Rich Hofmann: Disposable NFL players deserve their income

THERE WAS A union rally disguised as a meet-and-greet/drink-and-eat for Eagles fans and Philadelphians of a labor sort last night at the Water Works Restaurant. There were speeches and exhortations and expressions of support for NFL players in their current contract tussle with the league, including this from Patrick J. Eiding, president of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO: "We'll be down there on Pattison Avenue if we need to be."

It harkened back to a time, 20-something years ago, when NFL players went on strike and the owners continued on with scab players and union truck drivers paralyzed the streets around Veterans Stadium. About 4,000 people came to the first game, the name of Eagles quarterback Guido Merkens was misspelled on his jersey, the whole thing was a farce, all of the scab records are still in the record book despite said farce, it all lasted about a month, and it has never happened again in the NFL.

Anyway, at one point, a group stood there last night on a small riser with DeMaurice Smith, the head of the NFL Players Association: former players Ron Davis and Garo Yepremian, current Eagles Winston Justice and Ellis Hobbs. And while we are still months away from this thing coming to a crisis point, it was hard not to look at Hobbs standing there, just weeks removed from what could have been a devastating neck injury, with an NFL future that is uncertain at best, and wonder.

And to conclude that anybody who criticizes NFL players for fighting for every last nickel they can get just doesn't get how disposable these guys have always been.

This is not to take a side in the argument between players and owners because there is no right and wrong. It is a labor struggle, a test of economic strength between two parties, and nothing more or less than that.

But anybody who believes that NFL players can be painted as greedy or undeserving did not see the replay of the kick return, of that helmet-to-helmet hit that Hobbs sustained, of the sickening compression of his neck that Hobbs endured, or the nervous minutes that followed.

"I'm not making any guarantees - I'm just taking it one day at a time," Hobbs said. He said talk of his retirement is premature, as is talk about plans for surgery. He said he is relaxing with his family right now, but nobody is kidding anybody here. The odds he faces are not insignificant.