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| Jim Brown, Teamster organizer and football great |
The NFL Players Association is visiting each NFL city to promote solidarity and tell fans about the dangers of a lockout that looms over the league like a giant mushroom cloud, writes Nick Fierro of the Morning Call.
Rich Hofmann at the Philadelphia Daily News was at the Water Works Restaurant this week with DeMaurice Smith, the head of the NFL Players Association, former players Ron Davis and Garo Yepremian, current Eagles Winston Justice and Ellis Hobbs. Hofmann writes,
...anybody who believes that NFL players can be painted as greedy or undeserving did not see the replay of the kick return, of that helmet-to-helmet hit that Hobbs sustained, of the sickening compression of his neck that Hobbs endured, or the nervous minutes that followed...
anybody who criticizes NFL players for fighting for every last nickel they can get just doesn't get how disposable these guys have always been...The players have a new website, http://www.nfllockout.com/, which explains what the lockout is all about. They point out that a lockout would result in an economic loss of $140 million in each NFL city and 150,000 lost jobs.
They also point out that the owners stand to make more money with a lockout next year than without a lockout. You can also sign a petition at the site, because, as the players say, the players want to play football and fans want to see America’s most popular sport.
The Teamsters, by the way, have a long and storied relationship with the NFL; Jim Brown once passed out union cards in an effort to start a Teamsters affiliate.
