Needed ASAP: An NFL Fans Union

All-Star, All-Sports Beer
Internet Photo Debut in Honor
of Super Bowl XLV

(Note: This blog entry for NFL Fans is for Super Bowl Week

and every other week of the year)

After turning on NFL Super Bowl television coverage on February 3, 2011, the first thing I heard was discussion about the current dispute between the filthy rich NFL owners and the filthy rich NFL players, and conjecture about whether a strike will zap the next NFL season.



Enough is Enough.



The Time has come.



The Time is now.



This is it: a union for NFL fans; for the working stiffs, and others, who have supported this game for decades.



FIRST DEMAND: A 30 TO 40 PERCENT REDUCTION IN NFL OWNERS INCOMES FROM THIS "SPORT" AND A 30 TO 40 PERCENT REDUCTION IN PLAYERS SALARIES.



That money will go directly to lowering exorbitant ticket costs; and, while we're at it, let's work on reducing these ANNOYING ads -- all but the fans must give up something for a change. If you think the lessening of ads is impossible, look at U.S. TV coverage of English Premier League Soccer. You've got ads before the game, and at halftime and after the game. Otherwise, fan-friendly NON-AD INTERRUPTIONS.



What these players make in comparison to NFL players of other eras is OBSCENE.



While working as a sportswriter in the 1980s at a major South Florida daily, I did a feature on a man who was a lineman for the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL in the 1940s. This big bear of a man, who happened to be my next door neighbor in a very country-like section of unincorporated Broward County, rushed to a closet during my interview and came back with a tattered piece of paper.



What was this cherished souvenir? His contract for a game played with the Los Angeles Rams. What did this man who took fists to the face and dirt in the eyes many times make for a game? Seventy five bucks....Seventy five measly dollars. Compare that to what some of these guys get for a game now. Hundreds of thousands of dollars.



Inflation does not figure into it...what they make is obscene, especially when many Americans are struggling to keep their homes and many more are out of work -- and the employment picture will not be improving substantially anytime soon.



While watching a rebroadcast of the NFL Network's Top 100 NFL Players show, I was amazed to see the bio of one of these men, Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Chuck Bednarik, Number 35 on the list, selected by the network ahead of such greats as Joe Namath and Roger Staubach.



According to the NFL Network, Bednarik supplemented his measly NFL income by working as a cement salesman to help feed his family. This wasn't in the off-season -- this was when he was taking his lumps and bruises IN THE REGULAR SEASON. AFTER A TOUGH PRACTICE, HE WOULD GO SELL CEMENT.



About the time I did the feature on my former NFL player neighbor, I did the first story, or one of the first for sure, on an up and coming player at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.



His name: Michael Irvin.



This was Irvin's senior year and I had just seen him play his first game for the school (he had transferred from Piper High School in Broward, and upset coaches at his former school had made the state enforce the sit-out-a-year rule).



We sat on the concrete steps of a stairway outdoors at St. Thomas Aquinas High and talked for more than an hour. When I saw how glib he was, and thought about his raw talent, I told him:



"You're going somewhere."



I guess I was right on that call.



Michael Irvin is one of the rare ones who excels in high school and in college and in the NFL.



He has plenty of friends from Piper and St. Thomas Aquinas who are former high school football stars working at parks and rec jobs and other kinds of non-glamorous work.



What do you say, Michael?



Do you think NFL owners and players should drop down the greed levels, give up some of that greed money, and get ticket prices lowered so people such as your old friends and many others could afford to catch some pro football games each season?



Well, even if Michael Irvin doesn't feel that way, we can get things going by starting a UNION FOR FANS.



You start by boycotting games, if necessary.


An idea for all true football fans: If there is not a players' strike next season, then let's bring on a fans' strike. Do not buy single-game tickets. Do not buy season tickets. Do not watch televised pro football, and let the advertisers know same.



Am I being tongue-in-cheek with all this?



No comment.



Oh, yeah. For those such as Dallas Cowboys fans in this disastrous Cowboys season, there has always been the call: "There's always next year."



Well, if these greedy owners and greedy players don't get it together, there may well not be a next year, NFL fans.



Ok, look at this photo I took in Germany of a good case of beer. Pretend to take a long drink and it may help you forget about the greedy NFL owners and the greedy NFL players.





Note One: To read author Heidelberg's Sports Illustrated article about author Ernest Hemingway's Key West years, including why Heidelberg's friend Kermit Forbes, aka Geech, came to take a punch at Nobel Laureate Hemingway while Hemingway was refereeing a Key West outdoor prizefight in the 1930s, "google":



paul heidelberg ernest hemingway



That will take you to www.si.com/vault and Heidelberg's Sportsman of the Year issue article.


Note Two: Info on the aforementioned beers. You can enjoy them vicariously -- 20 half-liters of great-tasting Lowenbrau Oktoberfestbier. I have never seen a 20-bottle case like this stateside; you might have to charter a jet to fly to Germany to get some. If you are an NFL owner or player, that would be no problem, right? You've got more than enough money.



Photograph:

"Good Beer"

aka

"Gut Bier"

and this article

(c) Copyright Paul Heidelberg

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Formula 1 Returns to USA With Races In Austin, 2012-2021

Far Out, to use a term from the era when I was in the U.S. Air Force, and a friend of mine from the base in Italy planned his leaves so he could attend Formula 1 races in Europe, including Monza in Northern Italy.

