this is the norm im afraid

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ftalternatingbaron vAlign=top align=right width="99%"><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>When a representative from Gridiron Greats arrived at former NFL player Brian DeMarco's home in Austin, Texas, last month offering financial relief, neither DeMarco nor his wife had eaten for two days. They piled their two young kids into the representative's rental car and went to Wal-Mart.

The first thing DeMarco bought was a cane for $11.

"My future is in a wheelchair," DeMarco said Saturday by phone before boarding a flight to Chicago.

The former offensive tackle has a titanium rod in his back from surgery on his vertebrae.

He has been diagnosed with spinal diseases he needs a medical dictionary to pronounce (ankylosing spondylitis and spondylothesis) and he routinely loses the feeling in his fingers because of nerve damage.

He is 35.

The face of opposition to the NFL Players Association's retirement benefits plan usually is wrinkled and weathered and has gray hair. The problems with NFL retirees fighting bureaucracy or financial woes have become so widespread and documented that the House Judiciary Committee has invited witnesses for an "oversight" hearing June 26 in Washington.

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) will chair the hearing, intended to raise awareness, before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.

Using his new cane, DeMarco hopes to be there to make a statement even if he never gets to say a word.

"A big part of this is seeing me as I am," said DeMarco, who will make his first public appearance as part of the cause Monday during a news conference at Ditka's restaurant. It will feature more outspoken and well-known former players Mike Ditka and Joe DeLamielleure.

"The only thing that gives me courage to do this is somebody has to be a voice for this generation too," DeMarco said. "This is not a contact sport, it's a collision sport. I absolutely want to be part of this fight."

After the Jacksonville Jaguars selected him in the second round of the 1995 NFL draft, DeMarco started all 16 games as a rookie. Before the 1999 season, the Cincinnati Bengals signed the free agent to a three-year, $3.1 million contract. But he never saw most of the money after the team cut him a season later largely because of back and elbow injuries that kept him off the field.

Any savings DeMarco had set aside evaporated quickly after paying for medical costs the last couple of years that easily topped six figures.

His condition prevents him from working to afford health insurance that expired within four years of the end of his NFL playing career.

He and his family have been homeless twice in the last three years and in such desperation that DeMarco's wife contacted the group Ditka and Jerry Kramer started for afflicted players at www.jerrykramer.com.

"I gave every quality of my life to the NFL and I don't have a quality of life now," DeMarco said. "I deserve nothing from the NFLPA? Are you kidding me? Shame on them."

Officials from the NFLPA, their offices closed for the weekend, couldn't be reached Saturday. DeMarco has had his own troubles reaching anybody from the NFLPA on the phone.

His cell-phone records show he has made 128 calls to NFLPA offices since last August. He contends he has been denied disability three times and the NFLPA has yet to assign an approved physician to examine him.

More surgery is needed for his back and elbows, but it's impossible to consider financially. He saves a little by refusing to take painkillers, but the pain can be excruciating.

Since his health insurance ran out, DeMarco estimates the NFLPA has responded with bits and pieces of financial assistance that totals around $10,000, but he blames the group for largely ignoring his pleas for help.

As an example, he recalled a conversation with one official who had sent him $100 for bus fare to a new job in Austin—and encouraged him to walk the several miles to the bus stop.

"My last personal contact with the NFLPA, I was told if I can't help myself, they can't help me," DeMarco said.

"It's not just the bureaucracy of the NFLPA, there's something else going on. I can't pinpoint it other than to look at the leadership."

That refers to NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw, whom DeMarco sent several handwritten personal letters when he was homeless and desperate for money to feed his kids.

Upshaw has been the target of heavy criticism from Ditka and DeLamielleure, among others, to the point that the bickering between the rival groups has threatened to overshadow the real issue.

That will be the point of having DeMarco hobble to the front of the room Monday at Ditka's, and he hopes later this month in Congress, with his wife, Autumn, at his side and conviction in his voice.

"Unfortunately, there are hundreds of guys like me that I represent," DeMarco said. "I'm frustrated, ticked off and very disappointed. I need disability [benefits] to live. I look forward to having a life where I don't have to worry about whether I can pay my bills this month or fear an eviction.

"Do I have hope for the future? For the first time in years, yes, I do."
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I think there's another side to this story as well.
Isn't this also the guy that didn't even show up for multiple job interviews that the union as well as friends set up for him so he could get back on his feet?

wo is me

NFL Players Union Disputes Ex-Jag Brian DeMarco's Claims

Posted Jun 12th 2007 9:22AM by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Jaguars, NFL Gossip, NFL Injuries, NFL Rumors

Former Jacksonville Jaguars lineman Brian DeMarco has become the poster boy for the claims of many retired NFL players that the league and the union have turned their backs on players who left the game permanently disabled. DeMarco says he can barely walk and can't play with his children because of serious injuries he suffered as an NFL player.

But ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports that the union is fighting back. The union says it has given DeMarco nearly $10,000 in the last year, not because it is legally required to do so, but simply because it wanted to help an injured former player. Mortensen reports that a union employee wired $300 "out of his own pocket" to DeMarco just last weekend, only to have DeMarco show up at a press conference Monday to denounce the union. DeMarco also received $50,000 severance when he left the NFL and has a 401K plan with $151,000 in it, the union says.

Even more seriously, an unnamed former teammate of DeMarco's tells Mortensen that DeMarco is (to be charitable) exaggerating or (to be blunt) faking:


The retired players have some valid points, but it sounds like DeMarco was the wrong spokesman to choose.

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/06/12/nfl-players-union-disputes-ex-jag-brian-demarcos-claims/

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2901302

NFLPA documents show $10K in help to DeMarco
By Chris Mortensen
ESPN.com
Updated: June 12, 2007, 10:48 AM ET


Mike Ditka has been saying for months that the NFL and NFL Players Association should provide "documentation" if they want to back up their claims that they are meeting the needs of retired players.

In what may be a first significant strike back at a nasty public relations campaign waged by some retired players such as Ditka, the NFLPA on Monday night provided ESPN with nine canceled checks totaling almost $10,000 that it paid out in the past 12 months for rent, utilities and child support to former NFL lineman Brian DeMarco.

DeMarco, 35, appeared at a press conference on Monday with Ditka and fellow Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, claiming the players union had turned its back on him during a time of financial need caused by his physical disabilities from a five-year NFL playing career.

DeMarco had also told the Chicago Sun-Times that the union had ignored many of his pleas for help.

The NFLPA responded Monday night by producing documents, which included two payments in March from the Player Assistance Trust that totaled almost $3,000 covering rent for DeMarco and a moving company bill. The nine checks covering just under $10,000 since last June were only a "partial report," a union official said, who added that as recently as this past weekend an NFLPA employee wired $300 "out of his own pocket" to DeMarco, who had called saying he was desperate for cash.

Until now, the NFL and the NFLPA had ignored Ditka's request to provide documentation proving the groups are meeting the needs of former players.

"We've wanted to save these guys in need of their dignity, but enough is enough," said Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFLPA. "When they keep calling us out, they better be sure of the facts. We don't need a press conference to tell everyone how wonderful we are. We do our job. We meet their needs.

"We're responsive and we'll continue to be responsive, but DeMarco can't make that claim. In fact, one of the Hall of Famers on Ditka's board is somebody we've helped ... the guy I'm talking about was up there complaining earlier this year when he knew we had just made six mortgage payments for him."

Upshaw would not identify the Hall of Fame player in question but said, "We can't let them manipulate the media anymore. On dire need alone, we made $1.2 million worth of payments to 147 former players last year and paid another $1 million to 140 guys the year before. And we're glad to do it. We don't talk about it. That's what we do."

DeMarco, who was unavailable for comment Monday night, acknowledged to the Sun-Times that he had received about $10,000 in assistance from the NFLPA, yet he still complained about the union's response to his plight.

Another union official told ESPN that it's DeMarco who has been non-responsive, saying he has not returned disability forms which have been sent to him twice and has ignored the NFLPA's instructions to fill out forms for an annuity worth more than $40,000. DeMarco also has received a $50,000 severance claim when he left the NFL after the 2000 season and has a 401(k) plan with $151,000 in it, the official said.

The NFLPA official said it also had lined up a job for DeMarco in Austin, Texas, but that he "no-showed."

DeMarco was a second-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995. He finished his career with the Bengals.

A prominent ex-Jaguars player told ESPN that he and another former teammate "cringed" when they saw DeMarco appear at Monday's press conference. The ex-Jaguar did not want to be identified but said DeMarco has been given significant financial help by his former teammates, including three jobs "that he's blown."

"Now he's walking with a cane in front of cameras," the ex-Jaguar said. "Last time we saw him -- and it was in the past two weeks -- he didn't need a cane. He has some physical problems, yes, but there are other things going on there."

Chris Mortensen covers the NFL for ESPN.

Im a little confused why you all think people should be taking care of these guys.

This guy made millions in the pro's and needs rent.

How bout the guys making 35k and needs money or surgeries. Where can they go for a handout???