We finally have Bernie Parrish’s testimony before the Congressional Judiciary Committee on concussions which was recently held at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit on January 4, 2010. Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and his staff did an incredible job of organizing this hearing on such short notice just after the new year. You can still watch the entire 5 hr :22 min hearing in an earlier post by clicking HERE.
.
This is a large video file (over 100 Mb!) and we’ve hosted it at online video host eSnips – we’re clipping it here on our blog. You can also download the entire video to your computer for viewing later.
.
Bernie makes a strong case for more investigations into the League and the Union’s ongoing efforts against retired players. Be sure to watch the first 5 seconds where the New NEW NFL Alumni Executive Director George Martin gets up and leaves the hearing room before Bernie speaks - and Bernie was gracious enough to sit through his earlier speech.
This blog has only been up for almost two years. But Dave’s been personally at his battle for over 25 years. And guys like Bernie Parrish have been at it for well over 40 years – long before most of today’s players were even born (well, maybe not Brett Favre…). There’s no doubt that this past year has been an interesting one. It’s been full of a lot of ups-and-downs with a lot of side trips that can get a little distracting at times. With the economy tanking and people losing their jobs all over the country, it’s hard not to get frustrated occasionally. Tempers can flare and passions will rise. But there’s no doubt that the issues which have always been most important to the retired players are gaining more visibility than ever because of everyone’s collective efforts.
…
Even with the long road ahead of us, there are a lot of things that have happened in 2009 that no one expected to see:
…
Congress holds hearings on the impact of concussions in football;
The NFLPA appoint a new Executive Director who immediately settles the Parrish vs. NFLPA/Players Inc. class action lawsuit;
Independent retired football players organize and hold their first Summit in Las Vegas;
Coverage of concussions expands into the mainstream media;
Dr. No resigns from the NFL’s “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury Committee;
The NFL winds down its brain concussion studies;
The NFL publicly acknowledges the seriousness of concussions and finally begins to develop new rules regarding on-field concussions;
December ended up being a crazy busy month for Dave: 2 print interviews and 3 radio interviews so far. Dave’s primary focus has been on getting the word out on disability benefits and pensions, as well as answering some questions on the recent Parrish vs. Players Inc. GLA settlement.
… Jeff Pearlman did a story for Sports Illustrated/CNN on Dave’s personal regrets about having played football. That helped generate over a million hits this month for the blog. Click HERE to read that article.
… Wayne Coffey from the New York Daily News talked to Dave about the sad story of fellow Buccaneers’ teammate Jimmie Giles: Click HERE to read that article.
… Sirius FM98’s Hardcore Sports Radio interviewed Dave on Dec. 16th:
Over the past 24 hours, we’ve certainly had a lot of discussions around the old adage “Not seeing the forest for the trees.” In the old way of controlling their spin on all stories about football, the NFL managed to keep all of the television networks and most of the major print media on very short leashes because of their broadcast rights and access to players and managers for interviews. And then the Internet came along. Despite claims of a few who proudly proclaim they invented the Internet and Facebook, this new medium has not only moved the retired football players battle to a new and level playing field; it’s in a different league altogether. Just as the past two weeks have completely caught Tiger Woods and his team of old-school PR flacks like deer in the headlights, the NFLPA and the NFL and their old media machines have been hard-pressed to catch up with a new medium that they can no longer control. The Internet doesn’t belong to anyone and it belongs to everyone.
…
As so many of you already know, Bernie Parrish was the original plaintiff in the NFLPA/Players Inc. lawsuit – always was and always will be. And we’ll continue to refer to that case as Parrish vs. Players Inc. I guess some people feel that if you keep trying to spin it another way often enough, people will forget – just like the NFL and the NFLPA. But we did notice that even as contentious as it got throughout the trial, both Jeffrey Kessler and Richard Berthelsen were generally professional and respectful enough to refer to the case as Parrish vs. NFLPA/Players Inc. in their filings. But things deteriorated rapidly between Bernie and his hired attorney, Ron Katz. As a result, you will notice the filings that came out of Katz’s office after a certain point were generally filed as Herbert Adderley vs. NFLPA/Players Inc. Some people have been fed a hook, line and sinker to diminish Bernie Parrish and his years of independent work for all retired players.
