European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 24, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday september 24, 19b7 the stars and stripes Page 19 commentary using nil s Cus on act of contempt the biggest lie in America used to be the Check is in the  Bui the biggest lie in America today is the football season win continue on oct. 4." this posture by the National football league club owners is the most contemptuous act possible. It is disrespectful not Only to the tans but also to the coaches who arc being ordered to fashion teams out of culls and rejects. It is hard to imagine a decent owner such As Wellington Mara of the new York giants with his per Sonal tee for human dignity to say to Bill Parcells. His coach say Bill while the football players Are on strike would you mind taking out the garbage but that is what the owners and Jack Donlan or the management Council Are pushing. Any established player who walks through a picket line deserves the contempt of players and fans Tor the rest or his career. The Union won a current aver age salary of $230,000 per player. The owners did no favors for even the stars Walter Paylon could not get an offer when he was a free agent. This is not to say the nil players association is totally right or that the management Council is to tally wrong. The strike produces a feeling of a plague on both your  there is so much television Money behind pro  any fan in the Mezzanine could probably work out a Compromise Between the two tides if the issues were reduced to dollars and cents. But the Issue of free Agency complicates any settlement. Deep Down free Agency is not a Philosoph ical matter but an economic one. It has to do with players commanding higher salaries from other teams who would not be burdened with giving up compensation in the form of h High draft choices. The football owners want to avoid any weakening of their hold on players which is understandable Given the arbitrators decision that baseball club owners had acted in illegal concert to not sign free agents after the 1985 season. Those baseball jokers brought it on themselves they could not even put up a Good cover. There is some question whether free Agency would mean As much to the football Union As it docs to the baseball Union. Because of the vast Supply of players from the colleges and because of injuries Many pro football players Are expendable week by week if a fringe defensive Back has one bad game. 6 percent of the season he can disappear from the locker room As if he never existed. Dropping a mar Ginal player for missing a Block or fluffing a tackle sometimes seems calculated to produce fear the common denominator of football. By contrast in baseball most fringe players have some unique Subtle skill Utility fielders left handed relievers outfielders who can play Catcher in emergencies and so on. In the meat Market of pro football players deserve the right to self determination. There might be spirited bidding for quarterbacks or linebackers for the stars but Many linemen and defensive backs would remain a dime a dozen. Perhaps free Agency is Only a bargaining ploy by Gene Upshaw the executive director of the Flayer association. If so that ploy is about to Cost each player one sixteenth of his salary for this season with More to come. Docs the abundance of interchangeable players mean the nil should Field entire teams of recruits absolutely not. More than any other sport footballs based upon teamwork continuity organi action hollow phrases when used too often but a reality in putting 45 athletes on the held. Management can take familiar uniforms and put them on new players but that does not make the professional football teams. Who will Wear Phil Simms s no. 117 who will Wear Marty Lyons no. 9j? is there some last bastion of embarrassment for these club owners maybe they will put an a next to each number. Starting at pseudo quarterback. No. 1ix, Phil Phack. The owners have told the fans they can have their Money Back during the strike without jeopardizing their hold on season tickets but that still puts the onus on the fans. Some people will not be Able to make the change and will lose Money. People who go to these fraudulent games deserve what they gel. If television puts these games on the air it should carry a warning Label like packs of cigarettes. One can understand the longings of the discards he Leavings the scraps. Dropped during summer Camp never drafted at All Many without an Ade quate education from the football factory of their Choice they Are wailing out there in limbo hoping for a Chance. One can smell the desperation that drives a Man to Wear somebody else s uniform to take somebody else s locker. One can hear their rationalizations on the evening news i want to prove i m a football player Alt Inerd is a Chance i be got to Lake care of myself it is asking a lot of men without jobs to respect a picket line but these Are not starving me willing to work the meanest Job for the lowest wages. These Are outsiders willing to give up their dignity for a shot at the High wages of professional football. What happens when the real players come Hack the coaches who arc being told to Mold football teams out or rejects will Send in a clubhouse Atten Dant with a guilty look on his face to take Back their playbooks and