Dave Pear's Blog

At the beginning of May, I had mailed and posted a series of questions to Mary-Ann Fleming, the NFL’s Director of Player Benefits. (Click HERE to read the original questions I’d submitted.) A week later, I received a short letter from them informing me that she was away on business and then on vacation. Nearly a month after sending out my first letter, I finally received a 3-page response via FedEx. (By the way, what’s the deal with all that? No one gets back to me quickly and when you do, there are no answers to my questions. You take over 2 years to finally decide to send me a second reimbursement check for $202.68 as your share of a $60,000 surgery. Yet you have paid assistants to respond that you’re away on vacation. And everything’s done by FedEx – at our plan’s expense, no less.)

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Here is a copy of Mary-Ann Fleming’s letter. She says that a check for $202.68 should arrive in 3-4 weeks! Let’s see, I submitted these additional out-of-pocket expenses over a year ago (and that was a year after they sent me my first reimbursement check for $517.63 in late December, 2008) and now they finally decide to approve this new check. WOW! Talk about a fast turnaround! (Click on the thumbnails to enlarge for reading.)
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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

This just officially announced (click on the letter to enlarge for reading):

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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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Picture this:

You’ve seen this movie! The crowd in the lynch mob is saying that because they care so much about you, they’re going to now APPOINT some folks to represent you. Meanwhile. they keep braiding the noose, even as they hand out death sentences to many of us and life-without-parole to others. They continue to tell the public that getting hit in the head for years is good for you. What do you think that this Alumni bunch is really going to say or do in opposition to the NFL Owners? Do you think that they’re going to bite the hand that’s feeding them? Do you think that they’d ever take the Owners to Court to try and force them to do anything? Do you honestly believe that the Owners are crazy enough to give the Alumni crowd sharp swords that can be used against them later?

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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.

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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?):

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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.

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Once in a while, we run across a piece so well-written and easy-to-understand that to try and improve on it would be a waste of time. The following is a recent post written by Jordan Kobritz in The Seymour Herald (out of Seymour, Tennessee) and we’re posting the entire piece with the kind permission of Herald Publisher Joe Karl.

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kobritz’s corner

You gotta love the PR machine that is the $7 billion-a-year juggernaut known as the NFL.

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One of the presentations that drew a lot of attention during The Summit was from Bruce Laird of Fourth and Goal. Fourth and Goal has been in ongoing discussions with the NFL to use the NFL Alumni organization as a possible platform for advocacy of disability and pension reform. At the conclusion of The Summit, the group voted to continue moving forward without embracing any single organization at this early stage while encouraging and supporting all organizations that will advance retired players’ issues. (You can look at the evolving Summit blog by clicking HERE and you’ll find Bruce Laird’s presentation under the PowerPoints tab – or click HERE.)

Bernie Parrish has already voiced some of his strong opinions in no uncertain terms (HERE and HERE) and this is definitely going to make it a very hot summer topic. There’s no middle ground or gray area on this one. Do the retired players embrace an existing organization that has been looked on as another business-as-usual club for elite members or will they be embracing an organization that’s been reborn into something that can actually serve the membership at large with complete transparency and representation for each and every one of its members? Only time will tell and everyone’s watching closely.

In the meantime, we’re encouraging everyone to join in an open dialog to make their voices and arguments heard. We hope that everyone will take advantage of the new technology tools available to us today so anyone can voice their opinions. We just received some comments from Jeff Nixon and Tony Davis who were both also at The Summit. So we’re posting them here tonight in hopes of starting a civil discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the Alumni deal. We only ask that each of you keep your comments from getting personal. This will be cross-posted on Dave’s blog and on the new Football Summit blog.

Jeff Nixon

Dear Bernie Parrish:

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The news has been incredibly blunt in these hard times: Medicare and Social Security could be hitting the wall in 8 years. It’s going to hit everyone hard, especially the baby boomers and those who can ill afford to lose it. For many, what little assistance they might get from Medicare and SSI is all they have to fall back on. And many of us have friends and family who have already been totally wiped out financially by a medical catastrophe.

