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How NFL Quarterback Jersey Sales Nearly Destroyed The Union
The following excerpt comes from Matthew Futterman’s Players: The Story of Sports and Money, and the Visionaries Who Fought to Create a Revolution, released yesterday by Simon & Schuster. This excerpt tells the little-known story of NFL executives Frank Vuono and Mike Ornstein, who attempted to thwa...

Gene Upshaw's Wife Says She Gave Up Her Entire Family To Marry Him
When I was growing up in Oakland in the 1990s Gene Upshaw’s heyday had long since passed, but he was still beloved by Raider Nation and seemingly everybody involved in football. Ten, fifteen, twenty years after his Hall of Fame career he was still feted by Al Davis and the entire Raiders organizatio...

Gene Upshaw Is Smarter Than You Think
Say what you will about NFL players union chief Gene Upshaw — that he's an out-of-control, useless stooge who collapses under even the slightest bit of pressure from the NFL, which just waits for him to say something idiotic again — but you can't say he doesn't know how to take care of himself....

Is Gene Upshaw Gonna Have To Choke A Bitch?
You might remember, last August, when Bryant Gumbel — that notorious agent of social change — blasted NFL union head Gene Upshaw for being the "personal pet" of the NFL, and that he was kept "on a leash."...

Gene Upshaw Would Rather You Not Read Anyway
As anyone with even a fundamental understanding of professional sports labor issues knows, the NFL has the weakest players union. NFL players have the shortest careers, make the least money, suffer the harshest long term health effects and rarely have guaranteed contracts. This has caused many — and...

More Fun With The G-Man
We have no inherent dislike of Bryant Gumbel, but sometimes we think there's some sort of slow gas leak in his home. Greg Gumbel's wacky brother has really done it this time, angering his NFL overlords (he was hired to do play-by-play on eight NFL Network games this season) when he made a rude com...