NFL Labor Pains
Around this time of year my love of the NFL is usually at a fever pitch. There are fantasy drafts to scout for, Madden is usually spinning nonstop in my video game console and the Bills still provide a gleam of hope, never matter it is a small sliver. This year something seems off, and it took me a while to get there but I realize what it is. The constant noise of labor issues and an impending lock out are drowning out any positive vibes that the new season usually provides and I am pretty pissed off about it.
The lockout really hit me this week when Peter King addressed it in his MMQB column on CNNSI.com ( It is a must read for football nuts, at least during years when labor issues are not on the forefront.) He put the odds of a lockout at 80 percent. I found that a staggering and depressing number. Peter King usually has a good feel for NFL issues. When you look at the talking points it does seem inevitable; the Owners and NFLPA feel like they could not be farther apart.
If these two parties cannot find a way to create a new CBA that works for both parties and there is a lock out I think I will have to punt on pro football. Before you scoff and call my statement a bluff let me share a few facts that I think prove I am serious.
- I have become quite a college football fan over the past few years. There are more games available, and while I root for the Orange there is not the deep attachment that I have with the Bills. It is a win for me, football without the inevitable emotionally crippling pain.
- I used to be in love with baseball. 1994 helped cure that. Sure I have found my way back to being a fan, but it has not been the same since the year MLB robbed Montreal of its best chance to win a World Series. Baseball has made other mistakes, most especially its current CBA, but the 1994 lock out showed the world and I that life did go on without baseball. I sure hope the NFL looks at this example.
- The Bills are likely to leave Buffalo in the next 5 years. They are my team and I could not imagine rooting for another. Even if I did eventually pick (or allow my son to pick) another team for me to root for I know it would not be the same. So when the Bills go they will take a piece of my heart, the piece that loves football, with them.
Maybe the owners get their 18 game season and a reasonable rookie wage scale (long overdue) and feel like winners (dumb idea btw). Maybe the players finally get guaranteed contracts and they feel like the winners. If a season is lost the ultimate losers will be the game of Pro Football and its fans.
Great points all around, and if an insider the likes of King puts the odds of a lockout at 80%… Things are very bad indeed.
Every major sport should look at the 1994 MLB strike as proof that fans have no time to worry about the squabbles of multi-millionaires. Fans will move on. And, with the popularity of the NFL at an all-time high, they would be stupid to let this issue linger too much longer.