NFL Season in Jeopardy

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=lc-nfluncertainty031111

On Friday the players union officially decertified, which spawned a lock out by the owners. This is terrible news for football fans everywhere. During a lockout, there are no free agents, trades, or signings. Players can’t workout with the training staff, and injured players can’t see team doctors. Rookies that get drafted in April can’t work with coaches or learn the playbook. I can’t even imagine a year with out football. It’s become so much a part of my life, but I think there’s real possibility that there could be no football in 2011. Like the article said, both sides are firmly entrenched in their positions, and neither side wants to budge. The owners are the ones to blame in the first place for opting out of the current agreement two years ago, but there is certainly enough blame to be passed around to both sides. The problem is that the NFL has been so successful that both the owners’ and the players’ egos have been inflated so high that they feel invincible. Both sides believe that the NFL is so strong that it could withstand a lockout for a year, and I think some of the owners and players want to gamble that the NFL would be fine for a year, and try to get what they want put into the new collective bargaining agreement. There’s a lot of issues at play in the new CBA- Healthcare, a longer season, a rookie wage scale; but ultimately, like many things in this country, it comes down to the money. Both sides want more money, which is egregious considering how much they already have. I just hope that when push comes to shove money is actually what saves the 2011 NFL Season. Hopefully both sides will realize how much money they’ll be missing out on if they don’t play football in 2011, and they work out a deal.