McNair Fallout

[bigpern23]

This nation's attention span won't suatain anything lasting.

Also, the latest actions are protesting Trump's existence. If all these players really wanted to bring about change, they wouldn't have waited until Week 2 this season to start caring. In that context, I can appreciate Kaepernick a lot more. At least he is sincere.

You're right about that, to an extent, although there were other low-profile players who joined Kaepernick in kneeling before Week 2. It's another example of the President's divisive nature/tactics. His words inflamed the protest further. I don't think he's smart enough to have some diabolical plan to divide the country, but I absolutely believe he thought his tough guy tactics would get a few 'atta boys at the local VFW and a few Klan rallies (to be clear, no, I am absolutely not conflating the two organizations beyond the fact that the President courts the approval and votes of both).

 

[QYFW]

I just hope the NFL doesn't **** things up so much I have to start watching college football. Or baseball.

 

[Vombatus]

It's a horrible analogy. You can't say that. The level of sensitivity and sorrow over black men in prison - one of the very things the NFL wants to address! - is at an all-time high.

The revelation of the analogy, presuming it was a player who told ESPN - which I don't necessarily think is a slam dunk - could hurt future meetings. Now owners know - any slip-up, any inarticulate moment, is going to be leaked. What level of trust is there now? It's the job of ESPN - which did a great job on this story - to get those details, but, if you're an owner, and you're looking at this, you're thinking an offhand comment could turn this into a powder keg.

Revenue idea: make future owners meetings pay per view.

What could go wrong?

 

[bigpern23]

I just hope the NFL doesn't **** things up so much I have to start watching college football. Or baseball.

First sentence, yes. Second sentence, **** no. Baseball playoffs have it all over the NFL.

 

[QYFW]

Eh, baseball was my first live but we drifted apart over the years.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

Ultimately, though, what is the endgame for the players? What do they want? They're not going to strike and the union won't win in negotiations of the CBA. Even if the players win in the court of public opinion and ratings and revenues suffer, that won't help their cause. The owners won't give up more if they're taking in less.

You may have something, here. This is only going to make them even more hard-line in negotiations

 

[LongTimeListener]

In three years.

 

[Vombatus]

Prison reform is possible and worthy and necessary.

The police thing...the police will just stop policing parts of the city with any effort. They'll sit back and let the crime rate rise and say their hands are tied. Abuse incidents may go down but the problem just shifts to something else

That's already happening in Baltimore because of the way the DA charged the cops.

 

[QYFW]

In three years.

Nothing is guaranteed for the players tomorrow much less for the next three years.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Nothing is guaranteed for the players tomorrow much less for the next three years.

Huh?

There's no opt-out clause in the CBA. The financial system is in place until then.

I suppose the Texans could cut Hopkins or the Eagles could cut Jenkins (and Chris Long too!) and the petty little owners could make good on their bluff, but I doubt they're going to do that. Especially now since one of their models -- the one Jerry Jones calls the league's best owner -- has been exposed.

McNair really screwed his buddies.

 

[bigpern23]

Eh, baseball was my first live but we drifted apart over the years.

I've gone the other way. I've come to appreciate baseball more and more over the years. People complain about the length of baseball games, but when was the last time anyone saw an NFL game last 2:28? They haven't. The average NFL game is about the same length of an MLB game - and that includes the random MLB games that go super long, like 16 innings. So, generally, an MLB will be shorter than an NFL game.

Also, particularly during the playoffs, I love the drama of a single big at-bat. A guy fighting off nine pitches and delivering an RBI double. A dominant pitcher blowing heat past the opposition's cleanup hitter. There's no clock, there's no forcing the action. It's anticipation at its finest and, many times, that anticipation is present during damn near every at-bat.

 

[QYFW]

If the league suffers, the owners aren't going to be the biggest losers. How far are all these players who didn't have an issue with the league until recently willing to go? Especially if their actions are counterproductive in the long run? Not saying that dynamic is fair or right, but it's reality.

 

[bigpern23]

If the league suffers, the owners aren't going to be the biggest losers. How far are all these players who didn't have an issue with the league until recently willing to go? Especially if their actions are counterproductive in the long run? Not saying that dynamic is fair or right, but it's reality.

I think that's my point. That reasoning is what has, in the past, made the NFLPA such a weak union. But there's a confluence of events happening here that is giving the players more leverage - and more dissatisfaction with their current situation - than maybe they've ever had.

 

[QYFW]

In that case, the three-year wait screws the players.

 

[bigpern23]

In that case, the three-year wait screws the players.

No question. The owners and Goodell need to stop stepping on their own dicks, make the players happy circa 2019 and then get whatever they want, per usual.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

In three years.

LTL...I've covered four work stoppages in hockey, one in basketball and one in baseball. These guys have loooooooooong memories.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Noted.

Feels like something might be changing within the player rank-and-file though. I don't get the sense they're all that interested in having the NFLPA be an adjunct of the NFL anymore. And anyway, the business and media (and political) changes in the next three years are going to be so significant that the anthem/protest issue isn't likely to take a lot of space in negotiations.

 

[Vombatus]

Noted.

Feels like something might be changing within the player rank-and-file though. I don't get the sense they're all that interested in having the NFLPA be an adjunct of the NFL anymore. And anyway, the business and media (and political) changes in the next three years are going to be so significant that the anthem/protest issue isn't likely to take a lot of space in negotiations.

I get what you are saying, but the players are hardly unified on this. What percent are kneeling? 20 percent? And how many of them are doing it because of Trump?

When it gets to crunch time: money talks and bull**** walks. I don't see the players unified on this and if anything, they'll tire over it. This McNair thing will be another spike, but to me it further muddles the whole protest. Now people will protest McNair and the owners and the NFL, which moves the needle further away from Trump, and even further away from the issues Kaep was raising in the first ****ing place.

Meanwhile, people tune out and turn off.

 

[HanSenSE]

I'd love to know who the 49ers' special adviser was. If it was Paraag Marathe, I'd bet a thousand dollars he's the leak. He and Jed York are the Chattiest Cathys in the league.

On race-related issues? I think it's Harry Edwards, no?

 

[LongTimeListener]

Story said there was a special adviser in the room with each owner.