Harry Carson spent a long time waiting for his induction into the Hall of Fame last August after far too many years of just missing the cut. He could have made that the topic of his induction speech, or the memories from his great career.

Instead, he dedicated his speech to former teammates and opponents who are in need of medical assistance and in many cases can’t afford to pay their bills. He went full speed at the NFL, which is estimated to bring in $7.1 billion in 2007, and insisted that retired players should not be ignored.

“If we made the league what it is,” Carson said, “you have to take better care of your own.”

Nearly a year later, neither the NFL nor the NFL Players Association has done a good enough job of that, according to Carson and many other players from his era. Other Hall of Famers like Mike Ditka and Joe DeLamielleure have been screaming about the issue lately, directing most of their venom at Gene Upshaw, the NFLPA boss.

“This is unacceptable,” Ditka said Tuesday in Chicago at a press conference for GridironGreats.org, an organization that has been providing direct financial assistance to retired players who need the help. “We are past having committees. It’s about right versus wrong. Do the right thing. Just do the right thing.”

It is remarkable that, with $7.1 billion in projected revenue, no one seems to be able to agree on what the right thing is. It would be wrong to suggest that the NFL and NFLPA have abandoned retired players completely. It would also be wrong to suggest they’ve done enough.

But the key question is this: How much is enough? How responsible should the NFL be for the future medical expenses of their players? If you suffered a debilitating injury or illness related to your job 20 years after you retired, how much of your medical expenses would your own company pick up?

It is estimated that in 2007 alone, retired players will receive $61 million in pension and disability. Part of that will be devoted to the “88 plan” that was created to help players with dementia. There is even a “Dire Needs Fund,” but as many retired players say, too often players that apply for help from that fund are incredibly turned down.

Still, when the last Collective Bargaining Agreement was negotiated, the NFLPA got a 25 percent increase in pensions for players who played before 1982 and a 10 percent increase for those who played after. In fact, there have been improvements and increases in every new CBA since 1993.

Still, the retirees want more. Some of them need more. And their case is so compelling that the U.S. Congress will hold hearings on the subject on June 26.

Perhaps the U.S. Congress can at least settle the parties down in what has become, at times, an ugly dispute. The retired players have targeted Upshaw and believe that ousting him as the NFLPA boss is a necessary first step toward breaking that goal. Their criticism has been so harsh that Upshaw appeared to threaten DeLamielleure in a recent article in the Philadelphia Daily News

“He threatened to break my neck,” DeLamielleure said at that press conference in Chicago. “I say that he stunk as a union leader for 20 years. Screw Upshaw. He stuck it to us for 20-some years.”

Upshaw obviously disagrees with that sentiment, but he does seem to understand that something needs to be done. Whether it takes the U.S. Congress to get something done or just the new, proactive NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, the retired players don’t care. And they’re obviously not going to stop speaking out until it does.

“The commissioner is a fine man,” Ditka said. “He has a chance to right a wrong. If he has no other legacy, that legacy can’t be that ‘I made millions for millionaires.’”

With $7.1 billion coming into the NFL’s hands, you’d think they wouldn’t have too much trouble figuring that out.

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