Former Pro Bowl D-lineman: "I wish I never played football."

[Salt City Sooner]

Interesting article:


Dave Pear has a message for you.

"Don't let your kids play football," he says. "Never."

It is an odd thing, hearing these sort of words from a man like David Louis Pear, University of Washington standout, Pro Bowl defensive lineman for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders. His five-year NFL career was one thousands of high school and college athletes would envy -- charging out of a darkened stadium tunnel, 70,000 fans screaming for you, loving you, praising you, idolizing you.

"You wanna know the truth?" says Pear.

The question lingers -- the 56-year-old ex-athlete preparing to unload one more skull-splitting hit.

"I wish I never played football. I wish that more than anything. Every single day, I want to take back those years of my life ..."

The words are not subtle. They spit from Pear's mouth, with a blistering contempt normally reserved for drunk drivers. We are speaking via phone. I am in New York, sipping a hot chocolate, leaning back in a chair. My two young children are asleep. A Pretenders song, "2000 Miles," plays in the background. No worries, no complexities. Pear is sitting at his home in Seattle. His neck hurts. His hips hurt. His knees hurt. His feet hurt. When he wakes up in the morning, pain shoots through his body. When he goes to sleep at night, pain shoots through his body. What does Pear do to stay active?

"My life is simple," he says. "It's hard to get out of bed, but eventually I do. I try and do a little walking on the treadmill. I take naps. I go to physical therapy once per week. I read my Bible."

He is, in basic terms, a train wreck -- a football-inflicted train wreck. Pear walks with a cane and, often, simply doesn't walk at all. He suffers from vertigo and memory loss. Over the past 18 years, he has undergone eight surgeries, beginning with a Posterior Cervical Laminectomy on his neck in 1981, and including disc removal and rod fusion in his back (1987), arthroplasty in his left hip (2008) and, earlier this year, four screws removed from his lower back. Though he chalks up his physical ailments to snap after snap of punishment, he pinpoints the biggest problems back to 1979 and '80, his final two NFL seasons. While playing for Oakland, Pear suffered a herniated disc in his neck that never improved. Despite the unbearable agony, he says the Raiders urged him to keep playing.

Be a man! Be tough! "Those last two years in Oakland were very, very difficult times," he says. "I was in pain 24 hours per day, and my employers failed to acknowledge my injury. Sure, I won a Super Bowl ring. But was it worth giving up my health for a piece of jewelry? No way. Those diamonds have lost their luster."

Throughout North America, many of Pear's retired football brethren hear his words and scream, Amen! Conrad Dobler, the legendary Cardinals offensive lineman, is about to go through his 32nd knee surgery. Wally Chambers, the Chicago Bears' three-time Pro Bowl defensive end, spends much of his time in a wheelchair. Earl Campbell, the powder blue bowling ball, struggles to walk and underwent surgery to remove three large bone spurs. The list is both heartbreaking and never-ending -- one NFL player after another after another, debilitated either mentally, physically, or both. I'm currently working on a book that has led me to interview more than 150 former players. I'd say 60 percent experience blistering pain from a sport they last played two decades ago.

"And the NFL," Pear says, "doesn't care."

Hence, he is fighting back. Two years ago, Pear started a blog, davepear.com, with the intent of supporting hobbled NFL veterans and calling out the league's laughable disability policy. Pear says he first applied for disability benefits in 1983, and was denied. He applied again in 1995, under a new provision that stated players would be compensated should they properly prove their injuries were permanently debilitating. A league-appointed physician examined Pear and filed a report stating that a man who once bench pressed 500 pounds could no longer sit, stand or bend for prolonged time periods.

To Pear's shock and dismay, benefits were again denied.

Finally, in 2009, Pear's request was accepted, and he now receives a whopping $40,000 annually. "Am I financially stable?" he asks with a laugh. "Let's put it this way. By the time I was 27 I had two children and medical bills that would reach $500,000. I can't work, my wife, Heidi, has had to hold two and sometimes three different jobs at the same time. And why? Because the NFL hasn't allowed me and my family to receiver proper benefits."

