Wow, I don't think LeBatard knew what to think. You could tell he was really concerned.

The studio did the right thing though by hanging up on both guys. As a person who works in radio, I too have to worry about callers swearing on air. The only thing you can do in that situation is hang up on the caller.

Hhhmm...whose side should I take?

The intelligent, well rounded running back, who quit the game early to save his body and pursue a medical degree -- or -- the highly emotional, helmet ripping, tatted up thug-wanna be?

Tough call, but when it's a toss-up situation I usually go with the guy who can complete a sentence without swearing on national radio.

really good radio right there.. and le batard absolutely does the best show on radio and has done it for the better part of 2 years.. work it!

I'd expect nothing less from Kyle Turley. This is the same guy that threatened to kill Mike Martz.

The fact that Dan Le Batard has a job in sports media speaks volumes...VOLUMES...about the state of sports media today...and what sells.

Say what you want about Turley, but the man is extremely passionate about an issue that is very important. Gene Upshaw gets $7 million a year to fight for the players and, despite being one, he won't fight at all for retired players. Turley mentions Brian Demarco, and if you don't know his story, look it up. It's devestating. The man can't walk, has no money, has to move every month as he's supported by other people. The NFL sent him to a doctor who declared him disabled. They sent him to another doctor who said he could do sedentary work, which enabled them to disqualify him for long term disability. They get 9000 claims for long term disability per year, and they accept 144. That's 2%. It's a serious issue and as much as I respect Smith, I have to side with Turley on this one. I'm not saying they need to pay for everyone, but they need to reconsider their practices for giving people disability pay...

LeBatard's show has valleyed in recent weeks, along with "sympathetic" Dan's "mid life crisis."

Where are the silly songs?

Where is Match Game and Family Feud?

Too much "beating in the ground" of funny clips or bits, like the Julio Franco clip.

I love it when Turley couldn't intelligently answer Smith when asked about disability vs. worker's comp.

The average football player plays something like 4 years? And they expect to have medical coverage for the rest of their life? And they make hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars in that short window. They expect the NFL to coddle them for the rest of their life? It is about time these former players accept some personal accountability for their lives and not always expect the NFL to baby them.

At least we all know that LeBatard finally healed from the Bilas anal rape that he took a few weeks back.

Swany-
It's not every player that expects to receive long term disability. The average NFL career is actually only 3 years, so even less than you thought. But the NFL's pension plan for players of 10 years is something like 40-50k per year, which may seem like a lot, but if you play in the NFL for 10 years, odds are you require some surgeries, and that could be a whole year of your salary. It's not like these guys are sitting on their asses doing nothing because they want to, they are disabled. They can't do work. They are not asking for free money, they literally cannot work an 8 hour shift on the job.

I think you have some disillusionment as to what these guys are fighting for. Turley isn't fighting for himself, he's fighting for people like Demarco, or Conrad Dobler.

Dobler played before NFL salaries were out of control, and he can barely walk. He spends 100 days a year in a hospital, and takes around 150 vicodin per month just to manage his pain. And they won't cover his expenses.

I'm not saying every player should receive what they're asking for, but the NFL goes out of it's way to not cover people who need this coverage. Maybe the players are spoiled now and have a ton of money, but they're making the NFL even more money, and the NFL should be responsible for taking care of the people that make it's product. I would hardly call getting surgeries covered under insurance coddled, but I suppose that's up for interpretation.

Why should the NFL be any more responsible for its ex-employees than any other company?

You leave a company you work for they sure as hell aren't covering your medical expenses, so why should the NFL be any different? Because they're profitable? Because they're successful?

It's past time for these pro athletes to look past the immediate gratification and look long term. If some player wants to blow his salary on ridiculous cars, houses, parties, whatever, then I couldn't care less what happens to them once those paychecks stop coming in.

It's not heartless, it's reality.

If you can go from making mid six figures to homeless in a couple years, chances are you might ( not definitely, but possibly) deserve it.

There are millions of people too "disabled" to play professional sports. Most people in any job involving physical work have nagging injuries. but they still work and take care of their families.

There are also a lot of people who don't need to walk to do their jobs. Are all former NFL players completely MENTALLY disabled as well? There are plenty of jobs you can do from a wheelchair. Most "regular" people do it.

Most of these players earned college degrees ( or at least attended for 3 years) and got paid a lot of money to play a game. They can't find something to do? Maybe Mike Ditka can pay them to do toilet paper infomercials on ESPN with him.

I remember seeing Chuck Bednarik's contract at the Hall of Fame. He was paid something like $21,000 to play both ways, an extra $1,000 for playing both. Even adjusted for inflation, that wasn't a whole lot, maybe $150,000 in todays dollars. And thats where he maxed out I believe.

Brian De Marco was making at least $875,000 ( not including bonuses) as recently as 1999 and had 5 years in the league. He also got severance and a 401k. It's hard to be too sympathetic. He took the Risk ( knew his body would get beatup playing pro football) and Got the Reward ( high six figure salary for a few years, made more than most people in 40 years and can "retire" at 27).

Kyle Turley has no class, no decency and can't even explain himself. It's all emotion and incoherence with him.

The NFL owes a debt to the players who made the league into the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. The league has no interest in making a safer, cleaner sport (aka workplace) for its employees. It wants players to get battered in the name of "smash-mouth" football that makes for good television. It's been like this for years, and many players are disabled from the abuse. Few professions care this little about their employees. To hear a guy like Robert Smith, who was fortunate enough to avoid serious injury his career, talk down other players is hypocritical. Turley, blustery as he may be, is right on this issue.

Robert Smith is one of the lucky ones and he should know that. He retired early, shows no ill effects, and is still completely coherent. The same can't be said about many other players and that includes Turley himself. I personally think the Player's Union should forget about having former players represent them. They need a labor guy running the show the same way Marvin Miller prior to running the baseball union worked for the steel workers union. Same with the retired players who need their own separate representation. Turley at his worst moment did what he did to defend a teammate. Et tu Robert Smith?