Earlier this week, I had my say about Bryant Gumbel and his racially inflammatory remarks about Gene Upshaw and his tenure as head of the NFLPA. But the one person who is making the most sense about this kerfuffle is Jason Whitlock.
First, here's a factoid plenty of folks are overlooking when it comes to the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) Upshaw has negotiated with the NFL:
The attack on Upshaw for the lack of "guaranteed" contracts in the NFL is a criticism most often blurted out by loudmouthed fools -- former players turned broadcasters looking to talk tough.The Geto Boys wrote a song about it: "Talkin' Loud Ain't Sayin' Nothin'."
The contracts in Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association are not guaranteed through the collective bargaining agreement. The CBAs in those leagues do not mandate guaranteed contracts.
Digest that for a moment.
The unions did not make guaranteed contracts standard operating procedure in baseball and basketball. Aggressive agents and acquiescent owners did.
And, get this: Despite popular belief, there are a small percentage of player contracts in those sports that are not guaranteed. If the player and the agent don't have the leverage, the deal is not guaranteed.
As Johnny Carson used to say back in the 20th century, "I did not know that" -- which probably explains why I don't write a lot about the NFL CBA.
But Whitlock really lowers the boom on Gumbel when he describes Upshaw as everything Gumbel is not:
There is one other element to the criticism leveled at Upshaw. He's a nontraditional black leader. He doesn't fit the stereotype. He gets blasted for being too cozy with the commissioner and the owners.Translation: Gene isn't angry or militant enough.
Gene would get more respect as a leader if he played the Jesse Jackson role and occasionally called NFL owners two-bit bigots.
I applaud Gene for playing the game on a higher level. He's proving that a black man can get things accomplished without name-calling, without making things personal. He's a businessman, an intellectual. He doesn't need to beg or browbeat. He can deal with the NFL's power structure as an equal, which says something good about Gene and about the power structure.
And in saying that about Upshaw, Whitlock has said all you need to know about Gumbel and the way he does business.
Jason Whitlock making more sense than *anybody* is a definite sign of the apocalypse.
Not only is it a myth that every NBA and MLB player has a guaranteed contract, it’s also a myth that no NFL players have guaranteed contracts. Nearly every NFL player gets a signing bonus, which is guaranteed money unless they quit, and players can (and have) negotiated fully guaranteed contracts.
The teams hate them because they can’t be restructered easily, so guaranteed contracts are never worth as much money. But if a player wants to take less money for the assurance that they’ll actually get every dime, they can negotiate that.