Weak Coverage

The Harvard Crimson
Opinion
Weak Coverage
Published On 11/4/2007 11:58:49 PM
By RAÚL A. CASTILLO '10


Those of you who watched the Broncos-Bills Week One game will be happy to know that Kevin Everett survived that hit. His spine was merely “scissored,” as orthopedic surgeon Dr. Andrew Cappuccino announced on Sept. 10th. With luck, the 25-year-old tight-end will one day regain the sensation in his legs and find another job. But don’t count on the National Football League (NFL) funding a recovery—the Bills have already cleaned out his locker.

Injuries like Everett’s spinal-snap are all too common in professional football. Unfortunately, the NFL’s lack of continuing interest in the player is just as predictable.

The average NFL player is employed for three to five years. During that time he spends several hours per day ramming his head into tacklers with up to 2,000 pounds of force (roughly the equivalent of you or me smashing our bare skulls against a brick wall repeatedly). In between possessions he retreats to the sideline for shots of Vicodin, Lidocaine, and encouragement to do it all over again. “Off-season” is a myth. “Injured reserve” is for cowards. The athletes contribute to the circus of blue-collar combat 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. But the consequences of an NFL career are extreme and often unknown to the fans: the average veteran at any position dies before he turns 55, the age at which he can finally begin to draw full pension.

The NFL uses up its laborers and then leaves them unprotected in the pocket. A Congressional hearing this past June revealed a pattern of conduct by the league that denies retirees the money to which their injuries entitle them. The game rakes in $7 billion per year and causes more bodily harm than any other. And yet fewer than 3 percent of applicable veterans—men plagued by brain trauma, dementia, and paralysis—succeed in obtaining disability benefits.

But surely the retirees can pay medical expenses with the money they made as players right? Unfortunately, no. The violent nature of football often renders athletes incapable of providing for their families. At career’s end their bodies are broken and multiple concussions have numbed their brains to the point where they cannot remember the hits that placed them in such miserable condition. Hospital and prescription bills suck up the money quickly, especially in the case of players from the 1970’s and 1980’s, whose salaries were but a pittance compared to those of today. The inability to lead a normal life forces former athletes to live off their pensions, which amount to no more than a sub-poverty $12,000 per year.

The 32 owners are certainly the masterminds behind the league’s shady treatment of its pastime superstars. But far more deplorable is the action—or inaction—of the NFL Player’s Association. The NFLPA, led by former Oakland Raider guard Gene Upshaw, has turned its back on its own. Despite the existence of a $1 billion NFLPA fund for retirees, the tax forms from 2006 show that only about 120 succeeded in obtaining disability benefits, for a total of approximately $9 million. The union, which is expected to work with management to provide for veterans who built the league, will simply not dole out the dough.

Why in such a lucrative industry, do the heroes of America’s greatest game have to live in agony and poverty? Some, like former Jaguars guard Brian DeMarco, have been homeless. Others currently rely on the charity of old coaches. Upshaw claims that players understand the nature of the game and should expect to provide for themselves after the big-time. “There is no job that you can work for five years—10 if you’re lucky—and then believe that you’re never going to have to work another day in your life,” he said during the hearings. True, but most jobs don’t turn the employee’s brain into brain soup after five years. According to the New York Times, the neurologists who performed the autopsy on former safety Andre Watters, dead at 44, found that he had the deteriorated brain of an 85-year-old man.

Upshaw is also quick to assert that the union represents only active players and the hotshots cannot be expected to forfeit a piece to old-timers no longer bringing in revenue. This statement is false on two accounts. First, the NFLPA fund money is provided almost entirely by the ownership. There is little reason that current players should vote to withhold pension payments absent of Upshaw’s pressure. Second, the league continues to make bucks off the names and feats of vets; it sells memorabilia, shows old film on ESPN Classic, and maintains the Hall of Fame.

The retirees’ case against the league is one against pure greed. This year Gene Upshaw will make $6.7 million—the highest salary for a union official in American history. At the very least, the NFLPA should push management to allow disabled vets access to full pension at an early age. Disabled veterans should be able to provide for their families before the last Hail Mary. Perhaps, if the owners and union truly have souls, they will support Kevin Everett’s family until he is back on his feet—or at least until he can feel them again.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=520535

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Lawmakers Pressing Pro Football Issues

Associated Press
By JESSE J. HOLLAND

October 12, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House committee that criticized the NFL's retiree benefit system ordered the league and the players' union Friday to turn over information on football injuries, the disability and retirement system and what's being done to help battered and broken retirees.

The House Judiciary Committee has arranged for the Congressional Research Service, an investigative and research unit, to conduct an independent study of those questions as well, committee leaders said in letters to the National Football League and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA).

"Several members of the committee have suggested that Congress should intervene to fix what has been described as a broken system of delivering disability benefits to former NFL players," a letter from Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said. "The CRS study will provide the essential facts to help us consider what steps, if any, Congress could take on this issue in the future." Conyers is the committee chairman and Smith is the ranking GOP member.

The NFL and the union have until Oct. 26 to turn over the information and answer the committee's questions. The panel has not decided whether to hold additional hearings, a spokeswoman said.

Retired football players have been openly critical of the NFL and the players' union over the amount of money that older retirees get from a $1.1 billion fund set aside for disability and pensions.

In congressional testimony, retired NFL players have told sympathetic lawmakers about the multiple surgeries, mental illnesses and other problems many suffer after years of playing the violent sport, all the while trying to fight through the red tape of the NFL and NFLPA's disability system.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended their system in a September Senate hearing, saying the NFL is boosting benefits when many companies around the country are reducing them. But he acknowledged that there have to be ways to improve.

Gene Upshaw, director of the players association, told the Senate that Congress should give the players' union greater authority to approve disability claims.

The players' union wants Congress to change federal law so it has more power on the retirement board that reviews disability claims. Under current law, the union can only name three retired former players to the board. NFL owners appoint the other three representatives.

The union is also asking Congress to tweak worker compensation laws and eliminate some of the layers of bureaucracy that make it harder for claims to be honored.

On the Net:

* House Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.house.gov
* NFL: http://www.nfl.com
* NFLPA: http://www.nflpa.org

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Maroons Madness

Thursday, October 11, 2007
Updated: October 12, 12:32 PM ET
By David Fleming

POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- After a long, crazy, awesome day of events in Pottsville, Pa., to celebrate the release of "Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship," I stood in a corner of the crowded Greystone Restaurant here in town talking to Pottsville native and former Denver Bronco Jack Dolbin. A starting wide receiver for the Broncos during their Orange Crush heyday -- still wearing his 1977 AFC Championship ring -- Doblin spoke passionately about how the current NFL lacks what he called "the proper reverence and respect," not only for the league's retired, disabled players but for pioneering teams like his beloved Pottsville Maroons.

But even if the owners and the players fall short in their appreciation and respect for those who paved the way before them, let me tell you something I've learned after just 24 hours in Pottsville:

True NFL fans -- in places like the coal region of Pennsylvania, and the wonderful, warm, proud towns like Pottsville that dot this region -- most certainly do not.

After arriving in town, my family and I were invited for dinner at the Pottsville Club, where everyone was trying to gauge the interest and reception the book was going to get in town. Just before dinner, though, we were interrupted by a lovely little grandmother-like woman who said she was looking forward to reading the book because she was a fan of the region's proud football heritage, and she'd actually known some of the players on the 1925 Maroons.

Without thinking, I asked her which players she knew. Halfway through my response, however, I realized she was probably just being nice; now I had put her on the spot, and basically blown my first interaction in town.

"Oh, I knew Tony Latone rather well, he was the running back, you know, and his fullback Barney Wentz, I knew him too," she replied without hesitation. "I was a fan of the way those two ran the ball, the way they played the game, you know. Yes I was."

"Welcome to coal country, Flem," was the first thought that shot through my mind.

Then I thought about NFL great Fritz Pollard, who once said there were three kinds of football: pro, college, and coal region. And in 1925 the Pottsville Maroons -- one of the most dominant, influential and controversial teams in the NFL history -- ruled them all.

Almost 82 years after the Maroons' meteoric rise to the top of the football world, this unique, vibrant town is still rallying behind their team in a way that could teach the NFL a thing or two. I hate to say it, but there is more passion and support for the NFL today in Pottsville (90 miles northwest of Philadelphia in the valley of Sharp Mountain) than there is in Los Angeles. (Maybe the Jacksonville Jaguars should move here? After getting to know folks like Ian and Eric Lipton, and other business leaders in Pottsville, that's actually not as preposterous as it sounds.)

Pictures of the Maroons are in all the storefronts that line Centre Street. There are Maroons ribbons everywhere. In the display case at city hall is the huge trophy for the team, carved out of a single piece of anthracite coal.

We had a press conference at the Maroons Bar and Grill in town, where my daughters helped me cut a ceremonial cake with a picture of the team on it. Fans here love the Maroons so much, they refused to eat the part of the cake with the team's picture on it.

(And by the way, having my family here has been a blast -- because, honestly, until now I think my kids thought their dad earned a living by listening to music, playing air guitar and typing on the computer in his pajamas.)

Nearly 200 people packed the Majestic Theatre Wednesday night to watch some old clips of the team, listen to Maroons collector and historian Scott Warren speak, and listen to a few readings from my book. During one of the clips that aired on ESPN (John Madden referenced the Maroons on a "Monday Night Football" telecast a few years back) a player's son said, "Those people up in Pottsville, they won't quit, they won't ever quit."

Tell me about it.

They had 60 books available at my first book-signing here in town. And according to the Pottsville Republican & Herald, those 60 books were gone in 15 minutes. By the end of the day all 500 books in town were gone, trucks were being organized for a run to Scranton to pick up a fresh supply, and I was seriously considering signing books with my left hand. (I'm ambidextrous like that and, worse, shamelessly self-promoting according to this entire paragraph.) With the line out the door and down the sidewalk, the mayor of Pottsville himself, John Reiley, came over pushing a handcart with three boxes of "emergency" books from his stash at city hall.

What we'd failed to appreciate was most people were buying multiple books -- for their uncle living in Florida, for their dad, for their kids, for their husband or wife, for their former football coach. Even after four years of being somewhat obsessed with this team and this remarkable town, I never understood their true passion and enthusiasm until I got to meet face-to-face with the fans of the Maroons and to hear their stories.