Pear pauses. He worries that he sounds like a typical whiner -- some ex-jock who didn't appreciate making it big. "This isn't even about me," he says. "It really isn't. There are guys so much worse off than me, it's criminal. We dreamed our whole lives to play professional football, and our dreams came true. And then they turn into nightmares."

Pear is blunt, like a rusty dental knife. He considered Gene Upshaw, the former NFL Players Association executive director, to be a criminal. "He was Ken Lay," he says of the deceased Enron CEO. "Same thing -- took all the veterans he supposedly represented for a ride." He holds out hope that Upshaw's replacement, DeMaurice Smith, might make things right. "I'm keeping an open mind," he says. "I hope Mr. Smith looks at the retired players and sees the wreckage.

"We need help," he says.

A long, painful sigh.

"We need help."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jeff_pearlman/12/18/pear/index.html?xid=cnnbin

[Petro-Sooner]

Interesting.

[Doged]

I guess my complete lack of interest is the price they pay for those multi-million dollar per year salaries.

Not sure what he wants, really, but I suppose I hope he gets it.

[tanjou]

It's not simply an 'interesting' article. The NFL has quite the history of a) denying players' injuries are tied to play, b) delaying/denying/reducing payment of submitted medical bills, and c) lambasting and obfuscating studies or reports that link specific injuries to specific equipment/play and general trends in player health (such as the recent Alzheimer's study from which the NFL distanced itself after it found dramatic increases and trends in mental disability in former players).

If the NFL were to ever completely own up to the responsibilities it has to former players, it would be in severe jeopardy. It's a business, as so many players love to parrot while they are still in the game but are destroyed by when it they are out of it. Just one player able to prove the NFL's liability, or worse, negligence, could destroy the league. Thus, former players will always have an uphill battle.

Football is fun to watch, but the business and many people behind it are just as ****ty as anywhere.

[tanjou]

I guess my complete lack of interest is the price they pay for those multi-million dollar per year salaries.

Not sure what he wants, really, but I suppose I hope he gets it.
On this note, repetitive surgeries pretty much prevent a guy from getting an individual insurance policy, and he can't work to get on an employer's plan, so no matter those millions of dollars can be sucked up pretty quickly, especially if you have a family.

But, go on not giving a **** about someone after they're done entertaining you.

Really, if you don't know how to manage all that money you deserve to live the remaining 30 years of your life in constant and debilitating pain. Should have finished school, right lol

[bluedogok]

I guess my complete lack of interest is the price they pay for those multi-million dollar per year salaries.

Not sure what he wants, really, but I suppose I hope he gets it.
The guy is 56 years old, most of them got nowhere close to million dollar salaries, in fact most barely made more than what you would consider a "below average" salary these days and back then they weren't appreciably higher than the mean at that time. Player salaries didn't really explode until the late 80's (the first million dollar contract was in 1983) and most of the guys in the age group of Pear either were already out of the league (his last season was 1980) or on the tail end of their meager (compared to even the salaries at that time) contracts.

The league was built on these guys and it seems most of the ownership, league office, union and current players act like they never existed. The former players should have more done from a disability stand point than they do now but the union leaders main concern is getting more money for the current players, so they can keep their jobs. As tanjou posted, I think the players since the salary explosion happened have much less to gripe when they get older than the guys who were making 25,000 a year playing football.

[rawlingsHOH]

I agree 100%.

My dad feels the same way.

My kid will not play football past middle school. It's better to be able to walk pain-free at 40.

[Eielson]

Poor guy that got paid tons of money for playing a game tons of kids play for free.

[Scott D]

I guess my complete lack of interest is the price they pay for those multi-million dollar per year salaries.

Not sure what he wants, really, but I suppose I hope he gets it.

Sounds like what he wants is the same thing that other occupations have when someone becomes disabled because of the occupation.

The NFL is worse than Social Security when it comes to being able to legitimately draw your pension due to disability.

[bluedogok]

Poor guy that got paid tons of money for playing a game tons of kids play for free.
In this Washington Post Magazine article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/02/01/DI2008020102149.html) it states that the most he made in any one season was $115,000. That was good money at the time but not really a "ton" of money and nothing like what players make now.

