear Oakland Raiders Superbowl XV - Former Teammate with Gene Upshaw
First of all: Bernie & Walt,
We’re sending out our check for $100 today!
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Retired players will continue to sally forward as we relentlessly seek justice!
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Since the new guy took over for Upshaw nearly a year ago, we’ve only seen two symbolic changes in our Union:
- The NFLPA Dire Need Fund has been renamed, “The Gene Upshaw Dire Need Fund”;
- The NFLPA has renamed their building address to “63 Upshaw Place.”
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Gene Upshaw was a ruthless enemy of retired players and their families. These symbolic gestures are an insult to all retired players. I for one, vow to NEVER step foot in MY Union’s building so long as it’s named after Gene Upshaw. I also vow to NEVER look for any assistance from OUR Dire Need Assistance Fund so long as it’s named after Gene Upshaw. Not in this lifetime!
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This charlatanry speaks volumes for the current NFLPA Leadership and their intent for any future changes that may or may not occur.
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Regards,
Dave & Heidi Pear
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Bruce Jarvis
January 18th, 2010 at 7:09 pm #
To DeMaurice Smith:
Are you aware that Gene Upshaw threatened a member of the NFL Hall of Fame, Joe DeLamielleure, with the quote to a Philadelphia newspaper, “I’d like to break his damn neck”? The reason for the threat? Joe dared to tell the the truth about the joke of a pension Gene Upshaw “negotiated” – no doubt with a wink and a nod to the League officials across the table.
Mr. Smith, we understand Gene Upshaw knew that every dollar that didn’t go toward pensions, disability or post career medical/dental was a dollar that could be split between the active players and the League. Whittle down retirement benefits and the pie is much bigger to split every year. As way too many of us can attest, the active players Gene Upshaw represented (as you do now) are one play away from a retirement that offers no medical benefits, an impossible disability plan and a pension plan that is embarrassing (with vesting rules that make it available to less than half who ever played the game).
How can you claim to represent “all the players” when you name anything of value after Gene Upshaw?
Bruce Jarvis
Buffalo Bills
1971 – 1974
RobertinSeattle
January 19th, 2010 at 5:59 pm #
Let’s also not forget the $14 million lump sum payment to Gene Upshaw’s widow – who probably needed that money the least of anyone from that side of the fence. Even as they were also complaining about how it was going to break their bank to have to pay the retired players their GLA Settlement money in one lump sum ($26 million)!
How about the $100 million+ a year the NFL manages to funnel into its Youth Football programs across the country?
Then we hear that the NFLPA – along with the NFL – has quickly found over $2.5 million to send to Haitian earthquake relief. And let’s not forget the $1 million the NFLPA just committed to the Martin Luther King memorial.
So let’s see: Just this past year alone, they managed to find at least $117.5 million under the seat cushions of their office couches for everything BUT the retired players. Yet guys like Dwight Harrison have to live in a mold-infested FEMA trailer in our own country. And Dave Pear is found to be 80%+ disabled by the Disability Board’s OWN doctor and STILL gets denied his rightful benefits?
That $117.5 million is 5X what was awarded to the retired players when the NFLPA was convicted of stealing what belonged to them. If you do the math, that would mean the 2,000 guys could have received an average of $50,000 apiece instead of $10,000. Or how about this one: 10,000 retired players could have received an average of $11,000 each. Maybe not a whole lot of money to some people but sure a heck of a lot more than most of these guys have ever received in the past from their Union or their former employer.
We need to keep reminding people about what they announce on airplanes before the plane takes off. They remind you to: “Be sure to buckle your seat belts and place your oxygen mask on first before turning to help the person sitting next to you.” In other words, you’re no good to anyone else if you don’t take care of yourself first.
And the NFLPA has the arrogance to re-name its Dire Need Fund and its building after Gene Upshaw? Is that like re-naming the Holocaust Museum the Adolph Hitler Holocaust Museum? What’s wrong with this picture, Mr. Smith?
RobertinSeattle