WEBVTT - How to Break a Union From the Inside: The NFL Players Association, Pt. 2 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:05.519 Cool Zone Media. 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.719 Welcome to It Could Happen Here podcast about the most 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:14.920 unhinged union story I have ever covered. I am your host, 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.720 Mio Wung, and in a moment we will return to 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:24.440 my interview with Yahoo Sports journalist Charles McDonald. So if 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:26.319 you have not listened to the last episode, you should 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.000 listen to the last episodes. We can get you up 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:33.760 to the twenty twenties in terms of the horrifying and 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:40.920 depressing story of the NFL Players Association's leadership gradually selling 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.320 out more and more of their players. 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.199 And in this episode, we're going to really sort. 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.239 Of get down to the brass tacks of what's been 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:54.640 happening in the twenty twenties and answering the question to 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:58.520 what extent has the NFL paid in order to have 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.880 a pro management installed at the head of the union. 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:09.240 A question that is really distressingly. We have good evidence. 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.880 Of this, but before we can get to that, we 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.520 need to talk about one of the other absolutely horrifying 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:19.520 things that this union regime has done, and that is 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.080 the union covering. 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.759 Up as reported by Public Poria. Originally it reports by 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:31.360 an arbitration judge about whether or not the independent teams 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.200 in the NFL, which are supposed to be businesses competing 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.520 against each other. And I kind of emphasize this enough 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:39.640 because this is a major portion of how the NFL's 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.840 anti trust exemption is supposed to work, is that these 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:43.880 teams are nominally competing against each other. So there is 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:48.240 supposed to be a labor market with competition. But this 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.720 document that the union covered up from an arbitration process 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:56.080 they were in is about it has very good evidence 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:00.920 of the league actively colluding in order to pay players less, 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:05.440 and the union covered it up. So here we go 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:06.600 back to our interview. 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.239 Let's talk about this collusion thing, because I've been losing 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:15.160 my fucking mind about this for a really long time 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:22.000 and I cannot imagine just literally having evidence in your 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:26.200 hand that the owners are colluding against your members, like 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.400 like these are literally you, like this is supposed to be. 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:34.480 You, and you're just sing hiding the report even like okay, 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.800 so even if you lose the arbitration. Yeah, the fact 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:42.600 that a judge wrote in a legal document that it 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.000 was like beyond the benstead of a doubt that Roger 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.200 Goodell and the thirty two owners were colluding. 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.040 We've seen text messages between the. 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.079 Cardinals owner and the Chargers owner talking about yeah, how 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:57.080 much to pay Justin Herbert. 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:58.160 Yeah, Lamar Jackson. 0:02:58.440 --> 0:02:59.320 Yeah, Okay. 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:02.720 Can we explain the Lamar Jackson situation and like explain 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:05.440 who Lamar Jackson is for people who don't watch football 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.200 so they can understand how unhinged this is. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.440 Lamar Jackson is a wizard, is the best way that 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:15.440 I could put it. Lamar Jackson. He is the franchise 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.400 quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, and I just think that 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.440 anyone with the brain could have seen what. 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:20.880 Was going off. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.799 Yeah, right, like with this situation, so so and even 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:26.959 before Deshaun, even even before Lamar Jackson. You have to 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.640 take it back to Deshaun Watson trade out of Houston. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.079 Oh god, the one trade we've ever covered on this show, 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.280 because holy shit, dude, Oh but this this is. 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.680 What got the Domino's rolling on this stuff. 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.360 Where As terrible as Deshaun Watson is as a football 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.600 player now and obviously as a human being, yeah, like 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.920 right when he was in Houston, it feels like a 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:54.800 different world, but he was the man, Like he was incredible, 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.320 like to the point where the Texans I think his 0:03:57.400 --> 0:04:00.840 last year starting there, they went four and twelve, and 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.040 it was like, so obviously not his fault, like in 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.280 terms of efficiency, like he was right behind Patrick Mahomes 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:06.800 to the top of the league. Like he got an 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.440 apology from JJ Watt that year saying, like, dude, we 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.160 wasted an absolutely incredible year from you. And then you 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:17.839 know the thirty accusations of at best sexual mixed conduct, 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.800 at worst sexual assault and in some of those cases. 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:22.560 Yeah, it's really hideous shit. 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.920 Right, So then it gets to a point where he 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:28.000 the texts they don't want him there. 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:29.200 He doesn't want to be there anymore. 