Posted with the express consent of Evan Weiner: . . THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORTS . BY EVAN WEINER COMMENTARY . The NFL job audition includes making the “suicide squad” rather than the special teams squad .
May 11, 2013
Examiner . The National Football League is open for business again. Players are on the field showing coaches that they can indeed play football even though the season is months away. The players showcasing their talents aren’t the normal, everyday players. No – these guys on the field are young guys trying to catch the eye of a coach and make a team and it doesn’t matter if they are first round draft picks or free agents hoping to just get to a training camp in July. . Not much is said about the long term health of these guys; they are just anxious to play football. Another one-time former football player, George Sauer, Jr. passed away at 69 years of age this week from congestive heart failure and Alzheimer’s disease. There may be some unintentional irony in Sauer’s passing from Alzheimer’s disease as he walked away from the New York Jets and the National Football League after the 1970 season because he found pro football dehumanizing and it “both glorifies and destroys bodies” as he described in a 1983 article in the New York Times. . Sauer was a wide receiver. . The young guys trying to impress the coaches in all likelihood never heard of George Sauer. But they probably know Tedy Bruschi who played for the New England Patriots (1996 – 2008) and is now a football commentator on ESPN. .continue reading »
. The continuing flood of news coverage and studies has been relentless during this football season with no sign of letting up even as more retired players add their names to the growing list of concussion lawsuits. The results of Junior Seau’s brain study were finally released by the National Institute of Health (NIH) following months of speculation and rumors of a potential coverup following his suicide last May. We lead our latest concussion update post with the breaking ESPN report on the NIH study: . continue reading »
Concussion coverage continues to take center stage in mid-season as ESPN keeps digging deeper into the contradictory position the League continued to take on the long-term damages of brain injuries from a career in football. Mark Fainaru-Wada reports on the findings of a joint ESPN Outside the Lines and PBS Frontline investigation. Dave’s concussion lawsuit attorney Jason Luckasevic was part of a discussion panel with ESPN’s Outside the Lines this past Friday – here’s the audio: .
. And here’s an earlier OTL video from back in February 2012 with background on the growing concussion lawsuits being filed: .
. Then there’s a very recent clip from ESPN discussing the “smoking gun” that could damage the NFL’s claims of ignorance about concussions even as the Disability Board unanimously approved three disability claims based on concussion injuries suffered by players – all while denying the majority of similar claims by publicly disavowing any connection of long-term damages from concussions and brain injuries. Hall of Famer Mike Webster is the most prominent of those three approved claims with a $1.8 million settlement to his estate after giving the NFL and its Disability Plan a sound beating in the appeals process. .
. And the article from Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada at ESPN: .
A 2009 Sports Illustrated article reported that 60 percent of former NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. And after two years of retirement, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress. (You can read Pablo Torre‘s piece from the SI Archives – click HERE.)
From the new ESPN Series “30 For 30,” here’s director Billy Corben’s contribution ‘Broke: How Millionaire Athletes End Up Broke.’ (This is the entire 1:27 film so when you start the video, click the Full Screen icon in the lower right corner of the video screen to take it all in.) . We understand the NFLPA is objecting to some statements made by reporter Darren Rovell in the movie.(Read about their statement on B&C – click HERE.) . EDITOR’S NOTE (Oct. 10, 2012):We just added an interview to the end of this post from radio program Sports Unplugged with Broke director Billy Corben discussing more background on what he learned during the making of his film. .
Posted with the express permission of Patrick Hruby and with acknowledgement toSportsEarth.com. . .
by Patrick Hruby August 29, 2012 . The hotel restaurant was closed. So we ate at the bar. It was early August, and I was in town visiting a former NFL lineman. Call him Max. It’s better not to use his real name. . During his time in football, Max was hit in the head. A lot. He since has endured nine brain surgeries. He has trouble remembering things. Serious trouble, like the main character in the movie “Memento.” Max and I were both carrying notepads, but for different reasons. .continue reading »
This is a Must-See program! Retired NFL player, Conrad Dobler is joined by documentary filmmaker, Sean Pamphilon, (Run Ricky Run) and journalist Patrick Hruby (ESPN, Yahoo Sports, Washington Times) for a riveting discussion on the culture of football. Sean was going into his second week of fielding media calls after releasing his 12-minute BountyGate audio following Commissioner Roger Goodell’s handing down penalties to those involved from the New Orleans Saints. Conrad talks about some of his personal experiences with fighting the NFL and NFLPA for his disability benefits. Patrick talks about how his journalistic endeavors have led him to a different perspective on football and concussions. As presented at our Second Annual Independent Football Veterans Conference at the South Point Resort in Las Vegas April 20 – 22, 2012. . All of our footage was recorded in High Definition (Thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux!) and you can enjoy each broadcast at it best by selecting HD quality by clicking on the setup icon (that Gear button) in the lower right of the video screen and then clicking on the Full Screen View button in the bottom right corner of each video. .
