- 04:08 PM
- 04/25/24
| Member since: | May 11, 2007 |
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| Last visit: | May 11, 2007 |
hankjones has posted 0 links and 5 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 0 comments to the Locker Room.
Crafty - the point is that NFL players also are eligible for government disability payments. Should they be entitled to demand more money because they happened to entertain some of us while getting disabled? Sure, they have every right to try and public opinion might even be on their side. Still, there are hard-luck stories everywhere. It's tough to work up much sympathy for someone who got a free college education for the use of their physical skills, then got a high-paying job and some measure of fame for those same skills. Following that path could have been a good choice or a bad choice, but any way you cut it, it was their choice. Paul Hornung wants our sympathy? Boohoo. Stop whining, Golden Boy.
posted by hankjones at 12:39 PM on May 11, 2007
Chico - Again, in the real world, people who are disabled get government checks, and so do their children. It doesn't matter if they were unlucky in birth, unlucky in life, took too many drugs or chose a profession that involved being beaten over the head. Emphasize "chose." I feel bad for the people who are in bad situations through no fault of their own, and happily turn over my tax dollars (under threat of imprisonment) to help support them. Why should NFL players with addled brains be treated any better than coal miners with black lung? Don't coal companies make a lot of money? After availing themselves of enough advantages early in life to become the one-in-a-million who makes it to the NFL, they demand that the special treatment last a lifetime. Why are they better than everyone else?
posted by hankjones at 11:39 AM on May 11, 2007
Chico - Yes, that's the point. They are out of the sport at 30 or 35, if they're lucky. That should be plenty of time to use their (usually) free college education to get a decent career going. As for the rate of injury, yes, it's a fact. Maybe they should have taken the free college diploma and run like a bandit to try their luck in the real world. Nobody forced them to play ball.
posted by hankjones at 11:10 AM on May 11, 2007
Are they not eligible for Social Security and Medicare? Do they expect that a part-time job most of them only held for a few years should support them for life? Why should they be treated any differently than a singer or a mail carrier? Or come to think of it, if they had become singers or mailmen after they weren't good enough to play football anymore, they wouldn't be whining for special treatment now.
posted by hankjones at 10:20 AM on May 11, 2007
Ex-players to picket HOF
Got to go. Thanks for the argue, folks. I don't think I changed anyone's mind, but it sure is nice to have a friendly debate with people who spell correctly and write in complete sentences. It beats the heck out of the political discussions.