Interesting story on Wilber Marshall

[MTK]

Sucks that he's gone through such a tough time:

Wilber Marshall -- a 45-year-old retired linebacker who won two Super Bowl rings with the Washington Redskins and Chicago Bears -- took home a win from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in his longstanding dispute with the National Football League over disability benefits.

Link: Law.com - Former Redskins Linebacker Wins Disability Appeal Before 4th Circuit

[onlydarksets]

Definitely makes you think about the 95% of the league who probably retire from football with very little in the bank. It's not all fun and games.

[dmek25]

one helluva of a linebacker, with a big time nasty streak. the nfl makes me laugh. using all these guys for their product, and then not wanting to compensate them when their bodies literally fall apart

[onlydarksets]

The problem is that most of the guys make just enough that they can (and need to) save for their own retirements by forgoing some of the bling while they are playing (more so these days than in the past, I would imagine). Unfortunately, most lack the guidance to do that. I don't like meddling usually, but there should be some sort of forced retirement savings. There is no 23 year old out there who NEEDS $360k/year (2nd year minimum) to live off of. Force him to put a chunk of that into savings, and give him the rest to blow. Then, when he's out of the league at 29 with no real marketable skills beyond the sport, he'll have a decent nest egg to fall back on.

Again, I'm usually a fan of letting people be responsible for their own messes, but this seems to be a unique situation to me.

[Old School]

Originally Posted by onlydarksets

The problem is that most of the guys make just enough that they can (and need to) save for their own retirements by forgoing some of the bling while they are playing (more so these days than in the past, I would imagine). Unfortunately, most lack the guidance to do that. I don't like meddling usually, but there should be some sort of forced retirement savings. There is no 23 year old out there who NEEDS $360k/year (2nd year minimum) to live off of. Force him to put a chunk of that into savings, and give him the rest to blow. Then, when he's out of the league at 29 with no real marketable skills beyond the sport, he'll have a decent nest egg to fall back on.

Again, I'm usually a fan of letting people be responsible for their own messes, but this seems to be a unique situation to me.

Good points, but it is still the NFL's responsibility to take care of people that were sustained injuries while under their employment.

[dmek25]

Originally Posted by Old School

Good points, but it is still the NFL's responsibility to take care of people that were sustained injuries while under their employment.

if you get hurt at work, isn't your employer responsible? i wonder what gets the nfl off the hook with the retirees?

[irish]

Originally Posted by dmek25

if you get hurt at work, isn't your employer responsible? i wonder what gets the nfl off the hook with the retirees?

From what I have read, because a lot of players came into the NFL with previous injuries the NFL claims "pre-existing condition" and therefore they are off the hook.

[onlydarksets]

Originally Posted by Old School

Good points, but it is still the NFL's responsibility to take care of people that were sustained injuries while under their employment.

Good point.

[irish]

These disabled players are the NFL's dirty little secret.

[birdz4gibbs]

i hate to hear it this about wilber marshall..helluva player..

tough deal..

[SmootSmack]

Interesting blog: NFL Former Players

[onlydarksets]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Interesting blog: NFL Former Players

Now, that was depressing.

Joe Jacoby, a former Washington Redskins offensive lineman, was a habitue of the Skins' weight room, squat lifting his afternoons away. He dare not lift weights anymore, for fear it will accelerate the deterioration of his ankles, knees, wrists, elbows and back. Jacoby still feels the echoes of years spent snatching iron and leaning his sequoia body into snot-blowing defensive linemen who drove shuddering forces down his spine and onto his lower joints.

At 6'7", 305 pounds, Jacoby was a giant among the Hogs, a 13-year veteran who retired in 1993, the year he collapsed in his bathroom at home and could not get up. "My lower back went out," he says. "I dropped to my knees on the floor. The pain was that sharp. I crawled out of the bathroom to the bed." Like Stanfill, imbued with the ethic to play in pain, Jacoby played again later that year. Then, against the Kansas City Chiefs, his back went out again. He ended up spending three days in a hospital.

"I never wanted to go out that way," says Jacoby, 41. "I wanted to keep playing, even though I was hurting. I felt like I was letting down the team. You've been brought up that way since high school. It's ingrained in you. I had a wife. I had a family. A business I was starting. But I kept hearing those little things in the back of my mind: You're letting your team down." He was in traction, shot up with cortisone, when the thought finally struck him: I can't keep doing this. I have a life to live after this.

Jacoby had blown out his left knee earlier in his career, when his leg got wrenched in a pileup during a field goal attempt. "The kneecap was way over on the side of the knee," he recalls. "I still hear the crunching and popping." Another old wound -- vintage for linemen, who are forever getting their fingers caught and dislocated in face masks and shoulder pads -- is the busted knuckle on Jacoby's wedding-band finger, as gnarled as a tree root. He has won many wagers in bars, claiming he can get the ring over that knuckle. His wife, Irene, had the band made with a clasp, so he can take it off like a bracelet.

Jacoby owns an auto dealership in Warrenton, Va. He and Irene had the sinks in the kitchen and master bathroom of their house installed higher than normal, "so he doesn't have to bend down," she says. He often walks about sockless in loafers. "It's too painful for him to bend over and put on socks or lace up shoes," Irene says.

Jacoby walks stiffly on his damaged ankles, but he endures the discomforts with stoic grace. He still remembers vividly the pounding he took year after year, through 170 games, including four Super Bowls--a career that left him unable to do any exercise other than walking. "Some days the back gets unbearable," he says. "It's really deep in the lower back and goes down to my left buttock and hamstring. Sometimes it gets so bad it hurts my nuts. There's pain down my left leg now. My left foot has been numb for two months. The bone's pressing on the nerve. Too many years of abuse, using the back to block."

Like so many other hobbled former players, Jacoby says he would do it all again if he had the chance. He knew what he was getting into. "Football players know the risk and the consequences," he says. "They know they will pay for it later in life. If they don't, they are misleading themselves."

[cpayne5]

That article was published in '01. I see Jacoby a lot, and around 00, he hit his worst. He looked awful. Since then, he has gotten a lot better. He has put on weight (healthy), has the color back in his face, and seems to getting around much better than he was.

[killromo]

Man that jacoby article paints a vivid picture of life as a 300+ lb. ex nfl lineman. What a tough SOB. Hats off to you sir. I wish players were that tough today.

[freddyg12]

This is a very tough issue and one that has changed a lot since the advent of unrestricted free agency.

I remember writing a paper in college in support of the players strike in 87 w/my main point being that nfl players had no choice of where they work & then often played in pain & suffered lifelong injuries. The one major thing that's changed is that players now have choices & as a result of free agency, have also increased their salaries tremendously.

I don't know what the nfl can realistically do to assist ALL players. The ideal solution would be for the nflpa to step up & the 2 parties agree to include some form of long-term medical insurance provisions in all contracts, which would decrease take home pay. I certainly don't think it's as simple as the NFL taking responsibility for all players beyond their playing years. If a doctor advises a player not to play again, yet the player comes back to play & is re-injured, whose fault is it really?