. EDITOR’S NOTE:You can read Patrick Hruby’s recently published article on high school football player, Austin Trenum, who committed suicide unexpectedly at home one night after suffering a concussion a few days earlier. Patrick refers to working on this story early during this discussion.ClickHEREto read that article in Washingtonian Magazine. .
Posted with the express consent of Evan Weiner: THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORTS .
Wednesday, 2 May 2011 .
BY EVAN WEINER
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM COMMENTARY . I didn’t know Junior Seau although I met him on the day he was drafted into the National Football League in 1990 and probably interviewed him after a football game a few times more. From all accounts, he was a fearsome presence on the football field; a killer who at times could control a game defensively. .
But Junior Seau didn’t live to be a ripe old age and until an autopsy is performed and a police investigation is complete, there is no need to speculate about the circumstances surrounding Seau’s death other than he was found dead of a shotgun wound on the morning of May 2, 2012 about 22 years after the San Diego Chargers football team called his name at the annual National Football League event. .
The gun wound should strike a nerve among former players. It seems that is becoming a way of life and death among NFL alum suffering from life altering injuries that probably came from years and years of absorbing hits on the football field. People do hear about former NFL players but there seems to be no tracking of high school and college players who years after their football careers ended killed themselves. . continue reading »
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dave will be heading in to the hospital tomorrow morning (Tuesday) for his scheduled total right hip replacement. We’ll keep you posted on his progress. In the meantime, we’ve been following the growing number of new concussion and helmet lawsuits over the past couple of months from all across the country. It’s been hard keeping up with all the details and lawyers and players behind each suit. Last week, many of them were consolidated in a Federal Court in Pennsylvania under Judge Anita Brody. Dave asked one of his attorneys, Jason Luckasevic, from the firm Goldberg Persky & White, to provide an overview and summary of what has happened so far. .continue reading »
And for those of us with shorter attention spans, the highlights are now up on YouTube from our June 20th 2011 Retired Football Players Press Conference. We’ve uploaded it to YouTube in HD – you can enlarge it to full screen for easier viewing using the enlarge button in the lower right corner of the video window. .
And once again, thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux and her crew. We’re working on shorter individual clips to also be posted daily on YouTube over the following weeks to keep this issue front and center with the fans and general public. Retired Players are NOT going away! .
And for those of us with shorter attention spans, the highlights are now up on YouTube from our June 20th 2011 Retired Football Players Press Conference. We’ve uploaded it to YouTube in HD – you can enlarge it to full screen for easier viewing using the enlarge button in the lower right corner of the video window. .
And once again, thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux and her crew. We’re working on shorter individual clips to also be posted daily on YouTube over the following weeks to keep this issue front and center with the fans and general public. Retired Players are NOT going away! .
. And a little something extra: Hall-of-Famer Gale Sayers is mad too! .
. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Click on the Like button on YouTube, as well as passing these videos along to all of your friends. You can also post our video links to your Facebook page if you have a Facebook account and Tweet it to Twitter (you can use those buttons at the bottom of each of our posts). And please be sure to click on the Sign Our Petition link at the top of the sidebar on the right to let everyone know you support these guys! .
Thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux and her crew, we now have the full video of our June 20th 2011 Retired Football Players Press Conference held at the Washington Press Club. We’ve uploaded it to Veoh in HD – you can enlarge it to full screen for easier viewing using the enlarge button in the lower right corner of the video window. You can turn the volume up using the sliding volume bar next to that Full Screen button .
. Be sure to click on the Sign Our Petition link at the top of the sidebar on the right to let everyone know you support these guys! .
We’re back from attending the Press Conference at the Press Club in Washington DC. Thanks to the incredible efforts of the teams at Hausfeld LLC and Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason and Carl Eller, everything came off even better than anyone could have expected. Retired players who attended the conference included Carl, Irv Cross (who moderated), George Visger, Joe DeLamielleure, Lem Barney, Conrad Dobler, Paul Krause, Elvin Bethea and Greg Koch. For the first part of the conference, the retirees were also joined by a group of active players who also made statements in support of the retired players efforts, which included Brendon Ayanbadejo, Duane Starks, Will Witherspoon, Hannibal Navies, Sean James, Anthony Adams, Duane Starks, Stalker McDougal and Mike Dean. We had a strong media presence and there was also a lot of attendance on the conference phone line provided. . We have video of the entire event and will be posting clips from the news conference over the next few days along with a full version of the entire meeting (thanks to our friend, Jennifer Thibeaux, and her young assistant, Elizabeth). And here’s a slideshow of pictures from Reuters News Service at the conference (Click on the picture to open the slideshow in another window): .
