Ditka keeps up attack on NFLPA
Mike Ditka and other former pro football players kept up their attack on the NFL Players Association on Thursday.
Led by the Hall of Famer, the NFLPA again criticized the union for what it claims is a strategy to discredit disabled retired players trying to get disability benefits.
"These people got in front of Congress and lied, actually lied to Congress and said, 'We're going to try to fix this system,' " Ditka said at a news conference in Chicago, referring to last month's appearance before Congress by players association executive director Gene Upshaw.
At the hearing, Upshaw asked Congress for greater authority to improve disability claims, saying the union is now limited in what it can do.
But then, said Ditka, "Two weeks after being in front of Congress they come out and they attack the individuals."
The NFL Players Association recently posted on its Web site a page titled "The NFLPA Truth Squad: Facts vs. Fiction" that explains it will ''correct serious misstatements of fact." The union identifies former players and disputes some of the statements they have made that have been reported in the media.
On Thursday, union spokesman Carl Francis defended the page, saying via e-mail: "While the NFLPA would prefer not to discuss any individual cases, when a player makes false or misleading statements about the facts of his case, we believe the NFLPA has no other option but to respond and correct the record."
Ditka, a Hall of Fame player and former coach of the Bears and Saints, said the "Truth Squad" is part of a union effort to avoid paying for disability benefits that former players deserve.
"If the NFL and the players association don't have the courage to do the right thing to fix this system, I really believe it is the responsibility and obligation of Congress to step in and tell them to do it," Ditka said Thursday.
At Thursday's news conference, former players recounted how they suffered crippling injuries, underwent multiple surgeries and now live with excruciating pain.
"I've had seven spine surgeries, I need a hip replacement, I fall asleep during the day, I suffer from vertigo and have a memory problem," said Dave Pear, who said he's been told he doesn't qualify for disability.
Ditka said he wants a panel of medical experts established "that can evaluate honestly and fairly whether these men are disabled or not."
Gridiron Greats also announced that, in response to the union's "Truth Squad," it has created a section on its own Web site, gridirongreats.org, in which former players can log on and tell of their own efforts to obtain disability benefits from the union and post documents that support those efforts.
No refunds: NFL Players Association lawyers argued that the league's collective bargaining agreement protects Michael Vick from the Atlanta Falcons' attempts to be refunded up to $22 million in bonus money.
A decision is expected by Oct. 12, said Stephen B. Burbank, the University of Pennsylvania law professor and special master who led the arbitration hearing.
The Falcons argued the suspended Falcons quarterback knew he was in violation of the contract when he signed the $130 million deal in December 2004, and that he used proceeds from the deal to fund his dogfighting operation.
New York-based attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who represented Vick and the NFLPA, countered that the CBA extension agreed to last year prevents forfeiture of bonus money even if the player contract says otherwise, union spokesman Carl Francis said.
NFLPA general counsel Richard Berthelsen also represented Vick. Team president and general manager Rich McKay led the Falcons' group.
Falcons spokesman Reggie Roberts said McKay was traveling back to Atlanta from Philadelphia and had no immediate comment.
In pleading guilty to a federal conspiracy charge Aug. 27, Vick admitted helping to kill six to eight dogs, among other things. He faces up to five years in prison and will be sentenced Dec. 10 on the federal charges. He also faces state felony charges in Virginia.
Suspended indefinitely by the NFL without pay, Vick tested positive last month for marijuana, a violation of U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson's order that he stay clean in exchange for being allowed to be free.
After that positive test, Hudson ordered Vick confined to his home address between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., with electronic monitoring and random drug testing.