Congress Makes Everything Better

You may not care very much about the ongoing fight between the NFL Players union and the retired members it represents, but Congress sure does:

"A House Judiciary subcommittee will formally hear unsworn testimony Tuesday from all concerned parties regarding the NFL's retirement-disability-system-under-siege. Although this hearing is considered a fact-finding exercise so preliminary that past and present NFL commissioners Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell, and players union chief Gene Upshaw, will not be present, it will be clear from the onset the former players will play the role of the sympathetic plaintiffs while the league and the union will be viewed as the bullying defense."

You already know may wonder why members of Congress consider this such a pressing matter, especially with everything else their staffs they have to worry about when it comes to screwing up actually running the government.  Clearly it's all about publicity due process:

"You read these stories about these graphic, graphic injuries and you wonder why a ($7) billion industry can't look out after some of the giants that helped build that league," said U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., who chairs the House subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. "I'm a due process kind of a girl. I'm a lawyer and I believe everybody should have their day in court and everybody should have a fair shake at presenting their case. But we've seen some of the retired players being denied benefits while the NFL, quite frankly, continues to profit off their work. It just seems like a really hypocritical situation."

Perhaps during the hearings Chair Sanchez can explain how the NFL continues to profit off the work of guys who haven't laced them up in 20 years.  Because they were extras in those football follies videos the NFL Network still shows sometimes on slow days?

Look, I think current players probably should do more to help out the retired fellas.  Today's practice squadders make what long-time starters did not all that long ago.  Clearly, there's enough money sloshing around the league to help these guys out.  (And isn't it interesting how in this case the retired guys are only blaming the players union rather than the league itself?  Why are Goodell and his rich owner buddies getting a free pass here?)

But this issue isn't as black and white as a lot of people want to make it out to be.  How would you feel if one day at work you got a memo saying that because some of the people who worked at your company 20 years before you got there were disabled, they now planned to take $10,000 a year out of your paycheck to contribute to a fund to help them out? 

Furthermore, how much of what's happened to these guys is really the fault of the league?  The Denver Post article I linked to above tells the story of one "Mike Mosley, a receiver for the Buffalo Bills from 1982-84... Mosley experienced knee, neck and back injuries that shortened his career and eventually left him permanently disabled, at least as initially ruled by the NFL disability committee." 

I don't know the first thing about Mosley's career or his injury history, but I do know that three years isn't all that long a time to be in the league.  Not to be heartless, but if Mosley had the type of body that was likely to break down from the stresses of playing in the NFL, I'm guessing his issues started long before he got to that point.  Maybe Congress can pull in the NCAA and Pop Warner, too, while they're at it.

Some of the retired players screaming the loudest about this issue may also not be the most credible sources.  Here's the Post on another retired player:

DeMarco, whose career ended amid severe health problems after the 1999 season, said he has never been able to get through the NFL disability system's red tape to get his application approved - and his back was broken in 17 places. He has such severe numbness in his arms and hands that his wife, Autumn, had to hold the phone for him for this interview.

"Because of this (NFL) system, me and my family have been homeless three times in the last four years," DeMarco said. "I've lived in a storage unit for five months with my wife and two children. I'm hoping that this doesn't happen to anybody else. That's all. This is a multibillion-dollar business, and guys are giving their quality of life up for this sport. Just a little respect and dignity is all we want."

I believe, though it's not captioned, that this is his picture in the story.  Sure looks like an awful domestic situation, doesn't it?  Anyway, here's ESPN's Chris Mortensen on the same individual:

The NFLPA responded Monday night by producing documents, which included two payments in March from the Player Assistance Trust that totaled almost $3,000 covering rent for DeMarco and a moving company bill. The nine checks covering just under $10,000 since last June were only a "partial report," a union official said, who added that as recently as this past weekend an NFLPA employee wired $300 "out of his own pocket" to DeMarco, who had called saying he was desperate for cash...

DeMarco, who was unavailable for comment Monday night, acknowledged to the Sun-Times that he had received about $10,000 in assistance from the NFLPA, yet he still complained about the union's response to his plight.

Another union official told ESPN that it's DeMarco who has been non-responsive, saying he has not returned disability forms which have been sent to him twice and has ignored the NFLPA's instructions to fill out forms for an annuity worth more than $40,000. DeMarco also has received a $50,000 severance claim when he left the NFL after the 2000 season and has a 401(k) plan with $151,000 in it, the official said.

The NFLPA official said it also had lined up a job for DeMarco in Austin, Texas, but that he "no-showed..."

A prominent ex-Jaguars player told ESPN that he and another former teammate "cringed" when they saw DeMarco appear at Monday's press conference. The ex-Jaguar did not want to be identified but said DeMarco has been given significant financial help by his former teammates, including three jobs "that he's blown."

"Now he's walking with a cane in front of cameras," the ex-Jaguar said. "Last time we saw him -- and it was in the past two weeks -- he didn't need a cane. He has some physical problems, yes, but there are other things going on there."

Of course, the idea that this is a complicated issue with more than just one side that's Right and one side that's Wrong isn't as much fun to run with.  Here's how Inquirer columnist Phil Sheridan pulls off the "to be fair" bit:

It is a complex matter, to be fair, but it really seems to boil down to this: The current players are willing to let their predecessors live in poverty, their bodies ruined by the violence of the game, in order to amass as much personal wealth as possible.

Ah yes, rich gang-bangers vs. the noble, broken warriors of our youth.  Very complex.  Very fair. 

Comments

[McTumms]

(Sorry for the long comment again.) Interesting issue. Playing football is not a normal job. Long-term health care for NFL alumni ought to be a given. The money for it shouldn't come from the players' paychecks, but, in the interest of supporting some lasting system, those paychecks shouldn't be as high in the first place. So, yes, this means cutting into league revenue, and you're right that everyone profiting from the league should chip in. But how will that play with the players and their agents? Likewise, how will the owners react, when they can't even figure out revenue sharing? Jerry Jones isn't willing to give up a dime from his eye lift fund, and Ralph Wilson complains that he already has to rough it with single-ply toilet paper. So, naturally, the fans will ultimately have to pay for it. (Those greedy, wealth-maximizing bastards...) The whole thing's a disgrace, and that the government feels compelled to get involved is an embarrassment, not just for the league, but for us, the fans (and taxpayers), who support such ridiculousness. Not that I won't continue to support it because, damn it, I want a parade. (And, yeah, Linda Sanchez, I bet you're "a due process kind of girl." Heh heh.)

As for Mosley: come on, any guy's career can end on any play, whether it's his first year or his umpteenth. Did Theismann's leg break because he wasn't drinking enough milk? Get hit a certain way (though especially by a coked-up Lawrence Taylor), land awkwardly, or cut on the wrong piece of turf, and it's game over.