THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608170028
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 42 lines
Joe Montana was a football hero. His on-the-field performance as quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers may never be matched. Off the field, he lived an unostentatious life. A role model in a world of hot dogs and fast-lane types. Until now.
Turns out Montana, along with hundreds of other professional athletes who call California home, is taking advantage of a lunatic state law. It can be argued that as long as the entitlement is on the books, Montana and his friends would be fools not to take advantage of it. But we'd thought better of him.
At issue is a California worker-comp provision that gives people with job-related injuries tax-free lump-sum payments. So Montana and his fellow millionaires - 151 San Diego Chargers, 45 San Diego Padres and many more, including Hall of Fame baseball player Rollie Fingers, running back Bo Jackson, quarterbacks Dan Fouts and Jim Plunkett - have applied for state payments averaging $50,000 to $70,000.
Professional sports entails risks, but it also pays huge rewards out of which the players ought to be able to handle their medical bills. Obviously, lawmakers never envisioned this abuse. The law will presumably be rewritten. In other states, including Florida, Maryland and Texas, such claims are specifically excluded.
In the meantime, perhaps OSHA should take a look at the 49ers and Chargers. If the Sunday warriors are sustaining so many injuries on the job, maybe the government should regulate their workplace - to make it safer. Would people pay millions to see Montana in a harmless game of touch?
This is one more case in which the government has led people to believe in a free lunch. Colin Powell noted the other night that ``it is the entitlement state that must be reformed, and not just the welfare state.''
In California, millionaire jocks believe they are ``entitled'' to $70,000 windfalls from a fund intended for working stiffs whose injuries prevent them from earning a living for their families. Montana and his friends should be ashamed. The rest of us should wise up. Every free lunch is paid for by someone. by CNB