A lot of our readers who have been following this blog are certainly well aware of Dave’s personal battle with his injuries from giving the game everything he had and more. After spending more than a half-million dollars of his own money on medical expenses (click HERE), Dave finally qualified for Social Security Disability benefits in 2004 (click HERE) and his growing medical expenses are being paid with SSI and Medicare funds – our money collectively. In all, Dave has spent MORE out of his own pocket than the NFL ever paid him to play football – including winning a SuperBowl and playing in a Pro Bowl with his teammates. And all Dave got as reimbursement from the NFL’s Hip Replacement Program was enough for a t-shirt and two seat cushions so far (click HERE and HERE). With the news coming out now that both Social Security and Medicare may start running out of money in 8 years (read some of the stories HERE and HERE), we all have a lot to worry about. Younger, current players will become retired players soon enough. And despite the millions many of them may be receiving today, those millions may not mean too much in the future. Michael Vick went to prison with over $20 million under management and came out of prison a year-and-a-half later only to be forced into bankruptcy from gross mismanagement of his estate. And health care costs are NOT going down. If you finally start realizing that you’re suffering from the direct aftereffects of a professional football career, once you finish draining all your own millions for hip replacements, knee replacements, medication and caregivers, the safety net of Social Security and Medicare may also be gone by then. And if you believe that your own Union, the NFLPA, is supposed to have benefits set aside for you as a safety net, read this blog and all the other blogs from retired players. We haven’t found too many stories that tell you how well you’ll be treated and taken care of in your retirement years (other than the NFLPA’s site!). Even though the NFLPA now extends health care coverage for up to 5 years after retirement, many of those problems might not show up until 10 or more years later. Unless something drastic changes, you can expect to be treated the same way as the older retired players have been treated for the past 25+ years. We’ve gone out of our way to document everything that’s happened to Dave and other players in agonizing detail so everyone can see it  – current players, retired players, unbelieving fans, lawyers – yes, lawyers – and just about anyone else who will listen. There’s only one way to get your benefits back: Retired AND current players will have to stand together on the same page to demand accountability and responsibility for YOUR money. And the public has a right to know why – with hundreds of millions handed to them by the NFL for disability and pension benefits – the NFLPA is forcing those retired players to have to fall back on SSI and Medicare to pay for much of their care. Doesn’t that in fact make the NFLPA clearly guilty of defrauding the American public?

As we get closer to The Summit (May 29 – 31 in Las Vegas), all of these issues happen to be gaining more prominence in these tough economic times. We’re seeing many younger, recently retired players signing up to attend The Summit. A lot of these guys are already experiencing the physical effects from the brutality of the sport. Since this blog first went up over a year ago, we’ve seen firsthand the wide gap in understanding between the younger generation and those of an older generation. Some of the comments we’ve posted come from a younger generation that includes gamers who can’t seem to comprehend why these old football players who are all supposed to be multimillionaires would complain about paying for their ongoing medical expenses. It only underscores the generational gap in comprehending the difference between fighting for what was supposed to be yours and looking for a handout. These disability and pension benefits were negotiated and accumulated over the years and the money is supposed to be dispersed fairly to those who earned it.

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With Gene Upshaw now gone to a different place, the NFLPA and its management have a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring about a lot of long overdue changes. We can only hope that everyone sees it that way and will take advantage of the short window that’s now open in a vacuum that comes from decades under an unchallenged dictatorship. Without the need to get into mudslinging and finger-pointing, I think everyone will agree that no one can fill Gene Upshaw’s shoes for better or for worse. He takes with him his own way of doing things and – without a well-groomed heir apparent in place – most of us believe that many of the reasons behind the old way of doing things will also be lost forever.

So the opportunity that’s staring us in the face right now is a rare chance to get a lot of the right things done that couldn’t be done before. Especially some of those things that made absolutely no sense other than “because I said so.”

