Dave was hit by a Randy Johnson fastball for uttering:
 DN> time I'd reached my stop, we had 6 or 7 people in the bus involved
 DN> in the conversation.
Just about anything that they said was merely lip synchs of what the media 
had been saying prior to that. This *greed* argument has been going on for a 
long time and it's only the occasional article that pops up in SI or USA 
Today that makes it seem like something recent. Many of these guys that are 
in their 50s and 60s were taking *greed* pot shots at the very same people 
that they are holding up to the younger generation as examples of all that 
was good in "their day." (Ted Williams has always blamed one Boston writer 
for him not getting an MVP or two when in fact, he wasn't the only one 
critical of Ted. This vendetta that he has against the guy has made it seem 
like only one writer *hated* him and those others are off the hook. They 
didn't vote against him, however, they did write articles that were critical 
of him).
 DN> Then explain player strikes.
Players strikes are just like any strike. If you look at the older players 
and their constant whining about their pension and some of them are taking 
shots at the younger players for being so greedy that they won't help them 
out when in fact, it was management that is the source of their problems. The 
older players were scared by management not to form unions and management 
screwed them out of any kind of benefits. There are guys that have played 
before the 1950s that got NO benefits until their case was taken up by guys 
like Joe Garagiola and BATS or others in other sports. The strikes have 
forced management into giving the player benefits, relinquishing licensing 
rights, back benefits for older players (Oh, man, Stern and the owners really 
played the old players for all they were worth. They did everything to make 
the old players think that the younger guys were screwing them with their 
actions in the last labor agreement and some of the old fools took the bait 
and sided with management and came out publicly against the players. The 
PLAYERS were the ones that forced management into giving up the money that 
they were to the older players but Stern made them see it as the other way 
around and they spoke out in total belief that the players were screwing the 
"legends" of the game. In that last NBA action, which nearly resulted in 
decertification of the union ala the NFL, the PLAYERS compromised in every 
situation and management wasn't satisfied and they kept going back to the 
players to get them to compromise more. Once they had the old guys on their 
side, they really got down and went back for more) and many of the things 
that you might take for granted at work. Management is required by law to pay 
into workman's comp and they fight every case tooth and nail when in fact, 
these former players weren't even helped by the team when they were injured 
(The Cowboys have several players from the past who never got the medical 
attention they needed and their claims against WC are being challenged by 
Jerry Jones, even though Jones never paid one cent toward their comp claims). 
The strikes have tried to address many of these grievances and not some kind 
of frivilous items as some people might dream up about what the players want.
If it weren't for strikes and work stoppages, the players wouldn't have never 
gotten free agency or higher salaries and while management would have been 
keeping twice as much as they do, the players would have still be seen as 
greedy (For crying out loud, when management was taking 65-70% of the total 
revenue, fans were still moaning about the greedy players when they were 
holding out for $500-$1000 a year. The older fans may have *forgotten* that 
fact but it's true).
--- TrekEd 1.00
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