NFL Retirement/Pension Cries are a Joke

Again, more naive bombast from the staggeringly ignorant ttc.

Most NFL players aren't intelligent enough to get an office job.

What the f*** did that just prove? You know some f***ing crippled people? What the f*** is your problem, learn about the f***ing issue and stop spouting off your ignorant bullshit you stupid son of a bitch.

What I wrote in a previous thread on the subject...

I recently read an interview with Sam Huff, a Hall of Fame linebacker, regarding him returning to do the Redskins broadcasts for one more season. He mentioned that his highest salary during his playing days was $38,000 (His rookie year he made $7,500). The NFL players of old, who are the ones asking for help, are not the multi-millionaires that play in today's NFL.

And some new thoughts for you ttc....

You mention all physical limitations but failed to mention the mental problems that many former players face as a result of repeated concussions. Can a 40-50 year old with severe dementia realistically work?

For those that are suffering from physical ailments there is no reason why they should be treated any differently from any other person who is injured on the job. They should compensated for the cost of their medical treatment and the impact on their quality of life.

TTC, it's the Old Time guys who are in dire straits. The ones who never made a whole lot. Sam Huff is not one of them - he made plenty but many of them are. These guys sometimes require a solid hour just to get out of bed in the morning. They are suffering from "back spasms". They are suffering from severely debilitating conditions.

okay, if you don't know what the hell you're talking about (see this thread as well as your highly intelligent child support thread), don't post about it. it's pretty simple. and you wonder why you have such a shitty reputation on this board. stick to running. it's something of which you have at least nominal knowledge.

Even today, although top players make a lot of money, most players don't make much. Contracts are usually not guaranteed over any remotely long period of time (lots of 1 year contracts -- and that's after you've made a roster). NFL careers are far shorter than you must imagine. The average career is far less than 10 years (I've seen this number in many articles). I read an article on a Super Bowl Champion team from the mid-80s (one of the 49ers teams when Joe Montana was MVP). The number of them with constant pain and/or debilitating injuries was staggering. Something like over 75% of the roster. Although things are improving, the NFL would use and abuse their players and then forget about them when they were no longer "profitable." A significant portion of former NFL players live in poverty.

fmr wrote:

...highest salary during his playing days was $38,000 (His rookie year he made $7,500).

You mention all physical limitations but failed to mention the mental problems that many former players face as a result of repeated concussions. Can a 40-50 year old with severe dementia realistically work?

For those that are suffering from physical ailments there is no reason why they should be treated any differently from any other person who is injured on the job. They should compensated for the cost of their medical treatment and the impact on their quality of life.

Good post. But you make some of my point re: the REPEATED concussions. I guess I couldn't turn my back on a mentally disabled ex-player.... but WTF?? It's irresponsible for him to keep getting those concussions though HIS actions to continue playing anyway... then come back later for $$ because of his deliberate choices. Far as the $38K, etc... Don't forget that this was long ago.... and only during a partial year of committment. Even at that, the majority of players did very well for themselves, didn't have mental issues and didn't have physical issues worse than being crippled. Most who played long enough to have the bad conditions would've made almost or lots more than the $$ we make in a lifetime.

you come up with some really ignorant, moronic threads and posts on letsrun. Please just go away.

uh oh wrote:

A significant portion of former NFL players live in poverty.

Most/all of them were born with better ability than most, had full-ride college scholarships and the degrees to go with them. Most also made alot more than the normal corp. Joe, during their playing times. They need to take some responsibility. Quit getting your head bashed in and get a clue after a 4th knee surgery. A college scholarship and the NFL should be a great financial headstart in life. Again, not all circumstances apply, but most do.

ttc, you're very misinformed and way off base here. I understand what you're saying, but do a little more research in on this topic before writing it off as a "joke".

You're dumber than a box of rocks ttc.

At the risk of talking to a rock, I'll continue.

The NFL is the only major league sport where salaries are not guaranteed. Athletes are never supposed to be replaced or cut solely due to injury, but it happens all the time. You play with injury or you are cut. If you are cut, there goes your income. If you have had a series of concussions--which virtually every NFL player has had--that's a chronic brain injury which never fully heals. NFL deals with multi-billion-dollar TV contracts (3.75 billion per year to be in the ballpark) yet the trickle down to old pensioners is flat out disgraceful. By the time these guys are in their 50s, their bodies are done.

Assuming you're some kid in your early 20s ttc, maybe you ought to do some research about the salaries NFL guys made back in the 1960s and 1970s. It hasn't always been multi-million dollar contracts. Even today, if a marginal player gets injured and finds himself out of the league, there is no medical aftercare provided by his former team.

So while it is cool for you to sound jaded and all-knowing, maybe check into some facts and report back to us. The plight of old NFL guys is sad and the greed of the owners is unbelievable.

ttc wrote:

Most/all of them were born with better ability than most, had full-ride college scholarships and the degrees to go with them. Most also made alot more than the normal corp. Joe, during their playing times. They need to take some responsibility. Quit getting your head bashed in and get a clue after a 4th knee surgery. A college scholarship and the NFL should be a great financial headstart in life. Again, not all circumstances apply, but most do.

