Omnibus: Disabled Players and Retirement

A guy with everything is trying to help the guys with nothing

The controversy over NFL disabilities, pensions and who pulls the strings has erupted and now there are people getting sworn into Congressional hearings. Even before the Mercury Morris story and how the current system ended up like it did, there was anecdotal evidence abounding of players that the game left behind. Earl Campbell has almost become a cliche, that he walks with a cane, that's he practically Captain Pike, immobilized and decaying, suffering for glories long past.

If you watch enough ESPN, you will see about twice a year a spotlight on a retired player that is not faring well. He's living under a bridge or in jail (*kaff* Dexter Manley *kaffkaff*) or otherwise destitute and there is some 'hook' to the story. He's born again or was discovered by some foundation or is reconciling with estranged children or something.

But what's missing from these stories is what happened before and after. I have never seen an update that says, remember last year when we ran the story about the homeless player living in a refigerator box? Well ESPN is happy to report that he now works as a grocery bagger at the Winn Dixie.

Never would ESPN tackle this story were it not for Mike Ditka, for it would dare to portray these men as victims, and would allow all kinds of questions about the nature of the sport and how well educated these men really were when they decided to dedicate themselves to a gladatorial endeavor such as football. Disabled former players have been around as long as the game but their stories are not uplifting and don't lend themselves to the kind of TV coverage ESPN lives on.

Well there's a full head of steam. The league and the player's union have realized shit crawls up flagpoles and they are staring right into a full-on PR nova, and Congress is involved. How could it have gotten this far? Three reasons: basic greed, basic liability and basic marketing.

Basic Greed
Plain and simple, the more money you make, the more you want. The NFL is a juggernaut, each franchise is a license to print money. The union represents today's players. Today's players are the ones that vote on how much to give yesterday's players. Naturally, today's players want to keep as much as possible and give away as little as possible, the union condones this and the league turns the other way (see Basic Marketing below).

The players know they only have a few years to make their money and they are not thinking of themselves at 32 and unable to stand up straight, or at 50 with brain damage. Their attitude is, they took they chance, now it my money.

Gene Upshaw, the league's lapdog, goes along with this, in fact he has even said publicly that a balance between current and former players can never be achieved. He makes two million dollars a year and he will kill or die to protect his gravy train. If that means conducting votes of players on pension distribution, votes that are protested by players that retired just months ago and realized they don't get shit in pension or disability, then that's not his problem. He serves the players, not the former players. He has no interest in rocking the boat, in advocating for new monies to retired players and the players themselves have no interest either. Until now, Congress has let the NFL do its own thing. Now they want to know.


Basic Liability
Neither the league nor the union wants any new light shed on risks to players. The league can't admit it, the union can't. It's the pointy-haired boss theory: if you make an exception for one injured player, then pretty soon there will be thousands at your door wondering where their handouts are. So the league and union have to hold the line and not admit there is a problem, keep it positive and talk about how we are taking steps to streamline the process.

Well so far we have learned that the first gate an injured former player has to go through to get benes is a two-person disability board, with one of the reps being from the union and the other from the disability plan administrator. Then there is a second, six-person board staffed by the league, the union and the plan. There is paperwork and like healthcare for the rest of us, the system is designed to be so slow and so byzantine that the union and league hope the former player just gives up and goes away (or more sinisterly, gives up and puts a gun to his head).

The union and league are trying to avoid an avalanche of lawsuits charging that they know how dangerous it is and have systematically downplayed the dangers of lingering injury post-football, and Congressional scrutiny is not helping. Those lawsuits would represent money that is frankly better kept by the owners and players and not wasted on jury awards and punitive damages. But the stories are getting out there. Lesser known players, intimidated by the system in the past, are now coming out of the woodwork, taking advantage of the public's interest.


Basic Marketing
The union is not too terribly concerned with their image, because no one in the grand scheme of things (except a few self-important bloggers) give a moist turd about the union, positioned such as it is in the enormous shadow of the league. The league however has every reason to be concerned.

Any negative press hurts the NFL's ability to make money. A one percent reduction in revenue would cost the league 60 million dollars (based on 2005 revenue numbers), so they will move aggressively to protect the league's image.

And what is the league's image? Tough, hardnosed men in the trenches colliding, open field tackles, sprints to the goal line, strength against strength, turning men's bodies into chesspieces. What the league's image is NOT is a roulette wheel, dumping one of every six players into a broken body at the end of a six year career.

See, the NFL can't even say you takes your chances. They can't even admit that it's a dangerous sport because people will wonder why we are just hearing about it now. Think about the tobacco companies. It took them 100 years to admit smoking was bad for you, to stop with the waffling and the 'jury is still out' and the junk-science studies proving smoking lowers your weight improves your sex life. And are tobacco companies held in higher regard now? No, in fact they are fighting a perpetual battle on settling billions of dollars in damages. The NFL for now has to stay the course and portray the neediest former players as wanting a handout, or that we are 'streamlining' the process to ensure the worst off get the help they need blah blah blah, just like the government has for two years on Katrina victims. Still think the timing of this announcement is a coincidence?

Just watch as the spectacle of this month's meeting of Roger Goodell, Gene Upshaw, Jerry Kramer, Roger Staubach and a crapload of retired players advocating for improved benes is managed closely for image. The former players and the league insiders will likely have divergent opinions on how it went.

Mike Ditka has had enough and I applaud him for it. He is putting his name on the line and going against the league and the union to see that the right thing gets done. Wouldn't you just love to see Mike put Roger Goodell in a full nelson and give him a swirlie, flushing again and again until Roger admits what all know is fact?



Mike Ditka as a player in the 1960's from here.
Captain Pike from Star Trek 'The Menagerie' from here.
Gene Upshaw as a Raider from here.
Former New York Giant Harry Carson testifying before Congress from here.
Mike Ditka and Curt Marsh in Congressional hearing from here.