Report: NFLPA to oust Upshaw

Having been around unions most of my life, I can tell you now: Upshaw has not performed that poorly.

If you define a union as a group of people who whine and moan every damn time they don't get their way, then, yeah, Don Fehr's your man. Baseball also canceled a World Series, had a huge, needless steroids scandal and basically has 10 or so teams with little to no hope of ever making the World Series under the current system.

 

Buh...buh...buh... but, Alma.... all these baseball owners in small markets are very, very rich guys and if they drained their personal holdings they could spend more than Steinbrenner!!!!!

So, you're WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Somewhere, Hershel Walker lost his lunch and he doesn't know why.

 

That's great and all, but baseball is producing more revenue than ever and a larger share of it than any other sport is landing in the hands of the players. That, in a nutshell, is what a good union should do.

 

"The economic difference between baseball and football is that football players are a bunch of management finks." -- Marvin Miller during the 1987 NFLPA strike.

 

Actually, I think if you read the Gary Smith piece carefully, you could see this coming. I think there was a thread about it at the time, and I remarked on how Upshaw sees it as HIS union ... he's been on top so long, he thinks the players are working for him. In the story he came off as incredibly arrogant.
I'm not sure how I feel about the job he's done, but I think he's definitely out of touch, by choice. And not to get all Jack Shafer, but the NFLPA could probably use a leader who isn't old enough to be a current player's grandfather.

 

Who's that?

 

Given the way the long-retired veterans haven't been taken care of - Conrad Dobler was a good example in a piece on "Real Sports" a few months back - somebody needs to do more to help them. Gene Upshaw hasn't done well in that area.

The answer isn't MLBPA-level ignorant - look at the steroid scandal and everything else the players get away with - but surely someone can warm the NFLPA seat that doesn't look like he has strings to pull from Roger Goodell's office.

 

Oh, some dude who played for a rinky-dink team called the New Jersey Generals back in the day...

 

Which 10 are those who have no hope?

 

If you're talking about bad teams, here are a few: Pirates, Royals, Giants, Rays, Rangers, Nationals

If under the current system (in which the Yankees have to share with the small-market clubs), you have the following: Royals, Pirates, Twins, Nationals, Rangers, Marlins (who called bullshit on that that twice: '07 and '04), to name a few, IIRC.

 

I define a union by how effective it is on behalf of its members. The MLBPA has had no peer in this respect. Ever.

The strength of baseball players is that they have historically understood the importance of sticking together and making personal sacrifices to defend rights that previous players have gained. Players are ready to defend the rights of players who will come after them.

The NFL players are a very different bargaining unit because they have a relatively high percentage of replaceable parts and shorter careers. That makes them much more difficult to organize into a cohesive group that will develop a consensus position and stick by it.

So I won't criticize Upshaw. That NFLPA was in bad shape when Upshaw inherited it from Ed Garvey and it has gotten better under his leadership.