I signed a book that someone was going to give to Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid. Dolbin is going to send a book to Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen. I signed for several sons of actual team members. I signed for John Faro, 91 years old, who says he was at both the Chicago and Notre Dame games in 1925 -- two contests that changed the course of the pro football. I signed for people in Florida, California, Colorado, Idaho, and a guy who drove up from Baltimore. I signed for crying kids and laughing great-grandparents. I signed for a professor at Temple who wrote to the NFL commissioner on the team's behalf when he was 10 years old.

Yes, my hand is sore from all the signing. But to a writer, that's the best feeling in the world.

The responses from residents at the book signings have had a common thread: for 82 years, this town has been playing a game of David and Goliath with the NFL and a handful of 'historians' who have been, at times, nasty, condescending and dismissive of the Maroons and the people in Pottsville -- simply because they could do so with impunity, since the team and the town had no voice.

But judging by the response so far, I think it's safe to say things have changed.

I have another signing at the library in town, where I hope to meet up with Billie Payne again. There's also a Big Band Night Thursday night (swing dancing: not my specialty). And, to cap off the week, I'll be at the Pottsville-Shamokin high school football game Friday night. On their way to the field, the Pottsville Crimson Tide pass by a photo of the 1925 Maroons on a wall just outside their locker room. In the book I talk about how it seems like the spirit of this rugged, pioneering team is still very much alive in this region, and that the players are still watching over the town. Watching, and waiting, and hoping they get what they earned on the field so many decades ago.

And judging by the remarkable response so far, who knows? Maybe the Maroons won't have to wait much longer.

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and the author of the memoir "Noah's Rainbow." His next book, "Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship," will be published Oct. 9 by ESPN Books and has been optioned as a movie. The Flem File will run each Thursday during the NFL season.

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Brain injuries; something soldiers and athletes have in common

http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&ba...

COMMENTARY | October 11, 2007

Soldiers may not be able to avoid traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Athletes can but too often won't because their response to a concussion is to get back on the field as soon as they are able. The press, especially the regional press, can help alert youngsters to the dangers and consequences of TBI.

By Patricia Block

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, as it is known to the millions of survivors of this horrible physical, cognitive and emotional malady, is widespread and getting worse. Often TBI can be avoided and for that reason the press - including the regional and small-town press - needs to do a better job explaining the dangers and consequences.

The New York Times reported on the subject in a Sept. 15 article, "Silence on Concussions Raises Risks of Injury," But the Times piece used the word "concussion" 30 times and the phrase "brain injury" only once.

A concussion is a brain injury that may be very damaging but often, depending on the severity of the bruising, is not. If it is followed by additional concussions, the result can be life-changing.

Do you know why high school football players stay silent on concussions? Most don't understand the risks. Many said they "did not quite know what a concussion was and would never tell their coaches if they believed they had sustained one."

In my view, it is almost criminal to use the euphemism "concussion" to describe what a football player, or anyone suffering a head injury, has experienced. This word often downplays the severity of the injury, even if clashing helmets result in what is often referred to as a mild concussion (brain injury) and the player experiences temporary dizziness, headache, nausea, impaired vision or lethargy - i.e., what one of the players referred to as "you feel real sleepy."

Even if a player understands that continuing to play shortly after suffering a concussion may cause further and potentially irreversible and lethal damage to his brain, he will continue to play the game. As one of them said in the Times article, "You've got to sacrifice for the sake of the team. The only way I come out is on a stretcher."

Huge ego, reckless bravado and, let's face it, flat-out ignorance. These young men either do not realize or want to acknowledge that whether they suffer a mild, moderate or severe TBI which, in worst cases, may lead to death, a brain injury often does result in cognitive, behavioral and psychosocial deficits that can significantly change their lives.

After suffering a head injury, the victim may feel overwhelmed doing things that used to be simple. Planning, identifying priorities, figuring out the steps to complete a task and monitoring one's own behavior are referred to as the "executive functions" of the brain.

TBI survivors may become overwhelmed by the complexity of work requiring multiple steps. They will continue to use a strategy that has repeatedly shown to be ineffective, become easily frustrated and have difficulty controlling their emotions. They will overlook errors and often fail to complete a task before the next one is started. They will also have difficulties making decisions when faced with several choices.

When it comes to TBI, survivors face challenges that are far more dramatic and life-changing than most can even begin to understand. The resulting cognitive deficits of TBI impact the survivor's intellectual skills, behavior and quality of life and, to some degree - extraordinarily in some cases - their earnings potential.

Since the war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001, about 2,100 troops there and in Iraq have been formally diagnosed with TBI. But officials estimate that up to 150,000 troops may have suffered concussions - mild TBIs - from roadside bomb attacks.

According to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, a research and treatment agency run by the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department, 64 percent of injured troops have suffered brain injuries.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Sgt. 1st Class Alec Geiss, of the Oregon National Guard, whose truck rolled over him as it crashed while avoiding a suspected land mine. Geiss's wife noticed that after his return the easygoing, relaxed dad who went to Iraq had become a quick-tempered man who couldn't remember the family's daily schedule, jumped up screaming when the family cat landed on his bed and couldn't tolerate crowds.

Dr. Henry Lew of the Palo Alto VA Hospital says it is a very common scenario. "You don't see shrapnel or bullets or open injuries," Lew says. "But the inside of the brain has been damaged to a point that it affects the daily function." Veterans Affairs psychologist Harriet Zeiner says that often people will think a brain-injured vet is depressed or suffering from post-traumatic stress. "It's really important," Zeiner says, "that individuals out in the public know that it's entirely possible for someone who's been in the combat theater to have a head injury and not know it."

Studies of more than 2,500 former National Football League players by the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes, the University of North Carolina, found that cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's-like symptoms and depression rose proportionately with the number of concussions they had sustained. That information, combined with the revelations that former Pittsburgh Steeler football players Mike Webster and Terry Long, who had repeated concussions throughout their careers and suffered from postconcussive brain dysfunction and mental impairment before their deaths, compelled Chris Nowinski - a former Harvard football player and professional wrestler whose repeated concussions ended his career and left him with severe migraines and depression - to expose the effects of contact-sport brain trauma examine and promote awareness of brain trauma's latent effects. Nowinski's book, "Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis," detailed the public misunderstanding of concussions along with "the N.F.L.'s tobacco-industry-like refusal to acknowledge the depths of the problem." The book revealed that Mr. Webster became homeless and cognitively impaired before dying of heart failure in 2002. Mr. Long committed suicide in 2005.

Department of Defense statistics show that, in Iraq, approximately 514 U.S. soldiers are wounded every month and that approximately two-thirds of those wounded suffer a TBI. Does this mean that by 2008, another 1,028 soldiers will have suffered a traumatic brain injury?

TBI is known as the "invisible injury." Do boys playing football and men at war understand the Russian roulette they're playing with their future? Football, obviously, is not going away. When it comes to the war, however, we do have a choice. A way must be found to end this hellish legacy of cognitive carnage.

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Gridiron Greats Media Alert

****MEDIA ALERT ***MEDIA ALERT*** MEDIA ALERT***MEDIA ALERT****

MIKE DITKA’S, GRIDIRON GREATS ASSISTANCE FUND
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!!!

NFL RETIRED PLAYERS MEDIA FORUM FEATURING FIVE RETIRED NFL PLAYERS SHOWCASED IN THE NEW MEN’S JOURNAL COVER STORY: “CASUALITIES OF THE NFL”
"How The NFL Destroys And Abandons Its Heroes"
An in-depth special investigative report

PRESS FORUM, DALLAS TEXAS AUGUST 20, 9:00am, Dallas Marriott Las Colinas

Former DALLAS COWBOY, THREE TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPION DARYL JOHNSTON & RETIRED, DISABLED, NFL PLAYERS IN DIRE NEED

DARYL JOHNSTON WILL REVEAL HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCES & DISSATISFACTION WITH THE NFLPA DISABILITY SYSTEM AND SHARE HIS THOUGHTS REGARDING HOW THE NFLPA ADDRESSES DISABILITY ISSUES AND THE NEEDS OF RETIRED PLAYERS

PARTICIPANTS ANNOUNCED!
FORMER DALLAS COWBOY DARYL JOHNSTON
PRO BOWLER, ST LOUIS CARDINAL/BUFFALO BILL, CONRAD DOBLER
FORMER JACKSONVILLE JAGUAR/CINCINNATI BENGAL, BRIAN DEMARCO
FORMER TAMPA BAY BUCCANEER/OAKLAND RAIDER, DAVE PEAR
FORMER BUFFALO BILL/, MIKE MOSLEY
*Participants will be added daily, a complete and updated list of attendees can be found at gridirongreats.org

What: Mike Dikta’s Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund will hold a press forum featuring former DALLAS COWBOY, DARYL JOHNSTON who left football with a broken neck after 11 brutal but stellar seasons. Johnston will reveal his first hand experiences and frustration with the NFLPA disability system. A group of NFL retired players and family members, will also disclose their experiences with the NFLPA benefits system. The group of players in attendance are featured in this months issue of Men’s Journal Magazine as part of an in-depth special investigative report, “Casualties of the NFL,” written by Pulitzer Prize nominated writer Paul Solotaroff. He will also be in attendance to discuss his findings with regard to the abandonment and betrayal of former players by the NFL/NFLPA and the possible corruption and grotesque conflict of interest that many retired players feel exists at the NFLPA.

WHO: DARYL JOHNSTON, former Dallas Cowboy, CONRAD DOBLER, three time Pro Bowler and dire need player who has been turned down multiple times for NFL disability despite 13 surgeries, BRIAN DEMARCO, dire need player, suffers from a cracked back and nerve damage has yet to have a claim opened after four years, DAVE PEAR, pro bowl nose guard, Tampa/Oakland, dire need player, after seven operations on his spine had also been denied, MIKE MOSLEY, former Buffalo Bill, severely disabled due to his NFL career, several years ago his lifetime NFL disability was revoked by the NFLPA, PAUL SOLOTAROFF, Men’s Journal contributing editor.

WHY: The purpose of the Gridiron Greats Press forum is to bring together and provide media access to the individuals who will openly discuss the inner workings of the NFLPA disability process from their first hand experience and address retired NFL players’ rights issues. Also to detail the mission of the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, a non-profit organization which focuses on the humanitarian side of post football related issues.