[Eielson]

In this Washington Post Magazine article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/02/01/DI2008020102149.html) it states that the most he made in any one season was $115,000. That was good money at the time but not really a "ton" of money and nothing like what players make now.

What does that convert to now?

[royalfan5]

As far as I can tell, the NFL is just about as shady as the average fight promoter.

[bluedogok]

What does that convert to now?
I don't know but I don't think it comes close to what most in the NFL are making now. I just think the NFL and NFLPA should take better care of those who built it since they didn't have the same type of financial situation when the Pear's and Otto's played. To me the current players should care more about the situation. I think the players now face a completely different situation at retirement, most players back then probably had "regular jobs" in the off season, it wasn't until shortly after that that a "full time" NFL player became the norm.

[Curly Bill]

As far as I can tell, professional sports is just about as shady as the average fight promoter.

FIXED

[Jdog]

This is why I think Sammy looks smart go later in the draft. At least he won't be playing for the o-line in Detroit. It would be great to see him go later to someone like Minnesota.

[Leroy Lizard]

According to http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi, $115,000 in 1983 is worth about $236,478 now.

[texas bandman]

$115,000 converts to $300,556.51 in current dollars...not a fortune by any means.

[rawlingsHOH]

This is why I think Sammy looks smart go later in the draft. At least he won't be playing for the o-line in Detroit. It would be great to see him go later to someone like Minnesota.

He'd get KO'd behind that line too.

[Eielson]

$115,000 converts to $300,556.51 in current dollars...not a fortune by any means.

Oh well. He still got the chance to do something most kids can only dream about, and he was able to do it well. I don't feel too sorry about him.

That's still not a bad chunk of change, though.

[King Barry's Back]

Oh well. He still got the chance to do something most kids can only dream about, and he was able to do it well. I don't feel too sorry about him.

That's still not a bad chunk of change, though.

Not sure what you are trying to say. The astronauts that died on the Space Shuttle had a chance to do something that school kids around the world dream of, so should we not care that they passed away?

Wouldn't it be better if NFL vets, while remembering the "glory days" of their youth, were able to live semi-normal lives? From what I'm hearing, that's rarely the case now-a-days.

Does the NFL bear responsbility (legally or morally) for the disabled? I don't know. I don't have enough information. But the league should at least feel bad about the suffering, but they seem not to care at all, which is the behavior that has brought the criticism against the front offices.

I mean, 32 knee surgeries? Can you imagine?

[SoonerMavrick25]

Poor guy that got paid tons of money for playing a game tons of kids play for free.

Wow...

Merry Christmas dude...

Drink some more egg nog..

[soonerloyal]

I ask myself...if this were someone I cared for even more than "just" a precious fellow human being, how would I want them treated? This is another case of if it were my son, my husband, my father or brother - money would be irrelevant. I would want them treated well, treated fully, valued far beyond their ability to bring in gross profits. We all deserve to be healthy and well. We all matter.

Greed is venal; greed over human life and well-being is worse. Love of money...the root of all evil. Yep.

[Eielson]

I mean, 32 knee surgeries? Can you imagine?

Okay, I'm going to take the hit to my ego, and say that I didn't read the whole article. I thought it was just some article about some old guy whining that he struggles to get out of bed, and skipped over most of it. Many old people struggle to get out of without football, and it's a given that will happen if you play a long career in the NFL. However, no, 32 knee surgeries is not the norm.

[BoulderSooner79]

The old school way of handling athletes was much more tidy. After a combatant was too old/weak/injured and could no longer entertain the audience, it was thumbs down and kill them right there. I'm talking old-old Roman gladiator school.

[TUSooner]

I guess my complete lack of interest is the price they pay for those multi-million dollar per year salaries.

Not sure what he wants, really, but I suppose I hope he gets it.


Your cynicism is repulsive and disgusting. May it come back upon you.

Besides, lots of those guys got crippled up before the zillion dollar salaries hit, especially the linemen.

[TUSooner]

Poor guy that got paid tons of money for playing a game tons of kids play for free.