…
On a quick side note for those of you who were on that final GLA Settlement list, we’re going to emphasize here once again: Watch your mail for the paperwork from Garden City Group over the next week. Some of the guys have already reported receiving their information already. If you don’t receive it by the end of December, be sure to call them at (866) 697-5552 and leave them a message. The folks at Garden City Group will get back to you quickly. It’s possible they might have an old or wrong address for you. Then be sure to send the completed form back to them as quickly as you can (it has to be postmarked no later than Feb. 9, 2009 to qualify). Then put it in an envelope and mail it to this address (by USPS Certified Mail with confirmation so you know they got it):
Conrad Dobler just posted on his Facebook page that he was going into his 32nd knee surgery. 32 surgeries! After weeks of infections from his latest knee replacement (including a MRSA infection), Conrad’s facing a possible amputation or a freeze, where they literally lock his leg straight so it can no longer move at the knee. Even through all of this, Conrad hasn’t lost that edgy sense of humor: “Today I am having my 32nd knee surgery they are going to try to save my leg & put my knee back in BUT they are not sure it will work. Only other option other than amputate is to freeze it. It would be permanently straight & 6 inches shorter. I got rid of all my platform shoes in the 70’s & my tailor will be pi**ed so that’s not an option. Will keep you posted. Don’t forget to order my book!”
…
Our thoughts and best wishes are with you during this crazy time, Conrad. We expect to see you running around again at next year’s Summit, buddy!
…
Stories like Conrad’s make you think of how things could be instead of how they are. Imagine having a Union that truly cared about their retired players? How much would it take to have someone just show up at this guy’s hospital bedside to wish him well and then tell him, “We understand you’ve been going through a difficult time with all of this and we’re here to help. We don’t need to do a lot of paperwork, Mr. Dobler. We just need to know where to send the check.” I mean, just how hard would it be for one – JUST ONE – of these 6- and 7-figure big shots to do something like that?
This is the 4-page final settlement agreement that was signed by Judge William Alsup in San Francisco on Nov. 23, 2009.
(The crew over at DocStoc have added some great new features: Click on the FULL SCREEN button to enlarge it for easier navigation – hit the ESC key to close. You can also click the DOWNLOAD button to save a PDF copy for printing and reading. There’s also a Menu button in the upper left corner with even more options.) .
… And here’s the 12-page Summary from Judge Alsup covering Attorneys’ Fees, costs and compensation for the class representative. Everything Bernie Parrish has pointed out is covered in this document …and more. (Ouch!)
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So producing a film about life after football for many of the old warriors should speak volumes. The documentary Blood Equity has been out since 2007 and is available on DVD. We haven’t heard much more about it since it came out but noticed it was playing this weekend Laemmle Sunset 5 theater in West Hollywood (read the story HERE).
Would you trust your brain or your money with this man?
We have no idea how anyone missed this little tidbit from the Congressional hearings on brain concussions in the NFL. The media rightfully focused on stirring comments made by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ owner Gay Culverhouse regarding the complete lack of advocacy for the players when it comes to brain injuries: The team doctors are hired by the owners and are employed to protect their investment; many of the coaches and owners often play golf with the team doctors in their free time. Tampa Bay Online covered Ms. Culverhouse’s testimony closely and the last paragraph in their story says a lot about just how seriously Roger Goodell plans on looking into brain concussions.
AAA
Culverhouse: NFL doctors aren’t advocates for players
It looks like the latest Congressional hearings into brain concussions in the NFL will be starting this Wednesday, October 28th. From all the preliminary announcements, it appears that only two people have been officially announced to testify: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. So far, no experts such as neurosurgeons and brain scientists have been announced to testify. We have to wonder who called this hearing on such short notice and why now just as the 2010 lockout is looming and brain concussions have taken center stage in the retired players’ battle for independent representation. With a hat tip to all those other Top 10 Lists out there, we’ve come up with a simple list of the Top 10 Questions that Congress should be asking of Goodell and Smith directly.
First of all, we want to congratulate George Martin for his appointment as the Executive Director of the NFL Alumni Association; George was selected from a broad range of talented candidates with hats in the ring. George steps into this newly-created, salaried position at the Alumni. The choice was appropriate and George Martin is well-liked.
}}}
Today’s official NFL press announcement from the Associated Press also included the following warm-and-fuzzy-aw-shucks clip on retired players (really, who actually sits down and writes this crap?):
}}}
The owners also met with George Martin, who has been hired by the NFL Alumni Association, a group that plans to be the lone voice for retired players. Those players have had their representation fragmented by many groups, and Goodell believes working with one organization will be a positive development.