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:34.200 But you have what looks to be a franchise quarterback 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.840 in his mid twenties available for any team to have, 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.160 you know, with the trade. So my team, Sally d 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.760 lash Falcons, they thought that they had a deal done 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.720 for Deshaun Watson, and then the Cleveland Browns came in. 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.680 And this is where the where the ownership you know, 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.000 feedback with kind of gets broken, where Jimmy has them, 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.080 breaks the ranks and says, I want this guy on 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:58.160 my team so bad. 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:00.040 You know, this is why I like no by. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.039 He ever hit free agency in the NFL, because this 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:03.920 is what it would look like in terms of like 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:05.919 when owners actually have to bid against each other for 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.040 elite talent. Yeah, Jimmy has comes in and says, here's 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.440 five years, two hundred and thirty million dollars. Every single 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.160 penny will be guaranteed, no stipulations, nothing like that. 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:16.560 Which is like not how this works normally, Like, no 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:18.800 one gets guaranteed contracts, right, And. 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.240 Because the previously the actual first player to get a 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.960 fully guaranteed the contract from another team was actually Kirk 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.080 Cousins with the Vikings when he left Washington. They gave 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:30.920 him like a three year I think it was three 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.200 years eighty eight million dollars fully guaranteed. But still that 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.400 ain't five years, two hundred and thirty Yeah, you know. 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.680 And what the owners were mad about was not that 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:43.760 you would seek out someone with the personal background Deshaun 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.880 Watson to represent your franchise, is that you would pay 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.760 any NFL player two hundred and thirty million dollars guaranteed. 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.600 Because now that sins precedent. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.520 Because if you're Lamar Jackson whose contract was coming to 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:00.960 an end at the season after de Shaun Watson signed 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:04.560 this deal, I didn't touch those women. Yeah, I'm an 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.680 MVP quarterback and I'm in my twenties. Why shouldn't I 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.919 get a fully guaranteed contract. Yep, right, which is what 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:14.960 he was doing. And the Ravens they said, okay, fine, 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:16.920 go out into the market. 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:19.400 And I felt like I was going. 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.960 Insane during this because, oh my god, there were so 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.360 many arguments from talking heads about why teams shouldn't sign 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.719 Lamar Jackson. So he was hit with what's called a 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:32.080 non exclusive franchise tag, which means the Ravens. I don't 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.839 even know how how the idea of the franchise tag 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.320 existing is another youth like labor. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.640 L hideously anti labor practice. 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.600 Right, So his contract with the Ravens is over and 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:46.680 they can hit him with an exclusive franchise tag, which 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.000 means you will be playing for us next year. You 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.240 basically have no say in it unless we remove this 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.200 or you know, we work out a trade with somebody 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.800 else that you cannot go negotiate with anyone else even 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.080 though your contract has expired. And yeah, to be quote 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:05.560 unquote fair, like, the payment is a average of the 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.280 top five you know, yearly salaries of the position you play, 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.160 so you will get paid like you know, a top 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.400 five player for one year at your position. It really 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.720 only goes to mostly valuable players that they're trying to extend. 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.880 But they hit him with a non exclusive franchise tag, 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:26.880 which means they have right a first refusal on if 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.840 another team offers Lamar Jackson a contract, and that team 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.560 would owe the Ravens two first round picks in order 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:36.640 to sign Lamar Jackson. So, dude, Deshaun Watson just one 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.800 for three. Yeah, and this rule is legally mandated. That 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:43.160 is two first round picks. And I'm sure you know 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.160 the Raves will probably ask for a little stuff beyond that, 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:47.240 but I only have to give you two first round 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.600 picks and I can just sign Lamar Jackson just like 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.480 a generational quarterback, like right, right, right, at this point, 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.560 we're talking about a quarterback who is like twenty five 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:00.200 years old. He's the first unanimous MVP, which he one 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.800 of his first season as a starter. Yeah, since Tom Brady. 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.200 He's one of two players in like or you know, 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:06.680 I don't know if it's two, but it's less than 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:08.800 five players in the history of the league that have 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:13.560 been unanimous MVPs. Every single person voted for Lamar Dacks 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:17.160 to be an MVP, and the Ravens said, go ahead 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.600 and negotiate with another team. And no one, no one 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.040 even brought him in to talk to him, right, Like, 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:25.000 it's unbelievable. 