FOX Sports‘ A.J. Perez and Alex Marvez kick off Super Bowl week with a scathing exposé on the inner workings of the NFL Alumni and its Executive Director, George Martin. .
One question we keep wondering about: Just exactly how many retired football player members does the NFL Alumni actually have? The one thing even the NFLPA manages to be transparent about is its membership roster and they even provide an online list for all to see. But George Martin and his management team continue to cite numbers in the thousands, claiming that their membership is the largest collective group of retired players. But this article cites around $80,000 collected from May through September 2011. At $100 per member, simple arithmetic tells you that’s 800 members. But when you factor in the $5,000 fees from the remaining chapters who may have sent in their dues during that same period, one has to wonder how much of that $80,000 actually comes from individual memberships? We’ve heard from all too many sources that the membership has dropped to below 500 actual dues-paying retired players, with the remaining members classified as “Associate Members” that include fans and other non-retirees. Heck, if the NFL has given the Alumni $4 million in interest-free loans since George Martin took over, maybe it might have been cheaper to just pay each of the estimated 15,000+ retired players (just one estimate) $100 apiece to be members of the Alumni? continue reading »
We’re sorry but we just couldn’t help it. Comparing recent news involving two big-name coaches like John Madden and Joe Paterno Last week, John Madden came forward like the great leader he is and declared that they would now be taking players out of the game when they get concussed. In the Electronic Arts video game that bears his name. Nice. Is that much different than the Wall of Silence that we’ve seen from coach Joe Paterno surrounding the juggernaut of charges still mounting against his BFF Jerry Sandusky that include child sex abuse and rape? Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, both of them continue to believe in the sanctity of football to protect those at the top from any accountability. It’s this arrogant air that finds the rest of us scratching our heads wondering what planet these people are living on. .continue reading »
Most members of the NFLPA received the first announcement in their Inboxes earlier today along with different variations from many sources. The second, more detailed announcement comes out of the NFL Communications office. If you note in the league’s release, credit is graciously being given to several retired players who took part in later discussions held directly with Commissioner Goodell and the owners, something that’s clearly missing from the NFLPA’s announcement. In fact, the NFLPA and its representatives did NOT attend that meeting held in Washington DC. . We’re posting both announcements here exactly as received: .continue reading »
. In our last post -click HERE if you’d like to read it again – we posted an exchange of e-mails from Bob Kuechenberg with questions on the current CBA, the Legacy Fund and benefits in general for retired players (particularly the pre-93ers). For weeks, those within the NFLPA have been stonewalling retirees with vague answers as well as pointing the finger at others to lay blame for lack of any clarity on what and how retired players will be receiving “new” benefits. One thing the PA has shown consistency with has always been, “We know what’s best for retired players and you’ll get what’s left AFTER we’ve already carved up the pie for the active players. And by the way – no one can talk about this stuff at local chapter meetings because it’s too negative and divisive!” . What’s worse: The NFLPA was invited to the table for a real opportunity to sit down with the Commissioner and representatives of the retired players in September because “they were being sued by the retired players” so they couldn’t show up. Never mind that Nolan Harrison III and Jim McFarland were invited – AND attended – the first meeting and subsequent conference calls with the largest unified collective of retired players representatives to have ever assembled for one goal: To take charge of their own pension and disability benefits. And never mind that the non-Union (decertified) individuals and the League were also subsequently sued by retired players at that time. (EDITOR’S NOTE:To Jim McFarland’s credit, he’s been the only man on the inside who’s been speaking up on the real issues relevant to retired players but of course, no one seems to be listening to him and he has absolutely NO vote.) .continue reading »
EDITOR’S NOTE: Another exchange that Bob Kuechenberg recently had with your NFLPA representatives who are still asking what’s important to retired players. (?!!) The only three things that matter to retired football players have always been – and will always continue to be – real access to THEIR EARNED: . • Disability Benefits • Pension Benefits • Medical after football .
Some of you may also recall several chapter presidents resigned in recent years in protest after being told what they could and could not talk about at chapter meetings .continue reading »
It seems that the PA is still managing to put out as much as they can without saying anything while still blaming everyone else for holding the process up. Oh wait – they’re in Washington DC! That’s what EVERYONE does up there! We forgot! .
