Upshaw needs to take care of his era
06/22/2007
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There’s currently a problem in the NFL that has nothing to do with shootings outside strip clubs, dog fighting or even HGH.
Former player and coach Mike Ditka is making it known these days that he’s upset with Gene Upshaw and the rest of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) for the way they have handled the poor health coverage for former athletes.
Teamed with another former player, Joe DeLamielleure, Ditka has set up a nonprofit organization called “Gridiron Greats,” which brings in money through donations to help retirees who are struggling with physical alignments. Former player Brian DeMarco is currently one of the spokesmen for “Greats” and someone, at just 35, battling through health problems.
It’s widely known in league circles that some former and current NFL players simply loathe Upshaw. As the front man for the NFLPA, he hasn’t made many friends by failing to supply former players with adequate health care and levying heavy fines against current athletes for anything from late hits to having their socks rolled up too high.
Richard "Dirt" Jordan doesn't have to worry much about his health or financial security these days. As a former NFL linebacker who played for the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs from 1997-2002, the NFLPA has taken care of Jordan and many of the players he suited up with. And yet, it's clear Jordan doesn't have a very high opinion of Upshaw.
“(Upshaw) can’t even go to dinner with guys from his own era because he’s not well liked,” says Jordan. “And he certainly isn’t a fan favorite in any locker room across the league right now.”
Upshaw will publicly state that the league is on the right path as far as health insurance for players, because truthfully, it is. He has done a great job of improving the financial situations for present and former players each of the five times the NFLPA has extended the collective bargaining agreement.
One example of this came after the league signed the new CBA in 1993. The NFLPA set players up with financial assistants that instructed them on how to invest their money for retirement. Once players hang up the cleats, they’re not only set up with severance pay, but also 401K and annuity programs.
Because he came into the league in 1997, Dirt Jordan is one of thousands of players who has benefited from Upshaw's work on the CBA in 1993, but what about all the players who entered the league before that?
“(Upshaw is) getting all of these older guys saying, ‘Hey man, we’ve helped the league get started, we’ve helped maintain it, we went through all these strike eras and all this stuff. Why is there not something set up to where we can get some kind of insurance?’” Jordan says. “They don’t have 401K and I don’t think they have any annuity programs set up like we do. I think the only way to find proof that they even played in the NFL is to go type their names into Google.”
A little history lesson for those unaware: Upshaw’s playing career as an offensive guard with the Raiders spanned across three decades from 1967 to 1981, a career that culminated with his Hall of Fame enshrinement in 1987. So many of the players currently battling serious health aliments came from his era.
“If there’s one thing you always want, it’s to take care of the people you took the field and went to war with,” Jordan says. “He’s got to know guys that he played with that are struggling right now.”
Guys like DeMarco, who can’t get certain jobs nowadays because of serious physical alignments, and others who have actually died due to either physical or mental illnesses.
“Some guys have committed suicide or overdosed on pills because they went from the limelight to next to nothing,” Jordan says. “(They) went from signing autographs everyday to being a Joe Blow, and some guys just don’t take that exchange well.”
Jordan went on to talk about how hard it is for former players to get health insurance these days, because of the physical state the game left them in.
“These guys are paying out their ass because when they go take their physicals, their knuckles are all broke, their knees are all jacked up, their elbows are pretty bad, and what insurance is going to give you a great rate when you’re already jacked up?” he says. “And it’s not like they have a 9-5 job where they can take health insurance out from there. A lot of these guys just can’t go get a regular job because their health is so poor. Or if they can, it’s not something that’s going to pay them that great.”
The sad part is that it doesn’t appear like it would take much to build a separate account for these older players. How about starting with all the money the league pockets after fining players?
“They have an account that’s full of this money – it’s like the free parking space on Monopoly,” Jordan says. “I mean, when you fine somebody for $7,500 for fighting or $1,500 for throwing the ball in the stands, that money is just sitting there.”
Hand it to the NFL, because at least some of that money goes to various charities. However, if Jordan is right and the rest of that money is just sitting around for a rainy day, that’s appalling with so many in need.
“That’s great that they give to the United Way and other charities, but what about the guys that opened the door for the league?” Jordan asks. “You’re telling me you can’t split that (money) down the middle to give these guys a little more health insurance?”
According to Rotoworld.com, Adam “Pacman” Jones will lose $1.2925 million due to his 16-game suspension for violating league rules. What if that money was put into a separate account and distributed to former players who helped pave the way so guys like Pacman could earn his millions (when he’s not getting suspended, of course)? It wouldn’t penalize the Titans, because they were already set to pay that money if Jones stayed out of trouble.
There are 53 guys on each NFL roster – that’s 1,696 players each year, not counting all the practice squad players or the ones added later in the season due to injuries. How many of those 1,696-plus players have been fined for uniform infractions, extensive touchdown celebrations or late hits? What about the billions the league makes on television contracts and when two teams travel to Tokyo every year for a preseason game?
What if Upshaw, who publicly said in June that he would “break his Goddamn neck” when asked by the Charlotte Observer what he thought of DeLamielleure’s criticism of the NFLPA, gave a little of his $2 million salary to help fund a health insurance plan for former players?
“If that was a player who said that to another player, Gene Upshaw would find some way to fine that guy for conduct detrimental,” Jordan says. “Roger Goodell is coming down on all these players for doing different things and this is a guy in your same office building telling another guy he played with that he was going to break his neck? Now how would I look for telling Barry (Sanders) or Herman (Moore) that I was going to break their necks? (He’s) in a powerful position and said something like that, yet, nothing happens to this guy. He doesn’t get fined.”
I get that the NFL is a business and that it has to recycle money so the league can continue to prosper. It also should be noted that Upshaw has done some good things as the front man for the NFLPA the past three decades.
He helped bring free agency to the league, which in turn brought a salary cap and gobs of money to those players who hit the market. Current players can’t complain about Upshaw without noting he’s helped increase the average salaries as well as brought in the 401K and annuity programs Jordan’s referring to.
But can’t Upshaw, the NFLPA and the league in general do more?
What about the current players? What if just one percent was taken from each player’s yearly salaries to help fund an account for former players? I highly doubt a player like Brett Favre would object to just one percent being taken out of his multi-million dollar salary to help guys who set the table for him.
“Just take care of those older guys that paved the way for us, that put it down for us and say, ‘Look here, I know I can’t make up for old stuff, but this is what I can do for you now,’” Jordan says. “’Here’s some insurance, royalties, or something.’ Set these guys up to where something is coming in monthly, because right now they get next to nothing.”
Upshaw isn’t the only one who should be singled out here, because the owners and other league personnel share in the blame too. But the bottom line is, the NFL is making hoards of money, can’t they find some way – any way – to help the former players that made the game what it is today?
Get together, stop the fighting and make something happen before the situation gets any worse.
Questions or comments? Send them to astalter@bullz-eye.com.