Colin Cowherd a "spoiled little ****head."

Aren't many steelworkers skilled workers?

As for Cowherd, I don't listen to him any more. Once I learned he scorns my demographic--as well he might--I decided to let him stew in his own juice.

 

The NFL and the NBA, maybe. I have a funny feeling MLB's going to get it right and negotiate an agreement. Bud Selig won't want a lockout/work stoppage on his resume as the last official act he did while in office.

 

No, but his employers, the owners, would dearly love:

1) to cut payroll 50 percent or more

2) drastically limit guaranteed contracts

3) dramatically expand their authority to suspend/terminate players for disciplinary/legal/PED situations.

 

I laugh when I hear people saying the owners are the ones taking the risk.
Whether it is a football player or a steelworker, what is the worst thing that can happen?
The worst thing an owner or developer is not making as much money as they thought they would. I won't even go into the tax breaks and government support owners and developers seem to enjoy.

 

Wanting things is one thing. Getting them? Based on past labor relations in baseball, it just ain't gonna happen.

 

Mainly because union "leaders," for lack of a better word, rarely if ever walk picket lines or get locked out. Their jobs and their salaries are all but guaranteed no matter what, unlike those of the people they supposedly "represent" - again, for lack of a better word.

 

Except that the middle class has effectively zero power in America now days. Its purchasing power is dwindling by the year compared to the elite class, and one major reason for that is the weakening of unions and the government's refusal to enforce laws that unions helped get on the books.

Look at the UMWA, which for a 40-year period fought mine companies tooth and nail to get laws like MSHA on the books. And look at the Upper Big Branch mine, which blew up because the government doesn't enforce the very regulations outlined in MSHA. And that's after 30 years of the UMWA being decimated by companies like Massey Energy because the government didn't enforce the laws it had on the books.

Unions still have a valuable place in America. I'm the son of a lifelong union worker who made what he made because of the union. If not for it, he'd have been doing the same work for half the pay, substantially less benefits and no guarantee of being able to retire one day. There are still companies in this country that don't have a care in the world for workers, their health or their safety. If you don't believe me, go down to the mountains of WV and KY. You'll see plenty of them. And that's just in one industry. Electrical workers, service workers, transport workers, coal miners, steel workers -- they all have needs that are better served when they bargain together.

The NFL and MLB are perfect examples of what a good union can do for you. Has MLB taken some PR hits because of strikes? Of course. But its players are much better off than NFL players. The NFLPA, if it has any balls, is either going to get some of what it wants or it's going to keep its players off the field next year. And even if half of America hates them for it, they'll be better off.

 

Cowherd? Gambling...blahblahblah...cocktails...blahblahblah...divorce...blah blah blah...Sports 101...blahblahblah...so bland no one can sell much of anything against his TV simulcast here in the East. White noise while I'm brushing my teeth.

Oh, and I so value a writer like Taibbi, a genius in the use of "douche-twat."

Please, someone save us from ourselves.

 

Agreed. My father is a union worker too, and although he bitches constantly about how they don't listen to the workers' needs.

The other problem is, middle class workers look at unions as somewhat of a blue-collar thing, and think of themselves as white collar professionals. Never mind that if it wasn't for the unions, they'd still be working 80 hour weeks for 10 cents an hour with zero vacation time and sick time.

 

I enjoyed the rant.

It's amazing to me how in this country people will root against things that would help themselves or people like themselves and either cheer or shrug when the rich folks line their pockets at their expense.

 

For that reason alone, Cowherd is unlistenable ... like Adam Sandler's analysis of the industrial revolution in Billy Madison, I become dumber every time I listen to him.

On another issue, this idea that the calls and e-mails ESPN received largely said the players were in the wrong ... I have a tough time accepting the accuracy of that statement. ESPN and NBC -- which carried the Saints-Vikings game -- and the other TV/radio networks are partners of the NFL. They're paying the NFL for the rights to televise the games. Forgive me for not being shocked that they're "protecting the shield?" If they did otherwise, they'd be making news.

We all know there's a lack of objectivity in sports broadcasting, particularly when it comes to live game broadcasts because there are so many ex-players on the air. Some are better at telling it like it is than others. But generally, the ex-players coddle the current players, and the "network guys" who are career broadcasters coddle the leagues. Obviously, I know there are exceptions, but that's pretty much the dynamic. The independent voices seem few and far between.

 

I have no doubt the calls and emails were slanted in blaming the players. Only because the kind of people who feel impassioned to call and email radio shows and comment on articles are, by and large, reactionary idiots who hate more about sports than they love.

so of course they would come down hard on players in that scenario.

I'm a Taibbi fan and I agree completely with his take here. Dave Zirin handled this with a little less invective in the Nation's blog and on HuffPost.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-zirin/nfl-opener-becomes-site-o_b_713126.html