So over the past week, we’ve received a few more ‘communiques’ from our local NFLPA chapter via Sam McCullum and it always seems that the guy in the room with no vote or real voice on any matters has the clearest take on everything. Jim McFarland – retired players’ representative – has provided some of the clearest analysis on what’s proposed in the final CBA for the Legacy Fund and how it will affect pre-93 players. Here are the e-mails and comments starting with the latest first. We also included a copy of that meeting proposal document referenced in the most recent e-mail and have loaded it up to Scribd for easier reading and printing. . One more thing: And the NFLPA and Sam McCullum says none of you should be reading any of the blogs to get your information. Of course, they didn’t attend what may have been one of the most important meetings of the year regarding retirees because they didn’t want to hear what everyone else wanted them to hear so they can’t tell you about it. (?!!) .continue reading »
Some reading material for your weekend. We have a recent newsletter from Hausfeld LLP and Zelle Hofmann that provides an update on much of what’s been happening with the retired players’ lawsuit as well as recent information and links of interest to football players and fans alike regarding concussions. They also provide some straight-forward analysis of the new CBA and how it will affect retirees’ benefits that you probably won’t be hearing from the NFLPA any time soon. .
And Sports Life Magazine’s Rick Kelsheimer spoke with us last month about Dave’s long battle with the NFL and the NFLPA and was gracious enough to provide us with an advance copy of his story that will appear in the October 2011 edition. . We uploaded full copies of the newsletter and the Sports Life article to Scribd for easy viewing and to make it downloadable for printing. You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to go Full Screen for easier reading (just hit the ESC key to close):continue reading »
Posted with the express consent of Evan Weiner: THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORTS .
NFL and NFLPA’s labor woes may not be over yet
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Tuesday, 02 August 2011 BY EVAN WEINER NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM . The National Football League owners have a labor agreement with the present members of the reconstituted National Football League Players Association but it appears that the league still has problems with the players association’s stance on not helping out former players with their medical needs years after their last game in the league. The league apparently informed Carl Eller’s legal team on Friday that the-then decertified National Football League Players Association decided not to take a $500 million offer over ten-years to get retirees life football medical benefits and an uptick in pensions as part of the recently completed collective bargaining agreement. . continue reading »
EDITOR’S NOTE:9:30 PM PST – Judy Battista’s story just posted on the New York Times – Click HERE to read this breaking story. .
On Friday afternoon, a small group of us were informed about the details a conference call that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had with the attorneys and a small team of retired players from the Eller class action lawsuit. All of us were shocked to hear the news that there was an additional $500 million offered to the retirees that had gone undisclosed to them. From what we understand so far, the money would supposedly be earmarked for “charities, medical research, etc.” and then “managed” under the auspices of the PA. We’ll continue confirm and report more details as the story breaks over the next few days. . In the meantime, we want to talk a little about how the Internet and social networks have changed the world of communications for better and for worse. We’ve watched an entire revolution take place in Egypt with the fall of the Mubarek regime that started with social network Twitter. And that revolution continues to spread across the Middle East. But social networks like Twitter can also be used to spread gossip and misinformation. And that also seems to happen more often than people may imagine. Fortunately, there’s also a good side to that as well. Leaving a trail of crumbs behind you is not exactly a smart strategy. Take the phony story that started to circulate last week not long after several groups started to promote the Retired Football Players Declaration of Independence (and if you haven’t signed that yet, shame on you!Click HERE to add you signature to the growing list!). . continue reading »
Renowned sports writer, Peter King, recently wrote on SportsIllustrated.com that “an additional $1 billion over 10 years will be spent on retirees, many of whom have horrible pensions (Hall of Famer Leroy Kelly gets $176 a month) and lingering health issues. Some retiree’s don’t think Smith has done enough and they think the league was more aggressive in finishing this program than the NFLPA.” Mr. King then concluded in the next paragraph that he believed, “Smith did what he said he would do.” (Click HERE to read King’s article from Sports Illustrated.) .
In 1982, when a group of courageous players challenged the incompetence and disingenuous rhetoric of the NFLPA and won a forced settlement of that labor dispute, it proved, when faced with the TRUTH, (from the players and a hard working accurate press and media), that the union and the NFL cannot fade the heat when they are exposed! .
