Chop block on Upshaw tells all about state of players union

There is nothing more stunning and entertaining than watching a group of spoiled, bratty athletes stab each other in the back.

Gene Upshaw hasn't been kicked in the gonads like this since he was playing for the Oakland Raiders.

Oust Gene Upshaw? A kicker? One would think Upshaw can't help but chuckle. (Getty Images)

Even then attacking defenders had the courtesy of at least facing Upshaw when they knee-capped him.

By now you've heard of the insurgents who are trying to unseat one of America's most well-known and longest-lasting union leaders. A leader in Upshaw, by the way, who made some of the very same people attempting to unseat him extremely wealthy.

It's the NFL Players Association version of the Menendez twins.

When did Upshaw become the Emperor with No Shoulder Pads? When did he morph into Hedley Lamarr? Or Chancellor Palpatine?

I have known Upshaw for almost 20 years. Our relationship has mostly been amicable, though there have been some very nice-sized disputes over the years. He can be a bully and an intimidator. I have always felt that while some of Upshaw's lieutenants were scoundrels and lightweights, he was overall smart and decent. His tenure as leader of the NFLPA, for the most part, has been an adequate one.

Upshaw hasn't been perfect, but remember: unions are messy, bloody places. The steelworkers, the auto workers, the pilots and even the athletes have all seen internal bloodletting. There is no such thing as a blissful union, no such thing as a totally satisfied group. In that respect, Upshaw has been a solid leader, surfing the egos, manipulating the membership (sometimes intimidating them) but most of all making his membership filthy rich.

This is what's fascinating about how suddenly there are more alleged coup attempts occurring in the NFLPA than 18th-century France.

What's happening to Upshaw at the hands of some union members is not only positively disgusting, intellectually lazy or borderline dishonest. It's something more than that. It's what players complain about all the time when it comes to NFL management.

What's happening to Upshaw is disloyal and traitorous.

If Upshaw is somehow dislodged, I will never take a complaint from a player being cut unjustly by a team seriously again.

Players talk constantly about the lack of loyalty from teams then they go and do something like this to Upshaw?