DPR4444 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Apql...o&type=lgns didnt see this posted anywhere yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Here's the link to the auction, some Bills stuff from Joe D and Marv Levy... Auction Preview I think the NFL needs to do a bit more for former players, like providing medical coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 That's good stuff, guys. Thanks for the links. Of interest: there will be a LIVE CHAT with Jerry Kramer and Joe DeLamielleure tonight (January 31) at 6:30 PM EST. Click on the first link to read more, or click HERE to go directly to the chat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 More on this topic: A Constant EnemyMackey among many with neural scars from their playing days Shaun Powell Sports Columnist At some point tonight on the Amtrak from Baltimore to Miami, a passenger might feel a gentle tap on the shoulder and see a large man balling a fist, ready to hit him with a bit of nostalgia. "See this?" John Mackey will say sweetly to the stranger while flashing a striking piece of bling. "This is my Super Bowl ring. I scored the 75-yard touchdown to beat the Dallas Cowboys." This is what he tells people -- on the streets, in the malls, wherever -- not just because the memory of his thrilling catch in Super Bowl V gives him bragging rights. It's also because, in his condition, the touchdown is almost all he remembers about the past. And the ring. He wears two of them, actually -- a Super Bowl ring on one hand, a Hall of Fame ring on the other. Always. He sleeps with them. He rarely removes them. Which is why he's taking the train to Miami for Super Bowl XLI and not a flight. A few years ago, while headed to St. Louis for an autograph signing show, he approached airport screening. Security ordered him to remove the rings and place them in the plastic bins. He refused. They told him again. He said no. Then he noticed these weren't the same friendly strangers on the street who listened patiently when he told them about the touchdown. That's what dementia does. It makes its victims suspicious and also very protective of their possessions, especially the precious ones. Therefore, Mackey followed his football instincts, which took him from Hempstead to Syracuse to the NFL and allowed him to cover 75 yards on that touchdown catch and run 35 years ago, when he spun away from the Dallas defense. He elbowed past security and headed toward the gate. He was then, and still is now at age 65, a firm 6-2 and 240 pounds with giddyap. In his mind, he still was the man who starred for the Colts and revolutionized the tight end position. It took four security jackets to tackle Mackey. In a post 9/11 world, that was enough for his wife, Sylvia, a flight attendant. "If he could've gotten away and run down the corridor, they weren't going to catch him," she said yesterday. "They'd have to shoot him. And I'm not going to put him up against that." So they'll ride the train to Miami to watch his old team, the Colts, play in the title game for the first time since their Mackey-inspired 16-13 win in 1971. The trip will take a while, but it's nothing compared with Mackey's long and draining journey to get financial help from the NFL to cover his soaring medical costs. His situation is not unique among former players who came before the big salaries, who now pay the physical and sometimes mental price for laying the foundation for a league that generates billions in revenue. ... The NFL and NFLPA are starting to make some progress in helping the older players; the "Number 88 Plan" -- named in Mackey's honor -- was added to the most recent CBA, and provides benefits toward dementia/Alzheimer's care. But considering the multi-billion-dollar industry the league has become, both the league and the current union membership could be doing a lot more... as noted by Powell's colleague at Newsday, Wallace Matthews: Shame of the league As exposed by HBO's "Real Sports" last week, and illustrated by my colleague Shaun Powell's heartbreaking column about John Mackey yesterday, once a player is done with the NFL, the NFL is done with him. This week is the NFL equivalent of Mardi Gras, a week of happy horsecrap about the League That Can Do No Wrong. But a handful of former players, Hall of Famers all, are not swallowing the Kool-Aid the rest of the country seems to be drunk on. While most of the NFL media is being distracted by the temptations of Super Bowl Week, Jerry Kramer, Harry Carson and Mike Ditka, to name a few, will be speaking truth in a hotel conference room a few hours before Upshaw gets his chance to lie about how great everything is. They have long known that The Shield, as the players refer to it, is a league that eats its young, and the NFLPA is a union that discards its old. And tomorrow, they want the rest of the world to know it. As Kramer said, "It will not be a pleasant task. But then, it's not pleasant to talk to Bill Forester [a Pro Bowl linebacker on Kramer's Green Bay Packers teams of the mid-60s] and hear that he's suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia and pneumonia, that he needs a feeding tube to survive, and that he can't get any money from the Players Association to help him." