Dave Pear's Blog

The Super Bowl show is now in full swing and today, George Martin and the NFL Alumni Board showed up for a full-court press conference to show unity behind their beloved leader. FOX Sports was in attendance and A.J. Perez covered it (comic book version at the bottom of the post) :
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NFL alumni board defends director

by A.J. Perez
Feb. 2, 2012
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Members of the NFL Alumni Association board of directors voiced their support for executive director George Martin at a news conference Thursday, a week after a FOXSports.com report revealed possible mismanagement of the financially strapped organization.
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“People can write whatever they want to write,” said Harry Carson, a former teammate of Martin’s on the New York Giants who pushed vigorously for Martin’s appointment in 2009. “You see all the individuals sitting here. We are backing this man 150 percent. We are his teammates and we are doing everything that we can to help our team, the retired players community, be successful.”
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FOXSports.com reported that the NFL Alumni Association — which began to advocate for retired players in conjunction with Martin’s hiring — has slid deeper into financial disarray and has been propped up by NFL loans totaling more than $4 million over the past two years. Martin also funneled contracts to family members, according to the report, and the charity he founded received free Super Bowl tickets.
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Five board members spoke on Martin’s behalf when asked about the report during the news conference. Afterward, one of the board members, former Baltimore Colts running back Tom Nowatzke, told FOXSports.com that the NFLAA ethics board addressed one of the conflict-of-interest claims made in the article: Martin’s use of his wife and daughter-in-law’s catering firm.
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Yesterday, a story made its way across the sports networks about an 11-page letter from attorney and player/agent advisor David Cornwell criticizing NFLPA Executive Director’s performance in general and his handling of the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in particular. Interestingly, one of the first posts about this memo actually came from the NFL.
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Some of you may recall that when Gene Upshaw passed away suddenly just before the beginning of the Players Inc. trial and the NFLPA subsequently went through a long search process for a new Executive Director. Among some of the leading candidates were retired player Troy Vincent and attorney David Cornwell. DeMaurice Smith emerged as the winner much to the surprise of many people. Cornwell takes issue with Smith’s version of his successes in running the PA and the CBA negotiations, as well as how he’s kow-towed to the League on player discipline issues. Most retired players could add at least another 11 pages to your letter, Mr. Cornwell!
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Cornwell takes issue with NFLPA leader Smith in 11-page letter

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EDITOR’S NOTE: A copy of NFL Alumni COO Ron George’s Memo to Chapter Presidents arrived in our Inboxes this morning. Here it is in its entirety:
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From: Ronald George
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012
To: Chapter Presidents
Cc: George Martin; Joe Pisarcik; Randy Minniear
Subject: FoxSports Article
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Dear Chapter Presidents,
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Below you will find links to two articles written by FoxSports.com that were posted today.
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FOX Sports‘ A.J. Perez and Alex Marvez kick off Super Bowl week with a scathing exposé on the inner workings of the NFL Alumni and its Executive Director, George Martin.
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One question we keep wondering about: Just exactly how many retired football player members does the NFL Alumni actually have? The one thing even the NFLPA manages to be transparent about is its membership roster and they even provide an online list for all to see. But George Martin and his management team continue to cite numbers in the thousands, claiming that their membership is the largest collective group of retired players. But this article cites around $80,000 collected from May through September 2011. At $100 per member, simple arithmetic tells you that’s 800 members. But when you factor in the $5,000 fees from the remaining chapters who may have sent in their dues during that same period, one has to wonder how much of that $80,000 actually comes from individual memberships? We’ve heard from all too many sources that the membership has dropped to below 500 actual dues-paying retired players, with the remaining members classified as “Associate Members” that include fans and other non-retirees. Heck, if the NFL has given the Alumni $4 million in interest-free loans since George Martin took over, maybe it might have been cheaper to just pay each of the estimated 15,000+ retired players (just one estimate) $100 apiece to be members of the Alumni?
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OK – so here we go again. We posted Dan Pastorini’s story about wanting to opt out of the NFL Alumni’s Group Licensing Agreement (click HERE to read that earlier post). On their membership page online, the GLA was automatically attached as a part of the membership process with no option to opt-out of the agreement in order to join the Alumni. Dan pointed that out to the rest of us. And that’s when the knives came out.
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Look, we don’t care who said what and exactly what the details may have been between Dan Pastorini and George Martin. And quite frankly, like most people, WHO REALLY CARES?!! But then two Alumni members, David Carter, President of the Houston Chapter, and Rod Smith, Carolinas Chapter President – both members on the Alumni Board of Directors apparently – decided to give a detailed He-Said-He-Said version of what transpired between Pastorini and Martin. And then Jeff Nixon decided to jump in on the Alumni blog and make it personal with Dave and me. Again. We only hope they’re paying you well over at the Alumni now, Jeff…
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Here’s the real issue and this is what we’re absolutely 110% in agreement with Dan Pastorini: Attaching a completely unrelated and unsolicited Licensing Agreement to what’s supposed to be nothing more than a simple membership enrollment is just plain wrong! In fact, it’s downright sneaky, unethical and it actually violates consumer law!
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Jeff Nixon decided to call Dan Thursday and Dan shared that conversation with us on Friday:
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“Jeff Nixon told me that George had admitted ‘He may have made a mistake’ in tying the GLA to their membership enrollment.”
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“If I almost missed it when I was signing up, then I wonder how many other players had already missed that GLA footnote? And that was my point! It was all a matter of principle.” Dan said. “As a matter of fact, if George is finally coming out and admitting that it was a mistake in adding the contract and they’re now planning on removing that hook, what about all the guys who have already inadvertently signed their GLA? I think the Alumni needs to invalidate all those copies of the GLA that they’ve acquired through their membership forms and then offer their GLA to its members separately. It’s not me I’m concerned about now. It’s any of the other guys who have already been locked into this GLA without their full knowledge or consent.”

