NFL Players Not Helping Their Own Cause

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In this day and age of the 24/7 news cycle, the court of public opinion can be swayed instantaneously. That has evolved into an even more valuable tool in informing the public in regards to your stance. The masses can be swayed to your side and provide a bit of oomph for you cause. Not the case here. Take the NFL players for example.

Three recent stories/quotes have severely set wrong with me. Has it had an effect on view of the current lockout? No, but it has tilted my opinion. We all know the billionaire owners and millionaire players could not reach an ends for a new collective bargaining agreement. After I read these three stories, I'm slowly inchin the way of the billionaires. I know. They don't need the cash.

Hard to imagine that anyone in their right mind could find any fault with New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. After the Saints won their Super Bowl, Brees transformed into a media darling. He did the whole tour associated with being the winning QB. It carried over into this past season. But something Brees said, while it may be completely true, gave me the impression (and it's my impression) that he's sounding a little sour. Jarrett Bell of USA Today quotes Brees on the state of the owners side.

"A lot of it, I think, was all a front," said Brees, "all a show, with no real intent to get a deal done, except to say they made a proposal."

Before I delve into that, I also want to bring to light a quote from Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday. Bell, once again...

"The first four days (last week) we're sitting there, not getting anything done," said Saturday, who participated in the bulk of the sessions overseen by a federal mediator over three weeks. "It seems odd that you'd wait until Friday, as you're getting closer to lunch, to put out a 20-point proposal, when each point has a number of different details in it. There's just no way. It's like trying to throw an enormous amount of information on someone, right before a deadline, to push something through."

While Brees is most likely dead on with his statement, why air that? Would anyone think the owners could be capable of such? I do. It's really not a shocker. It just comes off as sounding bitter. And Saturday is probably right as well. The owners probably were going with the "information overload" approach. It was a bit crafty, but the players saw through that.

It doesn't matter whose side you're gravitating toward, downgrading the other side nowadays doesn't carry the weight it once did. But one method you may have at your disposal is the infamous "bullying tactic". I bring that up because it appears the NFLPA may have been attempting just that.

The Gridiron Grind on Technorati explored a report (one that was later disputed) that the NFLPA has requested for top prospects to boycott next month's draft. The report also states the NFLPA was requesting that these prospects not only decline the NFL's inviation, but choose to attend their own little gig.

NFLPA exec George Atallah addresses this.

"It would be the same but instead of walking across the stage and shaking hands or getting a man hug from a commissioner who of course has locked you out and is insisting on a wage scale, you'd be walking across the stage and maybe get a handshake from [NFLPA executive director] DeMaurice Smith, who of course is fighting for you not to have a wage scale and not to lock you out."

Sure. Another case of making you look good and the other looking like the Evil Empire.


Sidenote here. I absolutely despise what the draft has become. It's nothing more than a commercial for the league, players included. Within an hour, you will see well over a dozen commercials, hear one song a million times. It's get to the point where it's actually better to go to your favorite sports website and use a "real time" coverage.

With that out in the air, I will add that with all the pomp that surrounds the draft these days, does the NFLPA really think these young men should forego such an event? These young men have busted their asses to get to this point. Sure, bypass what you've watched on the tube for years. No chance to walk on that stage, shake the hand (and maybe get that man hug) of Goodell, grab the jersey and hat of the team that drafted you, have the photo opp of a lifetime all while your family observes a tremendous moment.

Stupid...

And what about the recent comments by Adrian Peterson, stat running back of the Minnesota Vikings? DId he ever open up a can of worms here.

In a post for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo!, Peterson was being interviewed by Doug Farrar. The interview occurred merely minutes after the lockout was announced. Apparently, this didn't set well with AD (for 'all day"). Here's the comment that's created all the dust.

It's modern-day slavery, you know? People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money … the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money. I understand that; these are business-minded people. Of course this is what they are going to want to do. I understand that; it's how they got to where they are now.

Oh, boy. Many people could really go off on this. Some have in the form of fellow players Ryan Grant and Heath Evans. Grant addresses the issue of how there is still slavery in the world today. Evans takes the approach the players should feel blessed to don equipment.

To further this, Peterson is slated to make $10.7 million if there is a 2011 season. Would anyone take in that cache of bills of deem their line of work as slavery? To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised some outside the football world haven't taken AD's quote and run with it.

Even though a lot of my posts on here deal with the NFL, I'm a baseball guy. Baseball took a big hit on its last work stoppage from a PR standpoint. It is still recovering. It may never fully recover. To avoid another misstep, the owners and players association have already met.

And look at the NHL. A full season lost. When the NHL went into the can, the sport was on the cusp of an explosion in its popularity. When the lockout occurred, hockey was slowly becoming a major player in the sports world. Recent expansion had put pro teams in markets once thought never imaginable. Now, teams are in peril. A once lucrative contract with ESPN...gone. To catch NHL games through the week, you have to check out Versus or purchase an overpriced package from your cable/dish provider or purchase the same package for your computer.

The NBA is facing the same fate as the NFL. In fact, people have said a lockout is inevitable in the NBA.

It's one thing to get people in your corner. It's all about how you go about that task. To me, the players are taking the wrong road.