collect their borrowed uniforms. No body will look anybody in the Eye. It is All so ugly but thai is what the management Council and the owners arc proposing to keep you fans amused for the following sundays of your lives. Your Choice. Thin a Yum tymm castoffs from Page 17 rep Boomer Esiason said. Syncs who has been making ends meet As a cab Driver and Security guard since being Cut by the raiders during minicams in May can t be scared offi though. It s not like i Ain t been verbally an physically abused before the ?.45 pounce tackle said. I be been playing football for the last 13  although most of the strike teams will be made up of players such As Hynes several veterans say they might also play. Among them Are Dallas defensive line men Randy White a nine Lime pro Bowler and Don Smurek quarterbacks Gary Hogeboom of Indianapolis and Marc Wilson of the raiders defensive end Mark Gallineau of the new Yor jets and defensive Back Leonard Smith of is. Louis. Recent nil players such As Quarter backs John Reaves and Jim Zorn also have resurfaced. It was a Tough decision because i Don t want there to be problems on the team said Hogeboom the Colts starter. Obviously there will be some Hurt feelings Bull have to do what s  coaches and front office people Are split on How successful the strike teams will be with Only about 10 Days Lopre pare. We were Scrimm aging the los an Geles raiders after three Days in training Camp Dallas cowboys coach Tom Landry said. It would be no problem playing a game in 10  Seattle sea Hawks general manager Mike Mccormack said his club deliberately delayed putting together a strike team. We were very reluctant he said. We did not want to do anything to jeopardize the  new England general manager Pat Rick Sullivan was not enthusiastic about the plan but he said his club would Fol Low orders from the nil management Council. We re going to play with the hand we re dealt he said. A lot of the striking players say the hand is Short of High cards. The fans Are paying big Money to see superstars so Hawks Rookie linebacker ban Bosworth said. The fans won t accept Scab football. It la be sandlot football. It la be a  earlier the Chicago bears said they had signed Sean Payton a quarterback who played for the Chicago bruisers of Arena football. At the same Lime the Atlanta Falcons turned Down several local High school players who applied saying they Only wanted players with pro Camp experience. Others players were coming out of the Canadian football league and the Semi pro ranks. Mike Mccarthy director of player personnel for Hamilton of the Cal said nil teams already had contacted some of his players several of whom still were under contract. The nil has an agreement with the Cal not to sign players with contracts. That shows How much they know what s going on Mccarthy said. They Don t even know who s playing and who s  Jim Duncan a wide receiver for the triple City jets of the Semi pro Empire football league in new York stale signed with the Detroit Lions and some other players from the league were looking for nil contracts. Joe Burke l tailback for the league s Albany metro Millers who was Cut by Dallas this year could yet become a Gar Hogeboom. A Lough decision Cowboy and he s not bothered by the Prospect of crossing a picket line. Whether there s name calling or physical violence that something i d have to live  Burke said. Most learns said they already had signed or contacted Between 20 and to players. It s another experience but i Nusi say that the men hat would be with usage Quality and just a step below the 45 Man final roster san Francisco 49crscoach Bill Walsh said. It will be com parable Louft  Hogeboom was the Only player to enter the Colls Camp tuesday citing clauses in his contract that arc Loo important for me to  Wilson 30-year-old backup Quarter Back for the raiders who is in the last year of a ii million contract also cited contract reasons for going to work Al though he said he would t play if there arc no nil Caliper players on my  Gastineau the new York jets defensive end said he was in the Middle of efforts to come Back from a season of injury and it was not the right Lime to give up on  although Gastineau did not show up Al Camp tuesday the jets Normal Day off he did t attend a players meeting either. I m going Back to work on wednes Day while said during a team meeting tuesday. I Don t believe in the strike. Have my family to worry about. I Don t know that a sink would a trip  a club official said while and Smurek sent letters of resignation to the nil players association. I fell it was a decision i had to make and i made the decision that was Best for Leonard Laid Smith a five year Veter an. The players made the decision they Felt was Best for them. I m behind them and hopefully they re behind  Zorn who played for Seattle from 1976 to 1984, taif he would like to play with the team again. He was Cut from Green Bay lat year and played in the Canadian football league. Tampa Bay coach Ray Perkins revealed the names of 24 of the so players he expects to show up wednesday. Among them was Reaves a 10-year pro who played in the nil and Usel. Most of the clubs offered free agents $1,000 bonuses to show up. The new York giants said they would offer their free agent players at least the minimum Standard contract of $30,000