Their talent is what gets them far but can hold back their educational opportunities. If a kid is great on the field, but not motivated in the classroom, the kid will get pushed through. Football is just too "big" in the U.S. and it really is a shame that this is the case. A kid falls behind in the classroom but gets a free pass. Then the college opportunities come and the big football schools, with only a few exceptions, do the same thing. Bring a kid in, tell him to major in communications or general studies, or take classes at a community college in the summer and have them count (USC athletes did this recently, although that situation has been fixed, supposedly). Worst of all, academic progress is only stressed to the point of staying eligible, instead of "on track to graduate." When the kid's eligibility is up, whether the kid gets his degree or not is really of no concern to the coach or the team (and again, this is unfortunate). People leave early to go to the NFL (under pressure of family, friends, media, and sometimes even from NFL agents) or simply enter the draft after 4 years but without a degree. Approximately 2/3 of all NFL players are black. I suggest you look at graduation rates of black football players at the top football schools. To call them "pitiful" is an understatement. Unfortunately, these kids are guided by those who want to live vicariously through them and urge them to make decisions about their future based solely on football. 16-17 year olds are making poor decisions about their post-football lives. The parents and h.s. coaches need to guide them better (e.g. don't send your black kid to Ohio State since they only graduate 32% of their black football players -- Georgia is even worse at only 24%).

An NFL team physician told me the average career is 6 years. I believe the league minimum was $300K, with a decent number of players making this, and I think the average salary was around $600K... I may be a bit off with those salaries, but not much from what I remember. While 3.6M may seem like a lot, if it is not well managed/invested initially, it won't last a lifetime.

It is a very rough sport that definitely takes its toll on players. Did anybody see that segment they had on Jerome Bettis before the Superbowl in 2006? Basically, after playing on Sunday, it takes the trainers/therapists till about the following Saturday to get him able to move decently again. When players lose their regular access to the support staff, it is hard for them to maintain their bodies... Which can make working in some jobs hard - even if it means sitting all day.

Some of the lesser known players do successful get careers afterwards. Two that I know of include a salesman for Woodway treadmills, and the other is now head strength and conditioning coach for the Cleveland Browns (after playing in the NFL for 10 years and then coaching at Robert Morris U.) I am sure there are plenty of others out there working afterwards, but there are plenty of others who are limited in their ability to do so, too.

Completely untrue. Please stop making things up. Some NFL players have had concussions. Some have had a series of them. "Virtually every" is hyperbole

Well now isn't that convenient. You'll refer to salaries of NFL guys from 30 years ago and mention how little they were but then turn around and compare them to the CURRENT revenue of the league. How about comparing apples to apples? The NFL was a joke league until the Superbowl came around. Nobody was making millions (or billions) before the 70s, not the players, not the owners.

Nor should their be. They don't owe him anything. He didn't play football out of the kindness of his heart. He played so he could get a big contract and make millions. Had he become a big-time player, do you think he'd be sitting there taking pay cuts so the team could get that extra player it needed to make the superbowl? Of course not. These guys live in the ultimate Darwinian world. A pure meritocracy. You play well or you don't make it. To turn around then and cry about how nobody is "taking care of you" is hypocrisy.

So while it is cool of you to spend the owners money with YOUR conscience, the plight of the old NFL guys is mostly self-inflicted.

I am all for the league starting up a separate fund for the old time players and helping them out, but that would be an act of charity and kindness, not fulfillment of any "debt". They are under no obligation, legal, moral or otherwise to do a damn thing. Spare us your sanctimony. It has no place in the discussion.

It is a meat market.

Funny that when the collective bargaining agreement came up years ago, pensions and these other retirement/health issues weren't of much concern to the players.

I believe Bettis graduated from NOtre Dame as well so he is one of thelucky and wise. Average age of "retirement" fromteh NFL is 27.6 years...assuming most about 22 or 23 when they "gardaute" to the NFL, playing time is usually 5-6 years.

As for the blogger saying "take some responsibility" to the players...An 18 year old who has breezed through school without having learned how to read cannot take responsibilty for himself. COurts ahve already decided that....minors cannot drink, vote or be held fully liable to the law many times.

Neuropsychiatrist wrote:

I believe Bettis graduated from NOtre Dame as well so he is one of thelucky and wise.

Spoken like someone who has never been there. Some of the most uneducated people in the nation have "graduated" from Notre Dame. Some of them literally cannot read. More than a few of them have private tutors who are teaching them stuff that people generally learn by 4th or 5th grade.

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"As for the blogger saying "take some responsibility" to the players...An 18 year old who has breezed through school without having learned how to read cannot take responsibilty for himself."

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What about a 22 year old who cant read? If he cant take responsibility, he should be kept out of the NFL until he can.

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"COurts ahve already decided that....minors cannot drink, vote or be held fully liable to the law many times."

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Everyone is fully liable for their life choices. The world does not live in a courtroom.