We can only hope that all of us – the NFL and its owners, along with the NFLPA, the current and retired players AND the retired, disabled players – can finally all sit down and have a long, honest discussion that’s been overdue. As the Chairman of the Retirement Board, we hope that Commissioner Goodell will feel emboldened to step forward and right decades of wrongs that have gone on too long.

Unfortunately, even as things are unfolding, the old way of doing things is still rearing its ugly head. My disability attorney, John Hogan, sent a response to Harold Henderson who wrote that the NFL Management Council would not be making any additional changes to the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle Disability Plan until a new CBA is reached or the current one extended (?!!).

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Dear Larry -

I received your first letter of May 14, 2008 by overnight courier after we posted details of that anonymous comment that originated from within your law firm. Your letter arrived over the weekend just before I went in for my hip replacement surgery. I appreciated your honesty in acknowledging this activity from one of your staff as well as your taking responsibility for this underhanded attempt to threaten our efforts.

While it fell short of making an outright apology, your letter certainly helped to highlight the ongoing range of attitudes and emotions on the different sides in this long-running struggle of disabled retired NFL players and those who vehemently oppose our efforts. If this gives you a small glimpse into the feelings of just a few people, then I can only hope that you and others might begin to understand what it will take to bring everyone to the table to resolve this issue once and for all. While there may be a few who have ulterior motives and agendas, we truly believe that most people understand and empathize with those of us who have sacrificed everything for the game in the past to make football what it is today. Whenever our story gets heard, the general opinion is a resounding ‘Why? Why is this happening to the men who helped to build this sport when the business grosses billions every year even as rookies continue to get signed up for multimillion dollar contracts even before they hit a field?’

I’d also like to remind you that as much as you may want to dismiss my inquiries and requests for information (that should actually be readily available to all players), I never considered you to be my attorney or representative. You were assigned to work with me by Commissioner Roger Goodell to provide me with the Plan documentation that all players are entitled to receive as well as to help oversee my new application for benefits to which I have been entitled for over 25 years. I don’t consider you to be relieved of your duties until Commissioner Goodell informs me that he has officially asked you to stop assisting me.

In any event, I received another letter from you on June 19, 2008 with more details on your employee’s actions and consequences. I’m also grateful to the Commisioner’s office for continuing to make your assistance available.

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This is an older post from humor news site, The Onion:

June 21, 200y

Gene Upshaw Hires Former Football Players To Rough Each Other Up

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In our previous post about Jon Roehlk’s Dire Need assistance from the NFL Alumni, we were hoping to find out more about how and why he was qualified to receive financial aid. We’ve received some more information about Jon’s background and his unusual history with the NFL and the AFL. As we also said, we hold no animosity or personal grudge towards him and his family. We understand Jon’s a nice guy according to people who have talked with him, so all our best to Jon. That said, here’s the story so far (and I’m actually quoting much of it from one source so we can be fair) and some additional commentary after this:

In response to your question about who is Jon Roehlk: He has been a truck driver in Davenport, Iowa for 6 years, making $XXXXX a year. He got married this year for the first time and has a son who was recently born. He – like many Americans – is currently uninsured.

As to how he qualified, aside from his three games with Chicago in 1987, he said (he) spent approximately seven weeks on injured reserve with Pittsburgh in 1985. He said he injured his ankle in training camp and was released around Week 7 of the season. Under the labor rules, that counts as a credited season. He originally went to training camp with Detroit in 1984 and also was in Philly’s camp in 1986. As you noted, he was a scab in 1987 with Chicago. He was among approximately 20 AFL players that the Bears signed to get through the
games.

While this isn’t the classic way in which guys get credited seasons – and I’m sure the fact that he’s a scab will rankle plenty of other retirees – he does qualify. That’s according to him. I haven’t done any further checking about his time with the Steelers because it is the weekend.

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Well, it was bound to happen. While a lot of our friends who read Dave’s blog enjoyed the new Gene Marie Antoinette Upshaw look, a lot of folks have already written in asking about that “Let ‘em eat cake!” comment. Besides – it’s another opportunity to post that picture again, so here’s the story behind the cake comment!

