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EDITOR’S NOTE: This first e-mail was just added on Saturday afternoon:
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An old teammate and someone I considered a friend passed away over the weekend. Last week, it had been reported – erroneously – that Lee Roy Selmon had died of a stroke in Tampa (click HERE to read the story). But then I received a phone call this weekend from a mutual teammate, Council Rudolph, that Lee Roy had indeed finally succumbed a couple of days after his initial stroke. (Story HERE.) We all played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the late 70′s and Lee Roy went on to make it into the Hall of Fame, eventually settling into a post-football career as very successful restauranteur and philanthropist in the Tampa Bay area.
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But what has bothered me a lot after I first read about Lee Roy’s passing were a few journalists who insisted on comparing Lee Roy Selmon’s life to the late Dave Duerson (who committed suicide back in February this year). I have no doubt that Lee Roy and Duerson both died as a result of their brain injuries from professional football. But that is where the comparisons should end.
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Lee Roy and I were teammates in Tampa Bay from 1976 to 1978. Lee Roy was a truly nice guy and everyone liked him (unless you had to face him on the field!). However, to pass away at the age of 56 is way too young. We all know that concussions and strokes go hand-in-hand. His brother Dewey is also a nice guy and he played for the Buccaneers too. But Lee Roy was a very private person so it may be difficult to find out any of the details concerning his death. We can only hope that his family might share a little information about his stroke so that it may help many of us who are also facing a similar fate.
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Here’s one more piece on Lee Roy’s big heart and generosity:
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Selmon’s generosity touched prep sports

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Your wonderful Union at work. I received this short update from the Seattle Chapter’s Sam McCullum earlier this morning with a memo attached from Dee Becker in The Washington office. Basically, it’s more nothing. McCullum says that it’s basically all the NFL’s fault because their Alumni and George Martin are still trying to interject themselves as representatives of retired players while Becker is saying, “Gee, we already know what’s best for retired players and we’ve already decided on how to distribute this Legacy Fund money. So you might as well just shut up and take what you get!”
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So I guess the thousands of retired players who have actually spoken up for their own voice and their own vote are chopped liver (or dog food as Gene Upshaw used to say)? Meanwhile, why is it that Disability Attorney John Hogan continues to dig up details just by reading the published CBA? (Click HERE to read John’s post.)
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And for your weekend entertainment, we also added a video of James Brown‘s old classic, Talking Loud and Saying Nothing to the end of this post.
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Several of my friends from our college football days were writing each other at the end of the year and former UW Husky Clyde Werner sent a note asking us for a recommendation to a good orthopedic doctor in Seattle. Clyde ended up sending us his personal story about the injuries he’s sustained from his 8-year career in football with no disability benefits. Even worse are his final comments about his pension check. We’ve pointed out in the past that the NFLPA and the NFL perpetuated the myth that we were all going to be dead by 52 so we needed to take drastically reduced pensions early. And one more time: We were told we couldn’t receive disability benefits if we collected a pension (or vice versa) because that was the law (according to Gene Upshaw). For years – because we didn’t have the means to communicate with each other as a group – it was generally dismissed as an “urban myth” that any players had actually been advised to take early retirement pensions because of this 52 Rule. (In fact, just as the NFL now has the 88 Plan for players with dementia, we’re going to start referring to this as The NFLPA 52 Plan from now on.) More and more players keep writing in to confirm that they too were also told to take that 52 Plan. Too many to ever dismiss any longer – we were all lied to over the years. It was called F-R-A-U-D then and it’s still called fraud today.

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By now, many of you have now been receiving your letters about another new “joint-venture” program between the NFL and the NFLPA from their Player Care Foundation. This one’s for a “Neurological Care Program Benefit.” We’ve already been receiving a lot of comments (putting it mildly) from our readers.