The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund is a not-for-profit corporation that provides financial assistance and social services to retired NFL players who are in dire need. The Board of Directors includes Mike Ditka, Gale Sayers, Joe DeLamielleure, Harry Carson, Willie Davis, Tom Nowatzke and others. BOARD MEMBERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS VIA PHONE, TAPE & SATELLITE


When: MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2007
Press check-in opens at: 8:30 AM
Photo, video opportunities and interviews available.

Where:
DALLAS MARRIOTT LAS COLINAS/Britain & Brown rooms
223 West Las Colinas Blvd
Irving, TX 75039

Contacts:
Jennifer Smith, Executive Director GGAF
(920) 499-7133 Office * (920) 819-1560 Cell
gridirongreats24@aol.com
or
Richard Stenard, GGAF Press Coordinator
(920) 499-7133

• Advance interviews are available for morning shows
• Some players will be available the afternoon and evening of August 20th for in studio radio/ TV interviews in Dallas
• Phone in radio and or satellite interviews are available for all markets.
• Gridiron Greats board members not attending the press event will also be available for phone or satellite interviews.
• Advance copies of the Men’s Journal cover story “Casualties of the NFL” are available on request

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A Go-To Guy Sees Himself in a New Role

By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
New York Times
July 27, 2007

"If I had an enemy and I was trying to conquer him, I would give him money, fame and power. They are three things that are extremely difficult to deal with."

Yesterday, as always, you could count on Curtis Martin to put the moment in perspective. He always had an appropriate answer for every situation.

When the Jets lost a classic heartbreaker of a game as only they could, and members of the news media predicted that the sky would fall, Martin would coolly say: "The sky is not falling. We lost a game. We'll come back stronger next week."

If the Jets won a big game, Martin would temper the urge to make the moment seem larger or more important than it was. With typical grace, he'd acknowledge the victory and add, "We still have a season to play." He always converted on first down.

Martin was the go-to guy for reporters, and for two N.F.L. teams (the Patriots and the Jets). He continues to be the go-to guy for a number of organizations in Pittsburgh, his hometown. And he is the go-to mentor for a number of professional athletes who seek him out for a levelheaded perspective about a world of sports in which the lines between fantasy and reality often blur.

Everyone's go-to guy officially announced his retirement from the N.F.L. yesterday. Martin made a whirlwind, daylong retirement tour, speaking with print, radio and television reporters, saying goodbye, offering retrospectives.

Was the N.F.L., I wondered, in better shape today than it was when he entered the league in 1995?

"I think the league has better athletes," Martin said at the Jets offices in Manhattan. "But I think the rise of talent, the rise of money and the rise of fame and the rise of power has affected the character."

·

Martin, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, is not leaving the game. In fact, he announced that he planned to own a piece of the game. He wants to buy an N.F.L. team.

Martin said that he approached his career like an internship for ownership, studying management styles and all of the components of operating a multimillion-dollar franchise.

"Even the way I've carried myself off the field, my reluctance to do a lot of commercials and a lot of publicity," he said, explaining that he always tried to set himself apart from the activities of most star players. "While most people have seen me as a low-profile player, I've always seen myself as a high-profile owner."

The notion of Martin as an N.F.L. owner is intriguing, particularly in the current sports climate, in which owners and the men and women they hire seem baffled by the young athletes they pay handsomely to run and jump. Increasingly, the method of bridging the gap is a strong-arm, might-is-right approach.

"One of the key differences is that I will be an owner who understands what the player thinks, feels, why he does what he does," Martin said.

"I'll be able to empathize, sympathize and advise athletes in a way that I believe can help out the league as a whole."

I wondered how Martin the owner would deal with Michael Vick the player. Martin played in New York and did the impossible: He stayed out of the limelight. You rarely, if ever, heard about Martin outside of game articles or his various charitable works. No one is saying that Martin is a saint or that he never crossed the line. It's just that you never heard about it. That's a major victory in the current climate of real-time, all-the-time news.

As Martin announced his retirement in New York, Vick, the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback, pleaded not guilty to charges that he and three other men operated an interstate dogfighting ring at a house Vick owned in Virginia.

"I wouldn't turn my back on him," Martin said of Vick. "I wouldn't suspend him. I wouldn't say, 'You know what, Mike, you're out of here.' I would try my best until I knew I could not work with him anymore to give him the support that he needed to succeed."

·

Martin said that Vick reflects the difficulties facing a younger generation of athletes.

"Society equates money with maturity," he said. "Society feels that if you have money and material things, there is no way in the world you should do this or do that. But money gives you more of an opportunity to do what you would normally do.

"When you have all that money and all that fame, people assume you don't need help."

Great players come and go. Indeed, the N.F.L. is built on a steady infusion of great young talent. But in Curtis Martin, the league has lost one of its great go-to guys. His presence will be difficult to duplicate.

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NFL, union unveil plan for needy retired players

Fund to cover costs of joint surgeries

By Ken Murray
Baltimore Sun Reporter

July 27, 2007

For the third time in the past 13 months, the NFL and the NFL Players Association this week announced new initiatives designed to relieve financial strain on needy retired players.

One day after league commissioner Roger Goodell and union executive director Gene Upshaw met with 11 former players, the NFLPA unveiled a $7 million fund that will offer free surgery for joint replacement to uninsured retired players.

It was part of a four-point plan that also will attempt to simplify and expedite the application process for disability benefits, a major complaint of aging retirees.

While the financial commitment promised to lessen the burden on retirees, it did not entirely satisfy the rank and file who feel they have been treated unfairly by the union.

"I think that's a very good start," Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson said. "But ultimately it's going to come around to the pension issue for the players. Even if a guy isn't dealing with the problems of disability, when you look at the pension of retired NFL players, it still lags behind other sports that don't have the same brutality as professional football."

The $7 million comes from unspecified contributions from each of the five factions in a program Goodell introduced in May to coordinate medical support services for former players. Those factions include the NFL, the NFLPA, the NFL Retired Players Association, NFL Alumni, NFL Charities and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In a statement issued by Fourth & Goal, a national advocacy group in Baltimore for retired players, organization president Bruce Laird, a former Colt, questioned how far the $7 million would stretch in medical payments.

"I'll defer comment on the details of any proposed plan until I've had a chance to read the document," the statement said. "I'm surprised, though, that the NFL and the NFLPA have found $7 million for the more than 9,100 retired players who built both the league and the union.

"Seven million dollars - an amount equal to what the union's executive director reportedly earned last year - works out to about $760 per retired player."

Dr. Andrew Tucker, Ravens team physician and chief of sports medicine for Union Memorial Hospital, estimated that joint replacement surgeries may cost between $20,000 and $30,000.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail that the $7 million represents an "initial pooling of funds into a central fund. The fund will be built from there."

The launching of the fund nevertheless appeared to show Upshaw's willingness to work toward alleviating the problems of retired players. In a statement issued by the NFLPA, Upshaw acknowledged the need to expedite the process for disability benefits, which can sometimes take as much as two years.

"Today's announcement builds on our record of continually improving retired players' benefits for well over a decade," Upshaw said. "Both the NFLPA and NFL recognize that disabled former players need to get the benefits they deserve more quickly, and we've committed to doing just that."

This week, Upshaw retained former President Bill Clinton's special counsel Lanny Davis and his law firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, to advise him on legal issues and media coverage related to NFL retirees' benefits and other matters.

When the league and union announced pension increases a year ago, they also started a program to help former players with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The 88 Plan - named for former Colts tight end John Mackey, who suffers from dementia - will provide up to $88,000 a year for institutional care or up to $50,000 a year for in-home nursing care.

"We all recognize the contributions made by those who played in the NFL," Goodell said in a statement. "I fully share Gene's commitment to those men and their families. These programs will be part of a continuing package of improved medical-related services for retired players."

Former union leader and ex-Baltimore Colts linebacker Stan White was appreciative of the new coverage.

"I think these are areas that needed to be improved, the disability and the red tape to get to disability," White said. "Disability is unfair to former players at this point, the way it's executed. There was no reason [for the union or league owners] to fight it the way it's been fought."

NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said the union was in discussion about different options for improving the disability process.

"As we continue to explore the area of disability, we'll continue to listen to ways to streamline that area," he said.

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DITKA AND RETIRED PLAYERS RESPOND TO NFLPA & NFL ANNOUNCEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 27,2007

For more information contact:
Jennifer Smith (920) 499- 7133 gridirongreats24@aol.com

NFL RETIRED PLAYERS ADVOCACY GROUPS SPEAK OUT ON ALLIANCE MEETING WITH GENE UPSHAW AND ROGER GOODELL

DITKA & GRIDIRON GREATS ASSISTANCE FUND SAY: MEETINGS ARE ANOTHER NFL DIVERSION TACTIC
INVITED ATTENDEES ARE JUST MORE SMOKE AND MIRRORS
ANNOUNCED INITIATIVES LACK SUBSTANCE, DON’T ADDRESS REAL ISSUES

Chicago, Illinois, July 27th -Today MIKE DITKA and the GRIDIRON GREATS ASSISTANCE FUND issued a strong statement in response to a meeting held by NFLPA Union Chief Gene Upshaw and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding issues facing retired NFL Players and an announced alliance to deal with those issues.

The NFL and NFLPA held meetings this week that were touted as bringing together pro football’s leadership on retired player’s issues, eleven retired players were invited to attend the meeting. Roger Goodell stated that he thought it was productive and said, “We had people in attendance who have taken issue with what has been done for retired players. I think we had all the stakeholders there.” The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund and other advocacy groups are more than suspicious.

The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization which is overseen by a board of directors consisting of many players who are advocates of retired NFL players’ rights including: Mike Ditka, Gale Sayers, Joe DeLamielleure, Harry Carson, Willie Davis, and Tom Nowatzke. The organization provides immediate aid and support services to retired NFL players who are in dire need due to lack of adequate disability, medical, and other issues.

In response to the "meeting," Mike Ditka, other board members of the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, and a variety of long-time advocates for retired player’s reacted viscerally.

