Well, by now many of you have already taken a look at Monday’s Court Order granting preliminary approval of the settlement offer in the Dryer vs NFL Films lawsuit. (You can read the filing by clicking HERE.)
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And here’s today’s plug for our upcoming Third Annual Independent Football Vets’ Conference May 3 – 5 in Las Vegas. You definitely won’t want to miss our Panel on your rights in general and the NFL Films lawsuit in particular. NO ONE – not the NFL, not the NFLPA, not your agent – has ever explained your rights to you in such detail! Participating on our Panel will be attorney Yakub Hazzard, Bob Stein, retired NFL player and the attorney who got the lawsuit started, along with Hall of Famers Elvin Bethea and Joe DeLameilleure and attorney Shawn Stuckey from Zelle Hoffman (who also played in the NFL).
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Yakub Hazzard is co-chair of the Entertainment and Media Litigation Practice at L.A.-based firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P, specializing in music-related and intellectual property disputes. He represents songwriters, musicians, actors, managers, independent record and music publishing companies, apparel companies, and more. Robins, Kaplan recently joined with Bob Stein and Tom Ward to continue the fight for your rights.
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Some of the retired players participating in our discussion are lead plaintiffs in the original lawsuit and you will be hearing firsthand about their mistreatment and how the settlement negotiations got diverted by a group of attorneys who neither consulted with them nor informed them of any details during the entire process leading up to this current settlement “offer.” Now that the gag order is no longer in place, ALL retired players can now talk freely about the process and the offer, as well as get informed about your rights and all the options each of you can still exercise.
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If you don’t know what just happened in Monday’s Dryer vs NFL Films hearing and the subsequent approved settlement “offer,” you may want to read our other post that includes Judge Magnuson’s “disingenuous” comment about retired players - click HERE.
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With all the lawsuits piling up against the NFL right now, this is definitely one of the most important times that retired players have ever faced in their lifetime. We’ll be discussing these topics and more at our upcoming 2013 IFV Conference in Las Vegas May 3 – 5. Book your flight and hotel reservations NOW before our special discount rates go away next week - then click HERE to lock in your registration for FREE admission to the most important Conference for retired players in years!
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IFV 2013: Who Owns You?
April 10th, 2013 
robertinseattle Final NFL Films Settlement Offer: Good or Bad?
April 10th, 2013 robertinseattle 
A few years ago, we could hear the cussing all the way from NFLPA Headquarters in Washington DC when someone explained the meaning of our Gene Marie Antoinette “Let ‘em eat cake” picture to Gene Upshaw. Well, after hearing Judge Magnuson’s comments about retired players objections to the proposed NFL Films settlement offer, we decided to post a new Marie Antoinette picture (you can see it at the bottom of this post). But first, a little background – here’s the article from the Boston Herald/Associated Press reporters who were covering the hearing in the courtroom yesterday:
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NFL retiree publicity rights settlement approved
Monday, April 8, 2013
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MINNEAPOLIS — The $50 million settlement between the NFL and a group of retired players over publicity rights was given preliminary approval Monday by a federal judge who likened some of the retirees to petulant children for complaining about the money now that it has been awarded.
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IFV 2013: NFL Keeps Trying to Move the Goal Posts
April 8th, 2013 robertinseattle EDITOR’S NOTE: Today, we’re announcing two more of our Concussion Lawsuit panelists. A reminder: There is NO attendance fee for retired players and their guests and approved media (and we still won’t be playing golf either!). But you have to book your travel arrangements NOW and register for your admission badges before rates go up. Links to signing up are at the end of this post.
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By way of introduction, most retired players know that for decades, the NFL has not only been denying the connection between concussions and long-term brain damage but they went so far as to aggressively put up a campaign to not only discredit scientific papers by professionals like Dr. Omalu but they also funded their own phony MILD Traumatic Brain Injury Committee with co-chairs that included the infamous Ira Dr. No Casson. Then a couple of years ago, the NFL funded Sports Legacy Institute’s long-term study of CTE (after denying it) with a $1 million grant with the caveat that “But we won’t have complete studies for many years because no one can detect CTE in a live brain.” Of course, the game changer is that earlier this year, a new CAT scan technique was announced that could detect CTE in live subjects (Dr. Omalu will be addressing this at our Conference). But not to be outdone by the NFL throwing $30 million at the NIH after Junior Seau’s tragic suicide, the NFLPA announced a $100 MILLION grant for further brain studies at Harvard (all with money that could have gone to retired players, of course). With this kind of collusion, it’s small wonder that the NFL is doing another slow reverse to once again deny the link between concussions and long-term brain damage. Worse still, with all the flip-flops, the NFL is going to use a last-ditch effort in the courts to argue that this issue was covered under the current – and past – Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) and their fraud and coverups shouldn’t even be tried in a court of law in front of a judge and a jury! Yeah right – like long-term fraud and deception on your former employees are covered under a CBA!
