Bryant Gumbel: "...Gene Upshaw's leash" comment causes stir

[Nickdfresh]

NFL Network to Discuss Gumbel Comment
Monday, August 21, 2006 5:03 PM EDT
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The job status of Bryant Gumbel, scheduled to be the play-by-play broadcaster on the eight late-season games on the NFL's in-house network, could be the subject of a discussion by NFL officials after Gumbel's suggestion that Paul Tagliabue show his successor "where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash."

Tagliabue said Monday that incoming commissioner Roger Goodell and Steve Bornstein, who runs the NFL Network, will discuss the remarks after Goodell takes office Sept. 1.

Gumbel addressed his closing remarks on HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" last Tuesday to Goodell.

"Before he cleans out his office," Gumbel said. "Have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch."

Tagliabue's response: "What Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw and our owners is about as irresponsible as anything I've heard in a long time."

Upshaw did not immediately return a call placed by The Associated Press.

However, a number of owners have said that they thought they had given away too much to the union in a last-minute six-year contract extension that added almost a billion dollars in the league's contribution to the players.

And Upshaw told the AP several weeks ago that he was able to get more from the owners than he had agreed to just a few days before the owners finally agreed on the new deal.

Gumbel, once the host of the NBC pregame show and later co-host of "The Today Show," said when he was hired that no restrictions had been put on his ability to comment on what he sees on the field.

"It's a lot like covering any story," he said. "You see what is front of you and you report on it."

The two-year-old NFL Network will televise eight late-season games on Thursday and Saturday nights this season.

[Romeo Delight]

I've always hated Gumbel, but this is the first good thing he has ever done.

[EbDawson]

Re: Bryant Gumbel: "...Gene Upshaw's leash" comment causes stir

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
The job status of Bryant Gumbel, scheduled to be the play-by-play broadcaster on the eight late-season games on the NFL's in-house network,

He's going back to the broadcast booth? Hadn't heard that.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by DavidFlamma
I've always hated Gumbel, but this is the first good thing he has ever done.

You mean in WHAT he was saying, or in the way he SAID it....

[Mama's Fool]

The problem is that Gumble is wrong. Upshaw did a very good job with this last agreement. He increased the players' share by almost 1 billion dollars over the course of the deal. The NFL players also get 60 percent of the shared revenues, far exceeding any other league.

[Romeo Delight]

Last time I checked, zero percent of a sixty percent increase is still zero.

The lack of guaranteed contracts is a complete joke.

Acceptance of this by their leader is an acknowledgment that only the elite matter.

Gumbel is right. There is no real leadership here. Status quo for the owners...boatloads of cash and the freedom to cut players like they are cattle.

Bullshit.

[Mama's Fool]

Originally posted by DavidFlamma
Last time I checked, zero percent of a sixty percent increase is still zero.

The lack of guaranteed contracts is a complete joke.

Acceptance of this by their leader is an acknowledgment that only the elite matter.

Gumbel is right. There is no real leadership here. Status quo for the owners...boatloads of cash and the freedom to cut players like they are cattle.

Bullshit.

Here, this sums it up. From ProFootballTalk:

Our view? Gumbel's words are more ignorant than irresponsible.

If anything, the perception of late has been that Tagliabue was wearing the collar, and that Upshaw possessed the pooper-scooper. After all, the union successfully changed the formula for funding the salary cap by expanding significantly the universe of revenues that will be used to determine the team-by-team spending limit. The union also pumped up the salary floor, which in some cities is more important than the salary cap, since a low floor permits teams like the Cardinals to enhance their profit margin by keeping player costs to a minimum. And there's a strong sense that the union stuck it to the NFL as to the non-economic terms, such as the restriction of bonus forfeitures and the elimination of the ability of teams to pay a troublemaker to stay home.