“I don’t believe any of the stakeholders where there. The meeting had no substance. If Gene Upshaw and Roger Goodell wanted the meeting to have substance, members of the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund board would have been invited to attend. Not one member of our board was asked to attend that meeting,” said Mike Ditka, GGAF Board Member. “If they wanted the meetings to have substance, NFL Players who have been long-time advocates of retired players rights such as former Baltimore Colt Bruce Laird, GGAF board members Joe DeLamielleure or Harry Carson would have been there. Most importantly, players and their families who have had to fight an inadequate disability system and bad pensions would have been there such as Brent Boyd, Mike Webster’s son Garrett, Mike Mosley, Brian Demarco, Conrad Dobler, and Herb Adderley. I could name countless others. Were any of them there? Judging by the attendees invited to this meeting it was clear that the NFL and the NFLPA are not that interested in conducting meetings with substance that will bring about the major changes that are needed. Where were the owners?”

“While the NFL and the NFLPA may have good intentions I feel the owners of these franchises need to step up and take some action”. said Hall Of Famer and GGAF Board Member Gale Sayers. “These players helped to build the individual franchises and were a vital part of the organizations they played for. They gave themselves to the team and the communities they played in. The owners should support and care for the players in need who played for their franchise.”

In response to Gene Upshaw’s statements: “There will be a joint effort and one single place to go as it relates to retired players; we are in a position to move forward as one in the alliance. We want to work as one single voice,” The Gridiron Greats organization issued this statement:

The Gridiron Greats as an organization is not standing alongside of Gene Upshaw and not speaking with one voice. The voices that need to be heard are those of the retired players who are suffering, have lived on the streets, used up all their earnings on medical payments, and have to deal with these desperate situations day in and day out –not some hand picked NFL committee of retired players that were selected for their name recognition, celebrity status, and political correctness. It is the opinion of The Gridiron Greats Organization that the meetings held by the NFL and the NFLPA were yet another diversion tactic by the NFL and an attempt to not deal with core issue of overhauling a broken, and what some call corrupt, disability system. The results of the meeting, an announcement of “new retired player’s benefits initiatives” lacked substance, details and does not address the core issues.

Brent Boyd, a retired, dire need player to which GGAF will be providing assistance, had these comments about the meeting and those who were chosen to attend as so called representatives of retired players like him. “I have never seen more smoke than what came out of Tuesday's meeting at NFLPA headquarters. Not only was it a smokescreen to keep real problems out of view, it was a "controlled back fire" intended to burn some of the fuel that has been catching the attention of Congress, the fans, and former players. Did this meeting address fixing the fraudulent NFL Disability claim processes, or how to go back and reverse the most egregious false denials? Did they invite ONE former player who has had to pick asphalt out of their hair after a homeless night's sleep? Have any of Frank Gifford’s or the others in the room had their kids' teeth pulled because they didn't have money to fix a minor dental problem? All because the NFL disability Board was dragging their feet. If not, then don't blow more smoke by telling everyone that retired players and the NFLPA speak as one voice. That is yet another insult to all of us who have suffered without a voice, we are not willing to let these dog and pony shows take the public, the media, or the United States Congress off the scent of their fraud and corruption”

Gene Upshaw stated that “these meetings were a first step in identifying players in need.”

The Gridiron Greats Organization invites Gene Upshaw, or his staff, to contact our office. We would be happy to provide them with a long list of players who are in immediate dire need so the NFLPA can immediately start assisting them. The Gridiron Greats office takes calls all day long from retired players in need. It is our experience that you do not have to have a meeting to identify players in need; unfortunately there are many, many such players all over the country. While Upshaw and Goodell were noticeably absent from the recent Congressional hearings about retired players issues, members of Upshaw’s staff were in attendance. They could have identified a lot of retired players in need from the many that traveled to Washington DC and were in attendance that day hoping that the United States Congress would step in and help them to get the benefits they need.

Neither the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, nor any of its board members, is a part of this NFLPA, NFL alliance; neither are members from any of the others advocacy organizations who have been involved in retired players’ rights issue for many years. The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund is an independent organization and it will remain that way. The organization is committed to raising money and providing immediate financial support and services to retired players in dire need and working with others such as Bruce Lairds, Fourth and Goal group and the Retired Players for Justice group to help bring about significant and major changes in the area of retired players rights and benefits.

Jerry Kramer facilitated the start of the GGAF organization but is not a member of the Gridiron Greats Board of Directors. But, his heartfelt, humanitarian, efforts got the GGAF started. Kramer was invited to attend the meeting and he participated in the meeting as an individual and not as a representative of the Gridiron Greats Assistant Fund. Kramer’s choice to attend the meeting, and his comments, are reflective of his personal opinion and not that of the Gridiron Greats Organization.

“I am grateful to Jerry for asking me to be a part of the GGAF Board but I called Jerry and told him that I, along with some of the other board members, did not think it was a good idea for him to attend the meeting. It was my feeling that nobody from our board was going to the meeting and neither should he. I felt the meeting was a PR ploy,” said former Super Bowl winner with the Colts and GGAF Board member Tom Nowatzke. “The Gridiron Greats are out there helping many players who are suffering because of the inadequate systems that are being administered by the NFLPA. It is my opinion, and that of some others on our board, that we need to stay focused on our mission and that it is pointless to join them in these meetings.”

“The meeting was pointless because the right people were not asked to participate and the outcome was, as I expected empty gestures that don’t fix the overall problems with disability and pensions,” said GGAF Board member Joe DeLamielleure. “The GGAF is also working with and supporting the efforts of advocacy groups such as Fourth and Goal and Retired Players for Justice. We are committed to supporting their efforts to bring about the significant and meaningful changes that are needed.”

“It’s certainly not our first step in addressing the issues and concerns of retired players. Fourth & Goal has advocated and raised funds for retired players for more than three years, since witnessing how the union turned its back on John Unitas and John Mackey and dozens of other retired players,” said Bruce Laird, president of Fourth & Goal. “We’re extremely disappointed that those of us who have been out in front of these issues were again excluded from any dialogue. Thus, retired players continue to have no representation, no vote and no voice in the NFL or the NFLPA. Fourth & Goal will continue to partner with Gridiron Greats to address the needs of our teammates and to change a flawed system.”

“These meetings are just more of the NFL strategy of delay, deny, and hope they die,” said Bernie Parrish of Retired Players For Justice. “Google the names of the 11 players that were invited to attend this meeting as representatives for retired players, you will find that 10 out of the 11 have never been connected to, or significantly involved in, the issues of retired players rights and one was mentioned only in conjunction with dire need issues.”

“There are a multitude of problems facing retired players,” said Jennifer Smith, Executive Director of the Gridiron Fund. “The problems are vast and range from inadequate disability benefits and pensions to depression, addiction to pain medications, homelessness, and poverty. We are helping players who are dealing with all of these issues.”

The GGAF fund has provided financial aid and support services to retired players who have had their lifetime disability revoked, players who have been denied disability multiple times, players in need of shelter, and families who need support just so they can care for a former player or bury a spouse. The Gridiron Greats organization relies on public and corporate support. Currently, there’s a donation drive underway. The public can learn about specific players in dire need, make a donation, read in depth reaction, and post comments at gridirongreats.org. Donations can also be made by calling 1-800-708-1078.

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Goodell and Upshaw Meet With Ex-Players

By Les Carpenter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

After months of complaints from retired NFL players who believe the league and the players' union have abandoned them, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw met with a group of former players yesterday to discuss those issues.

But in the collection of past players at the meeting that included Frank Gifford, Merlin Olsen and Cornelius Bennett, only former Packer Jerry Kramer represented the vocal group of retirees who have spoken out about the league's pension plan and a disability system they insist is designed to deny most claims.

Three hours later, when they emerged, Upshaw and Goodell had little to announce other than that they had talked. They said they would focus on joint replacement, a dire-needs fund, a cardiovascular health program and the establishment of some kind of assisted-living arrangement. But they said they would not build a retirement home for disabled football players, something that has been discussed by the
league and union for years.

"We didn't solve all the problems," Kramer said. "We've got some more things to do."

In many ways, the meeting -- pushed for by Goodell -- seemed to be an effort by the league and the players' association to show they are addressing the issue of retired players. The subject flared up at the Super Bowl and never died down as studies came out showing potential long-term effects of concussions and former players told stories of their difficulty in obtaining disability payments. Many blamed the
league and the union for creating a system that blocked them from collecting.

Upshaw and Goodell said that by bringing together the NFL Alumni organization, Pro Football Hall of Fame and NFL Charities into a group they call "the alliance," more money will be available to provide assistance to players who need it. When asked how much that would take, Upshaw said, "It's the $64,000 question, maybe the $64 million
question." Then he said that by pulling together the various league entities along with Kramer's Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, they would be able to draw money from several entities and put them under a single umbrella.

Goodell and Upshaw already have agreed to let those players who have qualified under Social Security disability standards receive NFL disability, saying this could help solve the problem of injured former players. But because those standards have yet to be applied, it's hard to know how many players it will help.

Kramer has been chastised by many in his organization, including former New York Giants star Harry Carson, for agreeing to take part in yesterday's meeting. Many in the retired players movement have looked skeptically at the meeting as a public relations ploy by the league and union to deflect criticism. Kramer said he too was concerned about his decision and worried about it on Monday night in a conversation
with Olsen.

As the meeting convened yesterday, Kramer said Olsen accosted Upshaw by asking if the meeting was "a dog and pony show or are we going to come up with a solution?"

Upshaw replied, "Forget the yelling and see if we can intelligently look at it."

Kramer said he was encouraged by Upshaw's response.

Bernie Parrish, the unofficial leader of the retired players movement, was not.

"The people they had there are a bunch of self-promoting, owner kisser-ups," said Parrish, who was not invited to the meeting.

Parrish has repeatedly said he wants the NFL players' pensions to match those of baseball (which are significantly higher but also require players to wait until they are 62 to collect) and have the disability system overseen by a firm other than the Groom Law Group, which has done work in the past for the NFLPA.

"When the owners open up their checkbooks and start writing checks for a pension plan like baseball's and trash the disability plan and rewrite it, then they will be doing something," Parrish said.

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Sides take first step

by Ron Snyder, The (Baltimore) Examiner
2007-07-25 07:00:00.0
WASHINGTON -

Former Green Bay Packer Jerry Kramer is willing to give NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw the benefit of the doubt when it comes to aiding retired players.

At least for now.

Kramer was among 11 retired players who joined Upshaw and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell Tuesday to discuss improvements for former players dealing with financial problems stemming from medical conditions sustained during their NFL careers.

It marked the first official meeting of a new alliance formed in May.