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Now it comes out that two of the people who recently did consulting work with one of the Philadelphia law firms involved with the NFL concussion litigation have also been working with the NFL.
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Are any of you still convinced that the NFL has players’ best interests on their minds? (Well, maybe Deion Sanders and Herschel Walker…)
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IFV 2013: Brain Injuries, CTE and You
April 6th, 2013 robertinseattle EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re completing our schedule for our upcoming Third Annual Independent Football Veterans Conference once again at the South Point Resort in Las Vegas next month May 3 – 5. We’re going to start posting announcements about our list of prominent panelists who will be flying in to speak and interact with our attendees. Today, we’re very excited to officially announce one of our Brain Injury panelists. As always, there is no attendance fee for retired players and their guests and approved media (and we won’t be playing golf either!). But you have to book your travel arrangements NOW and register for your admission badges before rates go up. Links to signing up are at the end of this post.
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The term most used today in football brain injuries is CTE: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. More and more of you retired players have been reading and hearing this term used in the concussion lawsuits and sports reporting as it continues to make its way into our daily conversations. For those of you still unfamiliar with the terms CTE and tau protein, here’s the definition from Wikipedia:
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“Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a form of encephalopathy that is a progressive degenerative disease, which can only be definitively diagnosed postmortem in individuals with a history of multiple concussions and other forms of head injury. The disease was previously called dementia pugilistica (DP), as it was initially found in those with a history of boxing. CTE has been most commonly found in professional athletes participating in American football, ice hockey, professional wrestling and other contact sports who have experienced repetitive brain trauma. It has also been found in soldiers exposed to a blast or a concussive injury,[1] in both cases resulting in characteristic degeneration of brain tissue and the accumulation of tau protein. Individuals with CTE may show symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression, which generally appear years or many decades after the trauma.
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Everything Retired Football Players Need to Know in 2 Days
April 6th, 2013 robertinseattle 
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Here’s a more detailed overview of the Discussion Panels we’re planning out for our upcoming IFV Conference at the South Point Resort in Las Vegas May 3- 5. You really don’t want to miss this Conference – book your flight and hotel room today while the rates are still low and then register for your free admission passes by clicking HERE.
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FOOTBALL: THE LONG-TERM IMPACT ON NFL FAMILIES
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Our Football Family Panel will include retired players and their families in an open discussion on how football has affected your lives off the field. All too many players and their families have gone through divorces and financial difficulties after their football careers ended and only now are we beginning to realize the impact that concussion issues may have played.
. Read the rest of this entry »
Football Vets Conference May 3 – 5
March 12th, 2013 robertinseattle 
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Our Third Annual Independent Football Vets Conference is set for May 3 – 5 at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas! When you book your Conference weekend, please follow these steps:
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- Book your room using the South Point Reservation link (click HERE) or by calling them Toll Free at (866) 791-7626 and use Group Discount Code INDO0502;
- Book your flight as soon as possible to get the best advance ticket rates;
- Then sign in with that information on our Registration Page (click HERE) so we can have your admission badges ready when you arrive (all retired players and families, panelists and invited media are welcome but you will need an admission badge to be admitted to all events).
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As always, this year’s Conference will be evolving and improving to provide the most useful information to our retired football player community.
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And once again, there’s never a shortage of topics to cover this year at our Third Annual Independent Football Veterans Conference. We’re adopting an informal living room format and assembled discussion panels with audience participation instead of individual speakers for most of our Conference. Each panel discussion will be broadcast and posted as a separate topic covering the most important issues and questions retired players want to know.
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Each panelist will be given an opportunity to talk approximately 5 – 10 minutes about their particular areas of expertise and interest, after which 40 – 45 minutes will then be devoted to general discussion with questions from our audience following the panel conversation. We’ll be posting a list of our panelists and speakers, along with their Bios shortly. Here’s our proposed 2013 Schedule so far (still in final development and subject to changes).