Shame on you too. May you be treated likewise in your time of trouble.

[TUSooner]

Don't you love it when people living large, and young, and healthy dump on people who are down and out and old ?

:rolleyes:

[IBleedCrimson]

Poor guy that got paid tons of money for playing a game tons of kids play for free.

woooow. I feel really sad for you... Something important is just missing

[goingoneight]

The Earl Campbells and Billy Sims I have no exact idea what they were paid. But if I hear a modern day football player pizzing and moaning for money in the future I'll be tempted to ask if he really needed those 15 shiny, new Caddies, that mansion or that dog-fighting ring they enjoyed between football hours.

[goingoneight]

For the record, I understand not everyone makes TO money to take a beating in teh Neffel.

Before I get negged to Bolivia, I did say "some" of today's players.

[Leroy Lizard]

Don't you love it when people living large, and young, and healthy dump on people who are down and out and old ?

You're assuming everyone in here is living large and young. I am sure many of us have very serious health matters of our own.

But unless you are celebrity, no one cares. And that is the honest truth.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

His take on the NFL and the Players Union, especially regarding the players from the past, is right on IMO...

[adoniijahsooner]

His take on the NFL and the Players Union, especially regarding the players from the past, is right on IMO...

Do you remember a guy about 5-6 years ago, that went to the combine and was considered a top 10 pick, but walked away because he said he was made to feel like cattle? I think he coaches high school or something now; but he passed up millions.

[TUSooner]

An ironic fact seems to be that the Neon Deions and Michael Irvins and other hot shot WR & DB types who made obscene amounts of money are not the guys who suffer the debiltating injures like linemean, linebackers, and RBs suffer.
Regardless. To tell someone who laid their health on the line for your mere entertainment, "You got yours, so suffer!" is just wrong.

[Leroy Lizard]

To tell someone who laid their health on the line for your mere entertainment...

But they didn't do it for our entertainment. They did it to serve their own wants and desires. Which is fine, but let's not misportray their deeds. Their injuries are like any other work-related injury, although more severe than most.

[TUSooner]

You're assuming everyone in here is living large and young. I am sure many of us have very serious health matters of our own.

But unless you are celebrity, no one cares. And that is the honest truth.
Thanks for keeping it real, Mr. Contrary. ;)

No, I'm not assuming; but if the shoe fits....
And I'd bet you a nickel that those with their own "very serious health matters" are not be the ones swift and smug to blow off someone else's suffering.

Do I think jocks get away with special treatment and are generally undeserving of sympathy for the results of their own foolishness? Yes indeed. But that's not to say that the guys who laid it on the line for the NFL (and its fans) don't deserve fair treatment.

I also know that lots of poor whiners in society are simply lying in beds of their own making. But I've heard so much crap lately about how "this one or that one" deserves to suffer, that I'm fed up with those who easily use that as a cop-out for not having even a trace of compassion for others.

[Salt City Sooner]

His take on the NFL and the Players Union, especially regarding the players from the past, is right on IMO...
Ditto. To this point, he doesn't have any personal reason to feel the way he does (health-wise, that is), but if you want to see Mike Ditka go ballistic, just bring this subject up & you'll get your wish in pretty short order.

[adoniijahsooner]

But they didn't do it for our entertainment. They did it to serve their own wants and desires. Which is fine, but let's not misportray their deeds. Their injuries are like any other work-related injury, although more severe than most.

The only difference being, if you get injured at work, your job will take care of you. They don't force you back out onto the sales floor if you've just broken your pinky finger trying to make copies. In fact, you are in danger of being fired if you do not report an injury.

[TUSooner]

But they didn't do it for our entertainment. They did it to serve their own wants and desires. Which is fine, but let's not misportray their deeds. Their injuries are like any other work-related injury, although more severe than most.

I swear, you must stay up all night thinking of logical hairs to split.

[BoulderSooner79]

But they didn't do it for our entertainment. They did it to serve their own wants and desires. Which is fine, but let's not misportray their deeds. Their injuries are like any other work-related injury, although more severe than most.