Assisted living, joint replacement surgeries and cardiovascular care were three areas the alliance pledged to improve. Upshaw said the meeting was the first step toward identifying players in need and bringing the many factions fighting for the same cause together.

"This will be the first time there will be a joint effort one single place to go as it relates to retired players," said Upshaw following the closed-door meeting. "We are now in a position as a group to move forward as one in the alliance."

The meeting represented the latest chapter between the NFL, the NFLPA and former players on how to improve medical benefits for former players.

Many former players, including former Baltimore Colts defensive back Bruce Laird, have criticized Upshaw's handling of the issue. Laird was not invited to participate in the meeting.

However, former players at the meeting view Upshaw more favorably.

Still, several former players acknowledged the issue is far from being resolved.

"This alliance between the NFL, the NFLPA, the Hall of Fame as well as the alumni is a substantial step in the right direction," said former Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Buffalo Bills quarterback Jack Kemp, who headed the AFL Players Association from 1964-69. "There is more that has to be done. We don't want any current player or retired player to think we have solved all the problems today."

Kramer had been one of the more outspoken retirees critical of Upshaw, but is now optimistic Upshaw can improve the NFL's medical benefits for former players.

"I believe we created enough awareness and burs under the saddle to the point that we were noticed," Kramer said. "It appears to me that the new commissioner is working on solving the problem with an open and forthright manner."

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Commissioner Goodell, players union Upshaw meet with retirees

A new assistance program is set up to help former NFL players with critical health and financial issues.

By Greg Johnson, L.A. Times Staff Writer
July 25, 2007

WASHINGTON - NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and players union chief Gene Upshaw sat side by side Tuesday and detailed a planned coalition that will try to ease suffering among former athletes who have fallen on hard times.

Their joint appearance at the NFL Players Assn. headquarters here was an attempt to calm what has been an escalating battle of words.

"The most important thing about what is taking place today is this group of retired players and the players' union understands the plight of retired players and we want to work as a single voice, a single group, to improve the plight of retired players," Upshaw said. "We care about them."

His comments followed a three-hour closed-door meeting that brought together pro football's leadership, representatives from the league's four main charities and 11 former players, including Jack Kemp, Jerry Kramer, Merlin Olsen, Steve Largent and Frank Gifford.

As part of the plan announced Tuesday, a new assistance program will be created that will address several critical health and financial issues, including - in the longer term - some sort of assisted living help. The program will draw an unspecified amount of funding from the league, the union and charities affiliated with professional football.

All of this comes amid a growing wave of protest from former football stars who allege that the pension and disability programs for older NFL retirees are broken and that the league and the players union are not doing enough.

But Goodell was pleased all sides finally had come together.

"I think it was a very productive afternoon," he said. "I think we had all the stakeholders there. We had people who obviously had taken issue with what's been done for the retired players."

The coalition will focus on a handful of broad concerns: an orthopedics program for retirees with knee, hip and shoulder problems; a more-stringent cardiovascular screening system to alert retirees to potential problems; a heftier dire needs fund for retirees facing financial difficulty and, eventually, making assisted living care
available to players with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

The coalition also plans to continue studying ways to improve pension and medical disability programs offered to NFL retirees.

But those at the meeting acknowledged that big questions remain.

For example, it still must be determined how many former players are in need of medical care and financial assistance and what the price tag will be for such a broad relief effort.

And, while the 11 former players in attendance Tuesday voiced unanimous support for the coalition, it was uncertain how some of the most vocal critics would respond since none were invited.

For example, such former players as Joe DeLamielleure and Bernie Parrish, whose stinging comments helped take the battle public, were not there, prompting one former player to suspect that the coalition "is only going to be so much more window dressing."

Kramer, a former Green Bay Packers lineman who formed Gridiron Greats Assistance Foundation to help NFL retirees in need, acknowledged some of the foundation's board members had cautioned him against attending Tuesday's meeting.

Kramer, though, left the meeting in an upbeat mood.

"Going in, I thought we were going to get snowballed, steamrolled, sandbagged and a bunch of other different things," Kramer said after the news conference. "I'm very encouraged. I think we have a ways to go because I don't think we could solve all of the problems in one fell swoop, in one afternoon meeting."

During the meeting, Olsen, a former Los Angeles Ram, bluntly asked Upshaw whether the coalition really would do what was needed to assist retired players in need.

Kramer said that Olsen cautioned Upshaw against rolling out "a dog-and-pony show."

After the meeting, Olsen said he was confident that the league and union were serious about helping aging former players.

Upshaw said it was time to put aside bickering and hard feelings: "We are now in position as a group to move forward as one in this alliance."

Kemp, president of the American Football League Players Union during the 1960s, said the coalition is "a tremendous step in the right direction. There's more that has to be done, and we don't want any current or retired player to think that we've solved all the problems today."

Goodell, when asked whether the coalition was forged in response to the public frustration being registered by retired players, said it was driven by "our continued focus on always doing things better."

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NFL adversaries try to resolve retiree funding

Today's meeting includes disgruntled former players, union leaders, league officials and NFL charities.

By Greg Johnson
L.A. Times Staff Writer

July 24, 2007

Every year, professional football donates tens of millions of dollars to community organizations, charitable groups and other nonprofits. But IRS filings show that only a tiny percentage of that funding is earmarked for charities that can specifically help former NFL players who've fallen on hard times.

That rankles a growing number of these aging warriors, who are engaged in a bitter and increasingly public battle with the NFL establishment over the plight of the men who made the game what it is today. Some retirees are struggling with financial and medical problems and are blaming pension and disability plans for having fallen short.

This afternoon the battle moves to the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the NFL Players Assn., where chief Gene Upshaw will be host of a closed-door meeting with a handful of former players and representatives from the league and NFL-related charities. The group will include NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has outlined plans for a coalition that would help former players in dire need.

Former New York Giants star Frank Gifford, 76, who helped found the union, will be at today's meeting. Gifford is glad all sides are finally sitting down.

"Something's not right here, and everyone - the league, owners, former players and fans - all need to get involved," he said.

A number of former players say it's about time.

"It's hard to say this without sounding like a jerk, but it's a slap in the face to retirees when there's $80 million for Pop Warner football, but not enough for people in dire need," said Brent Boyd, who was a guard for the Minnesota Vikings between 1980 and 1986 and ties his inability to hold down a job to having suffered so many
concussions during his playing days.

Boyd received $5,000 from a charitable trust operated by the NFL Players Assn. several years ago when he was homeless and has said he is grateful. But the 50-year-old former UCLA star said the cash-rich sport must do more.

"Charity begins at home, right? But I guess the camera opportunities are not good for the league when they're having to deal with homeless, crippled ex-players."

That football's charitable giving practices are under attack is just another measure of the growing anger among retired gridiron stars, including Hall of Famers Herb Adderley, Mike Ditka and Sam Huff.

The meeting follows months of pitched rhetoric.

Early last month, for example, Upshaw, who became the NFLPA's executive director in 1983 and was reelected in March, fired back at one of those aging veterans, Joe DeLamielleure. A fellow Hall of Famer, DeLamielleure has been sharply critical of Upshaw over retiree benefits. That criticism prompted Upshaw to tell the Philadelphia
Daily News last month: "A guy like DeLamielleure says the things he said about me, you think I'm going to invite him to dinner? No. I'm going to break his ... neck."

Within days of that comment, a House subcommittee hearing was called to look into the escalating battle.

Goodell, already dealing with cases of player misconduct, would not comment on Upshaw's threatening words but made it clear he wanted a solution. A few days before that House hearing, Goodell called for today's meeting and Upshaw later agreed to play host.

But it was in that hearing on Capitol Hill that Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Lakewood) zeroed in on the heart of the matter, asking why only 3% of past and present NFL players receive disability payments even though "half of all players retire because of injury [and] 60% of players suffer a concussion."

Also expected to attend today's meeting are representatives from pro football's four main charities - the NFLPA's Professional Athletes Foundation, the Hall of Fame's Enshrinee Assistance Foundation, the NFL Alumni Dire Need Charitable Trust and NFL Charities.

According to the most recent IRS records available, these four had cumulative assets of about $27 million in 2005. That year, the reports indicate, the groups distributed about $11 million.

But they are dwarfed by the NFL Youth Football Fund, a separate entity jointly funded by the league and union that promotes the game at the grassroots level. As of March 31, 2006, the fund reported $79.6 million in assets and, between 2001 and 2004, donated $87.5 million to youth and scholastic football programs nationwide.

Former players interviewed for this article generally lauded the league and union for supporting youth-oriented charities. But some also faulted football for failing to show more empathy for old-timers facing severe financial and medical problems.

And some are taking action.

Former Green Bay Packers star Jerry Kramer recently created the Gridiron Greats Assistance Foundation. Ditka operates his own charitable organization, and Bruce Laird, who spent most of his career with the Baltimore Colts, leads Fourth & Goal, a nonprofit that assists needy NFL retirees.

Laird, who was not invited, doubts that today's meeting will lead to substantive change.

"They've had many, many years to address this problem, and they continue to hide from it," he said.

Bernie Parrish, another vocal critic, also is not invited.

"We've got people living in storage units and other guys in dire need," said Parrish, who has created a nonprofit, Retired Players for Justice, an advocacy group. "And the league says, 'We'll fund flag football,' to the tune of $100 million or whatever. They keep saying they want to make the world a better place, but that seems to mean as long as they keep all the money, the world is a better place."

Upshaw repeatedly has defended the union's pension and medical disability plans, as well as its charitable record.

"Last year, this office contributed $1.2 million to 147 needy players," Upshaw said.

The grants helped to cover such financial needs as housing costs, medical bills, burial expenses and tuition. So far this year, the NFLPA has distributed $250,000 through the Players Assistance Trust, a charitable operation funded by the league and union.

The NFLPA and the NFL also have funded the 88 Fund, which provides financial support for former players diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and dementia, medical conditions that many retirees believe to be a direct result of constant hard hits absorbed while playing the game.

Since the 88 Fund rules were published early this year, the NFLPA has approved 35 applications, Upshaw said, and expects to quickly clear 19 additional requests for the grants that can total up to $88,000 a year for players who are institutionalized.

In an ironic twist, old-timers also benefit from the NFL's string of embarrassing moments because a portion of fines assessed against active players is forwarded to the NFLPA's Professional Athletes Foundation and distributed to retirees.

According to IRS documents, the foundation had $12.9 million in assets at the end of 2005 and in that year distributed $1.2 million in grants to former players and to youth-oriented groups.

