Friday, May 23, 2014

The NFL Pinkiller Lawsuit

8 players have filed a new lawsuit against the NFL for giving them painkillers without telling them all the side effects that the medicine could do to them. Allegedly. Also alleged is that the team doctors gave them the medicine without a prescription and that team doctors did not take good enough care of injured players, with the most serious allegations being that the doctors allowed players to play with broken bones. The doctors knew that the bones were broken, but fed the players painkillers so they could play and did not worry about the broken bones, like Jim McMahon's neck or Keith Van Horne's leg. Allegedly.



Now I am usually one that would say that the players have every right to sue and get compensation for this. However, I am not with the players on this one. Please tell me how it takes over 20 years to figure out that the team doctor allowed you to play on a broken leg? Or tell me how in interviews, you acknowledge that you have a broken bone, but have decided to play because the team needs you and are now suing because of that broken bone. Or telling people that the NFL made you a junkie. Or demanding pain medication during the football game, the doctors give it to you and now you are claiming that they were unethical and did not disclose the side effects to you.

The one common thread through the 8 players that initially brought the lawsuit, they have all acknowledged that they were scared for their jobs. They have said that they would have lost their jobs if they did not do these things. So they went along with them. That doesn't sound like being coerced by the NFL or the teams, it sounds like the players making the decision to play and obtain the financial and notoriety rewards that go along with playing football. By using any method necessary to stay on the field.

It is funny. The players want to be recognized for their past accomplishments and come running when the NFL asks them to participate in things associated with the NFL. How many of the players that have joined this lawsuit joined the NFL when the Play 60 program was at its fever pitch? How many come back to the reunions and old-timers days when the teams ask them back? I propose that these players are using this for a money grab. This is another way for them to commit insurance fraud because the NFL has a boatload of money. They want a payday to boost their ego. Some of these players have frittered away their money. They couldn't figure out that the money would dry up sooner or later.

Finally, it is time that the players admit that they should have known how violent the sport was. Let's be real. After each and every game, you walk into the locker room and you have guys bleeding, having dislocations, needing pain medication, and you would think that it might rattle through the neanderthal brain that those things might happen to you. That you wouldn't get through a game without being hit and having your uniform dirty.  Even if you came into the league like that, the training camp and preseason should have woke you up to the reality. But no, these players went through their careers in an ignorant bliss that everything was fine and I just need to play the game.

One more thing, (and yes, I know that I said finally before), where was the NFLPA and the players in this lawsuit when they were playing? Their union and their leadership, this includes you Kyle Turley, was more worried about how to get more of the money pie than it was to eliminate the alleged malpractice of the teams and doctors. I am tired of people deciding that they deserve to be compensated over things that they were at the very least complicit in. Each and every player on this lawsuit is playing dumb and enjoyed their time in the spotlight. This lawsuit is just one more time to hit the pay window.

2 comments:

R.J. said...

Tony Boselli had it right when he went against the players in this lawsuit. He admitted taking painkillers on his own free will, and knew there would be consequences for his actions. But he chose to do it anyway and is okay with it.

Brent said...

Exactly. Every time you decide to put pain medication into your body, you might stop the pain, but you also affect your body chemistry and your organs.