RIP Dave Duerson

I can never tell what you actually believe and what you're typing just to get a response. Can you tell anymore?

 

Not in this case.

For starters, DeMaurice Smith won't roll over and give the league what it wants the same way Gene Upshaw did. If Duerson endured that, why would his death be related to the current CBA negotiations in any way, shape or form?

 

Never the latter. I don't even understand why you would think that.

What I mean is that, eventually, kids of means won't be playing football. The only people left playing will be men for whom it was a ticket out of poor surroundings.

 

Correct me if I am wrong isn't the main issue in this contract discussion the owners getting back some of what Gene Upshaw "rolled over" for?

 

Please, Boom ... Gene Upshaw was nothing more than a pawn in Paul Tagliabue's chess game. And Upshaw got sacrificed more often than a queen during an endgame a move or two prior to checkmate.

The owners are hardlining here. They want more games from the players with no extra pay (nothing like passing the blame since season-ticket holders are tired of paying full price for preseason games, a product of ownerships throughout the league), a bigger slice of the multi-billion-dollar pie (no one among the great unwashed will have sympathy for either side here) and they know they're getting the money from the TV deal whether anyone plays later this year or not. Nothing Peter King or any other NFL lapdog says changes that sentiment.

Gene Upshaw fought about as hard as Glass Joe, unless you count his ignorant tough-guy rant against Joe DeLamielleure, which showed the public just about all we needed to know.

 

Talked with a lady I work with whose husband was an NFL running back way back when. She said he refused to answer the questionnaires they sent out about health issues. She wishes he had (he's dead now), especially given the rising number of early deaths.

You hope that something like Duerson's plea will have an effect, but with greedy jillionaires on both sides, not very likely.

 

That's interesting. Any idea why he refused the questionnaires? And how did he die?

 

Very sad. A player I really respected on those Bears teams. RIP.

 

If Upshaw was Glass Joe, why do the players currently get 58% of revenues -- you know the labor deal that turned all of the owners into hard-liners?

 

There is nothing wrong with the current deal. It's a good one for the owners. But they are greedy bastards and history tells them that they will likely beat the player's union again.

Also, many of the ones who have other businesses took hits there and they are trying to find ways to recoup the money. So they squeeze the players because they can.

 

He died of cancer. She said he felt like everyone knew what they were getting into when they played the game, and he refused to blame anyone else. Before the cancer he definitely showed early signs of problems related to his playing career.

 

The side of Danny Snyder and Jerruh Jones is NEVER the side you want to be on.