Two of the other nonprofits at today's meeting have little in the way of financial assets.

One is the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee Assistance Fund, which had about $117,000 in assets at the end of 2005, according to IRS documents. It distributed less than $20,000 to needy Hall of Famers during the two-year period that ended Dec. 31, 2005.

The fund's donations "quadrupled" during the past year, however, according to Hall of Fame President Steve Perry, who credited an outreach program that identifies and assists needy Hall of Famers. Former Los Angeles Rams lineman Tom Mack and former Buffalo Bills lineman Billy Shaw, both Hall members, recently agreed to serve as
liaisons.

Simply having money available isn't always enough, Perry said, because many former players "try to do it all on their own as a matter of pride."

The second is the NFL Alumni Dire Need Charitable Trust, which reported about $886,000 in net assets at the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2005, according to an IRS filing. During 2005, the trust made $92,718 in grants to "provide financial assistance to former NFL players and coaching staff members suffering from financial and/or medical hardship," according to the filing.

Then there is NFL Charities, the best known and largest of the four nonprofits. It reported $13 million in net assets as of March 31, 2005, and that year steered $6.5 million in grants that focus largely on education and youth services. The nonprofit also funded sports medicine research and foundations created by current and former
players.

Yet professional football's charitable works extend beyond the four main organizations that will attend today's meeting. Each year, for example, the NFL donates broadcast time with a value of about $30 million to the United Way. Various NFL alumni chapters also raise money for charity through golf outings, and hundreds of current and former players operate nonprofits that draw financial support from the
league and union.

Some owners and teams also operate nonprofits. A foundation created by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, for example, reported $20 million in assets at the end of 2005. And the Cleveland Browns Foundation reported $446,000 in assets at the end of that year.

Perry, the Hall of Fame president, said today's meeting could lead to the creation of a "cornerstone" upon which a strong charitable alliance can be built.

"One of the best ways to address the issues that have been raised is by a collaborative effort with all of the parties working in good faith to do the best that we can," Perry said.

Yet even the player roster for this meeting - including Roger Staubach, Willie Lanier and Jack Kemp - has sparked controversy because the most vocal critics won't be there.

"Does that surprise you?" asked Parrish, 72, who has filed a civil lawsuit alleging financial misdealings by leadership of the union he helped to establish decades ago while playing defensive back for the Cleveland Browns.

Kramer knows there is anger.

"Some of the guys said I shouldn't attend," he said, "but I tell them that we've been trying to get them to talk for more than a year, so I'm going to go and listen.... But these guys are not going to go gentle into that good night if we don't come away with some good solutions."

Gifford, for one, is determined to find a solution.

"There's enough money in this game, with more coming in all the time," he said. "Everyone will feel a lot better about it when they do it."

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Vick is topic of discussion after NFL, union form alliance to help retired players

By Howard Fendrich, AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and players' union head Gene Upshaw met with nearly a dozen former players Tuesday to discuss a new joint effort to look into disability pay and health care for retirees.

Afterward, it was Michael Vick whose current off-field troubles became the focus of Goodell's news conference. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback was told to stay away from training camp after being indicted on federal charges of sponsoring a dogfighting operation.

Goodell wasn't surprised which topic drew more questions.

"From the moment you read that indictment, it turns your stomach," the commissioner said. "There's obviously a great deal of interest in this. It struck very much an emotional chord. We hear our fans very clearly."

The pension and disability systems haven't drawn nearly the attention Vick's case has, of course, but Goodell and Upshaw have faced criticism from past players. Upshaw billed Tuesday's nearly three-hour session at union headquarters as the first meeting of an NFL-NFLPA alliance that also includes the Hall of Fame and NFL Alumni.

"Some great work has been done before this," Goodell said, "and this is a natural evolution of trying to do things better."

The three main issues discussed Tuesday were joint replacement surgery, cardiovascular care and assisted living.

"The most important thing about what is taking place today is this group of retired players and the players' union understands the plight of retired players and we want to work as a single voice, a single group, to improve the plight of retired players," Upshaw said. "We care about them."

Former players who attended included Jack Kemp, Frank Gifford, Cornelius Bennett, Merlin Olsen, Steve Largent and Jerry Kramer.

"I'm very encouraged with the meeting. We made some significant progress. I think we have a way's to go," Kramer said. "I don't think we could solve all the problems in one fell swoop and one afternoon meeting, but we have started on the problems."

Some retired players have been openly critical of the NFL and the union over the amount of money older retirees get from a $1.1 billion fund set aside for disability and pensions.

Two of the most vocal critics, Mike Ditka and Bernie Parrish, weren't present Tuesday.

"We're beyond all of the name-calling," Upshaw said. "We are now in the process of doing."

Goodell described the new effort as something "where players can come and get private, confidential assistance or be directed where they can get that through our system, a way to create a single funding source where we can pool our efforts ... and find new revenue that can go into this fund."

He and Upshaw also spoke about the importance of research to find out what former players need what sort of assistance.

"What we need to do is communicate better with one another and communicate better with the former players to try to be responsive to their needs," Goodell said.

And, with that, the questions about Vick began.

Goodell said he might meet with Vick, and that he wasn't sure how long the league's review of the case would take. Upshaw said the NFLPA has "had a number of calls. We've had every kind of e-mail you can think of, and they're not good. They're not good at all. Obviously this has struck a nerve."

Goodell was asked whether it's a priority to wrap up the league's review of Vick's case before the regular season begins.

"It's a priority to get all the facts as clear as possible as quickly as possible. We are well aware of the fact the season is fast approaching," Goodell said. "We would like our fans talking about football rather than this kind of an issue."

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UF uses technology in dealing with concussions

By BRANDON ZIMMERMAN
(Gainesville, Fla.) Sun

Chris Leak thought he had suffered a concussion. Turns out, his self-diagnosis apparently was wrong.

The University of Florida quarterback suffered a blow to the head during last year's 21-14 win over Georgia in Jacksonville. Leak, who is now on the Chicago Bears, said he played nearly the entire game with blurred vision and a headache. After the game, Leak told Meyer he thought he'd suffered a concussion. But UF doctors and trainers
evaluated Leak and told him his injury was nothing more than a headache.

"I didn't have a concussion, but I didn't know," Leak said two days after the game. "When you get your bell rung in a game like that, you don't know what to think of it."

Concussions have become the most talked-about football injury in recent months.

As large numbers of former NFL players are diagnosed with depression, memory loss, headaches and early onset of Alzheimer's disease, the league is studying the long-term effects of the injury. And Leak's concussion-that-apparently-wasn't illustrates just how difficult it is to diagnose such head injuries.

"It's tough because there's no black and white," said Kyle Johnston, assistant athletic trainer for the UF football team. "It's something you have to be cautious with and it's something we take very seriously."

Florida has used technology to make the diagnosis and treatment of concussions easier. Like hundreds of other schools across the nation, Florida runs all its incoming players through the ImPACT (Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) baseline test.

The computerized exam measures cognitive function, including memory and reaction time. If a head injury is suspected, players retake the exam to determine the severity.

"It tests memory, visual motor speed, reaction time, impulse control . . . these areas," he said. "We go back and test them again on these same tests (if there is a head injury). Then we can see what their visual motor skills are, what their reaction time is."

Very little can be done to prevent concussions in a sport as violent as football. Nonetheless, there are a few ways Florida uses advances in equipment. The Gators give players custom mouthpieces that can help absorb shock. A mold is taken of each player's mouth, and the mouthpieces are made specifically to conform around each player's teeth.

Florida has also taken advantage of recent helmet technology in hopes of preventing concussions. In 2002, equipment company Riddell created a new helmet called the RevolutionT. The helmet's design is different from a normal helmet in that the shell extends across a larger part of the player's jaw.

"We do the best we can to prevent them," Johnston said.

Football isn't the only sport at UF in which its players are wary of concussions. Florida's soccer team also administers the ImPACT baseline test on its players. Like football, diagnosing concussions on the soccer field is not as easy as a torn ligament or broken bone.

"Not one clinical factor can be used to diagnose concussions or determine when to return to action," said soccer team trainer Emily Kiefer.

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Many traumatic brain injuries go undiagnosed

Article published Jul 16, 2007

By DIANE CHUN
(Gainesville, Fla.) Sun staff writer

It's a part of the culture in the National Football League. A player "gets his bell rung" in a hard hit on the field, then assures team trainers on the sideline that he's not severely hurt.

"Put me back in, Coach."

In fact, the player may have suffered a concussion, a trauma to the brain that could haunt his later life in the form of bouts of depression, early-onset Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

Sports agent Leigh Steinberg describes traumatic brain injury as "an undiagnosed health epidemic" and "a ticking time bomb."

Apparently, NFL officials have been listening. Late last month, they called a one-day summit on concussions, asking team medical personnel, members of the league's concussion research committee and outside critics to speak candidly on the issue of brain injuries in the league.

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, football is responsible for approximately 250,000 head injuries each year. The National Football Leagues estimates there are about 100 concussions per season.

The group wrestled with the question of when a player can safely return to action on the field after suffering an apparent concussion. And, indeed, how to determine if a hard hit on the field has resulted in a brain injury.

Ron Hayes is the director of traumatic brain injury studies at the University of Florida and chief clinical program officer of Banyan Biomarkers Inc. Banyan is a Gainesville-based biomedical research company that is developing a biomarker that can tell if brain injury has occurred based on a simple blood test.

Hayes says the meeting called by the NFL to look at brain injury is "an example of popular perception come to grips with a wave of scientific evidence." The researcher adds that the same uncertainties that the NFL faces about brain injuries and the consequences "are faced by kids playing contact sports in this country and the world."

Jason Demery, a UF clinical assistant professor in clinical and health psychology, puts mild traumatic brain injury, or MTBI, in statistical perspective.

There are 1.5 million to 2 million new mild traumatic brain injuries documented each year, according to Demery, and that's probably well under the true figure, since many people who have a head injury don't seek medical attention.

The good news is that the majority of those who sustain a single MTBI go on to recover spontaneously, but there are still 10 percent to 15 percent who still have persistent, post-concussive symptoms a year after their injury, he added.

The NFL's summit provides a public platform to begin discussing the issue, he said.

The incidence of depression and emotional complications can be one of the most devastating aspects of a traumatic brain injury, Demery said.

