Injunction Junction

[RashanGary]

All I really want is for the current NFL to persist, the full season to be played, for the draft to continue in perpetuity, for there to be a salary cap and a floor, and for reasonable free agency restrictions (RFAs for years 3 & 4, and the franchise tag, say), and for there to be a rookie wage scale. Why is that too much to ask?

That's what you're going to get. Swede and skinbasket are just pissed that we're not living in the old confederacy any more so they're throwing out silly, "oh just blow it all up" comments because a judge ruled in favor of some workers rather than owners. Football will go on. They'll open the books and the owners will still make billions while still using publicly funded tax dollars to build their stadiums. Nobody is going broke here. This thing is going to get settled and both sides will know what the pie looks like before they settle it so it will be nice and fair. I have less than zero concern about football. It's a 9 billion dollar per year profit industry. They'll be all pissy, but they'll come around.

[MJZiggy]

All I really want is for the current NFL to persist, the full season to be played, for the draft to continue in perpetuity, for there to be a salary cap and a floor, and for reasonable free agency restrictions (RFAs for years 3 & 4, and the franchise tag, say), and for there to be a rookie wage scale. Why is that too much to ask?

In other words, you'd like them to take their collective heads out of their collective asses?

[Lurker64]

That's what you're going to get. Swede and skinbasket are just pissed that we're not living in the old confederacy any more so they're throwing out silly, "oh just blow it all up" comments because a judge ruled in favor of some workers rather than owners. Football will go on. They'll open the books and the owners will still make billions while still using publicly funded tax dollars to build their stadiums. Nobody is going broke here. This thing is going to get settled and both sides will know what the pie looks like before they settle it so it will be nice and fair. I have less than zero concern about football. It's a 9 billion dollar per year profit industry. They'll be all pissy, but they'll come around.

NFLPA lead counsel Jeff Kessler wants to eliminate the salary cap, salary floor, draft, and all free agency restrictions. He is a bad person and I do not want him to get what he wants.

In other words, you'd like them to take their collective heads out of their collective asses?

I thought about appending "and for the two sides to remove their collective heads from their collective asses" but then figured that might be asking for too much. They can keep their heads where they like if I can have the entire aforementioned list.

[VermontPackFan]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

"emanating from the oracle in Sonia Sotomayor's uterus"

love it...lol.

[SkinBasket]

Is the players rush to get the court process started starting to make a little more sense to you, skinbasket, or do you still think they're a bunch of dummies out screwing themselves just to show us all how stupid they are?

So, by the same token, you admit the players never wanted to negotiate in good faith and the NLRB should find in favor of the owners?

A predictable decision with no legal backing by a judge that favors labor doesn't make the players' move any smarter. It's a gamble where the pay-off may be just as destructive to the league, and their careers, than anything the owners could cook up. Typical union thinking, though. Better to sink the ship at sea than have to swab the deck for less than $45 an hour.

As I've said before, the judiciary is packed to the brim with pro-labor judges, and given the current political situation this nation finds itself in, this is the best time for the players to attempt to gain leverage through a government that believes in unlimited power, unrestrained unaccountability, and a blatant disregard for the law in the name of political objectives. Winning doesn't always make you right. Hell, winning doesn't always make you a winner, even if you claim victory. Just ask "Judge" Kloppenburg.

[mraynrand]

I don't understand the process here. The NFL locked out union players. The union dissolved. Thus, there is no entity that is being locked out. How can the judge lift a lockout that no longer technically applies. Since players are now individually hired by teams, cannot teams decide whether or not to allow them on the premises? Without firing them? Even if you remain hired, your boss can tell you to stay home? How can the judge end this type of 'lockout.' It would seem then that there would be thousands upon thousands of workers similarly locked out across the country.

And about irreparable harm: Is not the arena league currently playing? I would imaging most NFL players could easily find work for one of these teams, at a top league salary. Would improve the prestige of the league and improve their pay I'm sure.

[Bossman641]

Demaurice smith and nfl rep jeff pash (?) both called into mike and mike this morning. Their time was short but smith sounded like a real smug sonofabitch.

[RashanGary]

So, by the same token, you admit the players never wanted to negotiate in good faith and the NLRB should find in favor of the owners?

If negotiating in good faith means taking whatever the owners offer with nothing more than a hand shake and a "we're telling you the truth this time, we promise", then no, they never intended to take that. The courts will open the books. The owners will look sleezy in the courts eyes by the stuff they're doing behind partial audits and things will go according to DeMaurices plan.