Just sign here...

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Football damaged my brain and it didn’t have to happen

GEORGE VISGER, a former 49er, tells his story
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Due to the size and speed of today’s football players, the kinetic energy they generate during hits can have long-term consequences. Here’s my story:
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My football career began at age 11 in 1970 when I suited up for the West Stockton Bear Cubs, the first Pee Wee Pop Warner team fielded in Stockton, Calif. Of the 29 kids on the team, three went on to sign NFL contracts in 1980 (myself — sixth round, New York Jets; Jack Cosgrove — eighth round, Seattle Seahawks; Pat Bowe — free agent, Green Bay Packers).
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During my third year of Pop Warner, I was hospitalized when I knocked myself unconscious during a tackling drill. The exercise was a needless bull-in-the-ring drill that was more of a gladiator competition for the coaches’ amusement than a means of teaching useful techniques to young players.
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The coaches had us form a big circle about 25 yards across and numbered the 40 of us 1 to 20 on each side. When your number was called, you and the player on the other side with the same number sprinted directly at each other and hit head-to-head.
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Concussions followed throughout my high school career, though I never missed a game or practice. In my senior year, we went 11-0 and ranked No. 3 in California. I was selected to the All-America Top 100 Team.
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I entered the University of Colorado on a football scholarship in 1976 as a 6-foot, 5-inch 235-pound defensive tackle, majoring in biology. I was a starter for three years and suffered a number of minor concussions, but I never missed a play except after leg injuries.
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Turning pro

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the retired players have been sending in some additional thoughts and comments on a wide range of topics. Many were important enough that we thought it would be better to put them all up in one post. We’ll start off with a comment from Larry Kaminski followed by an answer from one the law firms currently involved with litigation against the League and the NFLPA.