"The research shows the incidence can be as high as 70 percent or 80 percent after a single concussive episode," he said.

The NFL requires all teams to do baseline testing to measure each player's normal brain function. The results could be compared with a similar test given after a concussion.

Demery, a neuropsychologist, said such tests won't reveal the full picture if a brain injury has occurred.

"Paper and pencil tests are good for identifying some aspects of brain dysfunction, but if you perform poorly, trying to determine what that represents is difficult."

That's where a biomarker will come in, according to Hayes. "It is inevitable. We do this routinely to diagnose every other organ dysfunction but the brain," he said.

When you show up in an ER or are taken off the playing field with a potential brain injury, he explained, it is the same ambiguous situation as if you show up with chest pain. With chest pain you could be having an anxiety attack, acid reflux or a heart attack.

The first thing the ER staff will do is draw a blood sample. After that, he said, the diagnosis can be made unequivocally. "We are on the cusp of having the same technology available for brain injury," Hayes said.

Today, a patient in the ER with a possible concussion will probably be given a CT scan. A CT is time-consuming and expensive, Hayes said, "and what you really need is a rapid blood test that says you either have a brain injury or you don't."

Hayes sees a culture in the NFL "where you don't want to tell physicians what happened. In fact, as an ex-fighter pilot, I can say the last person I wanted to have contact with was a flight surgeon. All they were going to do was take you off duty." He described a recent dinner in Washington with Mike Bragg, a retired NFL player who
spent 12 years as a punter for the Redskins. Bragg said players would tell their trainers, who'd hold up several fingers after a hard knock and ask how many they saw, "Always hold up three fingers."

"Here is a subjective test administered in a culture that doesn't want to tell the medical truth," Hayes said. "Instead, you need an organically based, objective assessment, and it will become available quite soon."

Hayes said Banyan is two or three years removed from approval of its biomarkers for traumatic brain injury. Such a biomarker will identify proteins that are present in the blood as a result of damage to the brain after a suspected concussion. Clinical trials are under way in the United States and Europe.

"The development of this blood test will benefit everyone including NFL players, children on the sports field, accident victims and American soldiers at war," he said.

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NFL fumbling pensions of disabled ex-players

Dorney worries about his head, Ringo suffers from Alzheimer's and Bednarik is fed up.

By Gordie Jones
(Allentown, Pa.) The Morning Call

July 15, 2007

Mostly, Keith Dorney worries about his head.

He has undergone 13 orthopedic surgeries for injuries sustained during his nine-year NFL career. His knees are bad, and getting worse. And the former Detroit Lions offensive tackle, knowing of seven ex-teammates who died before their time, took his pension at the first opportunity -- four years ago, at age 45.

But he worries most about his head.

After all, he said, he "always led" with it.

"I prided myself on violent collisions," he said.

That was true when he was growing up in Macungie and playing at Emmaus High School, true at Penn State and especially true during his pro career (1979-87).

He has not undergone a CT scan, though. He admitted over the phone the other day that that is probably not wise, that what he doesn't know might very well hurt him.

"I'm scared to get anything done," he said. "I'm just trying to throw it under the rug, and not think about it."

Dorney, who now lives in California and does seminars and motivational speeches for the Financial Knowledge Network, fears the NFL is doing the same thing in response to complaints from former players, who believe they deserve more in the way of pension and disability benefits.

And Dorney also wonders if all of the heart-wrenching tales brought to light in recent months -- including that of Phillipsburg native Jim Ringo, the retired Hall of Fame center now residing in a specialized Alzheimer's unit in Virginia Beach -- will make any difference in the way the league goes about its business.

"I am optimistic that there will be some type of change, compensation, bone thrown our way," Dorney said. "It will not be anything extraordinary. ... I'm not counting on any future revenue stream from the NFL, that's for sure."

John Spagnola is more optimistic. Spagnola, the Bethlehem Catholic graduate and former Eagles tight end whose playing career nearly mirrored Dorney's, said things began "snowballing" in November 2006, when ex-Eagles safety Andre Waters committed suicide.

Wracked by depression that was believed to be the result of repeated concussions, Waters offered another reminder of the plight of former players.

Others have emerged, or re-emerged. The Sporting News reported last month that ex-Colts tight end John Mackey, suffering from dementia (another likely side effect of concussions), performs the most basic tasks only because his wife, Sylvia, leaves notes ostensibly signed by former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

ESPN.com recently profiled former Cardinals bad boy Conrad Dobler, who gobbles down Vicodin to dull the pain from his aching knees.

And Mike Ditka and Joe DeLamielleure, point men in the ex-players' fight for improved benefits, produced former Bengals and Jaguars offensive lineman Brian DeMarco for a news conference, and later a congressional subcommittee. DeMarco, unable to work because of severe back problems, has seen his family left homeless three times in the
last four years.

In the meantime, Gene Upshaw, head of the NFL Players Association, has "mismanaged" things, in the estimation of Spagnola, now an investment counselor near Philadelphia. Upshaw told the Charlotte Observer last year that he works for the current players, not the retirees, and in response to criticism from DeLamielleure told the
Philadelphia Daily News he would "break his ... damn neck."

All of this will have a telling effect on the NFL honchos, Spagnola believes.

"The only thing that will move them is public opinion," he said, "which they're very conscious of."

Judy Ringo, Jim's wife, can only hope the league is swayed. Jim, who played 15 years and coached in the NFL for 20 before his retirement in 1989, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1996. Now 75, he was admitted to the treatment facility in Virginia Beach, near the couple's home in Chesapeake, last August.

Judy believes she and Jim have been "extremely fortunate." They were able to make do with pensions from Jim's playing and coaching careers, and as of February began receiving help from the "88 Plan," which was formulated by the NFL and NFLPA at the urging of Sylvia Mackey.

The plan, which gets its name from John Mackey's old uniform number, provides as much as $88,000 a year to ex-players being treated for dementia in a facility, as much as $50,000 a year to those being cared for at home.

So Judy counts her lucky stars.

"I hope the same good fortune is given to all disabled players," she said. "It's something they've earned."

But Dorney doesn't see much help coming from the league or the union. Neither does Chuck Bednarik.

"They don't give a damn about us," the legendary ex-Eagle said from his Coopersburg home. "I mean it. ... They don't care, and I don't care about them."

As Dorney noted, "They'll throw a couple bucks my way, and Spagnola's way, to get the media off their backs, and then go on with the status quo."

Retired Cleveland Browns cornerback Bernie Parrish was even more blunt at the congressional hearing on the matter last month.

"We have been betrayed," he said, according to several published reports. "Our union, [commissioner] Roger Goodell and the owners are operating a system of delay, deny and hope you die."

Neither Goodell nor Upshaw were present at the hearing, but the league representatives on hand disputed the ex-players' claims, saying that pension and disability payments have been on the rise for years.

There was, however, the admission from Douglas Ell, counsel for the NFLPA and the disability plan, that 317 ex-players receive disability benefits, out of an estimated 8,000 retirees.

"In one of the most dangerous sports in the history of mankind, only 300 players are receiving disability payments?" Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, asked Ell, according to the Washington Post.

As troubling as that may be, Dorney sees the bigger picture.

"There's a healthcare crisis facing our nation, not just football players," he said. "I'm almost embarrassed when people make a big deal over the injuries of ex-football players. I know construction workers and fruit workers who are in a heck of a lot worse shape than me."

For his part, Bednarik, whose Hall of Fame career stretched from 1949 to '62, said his health is "not bad."

"I turned 82 on May 1," he said. "That's just a number, as far as I'm concerned. I'm in good health. I have no problems. Thank God I've got my wife. That's the most important part. ... I think God's looking after me."

Ringo played center for the Packers and Eagles from 1953 to '67. Asked how many concussions he might have suffered, Judy said, "I think it's got to be a pretty high number. I wouldn't want to guess. I get stories now about him being on the bus [after a game] and not knowing who won. How often that happened, I have no idea."

So now Dorney worries about his head.

He had other concerns in 1987, his last year as a player. All year his right shoulder bothered him so much, he couldn't lift his arm above his head. Repeated cortisone shots enabled him to play.

After he retired, the shoulder continued to trouble him, so he called the Lions.

"The GM said, 'We believe your shoulder was injured in a non-football-related accident,'" Dorney recalled. "That was their line."

Aghast, he spoke with the trainer, who told Dorney that was standard operating procedure; the team figured Dorney was going to file suit, seeking workman's compensation. He wasn't planning to do so, but had no choice at that point.

He said that while he was rewarded a settlement in the neighborhood of $100,000, some $28,000 of that went toward his shoulder surgery.

And, he said, "I had to sign my life away, saying I would never sue the club again. ... It's a pretty sad story. I felt very betrayed at that point."

But not surprised.

"They're a corporation, trying to cut their losses," he said, "like any corporation does."

Dorney, who now lives on a 14-acre spread in Sonoma County, Calif., which he describes as "a gentleman's farm," has worn a number of hats since retirement. He has been a high school teacher and coach. He wrote a memoir last year entitled "Black and Honolulu Blue: In the Trenches of the NFL." And he plans to write a fictional book about pro football that will be ''an updated, 21st-Century version of 'North
Dallas 40.'"

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, though.

And many times, the endings are not happy ones.

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Hall of Fame blocker is on a crusade for NFL retirees

The Free Lance Star (Fredericksburg, Va.)
July 15, 2007 12:35 am
by STEVE DeSHAZO

UNLIKE MANY of his peers, Joe DeLamielleuere didn't need a cane or a walker when he visited Fredericksburg yesterday. But the Hall of Famer might need something other retired NFL players don't: a bodyguard.

DeLamielleuere, who blocked for O.J. Simpson during his glory days in Buffalo, has been one of the most outspoken critics of NFL Players Union boss Gene Upshaw. He feels the union isn't doing nearly enough to take care of the men who helped build the league into a billion-dollar business.

In response, Upshaw told The Philadelphia Daily News last month: "A guy like DeLamielleuere says the things he said about me, you think I'm going to invite him to dinner? No, I'm going to break his --- damn neck."

DeLamielleuere yesterday called that "an irresponsible statement," but that doesn't mean he's not taking it seriously--not with a wife and nine children (four of them adopted). And not when he and his wife grew up in Detroit, where unions don't mess around. He's genuinely worried more about his loved ones than himself.

