June 28, 2007
As We See It: NFL, union need to help ex-players.
Talk about some strange bedfellows: Republicans and Democrats seem to agree that more should be done to get disability help for needy former National Football League players.
And both the league itself and the NFL players' union are in agreement that the league and current players are doing enough.
This story played out earlier this week in Congress as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law heard from NFL officials, lawyers, player representatives and, most notably, former players like Mike Ditka.
The fiery Ditka, known for his hard play back in the '60s, his sideline presence as a coach in the '80s and '90s and his animated television presence in the '00s, was particularly outspoken.
It's not clear whether Congress would actually take any sort of action to help former players clearly in need. But Ditka and others seized on the hearing as a way to publicize the plight of former players suffering from football-related injuries like dementia and other physical ailments.
While representatives of the league and of current players told Congress of the many measures taken to help ailing former players, a group of former players said it wasn't true. "Now that they have put the lipstick on the pig," said former Minnesota Viking lineman Brent Boyd, "I want to tell you what reality is" Boyd then explained, according to the Chicago Tribune, how the NFL Players Association retirement disability board rejected his claim for benefits. Two doctors confirmed a diagnosis of a football-related brain disorder. The players' association board sent him to a third doctor, who rejected the claim.
In fact, the Tribune reported, Boyd said he's received more assistance from former Major League Baseball players like Mark Grace and Rick Sutcliffe than from anyone associated with the NFL or the players' union.
Football is a great spectator sport, but it's a dangerous game. The creators of the sport never intended it to be played by 300-pound men with blazing speed.
We agree with Ditka that "something's wrong and it can be fixed"
The first step is for the league, team owners and the players to make a commitment to the former players, the ones who never made much money while building the sport into what it is. That commitment ought to be a significant amount of dollars to help in their support and treatment.
You can find this story online at:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/June/28/edit/stories/01edit.htm
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