A predictable decision with no legal backing by a judge that favors labor doesn't make the players' move any smarter. It's a gamble where the pay-off may be just as destructive to the league, and their careers, than anything the owners could cook up. Typical union thinking, though. Better to sink the ship at sea than have to swab the deck for less than $45 an hour.

Nobody's ship is sinking in any sea. If the owners don't like the new deal, sell their franchises. It's that easy. Nobody is forcing them to own an NFL team. They won't sell because they're making a fortune doing something very fun. Quit with the drama, nobody's going broke here.

[RashanGary]

Demaurice smith and nfl rep jeff pash (?) both called into mike and mike this morning. Their time was short but smith sounded like a real smug sonofabitch.

He's going up against some of the most shrewd, ruthless businessmen in our country. He damn well better have some confidence and conviction along with his education and negotiating skills. Without it, he'd get eaten alive.

[RashanGary]

The players are offering up their preferred avenue of negotiation. Why don't the owners just show good faith and negotiate on the players terms? Lift the silly lockout. Go back to last years rules and go with the court assisted negotiation. Why are these guys being so unreasonable about this negotiation? The owners don't want to get a deal done. The players have the table all set, all they need is for teh other side to sit down and start working out the deal.


Isn't that funny how one silly little detail like financial transparency can make such a difference in who's willing to sit an talk?

So do you side with the people who will exhaust all resources hiding the truth or the people who will exhaust all resources finding it? That's the core issue here. That's why the owners are all of a sudden so unwilling to sit down and talk and why the players weren't willing before.

Through all the legal hoops and business mumbo jumbo, this is actually very simple.

Financial honesty.

I'll bet the deals done within 2 months of it being provided. You wanna take that bet, skin?

[Zool]

Nobody's ship is sinking in any sea. If the owners don't like the new deal, sell their franchises. It's that easy. Nobody is forcing them to own an NFL team. They won't sell because they're making a fortune doing something very fun. Quit with the drama, nobody's going broke here.

I guess the players could just give up playing football and go get a different job. No one is holding them to it.

[Tarlam!]

I think the owners should have shared information as a matter of good business practice. It would have avoided so much stress. It would have been a catalyst for trustful talks. Transparency is a good thing. Heavens, public companies do it as a matter of law all the time. The Packers do it, every year.

Now that the players have publicly, loudly and unconditionally demanded it as the only possible platform by which to negotiate "fairly", it's obvious that the owners will fight it tooth and nail in an attempt to show them who's boss!! Neither want to "lose face". They're like a bunch of chinese!!

I don't see a détente any time soon. And I am in fear of losing the parity.

[RashanGary]

I guess the players could just give up playing football and go get a different job. No one is holding them to it.

If the courts rule against them, they'll have to take whatevers offered or leave. If not, well, they don't have to worry about that. The owners do.

[sharpe1027]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT





Seriously...how the FUCK do these retarded men and women become judges in the first place?

Her legal reason for finding for the players is that the lockout hurts their careers? Would someone please slap her with her bogus law degree and explain to her that--ostensibly--judges are supposed to find LEGAL grounds for making decisions, not listen to sympathetic vibrations emanating from the oracle in Sonia Sotomayor's uterus.

What if the law states that the legal decision is based upon whether or not there is irreparable harm? Is this judge still an idiot for following the law?

"To justify an injunction on the lockout, the Plaintiffs had to show irreparable harm had it stayed in place. This is the type of harm which cannot be tied to a particular dollar amount."

http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-players-show-irreparable-harm-preliminary-injunction-on-lockout-is-granted-2011-4

[Bossman641]

"We're all for anything that allows the players to realize their maximum potential on the free-agent market. The league has grown exponentially based on the rules that have been in place over the years, but a lot of the rules that have taken place have been very restrictive on the players," Mawae said.

As an example of the restrictions on players, Mawae cited the NFL draft, which this year takes place Thursday through Saturday.

"These young players coming up have no choice on what team they can go to," he said. "If indeed there was a true free-agent market, they could go out there and market themselves to any team they want to go to and choose who they want to play for instead of being told what team they're going to go play for for the next three to five years depending on what happens with the contract length."

When asked if the NFLPA wants to see the draft abolished, Mawae said: "I'm saying potentially if there is no draft then every kid coming out of college has the potential to negotiate a contract with any team he wants to negotiate with."

Would that be good for the league?

"It could be, it could not be," he said. "We don't know, we've never had a system where there is no draft."

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And there it is, what the players truly want. This isn't about financial transparency or open books. It is about changing the landscape of the draft and free agency.

How can anyone back the players when this is what they want the league to become. The players want to turn the NFL into MLB.