So...how are you enjoying the lockout?

It's been a long while since my last post here, although for those that follow on Twitter (@packfansunited ... you can click the Twitter link here in the righthand column, as well ... a-hem) you know that I've been more active there of late. Most tweets (or re-tweets), but not all, are football related. The most exciting tweets of note the last several days had to do with that other kind of football -- or futbol, as called in some part of the world -- we in the U.S. call soccer. Specifically, the U.S. Women's World Cup team. They're headed to the finals after a thrilling quarterfinal game against Brazil and nearly as an exciting semifinal match against France. To be honest, I've never been a big soccer fan. But I am a sports fan. Friends know I will likely watch anything if it's competitive and interesting enough. And that's been the story on this World Cup stuff. So...yeah, I'm enjoying this level of competition. But will I watch any of the pro soccer league matches that get televised? Hmmmm...doubt it. Without a local or national connection with a team, c'mon, what's the point of watching?

Anyway, hadn't really intended to go off on this tangent about soccer. But on the other hand, it is an indicator of the general boredom football fans everywhere are experiencing as the lockout drags on and on.

Depending upon which reports you read or hear about, things are either really close to getting a deal done or are still miles apart. If there is an encouraging bit of news it seems to be that more pundits are apparently suggesting that they see the lockout over before the end of July. If so, most training camps would start close to on time, unless there was a built-in period for free agent signings before camps get underway. Some speculate that two pre-season games may be wiped out because of the timing of these things, if and when the deal does get finalized. Most players wouldn't mind that, although with teams missing perhaps the equivalent of up to two months of various workouts and organized team activities, you can figure things will be sloppy for quite a while, probably through as many as four to six games of the regular season.

The players who will be hurt most in this whole situation, of course, are the rookies. They have the most to learn and will have the least amount of time to learn it. Rookie impact players, one might expect, will be few and far between, although as the season goes on, as with the case of Packers RB James Starks last season, we will get glimpses of what might lie ahead. And the ironic thing is that, if you believe some of the reports, the area of negotiations that is currently hanging things up is regarding rookie compensation and length of contracts.

But others will also be hurt if this lockout drags on: communities and businesses that serve team training camps, wherever they might be. Lots of financial impact in these places will go bye-bye if the training camps are shortened or done away with altogether. And as the regular season gets shortened -- if it does -- the individual vendors and, in the case of Lambeau Field, charities that benefit from operating various concession stands during games will also lose out. While the league and players can't figure out how to divy up billions of dollars, it's possible many hard-working individuals who need the game-day money they make in order to help make ends meet are going to be taking it you-know-where.

So, I'm going to be optimistic and go along with the reports that a deal will get done by the end of July. Until then...I may just lock myself out of further posts. A solidarity thing, I guess you could say. Stay tuned. We'll be back. And there will be plenty of catching up to do.

And the Commish says...

Yesterday we heard execs from the NFL Players Association telling us that it was highly unlikely there would be football in 2011.

A day later, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says...he hopes they're wrong. So do we, commish, so do we.

Goodell also wants to see a few other things: more games, overseas games, and a franchise back in Los Angeles. He also is not in favor of changing the overtime system. Dang!

If you're interested in learning more about what the commissioner has to say about this and that, and that and this, then you can find this and that here.

NFL Players Association exec sees no play in 2011

If you saw the movie "Spinal Tap" (and if you are a reader here, I have to believe you did), then you might remember Christopher Guest's Nigel Tufnel character saying that while the loudest number on all regular amplifiers was "10", Spinal Tap's went to "11". Because, paraphrasing, it was one more.

I offer this walk down movie memory lane as a precursor to the comments of NFL Players association executive director, DeMaurice Smith, who said today that he viewed the possibility of football not being played in 2011 as a "14" on a scale of 1 to 10. So...let's see...that would be...four more!

Okaaaaaay. That's not good, is it? Especially since the world is also supposed to end in 2012 according to the Mayan calendar. So better enjoy this next season, folks. 2011, no football...2012, no anything. Yikes! That means the Packers gotta win next season's Super Bowl! Oh man...

Anyway...

According an AP article on Yahoo Sports, Smith talked about how tough it would be to sell players on an average pay cut of "$340,000... to save the National Football League. Tough sell. Tough sell.” NFLPA president Kevin Mawae, played the other role in this bad cop - good cop melodrama. Mawae said, "I really and truly in my heart believe we’ll get a deal done. But there’s going to have to be some give and some take and not just taking from one side all the way.”

The league, naturally, looks at this somewhat differently and took exception to some of the numbers and arguments being tossed about by the players union. In fact, our beloved Packers even got dragged into the discussion as a talking point. Because the Packers are the only team whose annual financial statements are public, they are the only ones the union has seen. To help justify its position, the league pointed out that the Packers' profits declined by 40 percent.

Anyway, you can read more at the article link above.

Oh, and if you saw my earlier post today in which I referenced the "out of uniform" cell phone video and sweepstakes campaign the NFLPA has underway, this latest information just reinforces my earlier comment that it's a smart (but rather obvious) public relations effort by the union ahead of the negotiations to try to build fan support by showing that NFL players are just typical guys doing typical things. You know, except with more money than typical guys. Than typical guys will see in a lifetime. But other than that...yeah, sure...