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We now have a publicly available copy of the Settlement Agreement details and the subsequent Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) made when the CBA was ratified. The individual active players (Brady et al) agreed to drop their suits that were filed against the NFL when the Union decertified during the lockout. We’re posting this for weekend reading and look forward to your comments and observations. Note that it was Jeffrey Kessler who filed this without any seal.
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We’ve uploaded the entire 201-page document to Scribd for easy viewing and to make it downloadable for printing. You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to go Full Screen for easier reading (and just hit the ESC key to close):
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Brady Settlement for 2011 NFL/NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement
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We’re sorry but we just couldn’t help it. Comparing recent news involving two big-name coaches like John Madden and Joe Paterno Last week, John Madden came forward like the great leader he is and declared that they would now be taking players out of the game when they get concussed. In the Electronic Arts video game that bears his name. Nice. Is that much different than the Wall of Silence that we’ve seen from coach Joe Paterno surrounding the juggernaut of charges still mounting against his BFF Jerry Sandusky that include child sex abuse and rape? Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, both of them continue to believe in the sanctity of football to protect those at the top from any accountability. It’s this arrogant air that finds the rest of us scratching our heads wondering what planet these people are living on.
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Here’s a yearend update from Hausfeld LLP and Zelle Hofmann including articles from disability attorney John Hogan and George Visger.
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We’ve uploaded their newsletter to Scribd for easy viewing and to make it downloadable for printing. You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to go Full Screen for easier reading (and just hit the ESC key to close):
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The Voice – NFL Retiree Newsletter, Vol 1, Issue 2
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Some of you have already received your first letter from the NFL/NFLPA Benefits Office. The letter appears to be a standard letter that declares how your funds will be paid out by the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Players Retirement Plan. (Thanks to John Griffin for getting a copy of his letter to us so quickly!)
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Attorney John Hogan was gracious enough to do a quick review:
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“I don’t see any release or anything suspicious here.  Just make sure that you answer all the questions honestly and accurately.”
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We’ve uploaded a copy of the 2-page form to Scribd for easy viewing and to make it downloadable for printing. You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to go Full Screen for easier reading (and just hit the ESC key to close):
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NFL/NFLPA Legacy Fund Benefits Letter
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We’ve got some news and thoughts that have come in from two of the retirees out there and felt it would be best to share it with everyone here in one post.
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This past year, Larry Kaminski has been going through the California Workers Compensation process to gain access to his disability benefits.
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You would think that the NFLPA would have learned by now that any time they let attorney Jeffrey Kessler into a lawsuit, they may as well count on things taking longer and costing more. In case there are still some of you out there who aren’t familiar with Kessler, he represented the NFLPA in the Player’s Inc. lawsuit when retired players sued the union and their “Licensing Arm” for past video game royalties that the Union had intentionally defrauded from its players for years. Kessler and his firm were paid handsomely for losing the case that awarded $28 million+ in royalties and damages awarded to the players. And his brilliant answer to losing the case before then-newly-appointed Executive Director DeMaurice Smith (and white collar crime attorney) decided to settle the case? Appeal.
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So then Kessler gets into the middle of the NBA lockout to “represent” the players and that drags into basketball season. Here’s a recent article from ProFootball Talk that pretty much sums up what everyone thinks of Kessler: Click HERE.
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The question we have to ask is: What have they got to hide? Or more to the point: What does Kessler personally have to hide? In any problem, you’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem. We think Kessler and his group ARE the problem.
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So last week on Dec. 2nd after much posturing from both sides, Judge Susan Nelson allowed a Motion to seal all further filings and proceedings in the current class action suits filed against the NFLPA, Tom Brady, Mike Vrabel and DeMaurice Smith.
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We’ve uploaded Judge Nelson’s order along with the pleadings from both sides to Scribd for easy viewing and to make it downloadable for printing.) Shawn Stuckey’s detailed arguments and the attached Exhibits make for some good reading. Great job, Shawn!) You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to go Full Screen for easier reading (and just hit the ESC key to close):
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Here we are coming up to the end of November and as you can see from a lot of the comments on earlier posts, everyone would like to know where those big, fat pension increases have gone. This morning, I received another local NFLPA communiqué from Sam McCullum and once again, it’s a lot of nothing in a long string of paragraphs. The only good advice he passes along is, “Don’t go spending it until you get it!”
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A WORD OF CAUTION: This recent e-mail talks about signing a “Declaration” before you can get your money. All of our lawyers have cautioned us NOT to sign ANY declarations or agreements until it’s been carefully reviewed. (Remember those nasty GLA agreements that they had us sign so we could get paid “our share of the video game licensing revenues?” Yeah, right!) We expect to be posting a legal advisory on this declaration as soon as it’s available - you don’t want to be signing away any of your rights to sue the NFL OR the NFLPA through another typical weasel-worded ‘Declaration.’ If anyone gets an advance copy, please feel free to share it with us.
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Over the past couple of weeks, absolutely nothing of any serious significance or substance out of the NFLPA regarding retired players pensions especially that new Legacy Fund, other than a lot of the same chest-thumping and empty rhetoric that everyone has been hearing since the lockout ended late this summer. It would certainly seem like the lawyers have taken over once again and put out that Say Nothing Memo.
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There was a meeting of the Seattle Chapter (probably much like other chapter meetings across the country) where the usual 8 members – out of approximately 48 NFLPA members listed in the Seattle area – showed up and voted on a few things that we’re sure will make a huge difference to all retirees: The meeting introduced some Business Opportunities (Hair Products!), the Touchdowns for Homes Programs, as well as some discussion on the School of Legends program. We also finally have some backhanded acknowledgment from the NFLPA HQ about loss of hearing from football (a shiny new discount hearing aid program!).
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