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! .
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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): .
This has surely been an interesting week full of dialog on Dave’s Blog. In the end, no one would disagree that there are many points of view and opinions on how to solve the problem. Our focus has always been to keep it all open and transparent by giving everyone a voice on a platform that’s narrowly focused on Pension and Disability Benefit Reform and Medical Benefits after football. Think of it this way: Do you think you’ll be seeing any open discussions like this at either the NFL OR NFLPA’s websites any time in the future? Or will you expect to continue seeing more of the same, “Everything’s just fine – we’re all one team, one locker, one page. And maybe we should just forget about the past.”
With all the recent coverage on drugs in the NFL – both “legal” and illegal – I’ve been getting a lot of media inquiries coming in about my personal experiences from playing back in the late 70′s and early 80′s. Like a lot of things from the past, many have now come to roost as part of NFL culture today. Painkillers and Novocaine shots were accepted treatments in the locker rooms of my day and it’s a small wonder that the young players today seem to feel that they’re expected to do whatever it takes to make themselves worth those big salaries they get from the NFL. You reap what you sow and the steroid problem is at least as much a consequence of the NFL’s drug culture over the decades as it is the product of the competitiveness among today’s players themselves. What did they think would happen?
Some people think they have to join in the conversation even when they have no idea what they’re talking about. (Or maybe we can chalk it up to reporters looking to stir things up on a slow day.) In today’s press coverage leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, the Saints’ Drew Brees was quoted in USA Today as saying, “There’s some guys out there that have made bad business decisions,” he said.” They took their pensions early because they never went out and got a job. They’ve had a couple divorces and they’re making payments to this place and that place. And that’s why they don’t have money. And they’re coming to us to basically say, ‘Please make up for my bad judgment.’” Read the rest of the piece in USA Today by clickingHERE.
In fact, here’s an interesting question to ponder: What would probably happen if Drew Brees got permanently disabled and had to go in front of the NFLPA Disability Board for a disability benefits review? Would his agent, Tom Condon – who also happens to sit on the Board (!) – still be on his side? Or would he find a way to disqualify him like most everyone else who’s come up in front of the Review Board? Just remember one thing:The people you step on going up the ladder of success may end up being the very people you need help from on the way back down.
USA Today ran a story today about Gene Upshaw making his PowerPoint pitch (complete with laser pointer – WOW!) for the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) after the NFL owners voted to opt out of it by 2011. Read the entire article by clicking HERE.
