Although he’s better known today as the father of Matt Hasselbeck and Tim Hasslebeck, Don Hasselbeck played tight end in the NFL for nine seasons and one of the most vocal proponents of a strong players’ union that would push the owners to make the health of the players a top priority.
And Don Hasselbeck says that it was often his fellow players who stood in the way of efforts to promote player safety.
“I get a little disenchanted with retired players and former players who are speaking up now, who were never involved, who didn’t speak up while they were playing,’' Hasselbeck said, per David Steele of FanHouse. “There were guys when I played who thought the union was a farce. They want today’s players to pay for the things they should have fought for when they were playing, instead of sitting back in their wing chairs and talking about today’s players.’'
Hasselbeck, who used the word “whining” to describe the way some of his fellow ex-players talk about the health benefits they’d like to get now that they’re retired, is expressing an opinion that isn’t often expressed by former players -- but an opinion that is surely shared by more than a few of today’s players.