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<blockquote data-quote="HardRightEdge" data-source="post: 779125"><p>Good question.</p><p></p><p>You can point to a players inabiity to sell to the highest bidder over the term of a contract, few or no pay guarantees applicable to most players, the intense physical labor involved, high risk of injury, and a short career.</p><p></p><p>But it is primarily a racial issue. Can anybody recall a white player saying he's a "slave". I can't. Certain players fold the above issues into the fact that ownership, GMs, HCs and coordinators are predominantly whiite. All the bosses are white.</p><p></p><p>Now, the fact that blacks are underrepresented in the coaching and managment ranks is a legitimate concerns. Ownership? That's chiefly a billionaire's trophy hobby. The pool of black billionaires is quite small, the reasons for which are a whole other issue but a practical reality.</p><p></p><p>Consider:</p><p></p><p>1) These guys enter the league in many cases without a college degree or a worthless one. Most amount to high school graduates, having put in a 60 hour college week in football activities, gaining a bachelors degree in football.</p><p></p><p>2) Consider occupations such as garbage collectors, roofers, loggers, commercial fishermen, electrical linemen, steelworkers, oil rig roustabouts, coal miners or cab drivers, just to name a few. These occupations go to persons without a college degree, they are hazardous, and they entail relatively high instances of injury and even death. And in many of these jobs, even if injury or death are avoided, the wear and tear on the back or other body parts lead to permature disability. These occupations are populated with workers both black and white. The starting pay is 1/10 or less of the NFL rookie minimum. There are no guarantees when a layoff or firing could come at the drop of a hat.</p><p></p><p>3) Conversely, more highly paid occupations can entail employment contracts that bind the individual to the company, and non-compete agreements that bind the individual to company interests and limit opportunities even after their departure.</p><p></p><p>4) There is always the "Borland option", something not open to slaves. Play one year, pass Go and collect $500,000, and move on. That's 10 times or more what most of these guys would collect doing anything else at the age of 22. That's one heck of a starting point in life for anybody. If the player sticks around past that point, it's up to the player.</p><p></p><p>Now, if you want to compare the lack of NFL guarantees to guaranteed MLB contracts or a big name actor guaranteed $10 or $20 million even if the movie flops, especially given the risk of injury in football, then in that rarefied "ghetto" of highly compensated entertainers one might suppose NFL players are "slaves" in comparison.</p><p></p><p>But what kind of reality is that? A reality circumscribed to 0.01% of the population? If the expression "get real" ever applied, this is it.</p><p></p><p>Colin Kaepernick, anyone? If you have not figured out a certain fact of life from your own experience, I'll share it with you. There is <em><strong>no free speech in any workplace. </strong></em>Oh, you can always say whatever you like. Heck, you can burn Putin in effigy on the steps of the Kremlin. However, in your office or plant, as at the Kremlin, if you run around saying stuff counter to the interests or mere predelictions of your employer, your head is on the chopping block unless you have union protections. And the universe of such speech that will get you fired ranges far and wide outside the narrow issue of proclamations about racial injustice.</p><p></p><p>On additional note: the smartest guys in this league, they guys who score highest on the Wonderlic test, are the QBs and OLs, a mix of black and white players. I don't recall any of these guys talking slavery. QBs are pressed into talking about stuff all the time and don't use the opportunity to spout off about non-football matters. OLs in particular avoid talking about anything at all. They know all about the bread and where the butter is spread. Even Kapernick straying from the model was talking about police violence; it had nothing to do with employment practice in the league.</p><p></p><p>To me, this stuff should be obvious.<strong> </strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="HardRightEdge, post: 779125"] Good question. You can point to a players inabiity to sell to the highest bidder over the term of a contract, few or no pay guarantees applicable to most players, the intense physical labor involved, high risk of injury, and a short career. But it is primarily a racial issue. Can anybody recall a white player saying he's a "slave". I can't. Certain players fold the above issues into the fact that ownership, GMs, HCs and coordinators are predominantly whiite. All the bosses are white. Now, the fact that blacks are underrepresented in the coaching and managment ranks is a legitimate concerns. Ownership? That's chiefly a billionaire's trophy hobby. The pool of black billionaires is quite small, the reasons for which are a whole other issue but a practical reality. Consider: 1) These guys enter the league in many cases without a college degree or a worthless one. Most amount to high school graduates, having put in a 60 hour college week in football activities, gaining a bachelors degree in football. 2) Consider occupations such as garbage collectors, roofers, loggers, commercial fishermen, electrical linemen, steelworkers, oil rig roustabouts, coal miners or cab drivers, just to name a few. These occupations go to persons without a college degree, they are hazardous, and they entail relatively high instances of injury and even death. And in many of these jobs, even if injury or death are avoided, the wear and tear on the back or other body parts lead to permature disability. These occupations are populated with workers both black and white. The starting pay is 1/10 or less of the NFL rookie minimum. There are no guarantees when a layoff or firing could come at the drop of a hat. 3) Conversely, more highly paid occupations can entail employment contracts that bind the individual to the company, and non-compete agreements that bind the individual to company interests and limit opportunities even after their departure. 4) There is always the "Borland option", something not open to slaves. Play one year, pass Go and collect $500,000, and move on. That's 10 times or more what most of these guys would collect doing anything else at the age of 22. That's one heck of a starting point in life for anybody. If the player sticks around past that point, it's up to the player. Now, if you want to compare the lack of NFL guarantees to guaranteed MLB contracts or a big name actor guaranteed $10 or $20 million even if the movie flops, especially given the risk of injury in football, then in that rarefied "ghetto" of highly compensated entertainers one might suppose NFL players are "slaves" in comparison. But what kind of reality is that? A reality circumscribed to 0.01% of the population? If the expression "get real" ever applied, this is it. Colin Kaepernick, anyone? If you have not figured out a certain fact of life from your own experience, I'll share it with you. There is [I][B]no free speech in any workplace. [/B][/I]Oh, you can always say whatever you like. Heck, you can burn Putin in effigy on the steps of the Kremlin. However, in your office or plant, as at the Kremlin, if you run around saying stuff counter to the interests or mere predelictions of your employer, your head is on the chopping block unless you have union protections. And the universe of such speech that will get you fired ranges far and wide outside the narrow issue of proclamations about racial injustice. On additional note: the smartest guys in this league, they guys who score highest on the Wonderlic test, are the QBs and OLs, a mix of black and white players. I don't recall any of these guys talking slavery. QBs are pressed into talking about stuff all the time and don't use the opportunity to spout off about non-football matters. OLs in particular avoid talking about anything at all. They know all about the bread and where the butter is spread. Even Kapernick straying from the model was talking about police violence; it had nothing to do with employment practice in the league. To me, this stuff should be obvious.[B] [/B] [/QUOTE]
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