But when that truth of what REALLY HAPPENED is smothered and a Clintonesque spin is spun (by PR firms, the press and the media) so the game can begin again, everything is NOT right with the game. . But that’s okay, let’s play football... . continue reading »
Dr. William A. Duncan serves as President of Capitol Strategy Consultants, Inc., where he represents clients on healthcare, biomedical research, veterans, Department of Defense, and criminal justice and public health arenas. His clients benefit from his extensive background in the congressional appropriations process and heath care regulations. . In the medical realm, Dr. Duncan supervised numerous legislative priorities including National Institutes of Health reforms for setting research priorities, expansion on biomedical research infrastructure, AHRQ and evidence-based medicine initiatives, NIH and CDC initiatives in environmental medicine, amputee services, and addressing chronic disease including diabetes and public health. He dealt with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services problems, including getting CMS to approve a new indication for hyperbaric oxygen to reduce diabetic foot amputations, reducing the regulatory burden on health care, prescription drug, and FDA issues. . (Our videos are hosted on Veoh in HD and you can watch them full screen by clicking on the Expand button in the lower right corner of the video window.) To follow the entire slideshow, we suggest starting the video and then opening the slideshow full screen so you can hear the accompanying narration. .
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in Minneapolis Minnesota issued its second stay order confirming its first order allowing the NFL’s lockout to continue. . We’ve posted a copy posted to Scribd for viewing and to make it downloadable. You can also click the Fullscreen button to enlarge it for easier navigation (hit the ESC key to close). . May 16 2011 NFL Lockout Stay Order .
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 »
And a little Friday humor to kick the weekend off: .
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Gets Pranked By Seattle Seahawks Raheem Brock And Chester Pitts
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In a bid to end the lockout, Seattle Seahawks Raheem Brock and Chester Pitts take their talents from the field to the phone with a prank call to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Expect Barack Obama impersonations and ‘gajillion’ dollar requests to aid in their mission. .continue reading »
Ed Nemeth, a successful, highly educated and trained businessman with a background in neurological research is the father of a severe quad CP child. Shortly after his daughter Rebecca’s complicated birth and cardiac arrest for 35 minutes he and his wife were presented with the unspeakable-yet-strongly-suggested single choice for their first-born child: Discontinue life support or allow their child to continue brain dead. Devoid of options, the Nemeths discontinued life support; Rebecca rallied and lived. Five years later, through their indefatigable efforts, the Nemeths found HBOT and after a short course of HBOT, their daughter experienced a quantum leap in neuro-cognitive function and significantly improved movement and coordination. . Based on his daughter’s dramatic improvement, Mr. Nemeth vowed to make HBOT available to all of Rebecca’s Friends and to offer parents another choice to removing their children from life support. To do so, he underwrote the “2001 2nd International Symposium on Hyperbaric Oxygenation and the Brain-Injured Child” held in Boca Raton, Florida. . Starting with a personal story in which hyperbaric oxygen therapy played a dramatic role in his daughter’s recovery, Ed also shares his story about meeting George Visger and providing him with HBOT treatment for his longstanding brain concussion damage. Then Ed presents a compelling slideshow with facts on hyperbaric oxygen treatments. . (Our videos are hosted on Vimeo in HD and you can watch them full screen by clicking on the Expand button in the lower right corner of the video window.) To follow the entire slideshow, we suggest starting the video and then opening the slideshow full screen so you can hear the accompanying narration. .
OX Sports‘ A.J. Perez and Alex Marvez kick off Super Bowl week with a scathing exposé on the inner workings of the NFL Alumni and its Executive Director, George Martin.
It seems that the PA is still managing to put out as much as they can without saying anything while still blaming everyone else for holding the process up. Oh wait – they’re in Washington DC! That’s what EVERYONE does up there! We forgot!
The National Football League owners have a labor agreement with the present members of the reconstituted National Football League Players Association but it appears that the league still has problems with the players association’s stance on not helping out former players with their medical needs years after their last game in the league. The league apparently informed Carl Eller’s legal team on Friday that the-then decertified National Football League Players Association decided not to take a $500 million offer over ten-years to get retirees life football medical benefits and an uptick in pensions as part of the recently completed collective bargaining agreement.
Renowned sports writer, Peter King, recently wrote on SportsIllustrated.com that “an additional $1 billion over 10 years will be spent on retirees, many of whom have horrible pensions (Hall of Famer Leroy Kelly gets $176 a month) and lingering health issues. Some retiree’s don’t think Smith has done enough and they think the league was more aggressive in finishing this program than the NFLPA.” Mr. King then concluded in the next paragraph that he believed, “Smith did what he said he would do.” 