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.160 I grew up in Chicago, so like I grew up 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.320 with the Bears, and my family are like a like 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.559 a family like Seahawks fans. Right, Neither of those two 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.000 teams have ever had a quarterback who's in the same 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.200 stratosphere as this guy. 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:44.120 Like this is right. These guys never like ever ever ever. 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:48.000 Hit free agency, never ever, and people like they'll bend 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.120 the rules to things that aren't written were let's say, oh, 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.640 you know the Ravens will just match, make them match, 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:54.840 then you have them. 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:56.560 That's a competitive advantage for you. 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:57.720 Right. 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:00.600 I hate that my favorite team can popped up in 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:04.200 this Atlanta. But but Arthur Blank, he put his name 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:06.600 on it saying, you know, the Falcons, they were trying out, 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:08.320 you know, backup quarterback quality guys. 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:12.520 Because after Matt Ryan left has been rider like Jesus. 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.840 Christ, Marcus Mariota, dude, And and I'm sitting there like 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.200 you're telling me that I can sign Lamar Jackson, and 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.079 I got to give up two first round picks for him, Like, dude, 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.400 pay him sixty million guaranteed every year. 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:26.000 He's worth that much. 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.439 Yeah, And Arthur Blank says, well, you know, Lamar Jackson, 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.040 he's gonna get hurt too much for us to sign him. 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.160 So no, no team signs him, No team even talks 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:35.440 to him. 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.000 So obviously he goes back to the Ravens, doesn't get 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.640 the full guaranteed contract that the Shaun Watson got And 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:42.800 that kind of put an end to it for a 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.280 little bit until the power of journalism pops up. Poullotory 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:50.200 does his his investigation. Here's about an arbitration, hearing about 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.280 collusion in the NFL, and he gets his hands like 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.680 on the documents that say that while Lamar Jackson was 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:01.880 going through his free agency basically rejection by thirty one 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:03.920 teams when he would have been upgrade for like. 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:05.600 Twenty eight of them, twenty nine of them. 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:09.880 Yeah, at the time, I would throw a number one 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.640 overall rookie quarterback that I just drafted with the first 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.960 ro overall pick out the fucking window thrown away to 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:17.160 get Lamar Jackson, right. 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:18.600 You could be a part of this. Two first round 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.840 picks were giving you two first round picks plus. Yeah, 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:22.480 you know if like at that time, like it may 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:23.920 have been like Kyler Murray or something like that. 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:25.559 Yeah, take him like it's taken. 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:29.920 It's unbelievable, Like I cannot he literally, Like the game 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.280 of football is a fundamentally a different game now, but 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.200 it was when when Lamar Jackson like started playing. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.560 Because of him, And it's just like he didn't take him. 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:41.720 His influence on the NFL is so strong that we 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.760 don't really do the black quarterback talking points anymore. Yeah, 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.360 because the league was like, oh, we can't let that 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.520 happen again, like when Lamar Jackson felt to thirty two 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:52.240 and everyone's talking about doesn't he needs to play a 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.400 different position, And in year two he wins an MVP. 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:55.719 Yeah, and the. 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.000 Year after he signs his deal with the Ravens, he 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.960 wins his second MVP. Like that kind of cool to fans, 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:02.520 Like when you get to see guys like Kim Warre 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:04.760 going first overall or even Kyler Murray going first of 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.680 all and there's no talk about how smart they are 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:07.280 as players. 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.920 Yeah, Like that's his influence directly. 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:14.080 His success contribute to that, Like he is a Hall 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.600 of fame. It kind of gives me chills, like think 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.160 about like what he's accomplished concerning like what has this 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.920 fact against him? Yeah, Like he he is such an 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.200 important figure for this era of football and really just 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.760 the whole league, like on the field and off the field, 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.600 like what he means like culturally in society, for like 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:33.920 for the chances that black man can get to play 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:35.600 in a position that deemed like they were deemed not 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.000 the place smart enough because he was so good that 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.840 they said, we can't look that stupid again. This player 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:44.040 was available. This player was available in his athletic primes. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.800 Every team could have drafted him. Every single team in 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:49.920 the league could have drafted him, and they fucking didn't. 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:51.840 The Ravens pass on him. It's like he was not 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.079 even the first Ravens draft pick that year. No, they 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.320 drafted Hayden Hurst twenty five overall before they drafted Lamar Jackson. 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.600 Every single team passed on him, and he's one. 