Still, it's hard to find anyone who doesn't support DeLamielleuere's cause--except perhaps Upshaw and the 1,800 active players he represents.

"We've got the greatest game in the world, with the worst pension and disability [benefits]," DeLamielleuere said during a visit to the Card Cellar at Four-Mile Fork with fellow Hall of Famer Lem Barney.

"If I were a current player, I would educate myself on what these [retired] guys are complaining about. These are the guys who built this league."

What they're complaining about is a pension system that averages less than $13,000 a year per man. The NFL told The Associated Press last month that it pays out $126 million annually in pension and post-career disability benefits, but that only 317 out of more than 10,000 eligible players received disability payments last year.

Football is a violent game that pays well (in the short term), but can leave permanent damage to the body and brain.

Another Hall of Famer, Mike Ditka, has joined the chorus. He testified before Congress last month, when elected officials heard heartbreaking stories like that of former Oakland Raider Curt Marsh, who had a leg amputated and more than 30 surgeries before he was approved for disability.

Ex-Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster suffered from dementia that was likely caused by concussions before he died homeless in 2002. Former All-Pro Earl Campbell can barely walk. Upshaw's former linemate in Oakland, Jim Otto, can barely get out of bed because of all the damage his body suffered in 15 years.

Even Fredericksburg native George Coghill, who played just four seasons with the Denver Broncos (but absorbed some of the worst collisions on special teams) severely hyperextended his right elbow and can't fully extend his arm.

"People see you on TV and think you're set for life," Coghill said recently, "but five years later, you still hurt."

If these former players had made the millions today's stars do, it might not be an issue. But Barney never made more than $125,000 in a year before retiring in 1977. "I was a million-dollar player," he said with a smile. "I just didn't get paid like one."

DeLamielleuere's best annual paycheck was $200,000--less than half the league minimum today. And these are relatively healthy Hall of Famers. That's why they count on income from autograph signings like yesterday's.

What about the guys who don't have fame or money? Can't the union find a slice of the pie for the men who sacrificed their bodies to build the NFL into a cash cow?

Congress seemed genuinely moved by last month's gut-wrenching testimony, but there's a war on and an election coming.

New NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has set up a summit later this summer with the league, the union and retirees. But he has been busy negotiating new TV deals, disciplining current knuckleheads like Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson and pondering what he might do about Michael Vick.

What's the answer?

"I don't know," DeLamielleuere said. "I don't have a platform, other than that I'm in the Hall of Fame."

It's a good place to start. And a good fight to pursue.

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Call to mind: Nowinski aggressively tackles issue of concussions in sports

Boston Globe
By John Powers, Globe Staff | July 15, 2007

WALTHAM -- The e-mails come from strangers who've seen him on TV talking about concussions and the terrible damage they can cause. The mother of an NFL player who is worried because her son is no longer the same guy. A soldier asking for the name of someone who can help him. Recently, an old Illinois high school teammate called.

"He said, 'Remember me? I used to block you in practice,' " Chris Nowinski says in a conference room where he works as a consultant for Trinity Partners, a biotech and pharmaceutical consulting firm. "Now, he's suicidal."

As the issue of sports concussions has been spotlighted amid evidence that brain trauma from their playing days may have been linked to the deaths of four former NFL players, the 28-year-old Nowinski has become a prominent voice on the subject, appearing on an HBO special, talking on CNN and National Public Radio, and being quoted in major newspapers.

Nowinski has solid credentials because he's also a victim, a former Harvard football player and World Wrestling Entertainment performer who suffered at least a half-dozen concussions that eventually ended his career.

"That gives him a lot of legitimacy because he's been there and done it," says Dr. Julian Bailes ," who chairs the Department of Neurosurgery at West Virginia University and is medical director at the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina. "He's a sufferer, also."

Nowinski has had migraine headaches, memory loss, sleeping problems, and depression. As he grows older, he could develop the more serious dysfunctions that come with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. "I'm at high risk for everything we're looking at," observes Nowinski, who says that he's still "on a lot of drugs with high copays" four years after he quit wrestling.

Nowinski's research into concussions led to his writing "Head Games," a book about what he calls football's concussion crisis, which was published last fall. Since then, he has become a visible activist, having brain samples from deceased former NFL players Andre Waters and Justin Strzelczyk analyzed to show that concussions likely contributed to their deaths.

"It's one of the few big public health issues that is easily preventable that is left out there and nobody's really taking it up," says Nowinski, who is helping establish the Sports Legacy Institute to do formal research on sports-related brain trauma. "I know all the stories. I just can't sit back and not do it."

Repeated concussions can lead to irreversible neurological damage and dementia. Yet until recently, players who'd been "dinged" or "had their bell rung" were encouraged to shrug it off and get back into the game.

"That culture works for body injuries, where it makes sense to play through bruises, because it makes you tougher," says Nowinski, who finished out a game with a broken hand in high school. "But no one ever separated that for brain injuries. I believe we're smart enough to understand the difference -- if we're told it."

Personal experience

Nowinski says he didn't understand the difference the first few times he absorbed jarring head shots. The first came during a Harvard practice when he was rushing the passer and was leveled by a helmet under his chin. "I remember feeling fuzzy that night," he says. "I kept calling people by the wrong names in the dining hall."

The second time was a helmet-to-helmet smash from a linebacker as Nowinski was returning a short kickoff during a preseason scrimmage. "When I opened my eyes, it was the first time the sky turned orange on me," he remembers. "I took a knee, I went to the sideline, and the next time my number was called, I was ready to go. I didn't know it was worth talking about."

Nowinski ended up playing for the league-champion varsity in 1997 and made second-team All-Ivy as a defensive lineman. Then, as a lark, he tried out for "Tough Enough," WWE's reality show on MTV.

"One of the trainers wanted to send me a welcome-to-the-business message," says Nowinski. "He threw me into the ropes and gave me a clothesline. I remember feeling very strange and off balance. We had a blue ceiling and it went orange on me."

But Nowinski kept wrestling and quickly made a name for himself as "Chris Harvard" (until his alma mater objected), the supercilious H-Man everyone loved to hate. His fellow members of the Class of 2000 who'd gone to New York's investment banks and trading pits were jealous, he'd joked. They were working 100-hour weeks and stressing
out while he was cavorting with Tommy Dreamer, Goldust, and his WWE playmates and making big money.

"I know this is something I could do for 10 or 20 years," Nowinski said in November 2002, just before he performed at the FleetCenter. "I wake up in the morning looking forward to my job -- that's never happened before. I don't see where this will ever get boring."

Two months later, his wrestling career was over. Nowinski just didn't realize it. During the Royal Rumble in Hartford in January, he took a kick to the chin from Bubba Dudley that knocked him halfway into December.

"When I hit the mat I had a massive headache, to the point where I forgot who was supposed to win the match," Nowinski recalls. "I was fuzzy for three weeks, but I still wrestled because I didn't know any better. I just kept trying to be a tough guy."

Soon came the headaches. Memory problems that became progressively worse. Sleepwalking. Depression set in. Yet Nowinski wrestled nearly two dozen times during the next five months, taking on Maven and Hurricane and the rest of the cast until it became obvious he was having severe problems.

"Dude, you're [messed] up," the tag-team manager told Nowinski en route to an Indiana show. "You shouldn't be wrestling anymore." That night in his hotel room, after a violent sleepwalking episode, Nowinski awakened to find himself face down on the floor amid broken glass, overturned furniture, and a terrified girlfriend.

Lasting effects

Wrestling was finished for him, but his post-concussion symptoms continued and worsened. That fall, Nowinski began doing medical research into causes and effects. "To see what was wrong with myself," he says. "Because I wasn't getting any good answers from doctors as to why I wasn't bouncing back."

Every concussion made the next one worse, Nowinski learned, and opened the door to lifelong neurological problems. And from what he gathered by talking to football buddies at Saturday tailgates and from interviewing former pros, concussions had become a crisis in the sport. "Everyone's getting them," he concluded, "and getting a lot of them."

Nowinski had agents shop around his book idea, "but the publishers thought it was too small a market," he says. Last October, Drummond published "Head Games," which has received critical applause but underwhelming sales. "People do not want the responsibility of knowing the information," Nowinski says.

But after Waters committed suicide last year, the subject suddenly became timely. Nowinski asked the player's family for a sample of his brain tissue, which Dr. Bennet Omalu , a neuropathologist at the University of Pittsburgh, analyzed.

Omalu, who'd done similar examinations on the brains of former Steelers Mike Webster and Terry Long, determined that Waters's tissue resembled that of an 85-year-old man and showed early indications of Alzheimer's disease.

Nowinski quickly found himself a go-to guy for TV and radio bookers. He'd just authored a book on the subject, he was a familiar name from his WWE days, he was a Harvard grad, and he was well-spoken and camera-friendly. "No question, having been an entertainer helps," Nowinski says.

>From the media coverage he's seen, the NFL's belated interest in concussions and recent congressional hearings on the problems of retired players, he senses that the message finally is getting through.

After former wrestler Chris Benoit killed himself and his family last month, some observers pondered whether he might have suffered brain damage during his career. "People were saying, I wonder if . . . ," says Nowinski, who knew Benoit from their WWE days. "They're open to the idea. In less than six months, it's part of the lexicon."

While Nowinski says it's "rewarding to know that so much has changed so quickly and that people are open to change," he acknowledges that institutional progress on the athletic side has been coming slowly.

"The awareness is there," Nowinski says, "but changing the culture is another undertaking."

Though the NFL held a concussion summit in Chicago last month and will establish mandatory neuropsychological testing for players, Nowinski questions whether the league will take the logical next step -- diagnosing concussions when they occur and keeping players off the field while they recover. "Concussions certainly aren't going away," he says.

Football is more violent than ever, Nowinski says, with bigger and faster people slamming into each other, and that's not likely to change. "The game is based on hitting other people as hard as you can," he says.

But the damage from multiple concussions can't be mended in the same way a blown-out knee can. "People thought, they retired, so they're fixed," Nowinski says. "They retired because they're ruined."

If medical evidence and headlines about dead former players aren't enough to change things, one big lawsuit from a player could be the catalyst. "The liability issue is a big hammer that will probably be used somewhere by somebody," Nowinski says.

It would be unfortunate, he says, if that's what it takes to make football less of a head game and stop the parade of players with neurological problems. "How many bodies do we have to find," Chris Nowinski asks, "before people take it seriously?"

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