Now, THIS is a powerful message (Wallace Matthews Column today)

A friend of mine who is at the Super Bowl called today to say that the press conference held by Ditka and Kramer for the retired players fund drew about a dozen writers. The press conference to introduce Prince as the halftime act drew close to 1,000.

I guess it's not a story after all.

 

In a subtle note, Newsday with Wally and Shaun has become significant reading again.

 

Yeah giant PR problem. Causing all sorts of sleepless nights, I'm sure. I guess the story petered out when people began understanding that it wasn't much of a story -- just a bunch of retirees unsatsifed with pension plan increases of more than 100 percent over the past few years. Never mind the fact that nobody was obligated to give them another dime in the first place and that there retirement programs were already better than those of 95 percent of the population.

Everyone who thinks this is such a huge injustice should try going back to their employers in about 30 years and telling them they want more pension money. Oh, that's right. Most of the people here don't even have pension plans. Some don't even have 401Ks.

 

I'm shocked there is gambling here is the quote that fits best for this story.

I've been watching stewy all am introduce NFL injury story in somber tone. When we last saw stewy he was screaming "jacked up" as he introduced the big hits of week.

 

The current players -- without any obligation -- have along with the NFL raised the benefits of the pre-'77 class by more than 100 percent over the past six years. Those retirees just don't believe that's enough and some of them have even hinted that their pensions should be brought in line with current retirees. That's a ridiculous postion, especially when you consider that there is a disproportionately large group of retirees relative to current employees in the NFL (even compared with other sports) due to large rosters and short careers.

Would it be nice if the former NFL players got more pension money? Sure, I'd always rather see money in the hands of employees rather than owners. But I'm really having a hard time getting worked up over some former football players who decided to take their pensions early and are now only getting a few hundred dollars a month? Sorry, I'd rather concern myself with groups that genuinely need sympathy and support.

With that said, it does, however, sound like there's plenty of room to improve what sounds like a procedurally dysfunctional disability program. There's no shortage of athletes crippling themselves by playing football.

 

They always use Adderley (or one of the other guys who opted to begin taking their pension benefits early) as an example because he's on the far low end. Guys with equivalent service who didn't opt to take their pension early get closer to $800 a month. Is that a great pension by today's professional sports standards? Absolutely not. But it's a huge pension compared to 95 percent of retirees in our country.