Well, I got reminded a little too late tonight that CBS’ 60 Minutes ran Bob Simon’s episode on brain concussions and brain disease tonight and I missed it (like a lot of you out there, I suspect!).
>>>
Fortunately, the good folks over at CBS have been progressive enough to load the entire episode online already. You can read the article by clicking HERE and you can view the clips below (you can enlarge the clip to Full Screen Mode by using the expand button in the lower right corner of each clip screen):
Here’s the official NFLPA Press Release on their newly-announced Concussion & TBI Committee. We want to point out that while any movement forward is always a good thing, sometimes you have to look at what’s NOT said as much as what IS said. Read the announcement carefully and you’ll notice that they say they’re concerned about taking care of CURRENT players who are injured and they also want to study the effects to reduce or eliminate brain injuries and concussions.
…
But there should have been a third item added to the announcement: The Retired Players Union will also be committed to ensuring that retired players whose brain injuries have been neglected all these years are now encouraged to re-apply for their disability benefits and their Union will stand behind them. THE NFLPA will cooperate fully with any and all investigations including the upcoming Congressional hearings.
It just finally really sank in that Gene Upshaw’s widow was apparently paid a $14 million lump sum directly out of the NFLPA’s bank account when he passed on to a new life (!). As a businessman, I started wondering why that money was paid directly out of the NFLPA’s coffers and not by an insurance policy that they should have had in place for a key employee like most normal businesses usually have? With any of the businesses I’ve started over the years, my investors typically sleep better knowing that there’s an insurance policy on my life to allow the Company to replace me as CEO in case something happens to me. And I also typically negotiate a separate policy that will provide for my family as part of the package. This happens in businesses across the country every day, regardless of whether they’re privately held or public companies. This is common business practice and I doubt if even Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, would argue with that.
In other words, even if a $14 million policy cost as much as $250,000 a year (which it wouldn’t), it would still have made prudent business sense rather than self-insuring such a large payout. At $250,000 a year, it still would have taken 56 years (!) to pay out $14 million in annual premiums so it would have been a no-brainer decision. You would think that with brilliant business advisors such as Richard Berthelsen and Mary Moran in the executive offices, someone would have stepped up and said, “Gee, we need to put an insurance policy on the Executive Director in case something happens to him.” Or “Gee – Gene wants a $14 million payout to his widow when he dies. Let’s get an insurance policy now!” So why didn’t that brilliant Human Resources Director Mary Moran – paid nearly $250,000 a year for her “smarts” – think of it instead of spending her time sneaking around the NFLPA offices pretending to be an important undercover snitch? And how likely is it that the master of legal obfuscation, Richard Berthelsen, didn’t have a hand in crafting the legal contract that handed $14 million to Gene Upshaw’s widow in one lump sum rather than having it covered by a simple insurance policy (that they likely couldn’t get)? As in all conspiracies, it always comes down to, “What did they know and when did they know it?”
We posted the 2008 LM-2 a while back (click HERE and HEREto read those posts) and discovered that the NFLPA had liability insurance that covered the $5 million+ cost of litigation in the Players Inc. trial. So most of Jeffrey Kessler’s legal fees were paid out of an insurance policy that was put in place just for that purpose. That’s why you have insurance.
This is all conjecture at this stage but a $14 million payout is simply that – a WHOLE lot of money. One thing that DOES come to mind is the possibility that Gene Upshaw either already KNEW he was ill (which would have automatically made him uninsurable) and didn’t disclose it to anyone outside of his inner circle. Which would also mean that several people would have been involved in covering up this deception to defraud the NFLPA membership out of $14 million. Or – worse yet – if the NFLPA basically self-insured Gene Upshaw without full and honest disclosure, would that make the payout fraudulent and reversible? And who should be held accountable? If it had been underwritten by any insurance company instead, I think we’d certainly see them conducting a very serious investigation before they paid Mrs. Upshaw one dime. And even though the retired players still have no vote in their own Union, ALL players should be demanding an open and transparent disclosure and review of ANY agreement to pay out $14 million of YOUR money. With Executive Director DeMaurice Smith publicly instructing active players to start pinching pennies to prepare for a potential lockout next year, was paying out $14 million in cash a good example to set at a time like this?
