Post by TheShadow on Jun 2, 2009 4:55:18 GMT -5
www.insidebayarea.com
By Cam Inman
Staff columnist
SANTA CLARA
GENE UPSHAW'S LEGACY as the NFL Players Association's executive director is a daunting one, and it is very much alive.
DeMaurice Smith is about to encounter this big-time. He is Upshaw's successor, and Wednesday he commences labor negotiations with the NFL.
NFL fans should be worried. We certainly don't know Smith like we knew Upshaw, from his Pro Football Hall of Fame career as a Raiders guard to his 25 years of service as the NFLPA czar.
Upshaw found a way to get it done, and football flourished. Then pancreatic cancer suddenly took his life last August, creating a swarm of uncertainty in an already shaky labor situation between the NFL and its players.
"Gene was an unbelievable note taker, and that is a blessing," Smith said Monday while visiting the 49ers facility, part of a whirlwind national tour. "I can't fill his shoes. I didn't go in with that goal.
"He set the marker, the point on the horizon. It's important to recognize what the job is about. "... When you talk about a legacy, as long as I keep focused on the players, it will work out."
Let's hope Upshaw left a nifty outline on how to negotiate with the NFL. Oh, he surely had his critics, from those wanting a better collective bargaining agreement to ex-players demanding (and still pleading for) an improved life beyond the gridiron.
So, what exactly are in Upshaw's notes, and how were they acquired by — as he calls himself in the third person — "De Smith"?
"No more about the notes," Smith replied.
It was a strange response. A disturbing one, too. We deserve to glean all we can about Upshaw's legacy, unless there really are secrets that Smith intends to use in the upcoming labor talks.
We already know he's following Upshaw's lead and demanding that NFL owners provide full disclosure on their finances. The owners, after all, are the ones who have opted out of a deal that Upshaw and then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue forged in 2006.
Now it's up to Smith and Tagliabue's successor, Roger Goodell, to maintain whatever continuity they can to not disrupt America's favorite sport. Come Wednesday, they'll sit down and start what hopefully will be a workable relationship. They don't have to be as tight as their successors were, so long as a resolution is fair to both sides and our Sundays carry on as we crave.
"It's been a while since before Gene passed that there was a substantial discussion on the CBA," Smith said.
In Smith's former life, he was a Washington-based attorney and a NFL outsider. He looks more like a cornerback than a hulking offensive lineman. He certainly speaks like a politician, and without as much force as Upshaw.
"It's a new world," Smith said of his foray into the NFL. "No one's asked me for my 40 time."
But wait, that could happen today, seeing how he is heading to the Raiders facility for the next stop on his national tour.
Smith, 45, beat out a couple former players (Troy Vincent and Trace Armstrong) and sports attorney David Cornwell in the NFLPA's seven-month search for Upshaw's successor.
On Monday, he offered no timetable for a resolution to the upcoming labor talks. He did not make any staunch demands public. He did not celebrate the likelihood of the salary cap's abolition. He did, however, discuss the possibility of an uncapped season in 2010, and the owners' possible lockout in 2011.
"The players have a very real understanding that there could be a lockout on the horizon," Smith said. "They have very strong feelings about that."
During his "hectic" tour, Smith is talking to players (he insists on calling them "businessmen"), owners, coaches, retired players and fan groups. Hopefully this brings him up to speed on what he's inherited from Upshaw.
"There's never a day I don't wish I could pick up a phone and ask him (for advice)," Smith said. "The union he built, the friends he developed, the relationships he had — those people, they're still there. I cannot hear from him, but I can hear from everyone who met him."
The less we hear from Smith in the future, the better. That would mean the NFL's labor situation wouldn't be as gloomy as it seems, even without Upshaw.
By Cam Inman
Staff columnist
SANTA CLARA
GENE UPSHAW'S LEGACY as the NFL Players Association's executive director is a daunting one, and it is very much alive.
DeMaurice Smith is about to encounter this big-time. He is Upshaw's successor, and Wednesday he commences labor negotiations with the NFL.
NFL fans should be worried. We certainly don't know Smith like we knew Upshaw, from his Pro Football Hall of Fame career as a Raiders guard to his 25 years of service as the NFLPA czar.
Upshaw found a way to get it done, and football flourished. Then pancreatic cancer suddenly took his life last August, creating a swarm of uncertainty in an already shaky labor situation between the NFL and its players.
"Gene was an unbelievable note taker, and that is a blessing," Smith said Monday while visiting the 49ers facility, part of a whirlwind national tour. "I can't fill his shoes. I didn't go in with that goal.
"He set the marker, the point on the horizon. It's important to recognize what the job is about. "... When you talk about a legacy, as long as I keep focused on the players, it will work out."
Let's hope Upshaw left a nifty outline on how to negotiate with the NFL. Oh, he surely had his critics, from those wanting a better collective bargaining agreement to ex-players demanding (and still pleading for) an improved life beyond the gridiron.
So, what exactly are in Upshaw's notes, and how were they acquired by — as he calls himself in the third person — "De Smith"?
"No more about the notes," Smith replied.
It was a strange response. A disturbing one, too. We deserve to glean all we can about Upshaw's legacy, unless there really are secrets that Smith intends to use in the upcoming labor talks.
We already know he's following Upshaw's lead and demanding that NFL owners provide full disclosure on their finances. The owners, after all, are the ones who have opted out of a deal that Upshaw and then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue forged in 2006.
Now it's up to Smith and Tagliabue's successor, Roger Goodell, to maintain whatever continuity they can to not disrupt America's favorite sport. Come Wednesday, they'll sit down and start what hopefully will be a workable relationship. They don't have to be as tight as their successors were, so long as a resolution is fair to both sides and our Sundays carry on as we crave.
"It's been a while since before Gene passed that there was a substantial discussion on the CBA," Smith said.
In Smith's former life, he was a Washington-based attorney and a NFL outsider. He looks more like a cornerback than a hulking offensive lineman. He certainly speaks like a politician, and without as much force as Upshaw.
"It's a new world," Smith said of his foray into the NFL. "No one's asked me for my 40 time."
But wait, that could happen today, seeing how he is heading to the Raiders facility for the next stop on his national tour.
Smith, 45, beat out a couple former players (Troy Vincent and Trace Armstrong) and sports attorney David Cornwell in the NFLPA's seven-month search for Upshaw's successor.
On Monday, he offered no timetable for a resolution to the upcoming labor talks. He did not make any staunch demands public. He did not celebrate the likelihood of the salary cap's abolition. He did, however, discuss the possibility of an uncapped season in 2010, and the owners' possible lockout in 2011.
"The players have a very real understanding that there could be a lockout on the horizon," Smith said. "They have very strong feelings about that."
During his "hectic" tour, Smith is talking to players (he insists on calling them "businessmen"), owners, coaches, retired players and fan groups. Hopefully this brings him up to speed on what he's inherited from Upshaw.
"There's never a day I don't wish I could pick up a phone and ask him (for advice)," Smith said. "The union he built, the friends he developed, the relationships he had — those people, they're still there. I cannot hear from him, but I can hear from everyone who met him."
The less we hear from Smith in the future, the better. That would mean the NFL's labor situation wouldn't be as gloomy as it seems, even without Upshaw.