After hearing all of the debate (okay, probably a fraction of a percent of the debate) over the new "cracking down" on helmet-to-helmet collisions, it's now clear to me that there will be no 2011 NFL season.
The reason?
The three parties involved (the owners, the league, and the players) see everything about their sport completely different.
I was actually opposed to the widespread belief that football would halt play after this season. After all, how could the most successful professional sport in all of America turn down five months of high-revenue Sundays?
The fact of the matter is that the players want more money, not only now but later; the owners want more money, as what's always been the case; and the league doesn't know what it wants, but hey, more money couldn't hurt, right?
One of the hot issues facing the league and it's wide-open collective bargaining agreement is what to do about the poorly-funded health care plan for retirees. The players need more money for their future and the owners, of course, need help paying for the extravagant stadiums that have recently been erected.
The players are worried about health (and money) and the owners are worried about money.
Then comes one of the most idiotic ideas by the NFL that may actually pass, the fan-favored 18-game regular season schedule.
The league and owners are in favor of the expansion (which would actually limit the preseason to two games) because it'll make them more money. Meanwhile, the players aren't quite loving the idea of two more opportunities to get knocked in the melon and be reduced to vegetation for the rest of their lives.
Which all brings me back to the most current topic, the helmet-to-helmet collisions that have finally put Brett Favre's Viking horn on the back burner (thank God).
The fact of the matter is that the NFL doesn't want to lose it's big name players (i.e. DeSean Jackson) because someone running at full speed decided to rattle a defenseless receiver's brain (literally).
The owners don't want to lose these players either because losing star players equals less money.
So, finally the owners, the league, and the players are all agreeing that a player's health is the most important thing, right?
Wrong. So wrong in fact that it made a former NFL Europe player consider throwing away not only his career, but also about $50 million.
Many players (including James Harrison and Channing Crowder) have said that there's no way of stopping the helmet-to-helmet collisions that have been causing such dome-rocking hits.
"If James is going to be fined $75,000 for making a legal tackle, then how do you go play football," Harrison's agent Bill Parise said.
Last time I checked, a tackle consisted of getting the ball carrier to the ground. There are many players out there that get the job done perfectly fine with using their arms and their strength instead of relying on extremely violent collisions, but these players are often less glorified by fans and the media.
The owners are fairly smart people, especially when it comes to business (and money). My guess is that they'll probably be able to figure out that the money that the Player's Association is trying so desperately to receive for their health care will eventually be going to the players who are currently running around recklessly and popping guys in the grill.
The owners would then see a poor investment and therefore back off from the health care funding.
The league would see (as they will this weekend and those forthcoming) that players won't stop the hits that give them popularity (i.e. Brandon Meriweather, whose name wouldn't have been well known before this past week if he wouldn't have gone helmet stomping in college).
And the players will nonetheless continue to fight for harder hitting now and more morphine injections later.
The inability for each of these parties to agree on any of the main issues facing the impending CBA will ultimately cause an incline in church attendance in the fall of 2011 as many fans will try to find an escape before the work week.
With all of the prayers he'll be receiving in the near future, let's all hope that God is a football fan.
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