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Lockout 2011
Top 10 Things We Learned
It's felt like the longest offseason ever – especially for Plaxico! With no
football activities since the draft, I'm not the only media person that ran
out of legitimate things to talk about. But, unlike Seinfeld, we did learn
a few things about the lockout:
10. NFL Network needs a refresh. Fans trying to catch up on the
latest lockout news were tortured mercilessly by the network's only
2 commercials – Play 60 School Bus commercial with the annoying
syncopated soundtrack of players and kids (plus owners and mascots)
nodding on the way to a playground; and the Alyssa Milano NFL
Women's Apparel commercial that features Dan Snyder's wife being
disappointed in her man (join the club!).
9. "Newsworthy" topics took on new meaning. What do you
say about media outlets, like the NFL Network, that devoted considerable
airtime discussing what Jets QB Mark Sanchez had for lunch; and
another gem about which player has the best hair?
8. No one cares about the fans. Sure, we heard hoards of sound
bites from Roger Goodell, De Smith, Owners and Players declaring
their sympathy for Joe Fan. But no one meant it. Otherwise, the lockout
would have been over before the draft. Billionaires and millionaires care
more about getting their cars detailed than 40-hour-a-week working
stiffs, unless the camera's on them.
7. Fantasy Football is just that. With no actual offseason to trade
players or see how prized rookies are faring, this "sport" will prove to be
even more of a crapshoot – especially in the late rounds. Let's say you're
in a 12-team league and you need to pick up a 2nd or 3rd QB, there's
Donovan McNabb. What do you do … Pick up him not knowing if he'll
take a single snap this year? For one friend who has his draft at the end
of July this is a scary, if not, stupid dilemma.
6. Money remains the biggest motivator. It's funny how for months
the owners and players were no where near coming to a new Collective
Bargaining Agreement. Until July rolled around and they quickly discovered
that missing the 1st preseason game meant they would not get the trickle-
down effect of some $240 million in revenue. Now it looks like everything
will be resolved nicely, like the last 5 minutes of a sitcom.
5. Tweeting can be a dangerous weapon. Sure, you won't do any jail
time, but you can lose your job (ahem, Anthony Weiner), endorsements,
and alienate teammates. With more time on their hands this offseason at
least 2 guys from the Steelers – Rashard Mendenhall and James Harrison
– hurt themselves by tweeting. Mendenhall tweeted that bin Laden's death
was nothing to celebrate, "What kind of person celebrates death? It's
amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak."
Goodbye endorsements. Harrison tweeted that NFL rule makers are "idiots,"
not to mention calling Goodell the "devil" and disparaging remarks about
Mendenhall and Ben Roethlisberger in Men's Journal magazine.
Goodbye Steelers?
4. She said, she said. Have you ever heard 2 sides point fingers, exaggerate
the facts, and argue so much through the media? The lockout proved that even
wealthy grown men can sound like a bunch of bitchy, gossipy girls, tweeting
like pubescent teens and even bugging "parent" figures like the President (of the
United States) and the courts. Both the Prez and the courts replied with the
equivalence of "work this out yourselves (you crybabies)." Now that the owners
and players are finally ending the lockout through negotiations, fans will never
be able to look at the two the same.
3. UTAs are a joke. So, what is a UTA? Unorganized Team Activities, of
course. Without minicamps or OTAs to get ready for training camp, players were
forced to workout by themselves or with part-time teammates and/or brother-
in-laws. Although the players boasted about them being real workouts, the
mishmash of starting QBs throwing 10-yard outs to practice squaders and
participating in assorted grass drills, UTAs looked more like crazy fraternity
Greek Games.
2. Nothing can replace the NFL. The NBA and NHL playoffs, World Cup
women's soccer, and MLB and PGA Majors are still NOT enough to quench true
football fan's appetite. Not to say that these events were not interesting and, at
times exciting, but for fans that eat and sleep football, they did not make us
forget America 's game.
1. The owners say, "DOH!" So why did the negotiations suddenly heat up
in July? The owners had a smug, secret plan to prolong the strike until the first
few games of the season – the assumption that the players would cave and accept
a lackluster deal because they couldn't afford to miss paychecks. That's until the
owners learned the players took out an insurance policy guaranteeing each
player $200,000 for the season even if they didn’t step on the field. Suddenly
that ace in the owners' back pockets felt like they had been pushed into a vat
of Duff beer.
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