There is an article in the
NY Post detailing the injuries and financial hardships of retired NFL football players. A number of players suffer dementia, debilitating joint pain, and bankruptcy...
While much-publicized concussions and head injuries account for some of the problem, they’re just one possible hardship of many for those who spend years slamming into each other at full speed.
“Since 2011, at least seven NFL players or former players have committed suicide,” the authors write, noting that one of these, Jovan Belcher, “also killed his girlfriend.”
Super Bowl quarterback Jim McMahon suffers from dementia. Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell “can barely walk,” and “quarterbacking legend John Unitas lost the use of [his] hands and fingers.”
Ex-NFLers Curt Marsh and Jim Otto have both “lost limbs to football injuries.”
On the money end of things, Terrell Owens “is nearly penniless despite earning top dollar for years,” and “seven-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Warren Sapp has filed for bankruptcy.”
Sapp's NFL earnings totaled over $82 million. Now he claims he has nothing.
Terrell Owens made almost $70 million in his career. Also claims nada net worth today.
Earl Campbell has a net worth (2012) of $25 million.
Here is a list of all current NFL salaries.
Many of these players sound like they exercise the same fiscal restraint as the US government.
As far as injuries go, football players have been getting slammed down and banged up for well over a hundred years. And only now the players are aware of the risks? I call BS on this.
Here's some of the
NFL's early history:
1895
John Brallier became the first football player to openly turn pro, accepting $10 and expenses to play for the Latrobe YMCA against the Jeannette Athletic Club.
1896
The Allegheny Athletic Association team fielded the first completely professional team for its abbreviated two-game season.
1897
The Latrobe Athletic Association football team went entirely professional, becoming the first team to play a full season with only professionals.
1898
A touchdown was changed from four points to five. Chris O’Brien formed a neighborhood team, which played under the name the Morgan Athletic Club, on the south side of Chicago. The team later became known as the Normals, then the Racine (for a street in Chicago) Cardinals, the Chicago Cardinals, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phoenix Cardinals, and, in 1994, the Arizona Cardinals. The team remains the oldest continuing operation in pro football.
1900
William C. Temple took over the team payments for the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club, becoming the first known individual club owner.
I don't want to marginalize these injuries. I watched the 1986 game where the Bears Jim McMahon was picked up by the Packers Charles Martin *spit* and
slammed to the ground. I was outraged. Martin should have been arrested.
But let's put this in perspective. Football players are not indentured servants; they are all volunteers and they make a damn sight more money than our people in the armed forces, police and fire who face greater risks.