While “Let them eat cake.” has now been historically credited to someone else, it was long attributed to Marie Antoinette who was married to King Louis XVI  of France. At the height of the French Revolution in the 18th century, there were only two classes of people: The rich aristocracy and the poor lower class. Rumor has it that when Queen Marie-Antoinette was told that the peasants had no bread, her response was, “Well, let them eat cake!” Of course, not long after that, the French citizenry stormed the Bastille and put the King and his wife in prison. Eventually, Marie-Antoinette and her husband were beheaded on the guillotine. We couldn’t think of a funnier way to illustrate the arrogance of Gene Upshaw’s public comments to all the disabled retired players.

Here are comments from an earlier post from Tony Davis about What Gene Upshaw Thinks of Us:

Consistently insulting quotes by Upshaw show his contempt for retired NFL players. On January 16, 2006, he called the retired players “ungrateful” because they were not satisfied with below-poverty level retirement benefits averaging under $13,000 per year, then he said, “The bottom line is I don’t work for them, they don’t hire me and they can’t fire me. They can complain about me all day long. They can have their opinion. But the active players have the vote. That’s who pays my salary.” A few months later he called us “dog food” not marketable while he was paying Maurice Clarett $49,591 for “Player Marketing” – even though Clarett has never played in the NFL and was in prison at the time – then Upshaw said he wasn’t going to improve the still sub-poverty level pension benefits for “anybody who just walks up,” then says he will “break Joe Delamilure’s God Damn neck” for criticizing Upshaw for his abuse of retired and disabled players. He sent a messenger to threaten Bruce Laird, telling Bruce that “he has a union target on his back.” Then he threatened all the Retired Player Chapter Presidents telling them they’ll be replaced and their chapter shut down if they criticize him or Troy Vincent about the pension benefits. Upshaw then told the 2007 retired players convention in Atlanta that “there will be no future retirement plan benefit increases,” his cohort Troy Vincent told that same 2007 convention that “that ship (increased retirement benefits) has already sailed,” now Dec. 11, 2007 Upshaw says he refuses to turn the disability plan into a “welfare state” as if that makes any rational sense.

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Monthly pension paid to Hall of Famer Herb Adderley for his 12 years of service - $126.85!

24-hour stay in Miami Beach for the 2004 NFLPA Retirement Board Meeting - $1,249.00!

Showing the disabled players what you REALLY think of them - PRICELESS!

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COMMISSIONER GOODELL’S ALLIANCE 2/29/2008:

Disability denials from the NFLPA will be reconsidered (not immediately granted as promised by Doug Ell to the Senate in June 2007) for retired players found disabled by social security disability.

Questions that deserve an answer from Commissioner Roger Goodell and Union Executive Director Gene Upshaw:

1. Will these disability payments be retroactive?
2. When will they begin?
3. What category will these disability benefits be: “football degenerative” or the lowest level of disability,”inactive”?
4. Will we be reevaluated for, “football degenerative” for benefits that we were wrongly denied?
5. What documents do we need to supply with this reapplication?

It is my hope that NFLPA and the NFL are not just, “shot gunning out stuff because they are under the gun.”

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John Hogan – an Attorney who specializes in Disability for over 25 years – asks: What is a promise?

Subject: Commissioner Goodell’s Alliance 2/29/08

In June of 2007, NFLPA representative Doug Ell testified to the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law ( Washington DC) that the NFL and NFLPA, “recently agreed to immediately grant T(otal)&P(ermanent) disability benefits to players already receiving social security disability”. However, this has not been the case. More than 7 months have passed and we are still waiting. This is contrary to what was promised to Congress. My suggestion is, “make your yes mean yes and your no mean no”.

The press release on 2/29/08 states that, “players who were denied benefits under the NFL plan but have subsequently been found disabled by social security (may) have their cases (reconsidered). Reconsidered does NOT mean, “to immediately grant”. Is this consistent with the Congressional testimony given?

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