Did they, really? The way DB operated, he did not even have a trainer, he didn't even a guy selling concessions. Do you think his employees had insurance?
Why did she have to ask DB to take her to a doctor if she was covered by insurance and she had an insurance card? A quick diagnosis? Hmmm, I am no doctor but what kind of tests and what kind of costs do you think is required? I am not talking about a visual exam. A doctor or anyone can look at it, pinch you on the nose, hear you say ouch and declare you broke your nose. What good is that?
The league required that the players had insurance. My understanding is that the League was required by USSF to carry it for all players. That doesn't mean that DB actually had it or gave them their insurance cards if he did. What this comes down to is Ella and other players not fully understanding their rights as employees in the USA. It doesn't matter who you work for you have rights. But knowing those rights, and being confident and comfortable in asserting them is a different matter. I get the impression of a factory worker who is under constant threat of job loss from their owner/boss. There are many people in other industries that have the same reactions that Ella did. Yes they legally can't fire you for exercising your legal rights. But aholes like DB often do. And then you have to bring a government action and a lawsuit to get what was yours. DB has time and money to fight that, Ella doesn't.
Chris of AWK tweeted this a few minutes ago But I don't know what thread he's referring to. For all I know maybe he's going off on something in the Ref forum or maybe there's a bunch of idiotic comments on the riot in Egypt. I have no idea what he's talking about since the mods(rightly) deleted my oblique references to "chuckleheads". And in the other thread the idea of pro/rel immediately got shot down. Still let this be encouragement to maintain our usual high standards...
I agree. It's either Masar did not have insurance or that she did not know her rights. With her coming out with this story AFTER the doctor's bill is settled (read her blog again) makes me lean toward the 1st. Either way, it's not a reason to doubt her story simply because she did not go to a doctor on her own.
One of ella's teammate Omolyn Davis twitter Davis_soccer has a little bit say about the wnt players on magic jack. Just what a figured selfish.
I would expect that she was covered by Workers Compensation insurance, as an employee of the team. Now that does not mean that she understood that or that she knew DB could not refuse to pay for treatment of her on the job injury.
There is a Pro athlete exception to Comp coverage in Florida, I believe. But she should have had some type of Health Coverage.
Barnhart is just as good as Solo, just less personality/additude whatever you wanna call it. There's not a hugh drop off in talent between the two.
That attitude is very important on the field though. Gives her total command and Solo is much better at being vocal and organizing the defense than Barnhart. Also, Solo's lateral movement is much better than Barnharts.
I just read Ella's blog and this thread. The suggestion that DB may have bugged the office space / meeting / locker rooms was perceptive and one that was an OMG moment for me. I also found it interesting, and understandable, that professional athletes don't get Workers Compensation insurance. Regarding medical insurance - there is normally a deductible and on top of that many procedures are only covered by a percentage; I am familiar with 50% and 80% as typical. The insured party's share of the bill can be quite large. To me the evidence is overwhelming, Borislaw brought down the league and poisoned his own team. If he hadn't behaved as he did the WPS management would not have made the miss-steps they made in dealing with him. Don't blame yourself for not locking the shed, blame the thief who took your lawnmower.
According to former SBFC GM, Gerry Marrone, WPS clubs were required to purchase work man's comp insurance and health insurance for players and I think they got a group plan. Whether or not the work man's comp/health insurance was another of the league requirements that Borislow did not comply w/ is unknown to us fans, of course. He certainly didn't have team trainers (which were required). And it has been clear to all us fans that there weren't front office staff for the team that would be a buffer btwn very active owner and the players. While it is clear that Masar left out quite a few details, I'm inclined to believe her in large part b/c the other rank&file players on the team who are on twitter back her story. I'm sure there is more to the situation but I don't think that "more" would make us doubt Masar or like Borislow better.
ESPNW just posted this video of Abby discussing the WPS suspending in 2012. Nothing controversial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOuYJz4ags4&feature=youtu.be I don't really expect much of a response from national team players to Ella Masar's blog, certainly not one who were on the MagicJack team. --------------- Somewhat unrelated, but Kristine Lilly also posted on her website about the suspension of WPS. Also nothing controversial. http://kristinelilly13.com/wps/
The more I hear about the guy the more I blame the league for letting him in to start with. He's an asshole no doubt, but as a league this is why you're supposed to vet owners before they're allowed in.
It's good to see Flyin Ryan back in these here parts so this isn't aimed specifically at him, but it strikes me odd that this is such a widespread sentiment. By all means the league must take its fair share of the blame for getting into a bad marriage, but generally if someone we like makes the mistake of marrying a bad person, don't we hope they can get out of it as best they can and be able to get on with their lives? Or do we simply shrug and consign them to hell for all we care?
Maybe that depends on how hard up for $$$ they were. IF it was between letting him in and surviving another year until they could hopefully find a better source of funds or folding a year early... Anyway, that's an "IF" but given what else was going on in the league, I'd bet on that being more probable than not.
Yeah, neither/both. The WPS has made a number of mistakes, Borislow is certainly large among them. There was a lot of chat months back on this board about how the league was crazy to dump Mj when Borislow's money and the sixth team were at stake. I'm not hearin' those folks squeal too loud now? Gee, maybe it isn't All About Any Asshole who has Money? There are a lot of quiet people on this forum who seem to have suddenly discovered principal. That's nice! Why Borislow was ever allowed inside is a question, among many, that WPS needs to be asking itself. They were, after all, the ones who got themselves into this devil's bargain. That does not mean that holding them to account for the poor choices they made in any way diminishes the strong hope of all WPS fans that they learn from their mistakes, retool, and come back stronger! Best of luck to them in 2013 (without Borislow!)!
I dunno about devil's bargain - in a simplistic and naive world view - DB signed the papers which set forth the requirements for a team - he agreed to the terms in writing. How is it WPS' fault that he unilaterally chose to ignore many of the pieces of the agreement? and (allegedly) bully the players on his own team? I am not saying the WPS couldn't have charted a better course when the BS started........but at the outset there was an agreement. P.S. I would love to see how many redline/strikeouts/inserts were initialed in that agreement.
Abby gave some comments on the 2012 suspension "You have to take all of the good things with the bad and make the best of them," Wambach said. "It has been a hard week for women's soccer. But, as a community, we've got to lose the egos. We have to get past the issues that have come between us." "I'm not sure how we proceed forward with the relationships that have obviously been damaged between Dan and the other league owners," Wambach said. "I've always been a proponent of Dan because he and [Western New York Flash owner] Joe Sahlen stepped in at a time when we needed them. People are quick to point fingers and blame. Dan is considered the villain in this, with all the media attention it's gotten. "The truth is that the responsibility is all of ours. Nothing rises or fails with one person. We all need to step back, look at ourselves, and take responsibility for all of the things. Nobody is talking about the amazing things Dan did and how he treated his players. Everybody focuses all the attention on the negative. And that's not how we're going to get the WPS back and running. You can't build something great on negativity. It has to be in a positive manner." Wambach acknowledged: "Dan has a different way of doing business. Dan goes about life a little differently than the rest of us. But we're going to have to figure this out. We're not going to go home crying. We're going to keep fighting for this league." whole story and additional video http://espn.go.com/espnw/more-sports/7538412/abby-wambach-reflects-future-women-soccer-united-states