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Dennis Smith posted a comment late Saturday afternoon that his second GLA settlement check had just arrived. So I knew my check wouldn’t be too far behind, seeing as Dennis lives down in L.A.! And sure enough, when I went to my PO Box today, there it was!

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Aaron Hewitt: Dave at Home

Dear Dr. Benjamin,

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With all the recent coverage on drugs in the NFL – both “legal” and illegal – I’ve been getting a lot of media inquiries coming in about my personal experiences from playing back in the late 70′s and early 80′s. Like a lot of things from the past, many have now come to roost as part of NFL culture today. Painkillers and Novocaine shots were accepted treatments in the locker rooms of my day and it’s a small wonder that the young players today seem to feel that they’re expected to do whatever it takes to make themselves worth those big salaries they get from the NFL. You reap what you sow and the steroid problem is at least as much a consequence of the NFL’s drug culture over the decades as it is the product of the competitiveness among today’s players themselves. What did they think would happen?

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Dear Roger Goodell,

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Thank you for signing the $200.00 reimbursement check for my total left hip replacement of April 29, 2008. Boy, it sure did take a long time but I guess it’s better that nothing. By the way, I’ve had 2 more surgeries since then. On August 11, 2009 I had 4-3½ inch screws along with 4 nuts and 2 bars removed from my spine at L3-4. And on March 4, 2010 I also had a hydrocele repair. I have more out-of-pocket expenses for these surgeries. (Click on the thumbnail to see this big check.)

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A Message to NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith -

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No More Band-Aids!

You were recently quoted in the media saying, “I’ve seen consistent improvements in pensions and healthcare for our players and former players.” Are you serious?!! Gene Upshaw and the NFLPA Leadership were convicted and found guilty of “Breaching their Fiduciary Duty” and “Breach of Contract” towards retired players in a Federal Court. And certainly the NFLPA and the NFL are also guilty of Breaching their Fiduciary Duty over disability benefits. The pensions for many retired players amount to not much more than a monthly car lease payment (minus the down payment because their pensions are too small for a real car payment). Upshaw once bragged publicly in the media that under his brutal dictatorship, pensions had increased almost 50% for many of the older retirees. What he failed to mention was that their monthly pensions jumped from a shameful $139 a month to a whopping $179 a month for guys like Herb Adderley. Never mind the fact that many of our men took early pensions based on the myth perpetuated by your plan actuarial numbers done by owners through AON Consulting that stated most of us were going to be dead before the age of 55.

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Over a week ago, I wrote and sent a letter with questions for Mary-Ann Fleming, Director of Disability Benefits for our Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Players Retirement Plan. You can read that earlier post by clicking HERE. The letters were mailed out by USPS Priority Mail to her and Larry Lamade at Akin Gump. Copies of the letter were also sent out to the NFLPA representatives on the Disability Board, as well as Roger Goodell (Chairman of the Disability Board) and DeMaurice Smith at the NFLPA.

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It looks like the NFL and its Commissioner Roger Goodell are swift and decisive when it comes to handing out punishment for players who step out of line with the League’s high standards of conduct. In keeping with these high standards, just who is supposed to be handing out punishment when the NFL steps out of line? And just how severe should the consequences be?

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Most of you have been following our recent coverage on the missing Severance Pay that more and more retired players have come to realize that they’ve never received. The NFLPA has just put together an outline of steps that former players can follow on Severance Pay. Andre Collins, Director for Player Benefits, submitted these instructions this morning.

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Up here in Seattle, we still remember when the King Dome was imploded (March 26, 2000) to make way for the new SafeCo Stadium that is now home to the Seattle Mariners baseball team. Earlier this morning, the old Texas Stadium was finally imploded now that Jerry Jones’ new Coliseum has finally been finished. So here’s a news clip of the Texas Stadium implosion. And with all the serious stuff about Dr. Amen’s brain scan study and concussions, we’re also including a little bit of humor from Mark Gungor on the difference between men‘s and women’s brains. Have a great Sunday!

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