I agree players make this commitment for their own purposes, but many do this as teenagers in high school or even earlier. And they need to become almost obsessed or at least very focused to make it due to the competition. The players moving from college to the NFL are not mature enough to think of life after football even though they are young men by then.

[adoniijahsooner]

Thanks for keeping it real, Mr. Contrary. ;)

No, I'm not assuming; but if the shoe fits....
And I'd bet you a nickel that those with their own "very serious health matters" are not be the ones swift and smug to blow off someone else's suffering.

Do I think jocks get away with special treatment and are generally undeserving of sympathy for the results of their own foolishness? Yes indeed. But that's not to say that the guys who laid it on the line for the NFL (and its fans) don't deserve fair treatment.

I also know that lots of poor whiners in society are simply lying in beds of their own making. But I've heard so much crap lately about how "this one or that one" deserves to suffer, that I'm fed up with those who easily use that as a cop-out for not having even a trace of compassion for others.

I agree. Brittney Murphy dies, and the 1st thing people say is "drugs". Come to find out she was sick prior to dying. To be honest with Myspace, facebook, twitter, and everything else that feeds into our selfishness, it makes it difficult to care about someones else's sorrow. I feel bad for this guy, no matter how much money he made.

[Leroy Lizard]

Here is what you said:


To tell someone who laid their health on the line for your mere entertainment

They didn't lay their health out on the line to entertain us. That was not their purpose. You are infusing more nobility in their motives than they deserve.

Are they bad guys? Of course not. Do they deserve such ailments? Of course not. Are they worthy of sympathy? No more nor less than anyone else facing similar problems.

[TUSooner]

Here is what you said:



They didn't lay their health out on the line to entertain us. That was not their purpose. You are infusing more nobility in their motives than they deserve.

Are they bad guys? Of course not. Do they deserve such ailments? Of course not. Are they worthy of sympathy? No more nor less than anyone else facing similar problems.

We were entertained by them, regardless of their personal motives. So now it's wrong for us to toss them aside like used dishrags.

[Leroy Lizard]

Do they care about my problems? No.

Sorry, but just because someone is a celebrity doesn't make their problems more urgent than anyone else's.

[BoulderSooner79]

We were entertained by them, regardless of their personal motives. So now it's wrong for us to toss them aside like used dishrags.

It's the owners and players union that needs to make sure players can transition out of the game and have a relatively normal life. 22 yo kids lured by riches and fame who have been thinking of nothing else since HS don't have the life experience to think longer term. The players union entry fees should be high and the owners contributions to pension funds as well so there are funds that last longer than the active playing career.

[badger]

The NFL is in an interesting position. Sure, the league makes tons of money off the backs of really talented athletes who on average, will only last about three years professionally before getting cut. However, it's not like these athletes have many other options to play professionally.

In baseball, there's many leagues overseas, minor leagues, etc. Same for basketball, both mens and womens.

In football? There used to be an AFL, USFL, XFL, NFL Europe. Arena Football will return to play soon, and there's a Canadian league, but what other league is out there to compete with the NFL for the talents of these players?

There is a moral reason for a league to try to do what's right and take care of these players, but from a Scrooge-like business and monetary side, there's no other reason to, because these players aren't going to play elsewhere.

It's similar to the situation the WWE is in. In pro wrestling, they're pretty much it because WCW folded (although there's a smaller company called TNA). The WWE has mandatory drug testing and offers counseling to current and former wrestlers, but many, many pro wrestlers after retirement have terrible medical hardships and many die at earlier ages than most, because of the physical demands of the sport.

The moral high ground people in the WWE and NFL would say "We gotta do something to take care of our employees that made us so much money." However, the scrooges likely have a mindset similar to Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle." The scrooge will say "Why pay more for health benefits and insurance and such when I'm the only league in town for these guys? Take my offer or leave it!"

Like "Age of Business" workers, it's a business-sided market for pro football and pro wrestling. Thus, I take no stock in arguments saying "The players chose to accept the pay they were offered" or "The current players should demand more for retired athletes." The players have no say. They have no leverage... and if they don't like it, roster spots are limited and teams cut dozens of players every preseason that would love to get back in the mix.