Latest on the 2011 Lockout

[Anybodyhome]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5652700

"NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith sees new signs that owners are preparing for a football-free 2011.

With support from Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, he asked fans to take the players' side.

Speaking at a tailgate-style fan luncheon a few blocks from Lambeau Field on Tuesday, Smith referred to a recent Sports Business Journal report that said the NFL is requiring banks that lend money to its teams to extend grace periods for loan defaults through the end of the 2011 season in the event of a lockout.

"That to me is a step where the owners are protecting themselves in the event that there is no season," Smith said."

The NFLPA boss Smith is an idiot and he is just now realizing this could be serious.

[The Saltman]

The players are idiots for voting for him.

[Ruff]

The players are idiots for voting for him.

Agreed.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

Both sides in this fight are guilty...

[Fiz]

The NFLPA boss Smith is an idiot and he is just now realizing this could be serious.

DeMaurice Smith is actually incredibly intelligent and well educated.

It doesn't matter who the player rep is. He inherited this problem, and the lockout was already cast in stone.

Unless you think the players should just immediately bend over to the demands of 32 men who claim to be losing money all the while refusing to divulge their financial information.

[Fiz]

How in the world are the players to blame here? They signed an agreement where their salaries are pegged to how profitable the league is, something every single working stiff in this miserable gay country would love to be able to do. It obviously hasn't hurt the nfl too much.

The owners knowingly signed in to this agreement and are now just tearing the pages up for no reason.

If anyone could actually point out where the owners have said what they want I'd be amazed, because not even the players really know the owners demands.

[CLTPanther]

That's so yesterday.

[SOJA]

All this talk about this thing called 'money' confuses me

[Anybodyhome]

I don't have a dog in this fight except for the game itself, which is bigger than all of this. That being said, I've never heard anything come out of Smith's mouth that didn't sound like typical legalese, ambulance chasing lawyer bullshit. And education doesn't amount to squadoosh unless you put it to use.

The owners, on the other hand, have kept their collective mouths shut outside of the negotiations and the fans are only left to guess as to what the owners are demanding.

My guess is a decreased revenue package, a rookie salary cap and an 18-game season.

[Fiz]

I don't have a dog in this fight except for the game itself, which is bigger than all of this. That being said, I've never heard anything come out of Smith's mouth that didn't sound like typical legalese, ambulance chasing lawyer bullshit. And education doesn't amount to squadoosh unless you put it to use.

What is he supposed to say? He's in the middle of a labor negotiation where the ownership has flat out refused to tell the players what their specific demands are. He has nothing to tell.

[Fiz]

also ambulance chaser lol jesus christ

[CLTPanther]

How do you know they haven't heard the owners demands? I've only read they are complaining the owners won't show them the balance sheet to prove revenue decline.

[Fiz]

Anybodyhome if I asked you what specifically sounds like "typical legalese, ambulance chasing lawyer bullshit" would you actually respond or would you just kinda fade away?

I wouldn't mind terribly either outcome.

[BigCat#1]

can someone clarify our benefit to being cheap this year in the situation of a season next year and in the situation of a lockout next year? the more i read the more i am confused