(or How They have been Used to Cheat You)
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We have now established that both the NFL and the NFLPA have been using fake “Experts” to trick Fans, Active Players, the Media, Congress, the Courts and Us. They have reached determinations and given testimony on Retired Player rights and benefits that were nothing more than shams in too many cases.
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Posted by
Bob Grant |
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RobertinSeattle |
In our last post – Valerie Thomas: Life Under Upshaw – former NFLPA Research Analyst and Paralegal Valerie Thomas discussed her years of abuse and violation of her employee’s rights under the heavy hand of departed Executive Director Gene Upshaw and his inner circle. Bob Grant had posted several questions to her in the comments section about the toll from her long battle with the NFLPA and how it has affected her and her family over the years. This is Part 2 of Valerie Thomas’ story.
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Valerie Thomas
Dave,
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Thank you for your earlier comment and for allowing me to be an active participant on your blog.
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It’s hard to accept that a union whose efforts that you supported, including financially, would turn against you in your time of need: your post-football career.
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I know first-hand what it feels like to be ignored and it is even more dehumanizing to have been ignored while looking in the faces of the perpetrators on a daily basis. For example, my basic needs and rights to have access to my job were denied. When I reported to work, I was locked out with no key to get in the front door and no key to access the elevator. Once on the elevator, I couldn’t get off on the floor where I worked. Instead, I could only get off on the floor below mine and had to walk up a public stairwell. During the mornings, when I had to do business on other floors I had to walk up and down the public stairwells. I could not use the elevator like everyone else, including interns and temporary employees. At lunchtime and upon my return from lunch, I had to go through the same routine with no access to my floor and walk up a public stairwell (two sets of 12 stairs = 24 steps each way). In the afternoons, if I had to do business on other floors, I had to walk up and down the public stairwells. NFLPA management and its legal representatives harassed, intimidated and retaliated against me; they dared me to protect my rights and when I did, they then cheated and stole my livelihood and my family’s legacy.
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Valerie Thomas |
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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.
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President Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that read “The Buck Stops Here.” I always liked him when I was a kid because he was a plain and simple, straight-forward guy who was willing to take full responsibility for solving problems.
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Before everyone and their brother jumps in to try and take credit for it, DeMaurice Smith and his crew have been working with the NFL to protect retired players’ disability benefits during a potential lockout in 2010. So De Smith was right – without the express agreement of the NFL, retired players’ benefits could have been severely impacted by a lockout.
AAA
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Posted by
RobertinSeattle |
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It ‘s almost comical when you look at the bill of goods the NFL and the Alumni are now trying to sell to Retired Players and the Public.
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For the first time, the NFL and the NFLPA extended an invitation to “The Independent Retired Players” to attend and participate in a meeting called to discuss the problems that continue to plague Retirees. Bob Grant, an Independent Activist and Advocate for our cause, was asked to attend on behalf of the Retired Players.
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Here we go again. After the latest rounds of making it clear that I continue to support the need for independence, several retired players have been calling and writing to inform me that my name is once again being used to imply support for the Fourth & Goal/Alumni Alliance. At least now I can understand some of the confusion: many of you guys must have been wondering why I would be publicly stating my decision not to join the NFL Alumni organization when it appeared that I had been endorsing it.
Apparently, Fourth & Goal sent out a letter at the beginning of June (right after The Summit) to an unknown number of retired players to enlist their support of the new Alumni deal. It appears that not everyone got this letter since I know that a large number of us who attended the Summit never received it (so much for including ALL retired players, fellas). Also included with the 2-page letter were 5 pages from a “Confidential Business Plan” that caught my attention. The two most interesting pages are attached below (click on each page to enlarge for easier reading.) Important sections are highlighted and worth reading carefully. Both Marvin Cobb and I are listed as “Key members of the New Alumni Advocacy Group” along with other members of the current Board of Fourth & Goal.
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Gentlemen:
