Looking out for your members

My disgust with unions, has never been a secret on this blog. Much of it a result of watching the Teamsters systematically steal my father's pension money.

But if you were ever iffy on your feelings about unions, you need to read this piece in the Men's Journal. After you read it, you'll wonder how the NFLPA is not held criminally liable for the treatment of disabled NFL players aka THEIR MEMBERS.

While it's hard to feel sorry for someone you might perceive as overpaid narcissist, some of these stories are absolutely incredible.

"It's criminal," says Ditka at an upstairs table in his huge, clamorous steakhouse in Chicago. "There's so much money in this goddamn game, and no one gives a shit about these guys. Bill Forrester's attached to a feeding tube, Joe Perry has to choose between eating and pain pills, and here's this Upshaw, with his $6.7 million salary, saying there's no dough left to help them out. That's greed talking, and nothing else"

He is speaking, or more like it, shouting about Gene Upshaw, the long-serving chief of the players union, who's become the white-hot focus of some veterans' rage. "The NFL is the worst-represented league, on the players' side, in pro sports," said Joe Montana in a 2006 newspaper survey of Hall of Famers. DeLamielleure, the anchor of the Buffalo Bills line that blocked for O.J. Simpson, turns red as a fire ant when asked about Upshaw. "I won't stop until that bastard's gone or in jail. He's a disgrace to every player, past and current."

Upshaw, who refused to speak for this article and elected to leave the country when Congress staged a hearing on the union's treatment of injured vets in late June, has responded to his critics with schoolyard taunts, calling Ditka too "dumb" to understand the issue and threatening to break DeLamielleure's neck.

So much for your union brothers helping you against the man. With friends like these who needs, well, friends.

Animal Farm