Pardon me for turning my back on the NFL. Throughout the labor dispute and threat of a potential lockout I can’t help but become a bit cynical about the state of this super power league. I feel as though I am in the minority with these feeling however, as I listen to the talking heads and read the columnists comments about their “hope” for a new collective bargaining agreement.
I’m not hoping for anything. The whole situation makes me sick. While the billionaire owners are trying to squeak out some extra cash from the millionaire players, am I suppose to remain hopeful that they figure out a way to do that peacefully? More and more my answer is a resounding “no”.
I feel no sympathy for owners that will lock the gates and keep fans out of stadiums, some of which have been publicly funded by our own tax dollars. Nor do I feel bad for the players who make more money in a year than I’ll see in a lifetime, but still have so many financial issues that they have to ask rookies to spot them a hundred G’s.
Oh yeah I’m hopeful alright.
In a lot of ways as this thing drags on, I find myself rooting against everyone. The fact of the matter is that the NFL has created a drug that we’re addicted to. We’re “hopeful” that the rich folks nail this thing out so we can get another fix from them. The fans are the worst part of this whole negotiation because we’ve become so reliant on their product.
I’m the type of guy that holds grudges though and the looming lockout has put a magnifying glass on my crazy addiction. I’m surrounded by an exciting hockey team in D.C. with the best player in the world on their roster and a baseball team who finished 2010 with a lot of success and has had an exciting spring in their fantastic new facility. But I’m also encompassed by NFL junkies who are instead watching crappy combine video and attempting to figure out who their teams will draft in a few months.
If football wants to close it’s doors then good riddance. They think they’re strong enough to have their addicts return when they decide to reopen, but the fact is that fans will turn on them just as I have begun to and they’ll turn to what’s available. Maybe that’s the reality check that the NFL needs.
Hey Zach,
Great piece. Really agree with a bunch of your points. It’s just a load of crap how greedy the owners really are in the end. Somebody needs to make them realize the bigger scheme of the world and how ridiculous this is. The players asking for money? That’s just them being stupid with their own. Minimum pay in all professional sports is way more than enough to back a person up for an extra year if you’re smart with it.
As for your last comment. If the NFL goes to lockout and comes back in 2012, I think every single fan will be back. With the same intensity. NFL has grown to be the most watched and followed sport in America, I don’t see too many heads turning back to hockey (as you have done, and so have I), and especially in Baltimore, if the Orioles fail once again, this entire city and state would of course jump right back on come the 2012 season. Who knows, though.
It’s called business.
Sure, it’s on a grand scale but it’s business nonetheless.
And I’m sorry, but the Orioles aren’t gonna become some substitute for the Ravens (and the NFL).
A deal will get done and it will be business as usual.
The entertainment of the Orioles wasn’t really the point of my article. It was more that fans that are “hopeful” that the billionaires and millionaires will get along have becomes addicts of their product.
Baseball, hockey, basketball, cricket, water polo, professional darts…none of it will ever become as entertaining as what the NFL has created. But a year without the game will drive fans away. I never thought I would feel so much hostility towards the league and the lockout hasn’t even started.
Really?
You feel hostility towards the league on March 5th?
For what exactly?
I got news for you. There won’t be a year without football.
Not even close.
I don’t get how you could defend the actions of the owners or players wanting more money…?
I think that if there is no NFL this season the NHL and the NBA will see an uptick in ratings considering they both start slightly after the NFL starts. In the couple months before those two season start NFL fans will start going crazy without it and will turn to alternative sports.
Zach
I understand why the owners opted out of a bad deal and I understand the players not wanting to give up what they had in the deal from 2006.
What “actions” have taken place that offend you so much?
I love football, c’mon guys please don’t let this happen!
What is the NFLPA wanting exactly?