Retired Players Not Taking Kindly To Threats From NFLPA Of Reduced Benefits

So should retired NFL players who have been shunned by the NFL Players Association for years be suspicious of the union’s sudden interest in making nice?
Yes, they should be.
And, per the Associated Press, they are. Especially since the effort to make nice is also being supplemented by some good, old-fashioned strong-arming.
Some retired players are upset by recent comments from NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith that, if there’s a lockout in 2011, benefits for retired players will be cut by 80 percent.
The retired players claim that their benefits are protected by law, regardless of whether there’s a lockout.
In our view, Smith needs to tread lightly here. Though the former trial lawyer has been able to mesmerize most of the friendly audiences he has encountered, Smith might be underestimating the acrimony that exists between the retired players and the union. And the retired players won’t be taking kindly to an approach by Smith that seems to be blending kissing the retired players’ fannies in one breath, and trying to scare them in the next.