A course will be built near Austin for the event.

First, let me say, not unlike E. Hemingway writing THE TORRENTS OF SPRING to "cool down" after working on THE SUN ALSO RISES, I am writing this to cool down from a heavy duty fiction writing project that is taking a lot of my time and thoughts lately.

And, I thought I had already put on this SPORTSBYHEIDI BLOG some notes on my riding in TWO circa 900 Horsepower Porsche Turbo 935 race cars. I did not, so will paste below.

Also, I have filed somewhere a very neat photo I took at the 24 Hours of Daytona, in the pits, as I stood in front of one of those Porsche 935s on raceday. I thought a nearby race official would "bust my chops" for standing in front of the Porsche in the pits, but he let me do my photography work; I guess he figured if the driver ran me over as he hurried to get back to the race, it was my own fault.

So I thought today I had to find this photo of an Audi I took in Salzburg not long ago. You can look at this photo and know this car moves.

I had forgotten the Porsche dealership reference surrounding the license plate; it goes with this story.

Be assured this A6 can haul you know what; and be sure you will not find one in the States that could match it -- there would be too many constraints to meet U.S. specs, etc.

So enjoy this read.

Re: the Austin races, take my word for it -- just listening to the Ferraris and other cars screaming around the course will be one of the thrills of your life.

Make your plans now to attend this great Sporting Event.

So, pasting what I thought I had put on this blog earlier:

RACING STORY BY WRITER/ARTIST PAUL HEIDELBERG
(Punctuation, capitalization, etc., is in notes format.)


ph notes: 2100 pounds only for weight of porsche 935 turbo.....from www, viper, featured on SPEED channel tv program, weighs more than 3000 pounds for one model; cars on show had much bigger engines than normal, meaning more than aforementioned weight.
by 1982, when ph rode with michael andretti in broward county for press day for the inaugural grand prix of miami, and with tom blackaller at press day for the 1983 imsa 12 hours of sebring, the porsches ...both owned by fort lauderdale businessman preston henn, were rated at ca. 950 hp.

thus while it took 1,000 hp viper and 1000 hp super ford 7 seconds or so, or longer, to get from rolling start 60 mph to ca. 160, heidelberg went from 60 to 170 with michael andretti in circa four or five seconds.....this was the first time michael andretti, future indy car champ, had driven anything more powerful, any race car, than a ca. 160 mph super vee, vw powered open wheeled race car.

one driver on the SPEED tv show mentioned being thrown back in his seat in his car. that was nothing like what heidelberg experienced when andretti nailed it, as heidelberg sat on a piece of foam rubber to andretti's right, holding onto roll bars -- there was no seat; a second or two later, heidelberg lurched forward as andretti braked and downshifted.

blackaller, also a yacht racer who raced in such events as the america's cup, approached or exceeded 200 mph on the long straightaway at sebring, an old airplane runway (heidelberg did have a passenger seat and seatbelt for this ride)....blackaller also took a bad four wheel slide in turn 11 when he almost flipped the auto, heidelberg realized about three days after the race's end (most of the accidents in that race that Heidelberg covered came at turn 11).

after learning of the ride, and that heidelberg had said to blackaller, "don't worry about going too fast, i have been in one of these before," fort lauderdale race car driver bob lee told heidelberg two things:

"never tell a race car driver not to worry about going fast; and i would never get in a car with that guy. he drives like crazy."

also, heidelberg made a tape recording of the lap at sebring raceway by placing a tape recorder on floor in front of him. the whine and noise of the transmission was surprising, at times making more noise than the powerful engine.

to hear similar sounds, search the internet (you will probably go to youtube)
for "video with sound porsche 935 turbo going fast"

one video of a silver porsche reminded heidelberg of the sound of the transmission and the normal high-pitched whine of porsche race cars, distinctly different from big American v-8 powered cars, for example. the video reminded heidelberg of his ride with blackaller at sebring.

Note: To learn more about Formula 1 racing in The Lone Star State, "google":
austin formula 1 races

PHOTO: FAST AUDI A6 "AT REST" IN SALZBURG
COPYRIGHT (C) PAUL HEIDELBERG
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

SPORTS BY HEIDI (MY OLD NICKNAME AS SPORTSWRITER AT THE SUN-SENTINEL NEWSPAPER IN FLORIDA)

Euro Sport Live television in Europe had phenomenal coverage of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege cycling race in Belgium Sunday, April 26 -- won by Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.

The television station had 53 kilometers of the 261 K race (at least -- that's when I tuned in) WITHOUT ADS, and the video work was great, including a taping crew moving over one tire-hauling vehicle who had come too close to a competitor minutes earlier in the race.

I kept waiting for Schleck to hit the wall but he didn't; and that includes during a monstrous climb with about 5-6 Ks to go in the six-hour-plus race that had to be really TOUGH.

Heidi From Europe
(On this first post for my new sports blog, let me say Hello to a great editor at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale -- the man who gave me a job back in the economic crisis days of the early 1980s, former Sun-Sentinel Executive Sports Editor Fred Turner: Hello Fred -- Heidi says Hello.)