NFLPA Shows Signs Of Mending Relationship With Former Players
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Smith Has Reached Out
To All NFL Players |
It "might take a lot more" than the recent $26.1M settlement between the NFLPA and a group of former players to "finally move beyond the discord and seeming distrust that exists between past players and their current counterparts," according to Len Pasquarelli of ESPN.com. The settlement was a "good start" at repairing the relationship, and "thankfully for retired players, they represent more than just a bothersome blip" to new NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith. Unlike his predecessor Gene Upshaw, Smith has "reached out to the league's former rank-and-file members and declared himself 'the executive director for all players.'" Since Smith assumed his post in March, there has been a "notable absence of the kind of volatile rhetoric and latent acrimony between the sides that marked the past few years." Pasquarelli wrote the newly-created 88 Plan -- "funded by the league and NFLPA to minister to the care of former players who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's -- is a terrific initiative." But there "must be more aggressive plans like it to address the host of maladies that affect men who inevitably pay for their celebrity with their bodies." However, progress "can be seen in the NFLPA settlement, the presence of Smith as union leader, and the unity demonstrated by some former players" (ESPN.com, 6/12).
SLOW THINGS DOWN A BIT: Pro Football HOFer Joe DeLamielleure, "one of Upshaw's severest critics, has not been overly impressed with Smith so far." DeLamielleure: "He talks good. He's only been on the job since March. We'll see how he does. I'm hopeful. But to me, it's basically been a lot of lip service. ... They say they're putting in all these programs. I don't see anything." DeLamielleure said the $26.1M settlement, which will pay each player named in the suit about $10,000, is a "joke." DeLamielleure: "They're paying it out over two years. How many (retirees) will die by then?" (Tony Grossi, Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 6/14).
FACE OFF: In Toronto, Steve Simmons reported the NHL and NHLPA this week in the Supreme Court of Ontario are in court "over benefits paid to players who die before collecting their pensions." The suit involves several former players including the late Peter Zezel, whom the NHLPA claims should be "afforded the same pension upon death as it would be at whatever age they chose to begin their pension." A ruling in the case is expected in December, and Simmons noted "millions of dollars are at stake in the fight between the two groups, which were forced to court when they couldn't come to agreement" on the issue last year (TORONTO SUN, 6/14).
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