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.000 He's one of eleven players in the history and NFL 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.080 to win two MVPs. Every other player that has won 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:09.720 two or more MVPs is either a Hall of Famer 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.760 or actively playing. Aaron Rodgers and Pat Mahomes. That's it, 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:15.000 Like this guy is a Hall of Famer already, and. 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:17.320 He should have won a third by the way, like right, 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:20.200 he should have won the third. But either way you're identical, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:22.840 like like statistical tie for like a third one. 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.600 So yeah, he's first. He's the three time first team 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:27.880 up pro. He's going to be a Hall of Famer. 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.800 And the fact that nobody nobody called him in to 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.680 say what what would it take? What contract are you 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.400 looking for? That that's why I was like something something, 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:40.040 something is so obviously not right here. The Colts traded 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:44.640 two first round picks for a quarterback, like yes, right, 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:46.920 precisely precisely, and like. 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.480 They're starting a guy who broke his leg and then 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:52.240 also New York's achilles like two years later, was like 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:53.559 I just. 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.560 Do Jalen Ramsey went for two first round picks and 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.120 he's a great play. But he's a cornerback. You know, 0:12:58.160 --> 0:12:59.520 it's not even the same thing. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.680 So is the most important position in sports? 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.520 Right? A first ballot Hall of famer was on the 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:08.720 market in his prime and nobody talked about a contract 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:10.520 except the team that owned that, you know, owned like 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:14.040 the rights of first refusal and it was so frustrating 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.839 to see, like my colleagues in the media say, oh, 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.440 you know the ns were just gonna match. That's so disingenuous. 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.400 That's so disingenuous because you're you're stripping Lamar like of 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:25.720 his agency as a player one like he's better than 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.439 every other quarterback that just about any team has. It 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:30.000 will be such a severe upgrade. 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:31.880 And you're also just like holding the line for what 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:33.160 you're not getting cut of that money? 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:34.520 Why are you lying for these people like that? 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.160 But but Pablo, you know, Polo took back, like in 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:41.720 his reporting, he found out that a judge agreed with 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:46.360 the union that the players were being colluded against, like actively, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.640 like there's there's text messages and J. C. 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.240 Tredder and Lloyd Howell they hit this from the union. 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:52.560 Bro. 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.079 If if you're a union and you have even if 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:55.520 you lose. 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:59.319 Arbitration, you have physical note from a judge that says 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.120 you were included against, take your megaphone to the top 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.400 of the talls mountain in the world and talk about this. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:08.280 Apply some pressure now, Like this is where I started 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.160 to get curious, like why why did this happen? Because 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.760 that part we still don't have enough information all like, 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.880 like I need to like how much like if there's 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.600 a kickback going back to like Jasey Treader, Yeah, how. 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.080 Much is it? And we do know that Lloyd Howe. 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:22.800 Part of the reason, also part of the reason why he 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:26.200 was fired or had to resign was because he along 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:32.320 with he along with a former former MLBPA union leader, 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.520 Tony White, who was recently fired for banging his brother's 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.280 wife who he hired to work at the mL LBU. 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:40.240 Oh my god. 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:44.080 Yeah, the NFLPA is so lucky that the MLBPA had 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:44.560 a shadow. 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:46.840 That's almost as embarrassing to the Strung Club. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:51.680 Maybe, But Lloyd Howe and Tony White, they were working 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:52.760 together as part of. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.000 An eight man group of like union. 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.720 Parasites like at the top of the corporate ladder in 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:03.280 America to siphon money away from the union into their 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.320 own personal pockets. 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.000 Like this is what's running it. 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:21.560 We know for a fact, Lloyd Antony White, who's the 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.280 you know, baseball union head what it was because he 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.040 no longer has his job or family. 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.800 Yeah, that did for him, But fucking you brought this 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:32.400 upon yourself. 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.200 Right, he can't go home for Christ like that like 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:35.880 he's done. 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.200 They were part of a small group that was sifeing 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:42.160 money away from union funds to line their own pockets. 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.040 Like that is verified. They've been sued for that. So 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:46.680 what else is going on here? 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:47.200 Yeah? 