With the news of the NFL Lockout, I am no longer willing to support either the players or owners as a fan. I am a New York Jets fan, or was a New York Jets fan. On Friday, March 11th, the National Football League Players Association filed for decertification, dissolving themselves as a union, which is a legal tactic designed to pressure the owners. The league responded with a lockout at midnight to which the players responded with an antritrust suit against the league. I keep hearing the catch phrase from “In Living Color” of the skit with the Wayans brothers call “Mo Money”. With the NFL seeing revenues of more than $9 billion as America’s most popular sport, the recent events make me sick to my stomach. At the start of negotiations, owners wanted an additional $1 billion to be applied toward cost credits for investment in things like stadiums and the NFL Network. Yesterday, the two sides entered the day just $640 million apart, and owners offered to split the difference, meaning that they would have taken $320 million per year, a third of their original demand. The head of the union, said that during negotiations, players had offered owners $550 million over four years, a mere $137.5 million per year.
The N.F.L.’s lead negotiator said, “I can say to the fans as I’ve said before, the absence of an agreement is a shared failure and I think they should be disappointed, I think they should be unhappy and I understand that.” Both sides knew they would be judged solely on whether a deal got done and they didn’t get one done. That tells us they’re clearly more interested in themselves than the fans.
So in essence the rich are arguing about who should get “more” when there are multitudes going without, and I can’t sit idly by and support this insanity any longer. I will always love the years of being a New York Jets fan because it taught me a lot about being committed to something, even when year after year you get dirt kicked in your face. I will keep my picture of “Joe Willy” playing in Super Bowl III against the Colts on my office wall. I find myself a little heart broken this morning as I am putting away this part of my life. For me, the “Mine” argument is a little ridiculous for men to engage in when there are greater things that need to be addressed. 1 Corinthians 13:11 – “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
If this does cause the 2011 to be postponed/cancelled, I will pray for all the men women and children who are impacted financially by this recklessness. The team office employees, stadium employees, concessionaires and all their employees and anybody else who might otherwise suffer any type of hardship. I will also pray for all the fans and of course pray for the players and club owners.
Wayne
October 21st, 2011 → 17:57
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