NFL Lockout

[General Lud]

David Zirin wrote a decent article on the issue. Framing it class terms, where even though NFL players are paid millions, surplus value theory still comes into play (no pun intended) with owners taking home the lion’s share of profit.

Essentially the owners are attempting to increase work time and cut benefits for their employees.

Furthermore, given that the NFL is practically the new working class religion...the mixing of labor politics and something so widely followed, is at least an opportunity to link the collective bargaining struggles of the players against their billionaire owners, to more applicable everyday struggles.

[jbaez]

It's true, this does link a critical issue with a common interest of many people internationally (professional sports in general), and for that reason alone it can serve as a means for raising class consciousness and sparking discussion about pertinent working class issues amongst a large group.

I definitely have to read up on this more. It makes me think a lot about some minor league baseball players, the type of guys who sacrifice their bodies for their work and may never even make it to the big leagues other than a few starts as utility or something. Some dudes are genuine members of the working class and I stand in solidarity with them, because on the other hand there's also a fair amount of professional athletes that are bourgeois as fuck, and I'm not interested in that crap.

I'd like to hear other opinions on this. By the way, which article by Zirin were you referring to? I googled it and read a few things.

[General Lud]

I don't have the official paper work to link.

but if you have the time, I know a way you can get a free ipod.

[Sensible Socialist]

Here are some good articles by Dave Zirin:

http://www.edgeofsports.com/2011-02-15-599/index.html
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2011-03-06-605/index.html
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2011-03-14-607/index.html

By the wife of an NFL Linebacker:
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2011-03-22-608/index.html

It's important to recognize that the lockout does not only affect wealthy players. Thousands of low-wage workers toil in the stadiums, day after day. No season, no work.

[khad]

One of the sticking points is that the owners keep wanting them to play more and more games per season. It's just not physically possible due to the nature of the sport.

http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/New-NFL-goal-A-longer-life-1272886.php#page-2


Retired NFL players arrived in shifts Thursday at Health Force Partners, participating in what might best be described as a medical minicamp, all hoping to make the cut.

While several of these guys greeted each other with wisecracks and back slaps, Alonzo Mitz quietly slipped into the private waiting room and sat down by himself. Mitz last pulled on a Seahawks uniform in 1993, as a speedy and indestructible defensive end. Turning 45 next month, he's a middle-aged man experiencing battle scars and vulnerability.

"I've been having heart palpitations, and I just had some the other day," he said. "I worry about that. That's one of the reasons I'm here."

Mitz was one of 35 former pro football players from the region coaxed to this Bellevue medical clinic for a series of heart screening tests conducted by Denver cardiologist Jeffrey Boone and funded by an alliance of NFL organizations -- taking part in an innovative program considered overdue for a violent sport characterized by startling low life-expectancy rates, depending on playing position, of 53 to 59.

"You get hit three, four, five times per play, and that's 40 to 50 plays per game," Mitz said. "It's kind of like smashing into a wall going 15 to 20 miles per hour. I was faster than the normal defensive lineman, so I went more like 35 to 40 miles per hour."

The average NFL player plays just 3.52 seasons and loses two to three years off his life expectancy for every season played. Mitz spent six seasons with the Seahawks on top of his four demanding college years at Florida. He knows this could significantly shorten his life.

Several players declined to be tested, either angry with the NFL for past neglect or fearful of the results. Not Mitz.

"I'd rather know than not know," he said. "This isn't football anymore. This is fourth-down-and-1 for real."http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5294399


In quotes released by the NFL Players Association, Tom Brady and Ray Lewis expressed concern about the damage that two extra regular-season games could do to players' bodies.

"I've taken part in several postseason runs where we have played 20 games," said Brady, the New England Patriots' quarterback. "The long-term impact this game has on our bodies is well documented. Look no further than the players that came before we did. Each player today has to play three years in order to earn five years of postcareer health care."

"I know our fans may not like preseason games, and I don't like all of them," said Lewis, a Baltimore Ravens linebacker, "but swapping two preseason games for two end-of-season games -- when players already play hurt -- comes at a huge cost for the player and the team."

[Robespierre Richard]

Have they considered reducing the pads and such? Because one problem of the game is that you really can hit as hard as you can without injuring yourself on the spot. That and it requires people who are like 300 pounds to be defensive linemen because it's just really hard to move them even if you tackle them.