Ravens' Stover wants Upshaw replaced
Ravens place kicker Matt Stover, who is also the team union representative, has sent an email to his counterparts around league -- meaning other team reps -- urging that a formal search begin to replace NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw.
There have been grumblings in recent years about Upshaw's leadership and speculation that some in the rank-and-file might try to have him replaced but this is the most visible action to date in that direction.
Stover's email came after a conference call among player reps on Friday.
In an ESPN article, Upshaw said: "Matt Stover has no clue. Whoever is pulling his chain is doing a disservice to the union. I could understand the idea that they need to get rid of me if I wasn't doing a good job but, shoot, the owners are mad because they think I've done too good of a job."
Along with some sentiment to replace Upshaw as executive director is the belief that former defensive back Troy Vincent, who used to be the union president, would like to have that job at some point. Vincent cannot be union president now because he's no longer an active player.
Comments
Football players are not the brighest people on the planet. Especially kickers. :) Is Upshaw perfect? No, none of us are. I think the players don't have a leg to stand on. If you look at the entire length of Upsahw's career and how far the players have come. You are always going to have sour grapes among the malcontents.
Posted by: Captain Jack | April 8, 2008 4:39 PM
Upshaw should be fired. He has let the players of the most popular sport be taken advantage of. Agreed that they still make millions, but compared to other sports that aren't as popular they get reamed.
Posted by: Buca vs Cutty | April 8, 2008 6:01 PM
Did I hear something right. They said on ESPN that Stover was doing some back pedaling and tap dancing on the subject, and said he didn't want to oust Upshaw, but work on his replacment for when Upshaw leaves.
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Capt.,
I'm not sure I would characterize it as back-pedaling just some very artful diplomatic language in framing what in the end still means replacing Upshaw as I understand it. Here is a link to Stover's note to Mortensen that clarifies Stover's intentions. I'll be posting this on the blog as well.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3338795
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Captain Jack | April 10, 2008 8:58 AM