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:51.680 What is the incentivization for j. C. Tredder to push 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:56.120 someone like that through? And then the backside is Jac's 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:00.640 bign as the union president expires, well, Lloyd How's the 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:04.720 executive director, and Lloyd makes a new cushy role for 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.520 JC as like you know, I don't remember what the 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:08.640 role was called, but like. 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.280 It's like if a strategy or something. 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:13.640 Yes, chief strategy officer, so something that paid him like 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.720 three million dollars a year, very handsomely punctually. Lloyd was off, 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:19.480 you know, blowing money at the Trip club, and JC 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:22.440 was kind of running like the actual data day things 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.520 because he's the one that has a connection to the players, right, 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.960 And now we've gone through a point where after Gene 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:33.600 Upshaw dies, the two executive directors who followed him, as 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.640 you know, the head of union, Jamar Smith and Lloyd Howe. 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.600 Neither of those guys were NFL players, So you can 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:43.800 understand how players might feel we've gotten a little bit 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:46.040 too far from our roots, Like we don't have guys 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:51.080 who are from our background interested in, you know, players 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.920 and what we go through, which leads back to j. C. Trader, 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:59.040 who played for the Packers, played for the Browns, was 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.000 at his Peakman, he was a good player. Like I'm 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:02.480 not gonna take that away from Like, he was a 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:05.639 good starting center on a lot of good offensive lines 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.359 in Cleveland that didn't win any games, no, but they 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.760 they blocked the hell out of people, man Like, like 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:13.000 like when you go back, you look at some of 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.639 those lines, like they had Joe Thomas and Alex Snack 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:19.440 and Mitchell Schwartz, Joe Patonio, like they have some stars 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.360 that are out there winning four or five games a year. 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.520 So Lloyd Halliver resigns in a mess. JC is still 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:27.240 the Chief Tragedy offers of the NFLPA. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:29.520 I think he resigns eventually from there. 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.200 But yes, yes, yes, after what HALLI resigns, j C 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.200 resigns too. So now we're up to last summer summer 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.080 twenty twenty five. Yeah, eight months ago, right, it's March 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.320 twenty seven, eight months ago j C tried to resign 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.640 from the Chief Tragedy officer role that was cut out 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.840 for him and says he said in an interview to 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:54.760 my friend Jonathan Jones, I have no interest in any 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.199 leadership roles in then moving forward, he said, I have 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.360 given this my all. I've given everything I had. I'm 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:03.160 gonna go home and be a family man. I have 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:07.399 no interest in this at all. And it seemed like 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.680 it until this month when j C pounced back up 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.240 as one of the finalists for the new executive director 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.760 role that's was previously left by Lloyd Howe. 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:19.320 Now this is where it's murky. 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:21.919 I don't know, like all the processes that go on 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.159 with like how they decide like who's gonna, you know, 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.440 do what, like they apparently they have three hundred candidates. 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:29.600 It will have down the three. I don't ask some 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:31.400 players was going on in the past couple of weeks. 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.680 They don't know like how like all this was selected. 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:38.119 But they are presented with three finalists for the executive 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:40.080 director role to vote on j C. 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.000 Tredder, who has popped up out of nowhere. 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:47.280 Then the commissioner of the American Athletic Conference, so like 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:50.800 Temple and you know those East Coast schools, like like 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.120 James Madison or whatever, like he's overseeing that. 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:56.080 It's like a college football commissioner. 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.520 Well yeah, like like yeah, college football, college football commission 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:01.960 Like he's talking to like the president of Rice University 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.560 about like scheduling games against Toledo or some shit. Ch 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.600 But see you Jase Trader, the American Conference Commissioner, not 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:15.520 even like the ACC, the aa C, right say ass Conference. 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:17.520 It used to be the Big East, like they're stolen 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:21.240 Big East valor this this guy was running against Jayce Tratder. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.960 And also the third was a former Hollywood union. 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:28.119 Exec who didn't really seem to be that interested in 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:29.359 the role in the first place. 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:31.160 So we get down to the election. 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:35.000 Day and we find out the American Conference Commissioner drops out. 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:40.919 Oh wow, on election day he dropped right. Okay, so 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:45.120 now so now we're dealing with We've had two executive 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.919 directors back to back, Morris Smith, Lord's howe not football 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:49.200 players didn't go well. 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:50.000 Ja C. 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:54.480 Tretder was part of that. But he played football, right, 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:56.760 So you see the JAYC. Tratder or this Hollywood guy 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:58.280 who doesn't give a crap. I forget his name, but 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:01.000