. Read the rest of this entry »
And the Highlights from Our Press Conference
June 27th, 2011 robertinseattle And for those of us with shorter attention spans, the highlights are now up on YouTube from our June 20th 2011 Retired Football Players Press Conference. We’ve uploaded it to YouTube in HD – you can enlarge it to full screen for easier viewing using the enlarge button in the lower right corner of the video window.
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And once again, thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux and her crew. We’re working on shorter individual clips to also be posted daily on YouTube over the following weeks to keep this issue front and center with the fans and general public. Retired Players are NOT going away!
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And for those of us with shorter attention spans, the highlights are now up on YouTube from our June 20th 2011 Retired Football Players Press Conference. We’ve uploaded it to YouTube in HD – you can enlarge it to full screen for easier viewing using the enlarge button in the lower right corner of the video window.
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And once again, thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux and her crew. We’re working on shorter individual clips to also be posted daily on YouTube over the following weeks to keep this issue front and center with the fans and general public. Retired Players are NOT going away!
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And a little something extra: Hall-of-Famer Gale Sayers is mad too!
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HOW YOU CAN HELP: Click on the Like button on YouTube, as well as passing these videos along to all of your friends. You can also post our video links to your Facebook page if you have a Facebook account and Tweet it to Twitter (you can use those buttons at the bottom of each of our posts). And please be sure to click on the Sign Our Petition link at the top of the sidebar on the right to let everyone know you support these guys!
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Retired Football Players June 20th Press Conference
June 25th, 2011 robertinseattle Thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux and her crew, we now have the full June 20th 2011 Retired Football Players Press Conference held at the Washington Press Club. We’ve uploaded it to Veoh in HD – you can enlarge it to full screen for easier viewing using the enlarge button in the lower right corner of the video window.
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Retired Players Scorecard So Far
June 23rd, 2011 robertinseattle 
Negotiations between the NFL and its current players are near conclusion. Reliable sources are reporting that a deal to end the current lockout is imminent.
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Left outside of the negotiating process has been the NFL’s retired players. Retirees are routinely forgotten by both the league they helped build and a Union that has abandoned them. We must not forget these heroes of our youth, the titans who built the game and turned the NFL into the multibillion-dollar industry that it is today. Most retired players played the game at a time when big money did not rule the sport, but nonetheless the names of these athletes are burned in the memories of fans forever. Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Y.A. Title, Lenny Moore, Lem Barney and Art Donovan to name a few.
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Fans of the game would be shocked and saddened if they knew the harsh realities faced by NFL retirees:
- A majority of NFL retirees never made the millions of dollars being paid to current players;
- A majority of NFL retirees have spent more money on medical expenses than they ever made playing football;
- The NFL’s disability system currently provides money for only 4% of its retired players;
- Draconian rules set-up by the League and a Union that does not represent the interest of its retirees, leave most former players needing to rely on Social Security to fix their broken bodies;
- Underfunded pension benefits have left even some Hall-of-Famers receiving less than $200 per month to live on.
Retired NFL Players Need Your Help Today!
June 22nd, 2011 robertinseattle Negotiations between the NFL and its current players are near conclusion. Reliable sources are reporting that a deal to end the current lockout is imminent.
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Left outside of the negotiating process has been the NFL’s retired players. Retirees are routinely forgotten by both the league they helped build and a Union that has abandoned them. We must not forget these heroes of our youth, the titans who built the game and turned the NFL into the multibillion-dollar industry that it is today. Most retired players played the game at a time when big money did not rule the sport, but nonetheless the names of these athletes are burned in the memories of fans forever. Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Y.A. Title, Lenny Moore, Lem Barney and Art Donovan to name a few.
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Fans of the game would be shocked and saddened if they knew the harsh realities faced by NFL retirees:
- A majority of NFL retirees never made the millions of dollars being paid to current players;
- A majority of NFL retirees have spent more money on medical expenses than they ever made playing football;
- The NFL’s disability system currently provides money for only 4% of its retired players;
- Draconian rules set-up by the League and a Union that does not represent the interest of its retirees, leave most former players needing to rely on Social Security to fix their broken bodies;
- Underfunded pension benefits have left even some Hall-of-Famers receiving less than $200 per month to live on.
