NFL Live Streaming Online

Upshaw passes on hearing before lawmakers
By David Haugh
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
June 27, 2007

WASHINGTON -- After two hours of testimony in front of a Congressional subcommittee Tuesday officially ended with the pounding of a gavel, former NFL player Brent Boyd leaned over to hug Mike Ditka and said, "Thanks, coach."

Ditka just smiled, looking satisfied that the crusade for increasing access to benefits for retired players such as Boyd had reached the lofty heights of Capitol Hill.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, chaired by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), heard from eight witnesses, including Ditka, who detailed the problems and possible solutions related to the NFL's retirement benefits. Proponents of change viewed this forum with lawmakers as an opportunity to legitimize a cause that some have categorized as just a bunch of old jocks whining.

The league, the game, and the NFL Players Association took a beating from former players such as Boyd, an ex-Viking still suffering from concussions sustained 25 years ago, and former Raiders guard Curt Marsh, who had 31 surgeries, including having a foot amputated.

They criticized the bureaucracy that ex-players must navigate to file disability claims and the process by which they are approved by the NFLPA. Representatives on the subcommittee provided a captive audience, with Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) at one point remarking, "I can understand the frustration of the retired players here."

Part of the frustration Tuesday stemmed from the absence of NFLPA executive director Eugene Upshaw, who did not attend. The NFLPA was represented by lawyer Douglas Ell.

In typical Ditka fashion, his rhetoric escalated the more he spoke and his tone implied a sense of urgency. For those in the small hearing room of the Rayburn Building hoping to hear fire-and-brimstone from "Da Coach," they got it.

"The system does not work," Ditka said. "If you make people fill out enough forms, if you discourage them enough, make them jump through enough hoops, they're going to say, 'I don't need this.' "

Later, during a question period, Ditka was asked about his claim that there were 300 retired players seeking disability benefits but unable to do so. Ditka acknowledged he might not have been correct on his estimate and then broke into a rant about the system.

"The responsibility has to go back to the league and the owners," Ditka said, his voice raising. "Come on, you. ... It's a bunch of red tape and bureaucracy."