Dave Pear's Blog

The NFL doesn’t seem to care about their active players and they despise the retired players! All they offer is lip service to serious, life-changing head injuries. Unless a player is carried off the field on national TV, it’s almost impossible for a retired player to access his earned disability benefits. And his Union is nowhere to be seen when it comes to representing him. The NFL disability system has been illegal and it violates ERISA Law as well as their own plan document!

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell continues to come up with ridiculous and meaningless benefits that offer little or nothing in an effort to continue misleading Congress. However, judging from his performance last month in Washington DC, this scheme doesn’t seem to be working any more. Maxine Waters told Roger Goodell, “It is time to remove the antitrust exemption from the NFL.”

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I was watching this recent discussion (3:37) from FOX Sports on concussions – Terry Bradshaw says it all:

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Fellas,

A number of months ago I told you all that Gene had actually stated to a group of his gangsters the following: ” We don’t have to worry about dividing those assholes because they have divided themselves.” Let’s not let him be proven right.

I also stated to all of you some months back that I was a “Bernie Parrish Man” all the way. That has not changed. Upshaw, the NFLPA and the NFL feared – and fears – Bernie more than it does any man alive. That’s a fact. The NFL even offered to negotiate directly with the retired players if someone could get Bernie to “go away.” Ha ha ha. Fat chance of that ever happening. No one can dispute the commitment that Bernie, Herb and Walt had before any of the rest of us even dreamed that we could really take these Gangsters…

We could not have asked for a better Senior Statesman than my good friend Herb Adderley up in San Francisco. His class, polish and elegance had to be seen to be believed. I went up to San Francisco to show my support on both the Opening and Closing Arguments. Clifton McNeil kick their asses royally as the first witness to take the stand. I heard the NFLPA lawyers get up and lie through their teeth. I heard them say that they had not stolen our money and that even if they did, they had the right and authority to do it. Clifton was articulate and sharp in eating their lawyer alive. They could not wait to get him off of the stand and would probably have paid for a cab to take him to the airport if they were asked to.

Now that it has been established that those Gangsters lied, cheated, stole and conspired with lawyers and outside groups against us, the entire world sees who Upshaw and all the rest of them really were and are.

Now I hope we can make Gene a liar by not dividing ourselves. I know that together we can go after these bandits for the Pension Plan that Bernie has advocated for a long time (one like Major League Baseball). I’m sure that Abner Haynes brings leadership skills and wisdom that those crooks will never have. I hope that we can work toward establishing the Plan that Brent Boyd suggested many months back, that we can embrace the presentation that Jon Hogan has prepared, that we can build on the work that Bruce Laird has done for those of us who are in worst need, and that we can support the positions of Tony Davis and Jeff Nixon. I hope that we can follow Dave Pear’s example of intelligent, never-give-up fighting, and present ourselves as well as Herb did up in San Francisco. If we can do those things, we can whip these guys and reclaim our rightful place in the NFLPA. It was great seeing Hall Of Famer Bart Starr there supporting us. It would be nice have others like Terry Bradshaw, Michael Irvin and Harry Carson (away from that Alliance) join us.

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On FOX Sports Sunday (October 12th show), Terry Bradshaw made the following comments about retired players and their union during the pre-game discussions:

“I’ve had it with the NFL and the Players Association. I’ve had it with their lip service towards hundreds of old-timers. We have so many older players out there – guys my age and older who made this league great – but there’s no money for the surgeries that they need to fix broken hips and to pay for artificial knees. Some old-timers simply need extra money just to keep their home and their families together. I know a lot of players from my era – Howie is too – who are reaching out and raising money. A lot of these former players are doing a better job than the league and the union are doing. There isn’t a better business in America than the NFL. We all love this game. Millions of you watch and pay for suites and tickets and TV packages and that’s why the NFL will gross over $7 billion dollars this season. This league is so wealthy that I know at least 10 billionaires who own teams, any of which could write a check to fix this. We love pro football so much that it’s about time, like Warren Beatty preached in that great football move, “Heaven Can Wait,” that the commissioner should yell, ‘Hey, let’s be the good guys, let’s take care of everyone.’ Take one percent of that $7 billion this year and next and there’s enough money to take care of every old player who needs it. Come on everybody, let’s be the good guys and do what’s right.”

Amen to that, Mr. Bradshaw! Here’s a guy who’s been successful on and off the field while still managing to maintain his integrity. Draft Terry Bradshaw for Executive Director of the NFLPA!

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