Millionaire players and billionaire owners need to stop crying over spilled milk
Mar 15, 2011, 3:32 PM | Updated: 4:32 pm
I’m not going to lie…I don’t know every single fact of the dispute between the NFL, the owners and the players. I have followed this saga throughout the season and throughout the two extension, right up until the union decided to decertify last Friday. So I know the basics. But as a fan of one of the greatest games on Earth, I really don’t care how the millionaires and billionaires decide to divvy up their money.
As a fan I want to talk about and focus on the draft, free agency and how my Vikings will do next season without Brett Favre taking pictures of his “stuff” and sending them off to young masseuses.
Instead, I’m trying to wade through the “political-speak” of he-said-he-said. I’m wasting my energy trying to figure out which side is telling the truth. That sounds like what we deal with every day in our regular lives.
Fans love football because it allows them to escape the daily grind of money, the economy and politics. We tune into the draft to see the rookies get their name called, approach the podium and hopefully put on “our” team’s hat. Now that moment of enjoyment may be taken away from the fans too! I understand that both sides are trying to prove that they have the leverage or the power. The NFLPA requesting that the top 15-20 picks not attend the draft and the league attempting to lock-out the players even after they’ve decertified. But aren’t these childish behaviors? All in attempt to divide $9 billion dollars? Really?
Let us not forget that the fans ultimately foot the bill for the players and the owners by buying tickets, merchandise and TV packages. These are the same fans that may choose to take their money, their time and their attention elsewhere if the owners, the league and the players don’t come to grips with reality.
The reality is that in the grand scheme of things, football doesn’t really matter. Throwing a perfect spiral down the sideline to a streaking receiver for a touchdown is not the most important thing in life or in the world right now.
Yeah, we like our entertainment but there are enough sports and Charlie Sheen YouTube clips to go around and fans are growing weary of this silly, childish fight between millionaires and billionaires. This is a fight between two groups that have more money than they know what to do with (if’ they’re smart). The $9 billion dollars they’re fighting over is more than any average person can even fathom or comprehend.
So in the end, I guess my take is this, let me know when the owners, the players and the union come back to Earth and come to an agreement on how to split up their billions. Until then, bring on the Charlie Sheen reality TV show.
