"Greed is good!"  I think this term can be applied to the NFL (National Football League) and to all professional sports, where greed seems to be business as usual, with the players, the coaches and the owners, etc. 

Who are the stupids in all this greed...it's the fans who pay for the greedy ticket prices and support these worthless teams.  The New England Patriots have the highest ticket prices in the League at $126 a ticket; and the Cleveland Browns have the lowest tickets at a bargain price at only $59 a ticket.  I wouldn't pay either amount to see these over-paid crybabies play.  Heck, I wouldn't pay these ticket prices to see God throw a touchdown pass! 

My interest in the NFL has evaporated over the last few years, and with this strike pending in 2011, it would be good to just cancell the greedy season!  I wouldn't miss it at all, as I have not missed baseball or basketball.  I can find better things to do with my time, as I have done in the past.  

Loyalty...what's that?  There's no loyalty to a home team anymore.  As soon as the contract is over, the players head for greener pastures and more money.  The only players that I can remember having loyalty to their teams, were Jerry Rice of the San Fransico 49ers and Barry Saunders of the Detroit Lions. 

"To the greedy, all nature is insuffient."  Seneca

The following article on the NFL negotiations break-down was written by Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press, and the piece was published in the Albuquerque Journal on March 12, 2011. 

The headlines read;

"Lockout Has Begun In the NFL"  The sub-title reads; "Players' Unios Decertifies; Season in Serious Jeopardy"  The article reads;

"WASHINGTON:  NFL owners have locked out the players, signaling the start of the league's first work stoppage since 1987. 

The Associated Press learned that the owners made the move at midnight, capping a Friday in which labor talks broke off because the league and the union couldn't decide how to divvy up the 9 billion a year. 

Hours earlier, the union decertified, and 10 players, including MVP quarterback's Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, sued the owners in federal court.  The players also requested an injunction to block the lockout...even before the league imposed it. 

Despite 16 days of negotiations with a federal mediator...and previous months of stop-and-start bargaining...the sides could not agree on a new deal.  "The parties have not achieved an overall agreement, nor have they been able to resolve the strongly held competing positions that separated them on core issues,' mediator George Choen said.  'No useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to continue the mediation process at this time.'

By dissolving and announcing it no longer represents the players in collective bargaining, the NFL, Players Association cleared the way for class-action lawsuits against the NFL which opted out of the CBA in 2008.

The CBA originally was due to expire last week, then was extended twice, in hopes that the sides could find common ground on the key issues how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, and how much financial information the league would be willing to turn over.

NFL Labor Talks Screech To a Halt

It all set the stage for a length court fight that eventually could threaten the 2011 season.  The last work stoppage came when the players struck 24 years ago, leading to games with replacement players.  The NFLPA also decertivied in 1989.  Antitrust lawsuits by players led to a new CBA in 1993 that included free agency, and the union formed again that year.

'We met with the owners until about 4 o'clock today,' union head DeMaurice Smith said outside the mediator's office.  'We discussed a proposal they had presented.  At this time, significant differences continue to remain.  We informed the owners that...if there was going to be a request for an extension, that we asked for 10 years of audited financial information to accompany the extension.'  About 15 minutes later, the union decertified. 

Said NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash; 'I think we know where the commitment was.  It was a commitment to litigate all along.'  A league statement added; 'The union left a very good deal on the table.' 

It said the offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league's revenues.  Under the expiring CBA, the owners got about $1 billion before dividing the remaining with the players, the owners originally asked to roughly double that by getting an additional $1 billion up front. 

Also in the NFL's offer according to the league;

- Maintaining the 16 regualr-season games and four preseason games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any changes negotiable.

-Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players. 

- Creating new year-round health and safety rules. 

- Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.

- Financial disclosure of audited league and club profitability information that is not even shared with the NFL this week, and rejected byk the union, which began insisting in May 2009 for a complete look at the books of all 32 clubs. 

END OF ARTICLE;

Sounds to me like greed...on top of greed...on top of more greed...

"He who is greedy is always in want."  Horace

There is too much cheating and greed in sports, and after I gave up on baseball, basketball over 20 years ago, I know that I will not miss football.  There's much more to life than the Super Bowl, which is filled with over-paid greedsters.  And, who is the sucker in all this...the fans, of course!

Copyright; 2011; Jerry Aragon/The Humor Doctor
Website name; humordoctormd
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