I saw all of this coming three years ago in Palm Beach, Fla. at the NFL’s annual winter meetings amongst owners, NFL front office leaders and coaches. The owner’s voted to terminate the collective bargaining agreement, the words “uncapped year” become all the rage and here we are now at the fringe of a full-scale work stoppage, meltdown and the end of the world as we know it.
I’ve spent a LOT of time over the past three years talking to virtually everyone I know in the NFL community about every facet of this negotiation in the hopes that I’d somehow be “expert” on what’s happening down in D.C. this week. I really thought that fans would be thirsty for what’s really happening behind the scenes and that somehow, there could be a happy ending behind the red, white and blue shield for 2011 football.
Now that the witching hour has arrived it’s become very clear to me that the issues that are making the fight — percentages, salaries, trust, open books, medical insurance and a myriad of other arguments that have made 66 rounds of negotiating feel worthless — none of these are of any interest to most NFL fans.
It took me three years worth of education and analysis to try to be one of a few who could discuss the issues at hand with any kind of expertise but it’s all been for my own personal edification and self-development.
The more I read pieces like Peter King (and Jim Trotter’s) MMQB on SI. com and see how contentious this thing was even on Thursday afternoon the more I believe that it will be very hard for these two sides to come together this week, even if they all realize how unpredictable it would be if someone pushes the red button before Friday night.
So more than opining today — and I did 20 hours of that last week on WNST-AM 1570 when I filled in on the morning show — I thought I’d leave this forum open today to ask a few simple questions that I failed to ask on the radio:
Do you care about this fight?
Are you following the issues?
Is this a soap opera — a courtroom brawl involving de-certification and anti-trust warfare — that you are going to grab the popcorn and care to witness?
My gut says no. My inbox says no.
And more and more I’m hearing the same thing from Baltimore sports fans. As much as we love the Ravens and the NFL in general, if these two sides decide to take it into litigation this spring we’re just going to step aside and suddenly become interested in the Orioles.
It’s kinda crazy in this winter of discontent. But I’m hearing a lot more about the Orioles these days than I’m hearing any real fear of the Ravens not playing or any interest in knowing how the sausage is made in the NFL.
What do you think?
