We were happy to see that the NFL Players Association has decided to add two seats to its Executive Committee, which will be filled by former players.
But, as usual, the devil resides somewhere in the details.
The two seats for former players are “non-voting.” As in “not voting.” As in “they don’t vote.”
As in, it’s a largely meaningless gesture.
And it’s even more obvious that the players are pandering to the former players in the hopes of getting the fans on their side. Hell, Saints quarterback Drew Brees essentially admits it.
“Today, we have joined with the men and women who made this game great,
and I ask all of our fans to join our team,” Brees says in a statement released by the union.
We really wish that both sides in this borderline B-movie would set aside the superficial shenanigans (like this one) and the petty insults (like the jab recently taken at the union for conducting its meeting in Hawaii) and give the fans what we really want.
We don’t want to be patronized. We don’t want our asses kissed. We want football unaffected by the combination chess/chicken game that the billionaires are playing with the millionaires. Already, the tug-o-war is making it harder for teams inclined to try to get better to do so, thanks to the rules of the uncapped year. And even if a deal ultimately gets done at the 11th hour in 2011, fans will have to spend the next 12 months worrying about whether an agreement will be reached.
So why not just get a damn deal done so that we can get back to the stuff that really matters? Not long ago, we thought that the added layer of intrigue would make TV’s ultimate reality show even more compelling. But we’re already sick of it. The stewards of the game are playing Russian roulette, and they’re pointing the gun at the head of the golden goose.