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 One more, from the San Francisco Chronicle: Glory has its price25 years later, the heroes of the 49ers' first Super Bowl championship team weigh the costs of playing a brutal game Ron Kroichick, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, January 21, 2007 On the most famous play in 49ers history, amid the din at raucous Candlestick Park, Joe Montana raced to his right and hurriedly scanned the field. He backpedaled to elude three onrushing Dallas players, twice pumped his arm to throw and floated an off-balance pass into the back of the end zone. Dwight Clark had cut to the middle before abruptly reversing direction. Clark sprinted toward the corner, leaped high, reached both arms above his head and made The Catch, forever cementing his place in 49ers lore. Twenty-five years later, Montana's left knee is essentially shredded. His right eye occasionally sags from nerve damage. His neck is so stiff, he could not turn his head to look at a reporter asking him questions while he signed memorabilia. Montana, 50, turned both shoulders instead. Clark, also 50, endures sharp pain every time he lifts his arms above his head -- the exact motion he effortlessly completed on The Catch -- because of a bent screw in his left shoulder and arthritis in his right shoulder. The simple act of turning his head also is a chore, thanks to all those jarring hits on crossing patterns over the middle. "I hurt," Clark said, "from getting my head squashed down into my neck." ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill from NYC Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 One more, from the San Francisco Chronicle: This is all amazing stuff. I am not one to make it a habit of criticizing labor unions, but the short sightedness of the NFLPA is glaring here. It looks as if victimizing small market teams wasn't the only thing they screwed up. It becomes a problem when re-election becomes more of an issue than actually doing something for your membership. It really might not cost the players THAT much money to re-work their entire retirement package/health insurance packages if they used just a small portion of the money they recently won at the bargaining table towards this. These guys are football players, not financial planners. I recently met Sr. DT Ray Blagman from UConn. Great Blue North list him (last) as a prospect at DT. The kid is looking for an agent, and he has never heard of Drew Rosenhaus. It is the responsibility of union leadership to think long term, and inform the membership. The best football book I ever read is called "Necessary Roughness" by Mike Trope, who was once a huge agent. In it, he detailed serious problems in the NFLPA. It's worth a read, if you can get a copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I love the game, Bill. But I can't giggle along with the Monday Night Countdown crew when they show someone getting de-cleated, accompanied by the shouts of "Jacked UP!!!" Not after reading about Mike Webster, and Andre Waters, and the epidemic of older players suffering from Alzheimer's or other mind-obliterating diseases. John Mackey is 64. Webster was 50 when he died. FIFTY. Jim Kelly turns 47 in two weeks. How many concussions has he had? Will we watch the same sad scenario play out with him, or some of our other Super Bowl-era Bills, in the all-too-near future? Yeah, I know. No one is forcing these guys to play. But considering the ever-increasing amount of proof about the long-term physical and mental aftereffects of playing in the NFL, they could be doing a helluva lot more to take care of their own, no? It shouldn't take the efforts of guys like Kramer and Ditka -- or Sylvia Mackey, speaking out because her husband no longer can -- to force the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marauderswr80 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 spend a day with Harry Carson in NYC.........lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I love the game, Bill. But I can't giggle along with the Monday Night Countdown crew when they show someone getting de-cleated, accompanied by the shouts of "Jacked UP!!!" Not after reading about Mike Webster, and Andre Waters, and the epidemic of older players suffering from Alzheimer's or other mind-obliterating diseases. John Mackey is 64. Webster was 50 when he died. FIFTY. Jim Kelly turns 47 in two weeks. How many concussions has he had? Will we watch the same sad scenario play out with him, or some of our other Super Bowl-era Bills, in the all-too-near future? Yeah, I know. No one is forcing these guys to play. But considering the ever-increasing amount of proof about the long-term physical and mental aftereffects of playing in the NFL, they could be doing a helluva lot more to take care of their own, no? It shouldn't take the efforts of guys like Kramer and Ditka -- or Sylvia Mackey, speaking out because her husband no longer can -- to force the issue. I couldn't agree with you more. Health insurance for the game's greats doesn't seem like too much to ask. Nor is a reasonable pension to ensure a modest standard of living. $158 or whatever it was is downright insulting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obie_wan Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 This is all amazing stuff. I am not one to make it a habit of criticizing labor unions, but the short sightedness of the NFLPA is glaring here. It looks as if victimizing small market teams wasn't the only thing they screwed up. It becomes a problem when re-election becomes more of an issue than actually doing something for your membership. It really might not cost the players THAT much money to re-work their entire retirement package/health insurance packages if they used just a small portion of the money they recently won at the bargaining table towards this. These guys are football players, not financial planners. I recently met Sr. DT Ray Blagman from UConn. Great Blue North list him (last) as a prospect at DT. The kid is looking for an agent, and he has never heard of Drew Rosenhaus. It is the responsibility of union leadership to think long term, and inform the membership. The best football book I ever read is called "Necessary Roughness" by Mike Trope, who was once a huge agent. In it, he detailed serious problems in the NFLPA. It's worth a read, if you can get a copy. The NFL pension plan is a real joke. A few years back, the players were entitled to a few hundred dollars a