The NFLPA has decertified, and now the conflict between the players and owners will be decided in the courts. This is a disappointing day, but not by any means the NFL's End of Days or anything. Numerous observers expect Judge David Doty to issue an injunction stopping the owners from imposing a lockout, which means the league year would start (hopefully with Free Agency preceding the Draft) under the rules of the previous CBA. Bottom line? It is still HIGHLY likely that we'll end up with a relatively normal off-season this year, and a full NFL season starting this fall. In the meantime, a few general statements-
1. I unabashedly support the players in this fight. If you are looking for a pro-ownership perspective, or some lazy false equivalence between the two sides, this isn't the blog you should be reading.
2. You won't hear me bad mouth anyone in the Seahawks organization during this conflict, and that includes Paul Allen. Yes, he's part of the group that I think is responsible for the mess we are in, but at the end of the day, I'm a Twelve first. Whenever this gets resolved, he's still our owner, and he's still the one who is going to someday lead us to a World Championship.
3. As best as I can, I'm going to try to ignore the rhetoric spewing from both sides over the coming weeks, and I suggest y'all do the same. The most important thing is getting the league year started ASAP, and that's up to Judge Doty now... What the players and owners say to sway public opinion has no effect on that.
4. Take a step back from this, and go to a movie, read a book, get ready for baseball season, etc. I'll still be here blogging about the Seahawks (and other stuff)... But we all need to clear our heads, I think.
We WILL have Seahawks football this fall, and it'll be the real players. We'll get there. Hang in there, Twelves.
3 comments:
THANK you.
I like what you stated in #2. I've tried to explain that to fans of other teams. I've heard so many fans bad mouth "their" teams, players, coaches, etc. I just don't understand how they can do that. I've disagreed with what the Hawks have done, but I've never deserted them.
I've tried to explain this to people that talk smack about the Super Bowl. Stevens dropped three passes, Rocky and Marquand were injured (I think that losing those two was the biggest blow.), and the punting sucked. But the Seahawks are my team, so I defend them. All that leaves us to attack are the other team and the refs. pissburgh sucked. They were pathetic, except for two plays. It's easy to point out their ineptitude. That leaves the refs. That's why Seahawk fans attack the refs. That's why we blame them for the loss. We defend our own, and we don't kick others when they're down. Seahawk fans are awesome. We will do anything to defend our team. You'll hear the majority of Hawk fans bemoan this labor dispute, but you won't hear us blaming our team.
I guess we could look at it like a couple of brothers fighting; they might beat each other up, but they're still family, and will work it out in the end. We'll support our team no matter what. I guess, in the end, that's all that really matters. Isn't it?
I'm a longtime reader, but first time commenter and only because I feel your take on the owners vs. the players is the best read on what is happening.
The reason I'm with you Johnny, strongly on the side of the players is how two faced everything has become with the NFL. (Basically since Tag's handed the keys to Roger) They make a big push this last year to take concussions seriously, while simultaneously lobbying for a 18 game season next year despite players' concern of injury. The decision to make Toyota cut 2-3 seconds from a commercial (only during the superbowl, it aired all fucking year unedited) because it shows a helmet to helmet collision was a front towards caring. Yet Goodell continues to get off proving to the players that he is the one in control by randomly fining players for hits that weren't even flagged during gameplay.
Then the owners released their last minute proposal after 2 extensions of negotiations were agreed to and are surprised the players walked out without discussing it?
According to the NFL’s propaganda machine (Howard Fendrich the NFL AP writer):
“the two sides were ~$185 million apart on how much owners should get up front each season for certain operating expenses before splitting the rest of the revenues with players – a far cry from the $1 billion that separated the sides for months.”
From the publicly released offer from the owners
“-Creating new year-round health and safety rules.
-Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next 2 years
…As Pash outlined each element of the owners’ last offer, he ended with the phrase: ‘Evidently not good enough’ ”
Of course it isn’t, when the divide between the quantity of money owners should get off the top yearly, is more than twice as large as what the owners will contribute to a fund for retired players over the next 2 years.
Just open the Fucking Books already and then get used to paying the majority of the cost of your new stadiums. I'm glad we helped pay for Quest, but after the Sonics left because they were 'losing money' I have no sympathy left for any such person wealthy enough to purchase a NFL, MLB or NBA team.
My next jersey will be a unofficial to not help pay Roger's $10 million a year salary.
Go Hawks, Playoffs or Bust
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