Also, Upshaw's primary flaw (as we see it) hasn't been that he's allowed himself to be pushed around by the NFL, but that he has given high-profile agents like Tom Condon (who coincidentally represents Upshaw) far too much influence over the manner in which the NFLPA does its business. As a general proposition, the rank-and-file players would love to get rid of the lottery prizes paid to the first handful of guys drafted each year, since those windfalls to unproven players can otherwise go to veterans who have scratched and clawed a career in pro football. But because the agents who routinely represent one of more of those Powerball winners don't want to give up their cut of deals that are worth multiple millions of dollars, the union pretends that it's not an issue.

Likewise, the union never has pushed for fully-guaranteed player contracts, which are now prevalent in all other major league sports. Why not? In our view, the high-end agents realize that guaranteed contracts would result in less cap space for those huge signing bonuses. Plus, guaranteed salaries would wipe out the bogus back end numbers that appear in many superstar contracts, and that the agents then use as bait for the next wave of potential top-ten draft picks.

Gumbel's comments also are stoopid because he has taken a reckless hip shot at the 32 people who each own a piece of the network for which he'll be working. Don't get us wrong on this. Gumbel's willingness to say what he thinks reflects a high degree of integrity, and his desire to stir things up is a rarity in a media populated by so many folks who are afraid to tell the truth. However, saying what you think has as much value as the bark of a teacup poodle if what you're saying is incorrect.

Sure, all of the owners are making money. But if the extra millions in unshared money earned by the big-market teams are going to drive up the salary cap for the franchise that can't and never will realize that kind of revenue, the imbalance could eventually impact the on-field level of competitiveness. That's why the issue is so important, despite the fact that the folks who'll be most affected by its resolution will continue to be filthy rich.

You'd think that Gumbel would be smart enough to figure that out. He surely thinks that he is.

There's a difference, then, between "telling it like it is" and "spouting off about issues you don't fully understand." In our belief, the courage to be candid should be rooted in a confidence that the criticisms offered are correct.

So in Gumbel's case, his biggest sin wasn't speaking his mind. It was allowing his mind to be made up based on an inaccurate assessment of the available facts.

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by Mama's Fool

Likewise, the union never has pushed for fully-guaranteed player contracts, which are now prevalent in all other major league sports. Why not? In our view, the high-end agents realize that guaranteed contracts would result in less cap space for those huge signing bonuses.

Garbage.

It only serves the elite.

For everyone else, they are chattel, to be possessed and disposed of like a rented mule.

More rationalizing. The sadest thing in the lockout was how the media was spoonfeeding the public the perception that the players should count themselves lucky to "play" a sport for a living.

Really, in the end, that is why there is no guaranteed contracts. The political will isn't there. Players will be scabs and play for peanuts to play "pro " ball.

[Mama's Fool]

I think the point Mike Florio (webmaster of the site) was making was that it's not the commish that has him on the "leash", it's the agents if anyone. It seems he wants to say this, but either forgot to or couldn't find the words to put it this way: The high influence agents like Tom Condon get high profile draft picks. They rake in more money with them through their signing bonus. So this way there is less money for rank and file roster fillers and more money for rookies and high priced free agents. Also when players sign a contract and renegotiate or get released from their contract, they get a commission from their new deal...i.e. make more money from non guaranteed contracts by creating new deals...i.e. Drew Rosenhaus.
If I remember correctly, one of the original sticking points in the labor negotiations between Tags and Upshaw was the fact that Tags wanted to lower the fee for agents from 3% of a deal to 2% of a deal. Upshaw wanted no part of that, or should I say the agents wanted no part of that. Just further proof he's on the agents "leash", not Tags.
Lastly, Upshaw screwed over the owners significantly because the union was settling on a deal for 55% of the revenues. Tags recommended to the owners to not take it and continue the negotiations. In the moment of need when Tags wanted this deal to get done with the owners, Upshaw proposed and implemented a stepped increase from the original static 55% to 60%. This increase goes up incrementally from one year to the next up to 60%. In addition, Upshaw increased the spending floor or cellar for teams that don't like to spend like the Cards.
If Gumbel was going to spew some of the hate that he did, he should have the facts to back it up. However, like most mediots, he didn't.

[matt19]

I fucking hated Bryant Gumbel anyway.