It is not surprising an appeals court voted yesterday to uphold the NFL’s current lockout…. just disheartening.
Writing on matters of the NFL has become somewhat similar to the opening of a 1950’s private-eye movie.
Cue the sports writer sitting at his desk with the traditional crime drama music playing in the background. It is late at night during a thunderstorm, and our fictionalized character is suffering from a serious case of writers block.
Traditionally a voice over would chime in at this point; for our purposes, the voice would start by saying something like…… day 66 of the NFL lockout and no progress has been made.
Our main character would rise from his desk to look out the window and ponder how he may solve the case. Only the case of the 2011 NFL lockout seems as though nothing can be done to help the issue.
Obviously I am mocking the current state of the NFL and all those impacted by the work stoppage, but as we get closer to June and the intended start date of training camp, it is becoming more and more apparent every day that there really may not be an NFL season.
While some players have taken time during the lockout to partake in productive activities, such as Troy Polamalu going back to school to earn his diploma, other athletes are using their new found free time in all the wrong ways.
The most recent Ochocinco bull-ridding stunt was the icing on the cake. It’s not enough that we have multiple athletes tweeting about how much they love the lockout because it gives them a chance to be lazy and do nothing (that will surely endear you to the fans who want nothing more than for this football season to happen) but bull-ridding on the professional bull-ridding tour, now that’s down right insane.
I don’t know how many people out there in Steeler nation saw Ochocinco perform this stunt, but as he was thrown from the massive steer in only 1 second, the bull smashed his hooves into the ground inches away from Chad’s face. When reporters asked him how it felt to be thrown from such a powerful animal, Ochocinco said he was never worried because he is an entertainer.
Oh by the way….. Ochocinco did the stunt for a 10k check.
Why can’t the NFL see the lockout is harmful to every aspect of the game? Players are pursuing other ways to keep their name in the public eye, and in many cases, their stunts are borderline death defying. Other players are moving on to different leagues in order to make some form of a paycheck.
Rookie players and coaches have been unable to meet with their teams to get accustomed to NFL life, which can set players and coaches back years without developing that important comrodery. Fans are beginning to lose faith that there will be a season this year, and if the support of the fans goes, so too goes all the money the league is arguing over in the first place.
I don’t have the solution how to get a deal done and get the season underway, but I do know something has to happen soon….Dancing With the Stars won’t be on forever.