the owners did their part :) Lets Play

[MJZiggy]

Yeah I went to it. Here's a portion of what it says...

Is this about lawyers padding their bills and trying to gain notoriety?
Does the Pope shit in the woods?

On the first point, yes, on the second, doubtful. I don't think the popemobile has the traction to get him to the woods to shit.

[MJZiggy]

i find it pretty funny that we had all these players shooting their mouths off last night about how the owners were trying to screw them. and today, most of the reps are saying they just want time to read through and understand what they might be agreeing to.

i still don't really get it. the owners had goodell negotiating for them, the players hired de smith to do the same for them. those two men came to an agreement. goodell tells the owners its done, the owners vote on it because their negotiator did his best. de smith turns to the players with the same stuff, and the players are bitching because they didn't get all they want.. do you think all the owners had to have copies of the agreement and they all had to go through the whole thing with a fine tooth comb?

thats why its called a negotiation, although i wouldn't expect many of those meatheads to understand the meaning of the word

I thought they were just being pissy because they wanted a vote on the contract, but the players hadn't seen the full contract yet. I thought I read that they are supposed to get it and vote today?

[Patler]

i still don't really get it. the owners had goodell negotiating for them, the players hired de smith to do the same for them. those two men came to an agreement. goodell tells the owners its done, the owners vote on it because their negotiator did his best. de smith turns to the players with the same stuff, and the players are bitching because they didn't get all they want.. do you think all the owners had to have copies of the agreement and they all had to go through the whole thing with a fine tooth comb?

Yes, I suspect the owners had copies and all the information that was available, and I suspect their accountants and top advisers went into it as deeply as possible. I suspect they were being fed information on an ongoing basis through out the negotiations, so they knew were they stood on the issues all along. I can't imagine any owner agreeing to it just because Goodell said he should.

[vince]

They received the contract last night, and knew what was in it long before that. They participated heavily in writing the damn thing.

De Smith is at the Patriots' owner's wife's funeral today in Boston, so there will be no vote today.

[vince]

.

Player reps emailed a letter to players saying, "We will meet again Monday to discuss our options and the direction we want to go."

[Patler]

I love it when parties decide to posture instead of finalizing a deal!
I suppose they couldn't find anywhere to meet over the weekend.

[vince]

A self-described collective bargaining expert's take on the state of the CBA, in response to Football people not reacting well to new CBA rules.

I have a good idea of the collective bargaining process so let me explain and offer my opinion of what happened:

(The media speculation on this has been horrible and sad at the same time.)

1. Almost all of the 1800 players really DON’T have any idea what is going on. They werent part of any negotiations. (So Stallworth and Evans giving phone interviews talking about this is absurd. Those two were not involved in anything and they are not even player representatives. They have no idea what they are talking about and should be muzzled by D. Smith.)

The only players who really know what is going on and know the inner-workings of the CBA proposed are the ones on the negotiating team (Jeff Saturday, Dominique Foxworth, Charlie Batch, and the few others.) Thats it!

It appeared that D Smith and this negotiating team got what they thought was a fair deal this week and called the 32 player reps in to look at it and vote on it on Wednesday. (If D Smith and the negotiating team thought they had a good deal then this shouldve been a no brainer to pass. These guys wouldnt have been called in to vote otherwise IMO.) For whatever reason the 32 reps did not vote “yes” on it despite it being presented to them as a “good deal.”

I am sure this stunned the owners because they were under the assumption from the NFLPA negotiating team that both parties thought they had a fair deal. It obviously ticked the owners off too as they carried forward with their plans to ratify the agreement Thursday. It appeared that the phone conversation between D Smith and the Commish yesterday D Smith trying to get more things changed in the CBA. Obviously the owners and the commish refused being they thought both parties had agreed to a fair deal, so they ratified it.

That is essentially what happened. That is why you have player reps saying they were hoodwinked or didnt get what they wanted,etc……because the owners passed the deal that D Smith and the negotiating team thought was fair, not the ones the player reps wanted to be passed (It is really shocking the player reps did not listen to D Smith on this. It clearly indicates there is in house fighting going on now. It seems these reps have a problem with league discipline issues, which to have this brought up at this point is unbelievable). Nevertheless, this debacle ultimately falls on D Smith and the negotiating team because they failed to convince the player reps to accept this deal.

So like I said, the negotiating team knows everything, but that is only a handful of guys. The 32 reps know the main parts of the new CBA proposed by the owners. The rest of the players really do not know anything other than what their buddies may have told them……that is why Heath Evans really needs to be quiet!

[Smidgeon]

I've been patient throughout the entire process. But now I'm getting fed up. I want some d@mn football. Games (even if they're preseason games) are on the line. I want to see the rookies in their uniforms and speculate on their learning curves. I want to read about the progress Burnett, Neal, and Shields have made. Get it done!

[red]

so, the players aren't going to be getting together again until next week to discuss this. this won't be signed monday, meaning there will be no training camp next week

so we're looking at august 1st as a possible opening of training camp, IF, and that is a big if, the players pull their heads out of their asses. our first preseason game is the 13th and its an away game.

now with the new deal the owners signed, there are no more 2 a days, and really all they have to do is show up and sit in lawn chairs. how are players gonna be in shape, not all of them our working out right now

its bull shit. the players have had the whole offseason off, why can't the reps meet over the weekend to talk about this? players don't want to be at training camp, that is crystal clear, and they are using this to get out of doing more then they want to.

bunch of overgrown, spoiled brats IMO

[Freak Out]

It sounds like Favre is leading the players side...and he's in no hurry to get to camp.

[mraynrand]

I love it when parties decide to posture instead of finalizing a deal!
I suppose they couldn't find anywhere to meet over the weekend.

The Chuck E. Cheese is closed for renovations

[mraynrand]

It sounds like Favre is leading the players side...and he's in no hurry to get to camp.

Well, yes and no, sort of. But he knows he can still play.

[Joemailman]

Best tweet on the lockout is by Tom Crabtree:



@TCrabtree83
Tom Crabtree
Whatever happens with the lockout, it better not interfere with Shark Week.
8 hours ago via Twitter for iPad

[HarveyWallbangers]

I kind of liked T.J. Lang's tweet (regarding Josh Sitton).

[MadScientist]

Best tweet on the lockout is by Tom Crabtree:

@TCrabtree83
Tom Crabtree
Whatever happens with the lockout, it better not interfere with Shark Week.
8 hours ago via Twitter for iPad

I'd say Sitton and Lang have him beat:
TJLang70 TJ Lang
Listen everyone the problem is @jsitton71 wont sign the deal until the nfl agrees to pay for his post career liposuction.. how selfish
8 hours ago

jsitton71 josh sitton
@TJLang70 breaking news. @tjlang70 wont sign deal until they find a helmet big enough for his head
8 hours ago

TJLang70 TJ Lang
@jsitton71 actually said he will retire if he doesn't get the same hair deal that Clay has.. thinks its unfair

jsitton71 josh sitton
@TJLang70 its funny they cant find at helmet big enough for his head and a cup small enough for his other head