We were happy to see that the NFL Players Association has decided to add two seats to its Executive Committee, which will be filled by former players.
But, as usual, the devil resides somewhere in the details.
The two seats for former players are “non-voting.” As in “not voting.” As in “they don’t vote.”
As in, it’s a largely meaningless gesture.
And it’s even more obvious that the players are pandering to the former players in the hopes of getting the fans on their side. Hell, Saints quarterback Drew Brees essentially admits it.
“Today, we have joined with the men and women who made this game great,
and I ask all of our fans to join our team,” Brees says in a statement released by the union.
We really wish that both sides in this borderline B-movie would set aside the superficial shenanigans (like this one) and the petty insults (like the jab recently taken at the union for conducting its meeting in Hawaii) and give the fans what we really want.
We don’t want to be patronized. We don’t want our asses kissed. We want football unaffected by the combination chess/chicken game that the billionaires are playing with the millionaires. Already, the tug-o-war is making it harder for teams inclined to try to get better to do so, thanks to the rules of the uncapped year. And even if a deal ultimately gets done at the 11th hour in 2011, fans will have to spend the next 12 months worrying about whether an agreement will be reached.
So why not just get a damn deal done so that we can get back to the stuff that really matters? Not long ago, we thought that the added layer of intrigue would make TV’s ultimate reality show even more compelling. But we’re already sick of it. The stewards of the game are playing Russian roulette, and they’re pointing the gun at the head of the golden goose.
AMEN.
Alright, settle down.
florio youre a pompous (slur for a gay person)….get off your high horse, (slur for a female dog)
do you think florio’s son is as braindead as his dad? thoughts? should we make a poll??
Wow. I thought Florio was Union/MSNBC/Obama butt kissing with this one. Well written sir.
The owners hold all the cards in this battle and the players either take the deal or sit on their asses and not get paid. All the teams will get all the billions of TV from the networks whether the games are played or not. Of course they will eventually have to reimburse the networks down the road for games “not Played” BUT…that will be several years later.
Well said Florio. Come on NFL, cut the shit and get an agreement.
Who the hell were the women (former players) to which Brees refers? Were there women in the league during WWII when all the men went to war and the ladies took over their jobs? It’s one thing to be politically correct, but referring to the “men and women” who made the game great sounds effin silly.
Agreed. Tell these children to play nice and get it over with already. I realize there are billions at stake, but they risk the effect that the strikes had on baseball. It took years for baseball to make it back. It would be a black mark on Roger Dodger the Commish’s reign if there were labor wars in his tenure.
FREE OJ!!! oh sorry you said retired not re-trial. I wonder if his NFLPA checks get direct deposited into his prison account.
You put things well, Florio, when you use the Golden Goose analogy. In all the bickering over pieces of the pie and how many pennies on the dollar go where, I think all of us have forgotten to account for what life would really be like without football. The owners lose, the players lose, and the fans lose.
The NFL as we know it has grown into such a part of our lives that I don’t think any of us can imagine a September without it, and I sure don’t want to try.
Get the shit fixed guys. Start by firing D Smith.
@ Florio,
“We don’t want to be patronized.”???
Anyone with a high school education knows this is the negotiating phase. Only an ignorant person would worry about this now.
Stop being a puppet, Florio.
Agreed.
Every move Smith makes for the union makes it worse for both the players and the fans. They made a terrible mistake appointing him executive director.
I believe that had Troy Vincent been appointed that he would have made far more progress towards a deal at this point. As a player he would have understood the fundamental necessity of making this happen and keeping the players getting paid.
As an attorney Smith seems more worried about executing bad negotiating tactics than closing the deal. He’s an idiot whose methods seem to be about what a inexperienced teenager might try. The result is going to be a lockout in which the players get screwed, the fans get screwed worse and the league will suffer a hit to attendance for a long time to come just as the NHL is still hurting from.
Everyone is going to lose because of this idiot.
“And even if a deal ultimately gets done at the 11th hour in 2011, fans will have to spend the next 12 months worrying about whether an agreement will be reached.”
I won’t worry, it they play I will watch, if they don’t I will do something else. I have a life.
When considering earlier statements made by Drew Brees referring to former players, his statement of “Today, we have joined with the men and women who made this game great, and I ask all of our fans to join our team,” comes off as very ingenuine and patronizing.
For those not familiar with his earlier statements:
(apologies to Florio for the website being CBS) Not really.
http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/12857365/doblers-dilemma-loves-new-orleans-cant-stand-its-qb
This is what Brees told USA Today last January when speaking of the complaints of the retired players: “There’s some guys out there that have made bad business decisions. 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.’ In that case, that’s not our fault as players.”
What continues to anger Dobler is that while some of what Brees says is accurate, many of the problems former players face are due to catastrophic injury from years of NFL beating, not necessarily poor business decisions, and certainly not laziness.
Dobler’s comment:
“He’s never called the retired players or communicated with us for saying something that was false about us. We’re not complainers. We just want the system to be better. He portrayed us as irresponsible. Older players aren’t the irresponsible ones.”
Fans can still be fans and support their respective team without giving them money. Of course it get’s difficult with sponsors etc.. but there is no NFL or any other sports cloglomorate (sp) without the money from fans. Sure the sponsors shell out most of the cash, but with empty seats and lack of sales on clothing etc… the sponsors will bail.
Golden Goose, sometimes fans act like the Golden Shower. All of us.
Mike, are you on the owner’s payroll? I ask because have the owners offered even a hollow position for these retired players? Certainly, they aren’t offering to take care of them unless the players acquiesce to their demands.
BTW, how is this any different from some companies that give non-voting positions on their boards to their employees? Seems like the players are doing just like the owners do in their every day business dealings.
Regardless of who bantered the Idea that the Union’s gesture is hollow!
I have always been of the opion that the Union wants nothing to do with a bunch of old men, who were never Union members, or paid any dues!
The Union wants all the fault to fall on the owners, not themselves!
HarrisonHits nailed it. Troy Vincent wouldn’t be having these same issues that DeSmith is having. Vincent knows how the league works and has worked in the past.