I don't know how you can be surprised. There's a mindset that coddles owners and corporations in every battle. We're supposed to hand them exemptions and tax breaks and otherwise happily applaud as they take care of us. After all, they made the country great, even when they were designing cars with defects that they knew would result in death, factoring in the price per lawsuit beforehand. Unsafe at any speed but don't forget to get out of our way as we trample you.
I lost my belief in corporations not long after I moved to Las Vegas. It's remarkable how many conventions are held there, and how many business owners end up drunk in the sportsbooks. I've heard one tale after another of deceit and abuse. One guy bragged that he was always tipped off when his inventory was going to be checked by government regulators. It was a trucking company. So he always moved his troubled rigs not far away across state lines before the inspection, then moved them back after receiving a clean bill. He laughed like heck. Countless other stories. Another guy bragged that he supported his sports betting habit by filing bogus insurance claims every year. He ran an amusement park company. It was a simple matter of ordering left turn parts for a right turn ride. Or at least that's what he would officially claim. It was worth $250,000, plenty to fund his gambling habit. That guy laughed like heck also.
I saw it in person when I worked at the Horseshoe sportsbook. We faced a strike in early 1990 that involved culinary workers and other union employees. The sportsbook was not involved. Regardless, it was disgraceful. Jack Binion blatantly lied about our operating practices, both to the media and to the union representatives. One day he actually ranted in the sportsbook office and conceded he was going to lie. He assumed everybody was strictly on his side. There was one intimidation factor after another as the strike approached, and during its tenure. Security guards who normally operated near the sportsbook were suddenly gone, tasked to threaten the striking workers. This article details some of the abuses but hardly all of them:
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-04-05/news/mn-1031_1_unfair-labor
A popular major at USC during my era was SPIN, or Sports Information. Students who wanted to work for sports teams or college athletic departments took that major. I didn't major in SPIN but I took two classes as electives. Many of my friends who majored in SPIN later got jobs with big professional teams. Mostly baseball. Consequently I learned many things in confidence. One repeated theme was that the bottom line was always far greater than what was being reported in the media, or offered in the official books. Lots of creative bookkeeping, with huge profit assigned to side businesses that were actually run by the team itself. Eye popping, to say the least. I remember a 4 hour description one night in Glendale while visiting my old college buddy. Even though it was 20 years later I wasn't surprised about the Marlins revelations at all. Just the opposite. I'm convinced it applies to franchises in other sports.
Anyway, decades ago this topic came up, that pro cheerleaders were receiving paltry salaries. The Dallas Cowboys virtually bragged about it dating to the late '70s when their cheerleaders became a big deal nationally. I never understood how it didn't receive scrutiny and fair upgrades almost immediately. Then I remembered that the NFL doesn't do anything until forced. That draft series on NFL Network a few months ago had some great examples, the paltry salaries in dictator fashion unless a competing league were operating, like the AFL, WFL or USFL.
And one benefit of being around for so many decades is I remember the shift from the teenage Dolphin Dolls to the mature Starbrites directed by June Taylor. There were problems from the outset. Stan Major on WINZ loudly ripped the first squad for containing too many "dogs" who were going to embarrass the city. He claimed he could have spent one day at the beach or any local college campus and put together a far more attractive squad. It became a high profile local debate. Then during that first season there were persistent reports that the cheerleaders were complaining of how they were being treated. I remember Channel 4 ran several related reports but Channel 7 stayed away from them. Keep in mind that Channel 7 was the local NBC affiliate in those days, and NBC had the contract for the AFC and therefore the vast majority of Dolphin games.
Here's a link to a related article on problems from that first season. As always, so many years later you don't get the full version relying on old newspaper clippings now available in the archives. This is only a small segment of the complaints I remember:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...4kvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ni4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2937,1044371
