On Monday a new federal class-action lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Illinois, that seeks to recover benefits lost by disabled retired NFL players in the 2020 CBA.
To review, in a series of questionable moves, benefits for disabled retirees were deemed subject to a Social Security offset beginning in January 2021, and then in April 2024, the elimination of approval through Social Security determinations to be replaced solely on determinations by Disability Plan doctors and the Disability Board. In case you’re just now getting up to speed on these events, prior to Congressional Hearings in 2007 addressing the dismal approval rate for NFL Total and Permanent Disability and pressure from Congress, to do better, one had nearly as much of a chance of winning the lottery as being approved for NFL Disability.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/11/23/new-lawsuit-seeks-to-halt-cuts-to-nfl-disability/
I first began following the Gordon case over two years ago in June 2018, though at the time I was unaware of the player’s identity. I became aware of the case when attorney, Wendy Fleishman of Lieff Cabraser objected to the inexplicable denial of Amon Gordon’s thrice approved claim…
As it turned out, the excruciating delays for Gordon and his family turned out to be a gift in that all of the lag-time allowed Fleishman to investigate and find her own answers as to the question of “Why?” since the Claims Administrator, Special Master, and Court refused to provide the basis of their denial. Perhaps now we know why they evaded– because the explanation is highly disturbing.
Short answer.
Amon Gordon is Black.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/10/26/nfl-concussion-appeal-argues-one-door-for-white-players-another-for-blacks/
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear who the real governing bodies in college athletics are. Despite how much the NCAA pretends to have overarching, sweeping, oversight of every member nationwide when it comes to athlete-employees being compensated for their labor, it’s the athletic conferences that NCAA-member institutions belong to, not the NCAA, that really runs college athletics.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/07/20/amended-complaint-could-force-ncaa-to-actually-fulfill-its-duties/
I’d like to thank Shannon Cason for being our first guest contributor to our new column on race, called “The Conversation.” Please give it a read. If you’re interested in contributing and helping to keep “The Conversation” going, please DM me on twitter @SheillaDingus or shoot me an email.~Sheilla
I am biracial, I grew up in Louisiana …still a state that operates like a plantation. When I was two, I went to daycare for the first time with mixed races. One particular day my mom picked me up and one of the workers (black) told my mom I thought I was white and wouldn’t play with the black children. Odd because most of the children in my family are brown-skinned.
I grew up very aware of the racial divide. Black and white people went to the same schools but didn’t intermingle much.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/06/17/the-conversation-growing-up-biracial-in-the-deep-south/
On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law SB 646. The law has several tenets which work to ensure that the state is now an agent of the NCAA and its member institutions to the detriment of the best interests of college athletes in Fla. It adds the force of law to keep athletes in a subjugated position in their relationships with Fla. colleges and universities.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/06/15/floridas-new-nil-rule-turns-the-state-into-an-agent-of-ncaa/
On Tuesday, Rutgers University announced the findings of an independent review of its softball program. While the report largely substantiated the allegations against head coach Kristen Butler and members of her staff by several athletes, it did not recommend the Scarlett Knights athletic department take any disciplinary action against Butler or any of her staff.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/06/04/rutgers-one-questionable-judgement-call-leads-to-another/
Black athletes carry the weight of the Heritage with them. Others, especially white ones, do not, and it has been yet another way privilege has shown its face and given cover to them. They still have that luxury right now, to not say anything about the recent murders of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, GA, as he was jogging through a residential area and given chase by a trio of white-armed vigilantes, Breonna Taylor (shot 8 teams in her own home) and George Floyd (choked to death in the streets) at the hands of police, in Louisville, KY, and Minneapolis, MN, respectively, but if/when they do stay silent, they are, for the first time, at this grand a scale, being called out for it. More have spoken up this time around but a whole lot more still haven’t. And it’s not just white athletes, it is also the coaches (college and pro), GMs, owners, commissioners, media, heads of corporations. They are on notice: we will remember those of you who said nothing and more importantly those of you who did nothing.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/06/03/do-black-lives-really-matter-to-you/
Much of America recently witnessed the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd by a police officer sworn to serve and protect. As such we are reminded of the words of Colin Kaepernick and why he refused to stand for the national anthem four years ago.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. … To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Despite the NFL how the rewarded Kaepernick for his social justice stance with banishment from the league, Roger Goodell issued a statement on George Floyd’s murder because…
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/06/01/unpacking-roger-goodells-statement-on-george-floyd/
As the evidence that the Emperor’s clothes aren’t real grows, the cost for adding your voice to the chorus spreading that message escalates as well. No one is more painfully familiar with that price than Kellen Smith.
If everything Smith alleges is true, the campus of the University of Michigan for athletes has not been the utopia of achievement and development that those who profit off the existence of such programs market it as. In reality, it is more like a criminal organization where athletes’ bodies are exploited for the chattel profit and illicit pleasure of others. Her recently filed complaint against multiple defendants is just another sign that the Emperor is indeed naked.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/05/18/smiths-lawsuit-against-michigan-demonstrates-the-cost-of-speaking-up-about-the-emperors-new-clothes/
On Monday, Panthers left tackle Russell Okung issued a statement signaling his intent to appeal the dismissal of his NLRB claim.
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Permanent link to this article: https://advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/2020/05/12/russell-okung-continues-to-fight-the-good-fight/
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