PITT RECEIVER JORDAN ADDISON, right, is a Panther no more. The nation’s leading receiver last season decided to transfer to the University of Southern California for the upcoming season. Some reports suggested he left for a “Name, Image and Likeness” financial deal that college athletes can now receive from marketing and promotions opportunities. Colleges are still not allowed to pay athletes directly. Addison is pictured with former Pitt receiver and future NFL Hall-of-Famer Larry Fitzgerald.
by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier
In July 1892, a dispute between Carnegie Steel and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers exploded into violence at a steel plant in Homestead. It was one of the deadliest labor-management conflicts in the nation’s history because 12 people were killed when workers were striking for workplace rights.
From the beginning of the industrial revolution, Pittsburghers have shed blood, sweat, tears and more blood—fighting to earn a decent wage under decent conditions. However, it appeared that as long as the fight was for the common “Joe” working jobs that at times seemed as if the employment opportunity was located in the pit of hell, then the cry was always Bob Marley-esque screaming, “Get up, stand up, stand up for your right. Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight.”
I am one scribe that for the life of me, can’t figure out how the fervor and passion by one group of people for one platform of workers’ rights can morph into a venomous and emotionless discourse when it comes to honoring and respecting the lives and profession of another group of workers. Remember during the Puritan era, if a man or a woman was found to have committed adultery, they were forced to wear a scarlet “A” stitched across their chest; then the Pittsburgh athletic fanatics of 2022 should be forced to wear double scarlet double “HH” across their chest. The “HH” stands for hypocrites and haters. These members of the “A” club had to exhibit the result of their transgressions by sporting a big, fat “A.” The members of the “HH” club can hide their venom and bile-laced sputum under fake Internet “communication” accounts.
Take college and professional football as a prime example. The University of Pittsburgh men’s football squad rarely sells out home football games (except) for marquee matchups. However, the “HH club” will trash a player if that individual decides to enter the transfer portal to attend a more visible university. The “holistic hypocrites’” and haters should have their lips covered with super glue so they can’t discuss football with anyone and be hogtied so they can’t write about it. As long as these young collegiate athletes make no money or have no power they are no competition for Joe or Josephine, the poor working stiffs that have to KO the clock everyday to pay the rent and put gas in the car. When Josephine and Joe barely make a living wage but college athletes make nada, zilch, nothing for their services, those economic circumstances allow Joe and Josephine to appear to be superior. The volcano of anger of the “HH” club only erupts after a young athlete is rewarded for his collegiate labor by signing a lucrative professional contract.
Now the complaints of the malcontents jump the line to the forefront. They begin with: “Athletes make too much money, they are spoiled and they are compensated far too much just to throw, catch and run with a football.”
However, when business owners balk at paying some workers, a $15 minimum wage because out of 8 hours they take an hour for lunch, 2 15-minute snack breaks, 2 bathroom breaks and 2 “no one can find where they are breaks,” well can you see where I’m going?
The following question was posted on wired.com: “How fast do football players collide?” The answer was the following: “In the NFL, the average speed of a head-to-head impact—the velocity of both heads combined, is 20 mph with the struck player’s head decelerating 14 miles per hour.”
Imagine this; you are a cashier checking out a customer and unbeknownst to you, an out-of-control youngster is charging you from behind with a shopping cart on a collision course with the back of your knees. Do you still think that $15 an hour is adequate payment for what you do? Get ready to put on your “HH” outfit. Talking about money? Ask Ryan Shazier, Michael Irvin, Daunte Culpepper, Reggie Brown, Darryl Stingley, Sterling Sharpe, Steve Young, Rich Gannon, Terrell Davis, Gale Sayers, Chris Spielman, Mack Strong, Bo Jackson, Joe Theisman, Mike Utley, Kevin Everett. All of their careers were ended prematurely by horrific and career-ending injuries.
The sportstar.com posted the following story about former Buffalo Bills standout, Kevin Everett. “Everett’s story is both devastating and remarkable. With a promising NFL career ahead of him, Everett suffered a severe spinal injury Week 1 of the 2007 season while trying to tackle a Broncos’ return man. His condition was deemed ‘life-threatening.’ Slowly, he was able to regain control of his limbs and after months of intense rehab, walked under his own power. Several surgeries later, Everett has had this to say about his injury. ‘I’m glad people still remember me. I wish they could remember me for making touchdowns and making big plays for the Bills, but they still remember me as a person and what I went through in my life. So I very much appreciate that and I love every fan out there that supports me.’”
For all the haters, hypocrites and armchair quarterbacks residing in the ultra-fantasy Mister Rogers’ world of pretending as if they are rich, jet-setting gamblers playing around on DraftKings, please remember this: Players get paid swell because they take risks that many people are too afraid to take. None of us has the privilege to dictate the terms of another man’s value.
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