Written by Jeff Nixon, Posted July 29, 2010
Sometimes I feel like former NFL players are the “Bull in the Ring”.
You remember that old high school football drill where players form a circle in
the middle of the playing field, and choose one player to be the “bull” in the middle. The coach then throws a football to a player standing in the outer circle. That player must cross the circle and exit directly across from where he started. The player that is the “bull” must try to tackle him before he accomplishes this task. If the player makes it across without being tackled, repeat the drill with the “bull” remaining in the center. If the player is tackled or runs out of the circle before making it all the way across, he is the “bull” for the next round.
Unfortunately for retired NFL Players, we just don’t know how to get out of the ring because we can’t seem to tackle the ball carriers – the NFL and the NFLPA.
You remember what happens to the Bull in the Ring after about 6 or 7 attempts at tackling the ball carrier. They finally become so fatigued that they just can’t finish the drill. The coach finally shows pity on them and lets someone else become the “Bull”.
Maybe former players are all just “Bulls in the Ring” and the NFL and NFLPA hope we will eventually just give up.
Well, that’s not going to happen………we are tired of all the Bull !
After reading the following statements by the NFL and NFLPA you have to scratch your head and say to yourself, “Who is telling us the truth and who is feeding us a bunch of Bull?”
Commissioner Roger Goodell’s March 9, 2010 Letter to Congresswomen – Linda Sanchez
“Several months ago, we made a proposal to the union that involved reducing the exorbitant salaries and bonuses that our clubs pay to rookies each year and using the first $100 million of that savings to cover increased pensions and other benefits for our alumni. We offered to implement such a plan immediately, even without a new collective bargaining agreement, in order to deliver more assistance to retired players now. The union to this point in our discussions has not agreed to that proposal.”
DeMaurice Smith’s comments to a select group of online writers – July 21, 2010
“The rookie pay scale is something we have proposed that gets instituted but we want to make sure that the money not getting paid to rookies goes to proven veterans. The NFL has not agreed to this. We are willing to contribute some of these monies to put into a fund to support retired players. The NFL did not want to do that. When we were in Indy and we all agreed that the rookie plans would save about $200 million. The players were content to send $100 million to retired veterans and the other $100 to proven veterans. It’s the players’ money. We are disagreeing on how you spend…OUR money? Huh?”
Roger Goodell’s comments on CNBC’s Squawk Box – April 22, 2010
Commissioner Goodell: “We want all of our players to be paid appropriately. When you are coming in as a rookie, there is still some question about whether you are going to have the ability to play at the NFL level… An extraordinary amount of money that is guaranteed — $600 million of guaranteed money will be committed over next three days. Some of those players won’t make it in the NFL. That money goes out of the system. We would like to keep that money in the system and make sure it goes to veteran players because they have already proven that they can play on the NFL level. It’s a matter of reallocating and shifting our economics so that all of us can be successful.”
Demaurice Smith’s comments made on the “Mike & Mike in the Morning,” ESPN Radio, July 21, 2010
“The NFLPA proposed a rookie wage scale that would take $200 million out of the rookie pool and we only had two criteria for that rule to be put in place: First, we wanted to take $100 million of that and have it go toward retired players who played prior to 1993 to increase their pensions. The only other condition we put on that was that the other $100 million be spent on proven veterans. We wanted a guarantee that the money be spent on proven veterans, and the owners said no.
Jeff Pash – NFL Executive Vice President of Labor League Counsel comments on “Mike and Mike in the Morning” ESPN Radio. July 22, 2010
What NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said yesterday on the show, is not exactly how it happened. You really haven’t gotten the full story.
What happened is we went to the union – this is back in 2009 before the (2010) draft and anything else – and we said we have a number of issues that are tough issues that we have to work out, but we think there is one issue that we have a common purpose on, and that is addressing the rookie system.
We proposed to put the new rookie system in for 2010 with this year’s draft class, and we would commit that the first $100 million of savings from the rookie system would be used for retiree benefits. We’ll put them into pensions; we’ll put them into disability (assistance); and we’ll improve the ADA plan. We were open to anything the retirees think would be helpful to them.
We think it’s appropriate. We recognize that there is a genuine issue here that we can and should do better for our retired players. We thought that it was a perfectly logical place to start. The union came back to us and they said, ‘Well, first of all, we don’t like the (rookie) wage scale, so we reject that.”
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So, now that you’ve read the above statements, is it crazy to think that maybe, just maybe we are we being played by the powers that be? Both sides are claiming that the other side doesn’t want a Rookie Wage Scale.
Some of the greatest players in the history of the NFL have asked for the Rookie Wage Scale to be implemented. 80 Hall of Fame Players signed a letter asking the active players to get it done. Is anyone listening?
When they finally come to an agreement, will retired players once again get caught in the cross-fire with the NFL blaming the Union and the Union blaming the NFL for not getting us the pensions we deserve?
If we are the “Bulls in the Ring” then someone must have put a Flank Strap on these old Bulls because we are not giving up and we will continue bucking the system!
One last thing. They just outlawed Bull fighting in some parts of Mexico because they finally came to the realization that it was a cruel and inhumane way to treat a Bull.
The NFL and NFLPA could learn a thing or two from that analogy!


