NFL Antitrust: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

A friend sent me a link to an interesting blog site called Seth’s Blog.  As far as I can tell, he is an author of some interesting titles and a guru of marketing… well, ideas.  Here is one of his latest ideas, a solution to the NFL labor struggle.

If you are anything like me and have been following the ordeal, you are probably tired of being bombarded by PR efforts from both sides attempting to win your allegiance…

NFL lawyer Bob Batterman (L), owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and owner Jerry Richardson of the Carolina Panthers

“We’re the owners and we are here to tell you that, ‘the players are ruining the game!'”

Kansas City Chiefs LB Mike Vrabel

…”Well, we’re the players and we are here to tell you that, ‘the owners are slave drivers!‘ err, ‘the owners are liars!'”

(Thank you Adrian Peterson)

Then, the liberal Judge scorned the big bad owners and said, “back to business as usual,”  and after a threat of contempt of court, the owner’s wised up and let the players into the facilities, even Cam Newton got his playbook.  Football was back on again, just in time for prime time television coverage of the draft (hmm?) yeah, everyone happy. Right? Wrong.

Surprise, surprise – two Republican U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Judges ruled that the owners’ initial attitude of petulance wasn’t outward defiance, it was simply an operational snafu, if you will, and that their little game of cat and mouse surrounding the draft was no one’s fault in particular… there just wasn’t enough time to coordinate.

You know… ’cause most people don’t take time to …co-or-dinate

Sorry, I couldn’t resist…

And now, here we are, back again and our favorite teams can’t get ready for the season.  This time it looks like the next round of finger-pointing could take a while.  It’s too bad too, because there are some exciting personnel opportunities and re-births out their ready to evolve, and that’s why we (some of us) love the NFL.  Every year is a crap shoot and any team can re-load and make a run for it.  Parity makes for an exciting product, with real drama unfolding in front of our eyes, and story-lines that heroes, icons, and entertainers alike can all co-exist, with reason and a purpose: to practice the techniques that make up the plays that make up the games that make up the season that crowns a champion.

When it’s all done, one team’s city can rejoice and spend lots of money on things that make them happy because they are winners.  And the world can go ’round.  Until next season… and we’ll do it all over again…

…maybe.

NFL Lockout …in laymen’s (Eisen’s) terms

Seeing that the NFL will be holding its annual draft this year shrouded in uncertainty by the labor dispute between  ownership and players, NFL network front-man, Rich Eisen, was supplanted right in front of us on late night TV to try and peak some last minute interest and perhaps to do some collateral damage control.  And, if you haven’t been paying attention, the legal mess resulting from a greedy, “get-it-while-the-gettin-is-good” attitude from both the owners and the players has turned many fans away in utter disgust.  In this economic climate an agreement hinged on who gets more of a near 9 billion dollar pie seems to be a sticking point. I’m definitely no legal analyst but at some point you have to throw your hands up and think, “we are arguing over the difference of a few hundred million dollars here people.  Somehow, someway, we will find a way to be happy and continue our plight toward the American Dream while the rest of America goes down the toilet!”

Here is Rich Eisen trying to give the abridged version of the draft, labor dispute, and future of NFL football to a semi-unfarmiliar/uninformed/more important things to worry about audience: