So How Much Longer Until The Literal Thumbs Up Or Thumbs Down?

(Hat-Tip to my anonymous friend, for not only pulling the article itself, but also some flavor quotes we both felt appropo...)

"The owners of the team. They gave me nothing. They the reason my marriage failed. I worked my ass off all those years, sweating blood, and and puking my soul out and they treat me like a tractor. Roll me around treat me no better then a dog. The guys that got hurt, they never saw a penny out of those monsters."

"Throughout my career, my coach pumped me so full of steroids and hatred, I couldn't feel pain! Shoot, I even break my own leg for fun! They made me play when I was ill or injured, and that was because I was a little more than a piece of meat to them."

Those two quotes were made by BJ Smith, a FICTIONAL CHARACTER played by Lawrence Taylor in the video game Grand Theft Auto:  Vice City.

After reading the latest Deadspin masterpiece, my friend (and any sane person, which should disqualify most of Football Nation America right there!) had but one question:  Whether the player doing the voice acting was actually telling the truth about his experiences with football.

The National Football League Players' Association (read: The Owners' Bitches, for the most part.) has filed a complaint against the New England Patriots (yep, them again -- just on the verge of them possibly being the choice for the AFC for this season...) on behalf of Jonathan Fanene.

The Washington Post has a report stating the NFLPA believes that Fanene, after passing two physicals with the team, had necessary treatment withheld from him so that the team could cut him - that the team doctor withheld treatment as a function of that the team could then claim Fanene was withholding the information so that they could revoke an almost $4 million signing bonus in 2012.

And, worse yet, this was under the advisement of your friend and mine, Belicheat.  The motherfucker coaching this dog and pony show "advised" (more ordered) the team doctor to withhold arthroscopic knee surgery to get Fanene to retire, so the signing bonus would never be paid.

This is your football, America.

If we're going to treat these entities (can't even call them "human beings" until they're being treated as such!) like this, calling it "treating them like pieces of meat" is KIND!

It's not just the obvious that the TEAM doctor only works in the best interests of the TEAM....

It's that I can only ask the question as to how long it's going to be before, at the end of the game, the losing team (or at least one member of) is brought before Emperor Goodell, who does his best Nero and gives the thumbs up or thumbs down...