year on an annuity that would kick in at 55. absolute travesty since most did not expecct to live that long and lived their lives accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Just bumping this... a signed Marv Levy football and Joe D's Electric COmpany bracelet are whats available. http://auction.steinersports.com/cgi-bin/n...CategoryDisplay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 I didn't really have time to read all the associated articles, but wanted to ask a quick question. (Just to me to shut up and read the articles if its a blatantly obivious question.) Are talking about health benefits and a retirement plan for the millionair players of recent or for the players of old (prior to the mega million dollar contracts)? Because, I gotta say, I'd have a problem thinking that some player today gets a $10-15 million dollar signing bonus, $4-6million per year, and then has the audacity to cry foul regarding no retirement plan or health plan. Hell even lower tier FAs like Price get a few million $ signing bonus. Is it too much to expect to expect them to put some of that away for retirement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 I didn't really have time to read all the associated articles, but wanted to ask a quick question. (Just to me to shut up and read the articles if its a blatantly obivious question.) Are talking about health benefits and a retirement plan for the millionair players of recent or for the players of old (prior to the mega million dollar contracts)? Because, I gotta say, I'd have a problem thinking that some player today gets a $10-15 million dollar signing bonus, $4-6million per year, and then has the audacity to cry foul regarding no retirement plan or health plan. Hell even lower tier FAs like Price get a few million $ signing bonus. Is it too much to expect to expect them to put some of that away for retirement? Its only for the old guys, who get virtually no pension, have no medical benefits and who are breaking down both physically and mentally. They're the reason the NFL is a billion dollar industry and the league has neglected them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennesseeboy Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Bryant Gumbel had a special on this the other day. Conrad Dobler was the main case in point and he can just barely walk. Said he takes 150 Vicodan and Percocet a month, and has been denied benefits despite all appeals. The guy is really like a 90 year old man. Said if it gets much worse he'll just have to kill himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Joe D. was on local radio here and he claims a former Electric Company member works in a homeless shelter to support himself. He gets $400 a month from the NFL pension fund. He also said, at least this is how I heard it, that Jim Ringo was hospitalized with dementia in Arizona I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Its only for the old guys, who get virtually no pension, have no medical benefits and who are breaking down both physically and mentally. They're the reason the NFL is a billion dollar industry and the league has neglected them. Thanks. That's what I suspected and hoped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammered a Lot Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Joe D. was on local radio here and he claims a former Electric Company member works in a homeless shelter to support himself. He gets $400 a month from the NFL pension fund. He also said, at least this is how I heard it, that Jim Ringo was hospitalized with dementia in Arizona I believe. I heard that. Joe D said his pension is $996 a month. He mention another player, who retired after Joe D, got a pensoin of $8,000 a month. He did not say when they retired. He also complained about how the players were told how great astro turf was. He mentioned that it was a carpet with a little pad over hard concrete and how now the older players bodys are now paying the price. Also he mention that if a FAN FROM BUFFALO wins the Electric Company Bracelet (there are only 6 of them) he will give you a one hour work out (watch out this guy is still in shape) and he will take you out for dinner to Ilio Di Paolos Restaurant and Ringside Lounge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HBSS151 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Joe D. was on local radio here and he claims a former Electric Company member works in a homeless shelter to support himself. He gets $400 a month from the NFL pension fund. He also said, at least this is how I heard it, that Jim Ringo was hospitalized with dementia in Arizona I believe. FYI http://www.pihos.com/SI1.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Joe D. was on local radio here and he claims a former Electric Company member works in a homeless shelter to support himself. He gets $400 a month from the NFL pension fund. He also said, at least this is how I heard it, that Jim Ringo was hospitalized with dementia in Arizona I believe. He was referring to Donnie Green.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 FYI http://www.pihos.com/SI1.htm The Reilly columns on Pete Pihos, and the scumbag who ripped him off, are a must-read. Love the last line of the first one, and the follow-up literally brought tears to my eyes. Still got those issues around here somewhere. (And for those who are wondering how it relates to the original post: PP -- along with many, many other old-time NFL players -- suffers from Alzheimer's, and the memorabilia swindle was a direct result of the Pihoses needing money to pay for his medical bills, prescriptions, and such.) I've got a love/hate relationship with Reilly's writing, but helping nail that f---er earned him tons of respect in my book... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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