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Typically, Mike Florio on ProFootballTalk (now owned by MSNBC Sports) tends to lean more anti-NFLPA in his posts. But today, when NFL mouthpiece Greg Aiello decided to knock the NFLPA for having their annual gathering in sunny Hawaii, Florio actually quipped back:

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“Still, the union’s trek to the islands has prompted a jab from NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, who made the following point via Twitter:  “Weather today in NY is atrocious . . . would rather be in Maui but can’t afford it.”

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“The union might respond to the dig by suggesting that Aiello ask former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for a loan.  After all, Tagliabue made $3.3 million last year, despite retiring in 2006.”

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Remember this one? When some of the rhetoric first started coming out about the NFL’s revenue-sharing with the NFLPA and the players, Commissioner Roger Goodell’s standard answer was that those generous owners were handing over almost 60% of their revenues to those greedy players. Recently, the League has been demanding a 20% reduction in salaries as well as no salary cap on the top end of rookies’ and older players’ contracts. And now it’s also becoming clear that the NFL’s idea of 60% has never really been 60% of gross but some convoluted accounting that ends up actually being closer to 52%. The League’s PR flaks and shills (aka attack dogs) have been trying to spin out the idea that the NFLPA needs to open their books even as they continue to dodge calls for an audit of their own numbers. We believe that transparency is needed from both sides of the fence but right now the fact that the NFLPA has to file annual LM-2′s with the Dept. of Labor makes the Union more open than 31 of the 32 teams in disclosure (the Green Bay Packers are the only publicly-owned team and therefore required to open their books annually). As common sense goes, the NFLPA’s numbers will never be completely accurate if the NFL hasn’t actually been paying its real share all these years.

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So now…

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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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While much was left unaddressed at the end of this first meeting, many issues were brought into the discussion that were not a part of the original limited agenda announced by Harold Henderson (NFL Attorney), who chaired the meeting.

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Grant told the Attendees at the Meeting that the days of the NFL and the NFLPA with their “Insiders” making decisions for Retired Players without our direct participation have to end.

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NFLPA's Revolving Door

A Call for Transparency and Accountability

NFLPA PAYS OUTSIDE STAFFING AGENCIES $304,610 in Four (4) Years

The NFLPA Human Resources (HR) Department

The following information was compiled from the U.S. Department of Labor, Federation of Professional Athletes (FPA), NFLPA, Labor-Management (LM-2) reports for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 through Fiscal Year (FY) 2009.

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A while ago, we discovered through the NFLPA’s 2007 LM-2 filing that they had spent $12,461 that year for document shredding, just ahead of the Players Inc. lawsuit. (Read that story by clicking HERE.) (We’re anxiously awaiting the release of the 2008 LM-2 to look for new spending goodies from last year.)

But it looks like the NFLPA may not have to pay as much for shredding in 2009. Early this morning, before new Executive Director DeMaurice Smith made it into his office from a long trip out to San Francisco meeting with the 49′ers players (after a weekend in Palm Springs at the NFLPA confab), a fire started in a bathroom adjoining Smith’s office and there was a lot of water damage from the automatic sprinklers, according to an NFLPA press release now on the newswire.

We don’t seem to ever recall anything like this in the entire 25-year reign of Gene Upshaw so it’s a little suspicious. There’s probably more than one insider at the NFLPA who might be worried about their job under the new Executive Director. (Read the press release on ESPN HERE.) Mr. Smith, you may have more to worry about from behind than from what you see in front of you.

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This just in: It’s now getting out that Congressman Jim Moran (D – Va) was the person responsible for outing Troy Vincent as the source that kicked off that recent Congressional inquiry into the Executive Director search process.

“According to Liz Mullen and Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal, Vincent spoke with at least two of the four Congressmen who sent a letter to former U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

Vincent was outed by Jim Moran (D-Va.), a member of the House of Representatives.”

Check out the rest of Mike Florio’s coverage on ProFootballTalk (PFT) by clicking HERE. (And check out some of the comments about Moran.)

And THIS just in now from the International Herald Tribune as well. Looks like they want to pin everything on Troy Vincent. Which means he just might be the best real candidate for the job! Read the Herald Tribune‘s story by clicking HERE.

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