O'Neal to Cover Mikan's Funeral Expenses

Not to take away from Shaq's gesture, but I have a rant about this type of action. It took the death of George Mikan for the NBA and the players to speak about him and honor everything he's brought to the league.

Prior to his death George Mikan has been fighting the league to take care of it's pioneers and compensate them better. Prior to his death George Mikan has been suffering from various health ailments and had to sell off his Championship ring and MVP trophy just to pay for his medication.

Why wasn't pity and generosity extended to him when the man was still alive? It shouldn't be Shaq's responsibility to have to step up, it would be nice for the NBA owners or league to do something about their NBA Legends and prior players. They have no problem selling Mitchell & Ness throwback jerseys for $300 to $500 and not having to pay a single penny to the players.

Why did it take him dying and his family struggling for people to finally take notice?

Why did the Mikan family's funeral needs have to be broadcast over the media and not just handled behind the scenes?

Why does his memory have to be over shadowed by Shaq offering to pay for his funeral?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">George Mikan called it his extended family.

People like him, who helped put the NBA on its feet long before million-dollar shoe contracts. Players who played, and retired, before 1965.

Those players -- Mikan's friends -- had become his cause. In the later years of his life, Mikan had pushed hard to improve pension benefits for players whose careers were finished before the official NBA pension was set up in 1965. It was, very literally, his raison d'etre, keeping him going, perhaps for years, against mounting medical odds.

"It probably kept him alive," Terry Mikan said Friday from the family's home in Scottsdale, Ariz.

And it's an issue that has crept back into the spotlight in the wake of Mikan's death.

The NBA pension program turned 40 in February. But players whose careers ended before 1965 didn't qualify. That changed, a bit, in 1988, when a supplemental plan for the older players was established through negotiations between owners and players during collective bargaining negotiations. Those benefits were doubled in 1995.

But they are not on a par with former players who retired after 1995. The "pre-65ers," as they call themselves, qualify only if they played at least five years. Then they get $200 a month for every season played, benefits that are cut in half for the surviving spouse. Compare that to the $357.39 per month per season of service given to members of the regular pension plan, which is easier to qualify for.

Working for parity was something Mikan campaigned for, in conjunction with the National Basketball Retired Players Association.

"He took it upon himself," said Mel Davis, the NBRPA's executive director. "That was his mission, to make a difference. To shed some light on this. I think that has occurred, unfortunately, because of his death."

The issue has crept back into the spotlight. Several former star players have expressed their opinion that the older players be taken better care of. That list includes Charles Barkley, now an analyst for TNT Sports.

"I think we as players, not the owners, in this next collective bargaining agreement, really need to do something for these guys ... ," Barkley said at halftime of the Miami-Detroit playoff game Thursday. "We have not done enough for these guys who have made it possible for all of us, myself also, to make all the money we make today."</div>

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