Here’s why we’re so excited about Dr. Amen’s offer to provide free brain scans which will be included in his upcoming study of football concussions. Many of you guys have already signed up but if you haven’t done so already, click HERE to read that earlier post and sign up right away – this offer is currently limited to the first 100 players to join the study!
.
Over the years, the NFL has continued to do lip service about all those studies they’re supposed to have been conducting on brain concussions and injuries that most players sustain over their careers. But just like the calls for an open audit of their books, few people seem to have been privy to all of the the studies that they’re supposed to have collected. In the past, we’ve also pointed out that among other “studies”, the NFL apparently also has actuarial numbers on all of the players that were provided by a subsidiary of AON Corp. headquartered in Chicago. Some of the principals in AON Corp. also happened to be owners of the Chicago Bears – read some of those earlier posts by clicking HERE. You’ll be directed to a series of earlier posts on AON’s relationship to the NFL – including this one at the top – just keep scrolling down to the other posts below. Among other things, those actuarial numbers have been used to calculate just how much they hold back from you for your surviving spouse policy on your retirement benefits (And who has actually seen their paperwork for THAT policy? Isn’t all of that called a Conflict of Interest in any other business?).
Some of you still remember those Congressional Hearings from last year into the NFL and NFLPA’s disability mess. During those hearings, Gene Upshaw had the details from private disability application hearings for 9 retired players’ cases (Dave’s case was one of them) publicly posted on the NFLPA’s website is that infamous White Paper. As soon as we discovered what they had done, we wrote about it and it was taken down very quickly (click HERE and HERE to read those earlier posts). It was just another dirty-tricks-as-usual tactic to get even with some of the players who spoke up during those hearings. You would think that would have been the end of it. But it was only recently that we happened to be reviewing the Congressional Judiciary Committee’s final report on their website that we discovered one of the Exhibits under the NFL hearings (Exhibit A) contained the same information from the NFLPA’s original White Paper, including all that personal disability data for each of those 9 retired players’ hearings! (Below is a screenshot of the earlier page with Exhibit A available.)
We were astounded that the NFLPA would subsequently hand over that same private information to Congress after having already been notified of their violation. We see this as another blatant attempt to smear those players for their brave decision to speak out against the injustice. The Judiciary Committee then inadvertently published the document and apparently it’s been up for well over a year with little notice until we just happened to be reading it more closely a couple of weeks ago. It was shocking to see all that information back online once again!
We were fortunate enough to have been put in touch with Judiciary Counsel Eric Tamarkin (through Congressman John Conyers office) who so graciously managed to get that particular Exhibit taken down quickly (clicking on Exhibit A now tells you the document has been removed). Which is why we can now finally write about it at last (we didn’t want to point any more attention to the page until it was actually taken down). Click HERE to see the current Congressional page where Exhibit A is now gone!
Wayne Coffey from the New York Daily News talked to Dave about the sad story of fellow Buccaneers’ teammate Jimmie Giles:
Over the past 24 hours, we’ve certainly had a lot of discussions around the old adage “Not seeing the forest for the trees.” In the old way of controlling their spin on all stories about football, the NFL managed to keep all of the television networks and most of the major print media on very short leashes because of their broadcast rights and access to players and managers for interviews. And then the Internet came along. Despite claims of a few who proudly proclaim they invented the Internet and Facebook, this new medium has not only moved the retired football players battle to a new and level playing field; it’s in a different league altogether. Just as the past two weeks have completely caught Tiger Woods and his team of old-school PR flacks like deer in the headlights, the NFLPA and the NFL and their old media machines have been hard-pressed to catch up with a new medium that they can no longer control. The Internet doesn’t belong to anyone and it belongs to everyone.
Conrad Dobler just posted on his 
From the Blood Equity website:
First of all, we want to congratulate 
Well, I got reminded a little too late tonight that CBS’ 60 Minutes ran Bob Simon’s episode on brain concussions and brain disease tonight and I missed it (like a lot of you out there, I suspect!).
Here’s the official NFLPA Press Release on their newly-announced Concussion & TBI Committee. We want to point out that while any movement forward is always a good thing, sometimes you have to look at what’s NOT said as much as what IS said. Read the announcement carefully and you’ll notice that they say they’re concerned about taking care of CURRENT players who are injured and they also want to study the effects to reduce or eliminate brain injuries and concussions.
