Today, Michael Wilbon wrote a good article defending Bryant Gumbel's right to say what Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw.
Wilbon doesn't agree with the comment and writes a powerful defense of Upshaw. Frankly, I thought Upshaw was weak as well. Then, Wilbon writes this:
It's a position I reject for the simple reason that pro football, regardless of who leads the union, has never had and will never have the leverage that pro basketball players and baseball players have in collective bargaining negotiations. The NBA sells stars, plain and simple, and stars are paid lavishly. MLB does so to a lesser extent, but the baseball player as an iconic figure has been an American cultural phenomenon for more than a century.
Pro football, on the other hand, sells the jersey and hardly anything else. Right now, if Santana Moss walked down Connecticut Avenue in a pair of khakis and a polo shirt, 95 percent of Washingtonians would have no idea who he is. His face is obscured by a helmet, his body by pads. Partly it's a numbers game; basketball has 12 players on a team; football has 53.
...
Upshaw didn't cross that line. Players did -- union members. And they did it because many realized it doesn't matter to patrons who is inside the jersey. They'll go to the games regardless. People packed RFK Stadium for that last replacement game and the owners won that labor fight in a beat-down. Nobody's going to see a Wizards team of replacements. But if there were an NFL work stoppage tomorrow morning, the owners would put replacement players on the field to open the season and most stadiums would be packed. The owners know it and Upshaw knows it. So he proceeds wisely, in a way that makes sense for his constituents.
With those paragraphs, Wilbon showed me I was wrong on the matter.
But I still like Gumbel's resolve to say what he wants to say.
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