Posted with the express consent of Evan Weiner: THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORTS . Fans don’t matter in sports
Monday, 16 May 2011 BY EVAN WEINER NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM . THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORTS . And so the National Football League lockout has become a version of the People’s Court. The good guys, the National Football League Players Association, are fighting for workers’ rights and are begging “fans” to help them lift the lockout. The owners, the bad guys, want to take away the players ability to make truckloads of money and are threatening their long term health care. Wait, the players have done such a great job in past collective bargaining agreements that former players lose health benefits five years after their playing careers are done and only if a player has three years in the league. .
The “People’s Court” is now playing in Minneapolis, Minnesota where United States District Judge David Doty is figuring out of the owners owe the players money over how the league managed to negotiate TV contracts to protect that side if in the event of a 2011 lockout. The players are seeking $707 million in damages. The fans will get ZERO if Judge Doty gives the players a monetary award even through a good chunk of that TV money comes from the cable TV subscriber-based ESPN and the satellite pay service DirecTV. In fact a good many people who never watch an NFL game on either ESPN or DirecTV are subsidizing the billions of dollars that ESPN and DirecTV pays the NFL. .
The chances are that Judge David Doty will not address relief for subscribers are great. Fans are not a part of the lockout equation. Cable TV subscribers never received a rebate in 1994 and 1995 when Major League Baseball shutdown the 1994 season and the National Hockey League’s lockout did not end until January leaving cable TV subscribers without a product from mid-September 1994 through January 1995. An awful lot of teams had local cable TV deals in 1994 and 1995 and subscribers were playing for something that they didn’t get. Programming in terms of games which they were charged for. In 1998-99, the National Basketball Association locked out the league players for about 30 games. Not one cable TV subscriber received a penny back for missed games. Interestingly enough the owner of the Golden State Warriors, Chris Cohan, tried to stiff the Oakland Alameda Coliseum Authority and not pay rent at the Oakland Arena during the NBA lockout. . continue reading »
On Monday, Minnesota U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson carefully picked apart all four of the NFL’s arguments to the NFLPA’s suit to overturn the League’s lockout. In her 89-page ruling, she not only addressed everything in painstaking in detail but basically set the scenario for her ruling to stand in higher court on appeal by keeping the focus correctly on the antitrust issue. . Here’s a summary from Andrew Brandt: .
. And the detailed analysis from ESPN – click HERE. . And for the legal minds out there, here’s a copy of the entire 89-page ruling from Judge Nelson posted on Scribd for easier viewing and to make it downloadable. (You can click the link to go over to Scribd’s site where you can 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 later.) . Judge Nelson Ruling Against NFL Lockout . .
Posted with the express consent of Evan Weiner: THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORTS .
NFL lockout 2011: Why are Gov. Christie and other politicians strangely silent?
Thursday, 21 April 2011 BY EVAN WEINER NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM . The National Football League Draft is on the horizon and there has been a deafening silence from a group of people who actually have some power to exert some influence on what appears to be stagnating talks between the owners, who have locked out their employees — the players — and the players’ representatives. .
People like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who has no problem yelling at his employers in public settings — New Jersey voters — has gone mute on the issue. Christie is no better than Texas Congressman Lamar Smith who doesn’t think Congress ought to be involved in the dispute or President Barack Obama. Christie is in a governor’s league that includes both Democrats (Andrew Cuomo of New York, Jerry Brown of California, Mark Dayton of Minnesota among others) and Republicans (Rick Scott of Florida, John Kasich of Ohio, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Snyder of Michigan, Rick Perry of Texas, Jan Brewer of Arizona, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana) who should be out there jawboning NFL owners to get a deal done with the players.
All the governors are cutting costs so you figure the potential of losing money because there will be no business conducted because of the lockout would stoke their combative fires. .
But it hasn’t. .continue reading »
As the representatives from the National Football League ownership group and the National Football League Players Association continue to try and bridge their differences and sign a new collective bargaining agreement (and yes Green Bay Packers players have collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin despite the best efforts of the state’s governor to bust public employee unions as Governor Scott Walker told the fake David Koch), it might be useful to review 60 years of television money and players association activity and how closely linked television and the players really are.
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NFL owners were planning to use some $4 billion in 2011 television rights fees to underwrite a lockout. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (FOX), General Electric (now Comcast)’s NBC, Sumner Redstone’s CBS, the Walt Disney Company’s ESPN and DirecTV cozied up to the NFL owners because the owners’ product is still a consistently watched fare in an increasingly fragmented audience industry: TV.
The National Football League is open for business again. Players are on the field showing coaches that they can indeed play football even though the season is months away. The players showcasing their talents aren’t the normal, everyday players. No – these guys on the field are young guys trying to catch the eye of a coach and make a team and it doesn’t matter if they are first round draft picks or free agents hoping to just get to a training camp in July.
As the representatives from the National Football League ownership group and the National Football League Players Association continue to try and bridge their differences and sign a new collective bargaining agreement (and yes Green Bay Packers players have collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin despite the best efforts of the state’s governor to bust public employee unions as Governor Scott Walker told the fake David Koch), it might be useful to review 60 years of television money and players association activity and how closely linked television and the players really are.