NFL Lockout: Will There be a 2011 NFL Season? Don't Hold Your Breath

The players and owners still haven't come to an agreement and both sides want to blame each other. It's been the same old same old for the past few months since the players decided to "de-certify" or "strike" if you will.

There are now lawsuits, a judge with the middle name of 'Richard', players unable to contact their coaches and are not allowed to show up to NFL Draft parties where the media is present. At least that's the word here in Dallas when local radio stations were told only former Dallas Cowboys would be allowed to show up.

So, if you're holding your breath hoping these two sides will all of the sudden grow a conscience and come to some sort of an agreement, you're begging for a letdown.

Those who tell you there will be a season and that this will be figured out before training camp begins are only feeding you what they want to believe. They're not in the know and they're living on hopes and dreams like the rest of us.

We can talk about how this is about money, player safety, new rules, regulations, etc or we can just sit around and make jokes about the entire situation.

This isn't what anyone wanted. Not the players, not the owners, not the fans. No one. But the two sides decided they were going to play Democrats and Republicans and not agree on a single thing. They decided politics was better than facts and working through differences was just too difficult for any of them to do.

I'm not going to spare anyone and I'm not going to take blame away from either side. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees are just as much to blame as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones, and the rest of the ownership who are making far too much money already.

The NFL is a business and the players are the ones you see outside a building carrying white signs which say "We Deserve More Money," or "We're on Strike." It's kind of like the people you've seen at the airport or outside the grocery stores who are daring you to cross their picket line. Then you do so with a sinister smile and an uncaring attitude about what their problem really is.

The most immature move to date, at least the one a lot of us know about, was the current NFL players pulling in the incoming draftees into this mess. Something that wasn't their fight all the sudden became very much a concern for them and their families.

The players wanted the incoming rookies to not attend draft day. They technically didn't "demand" it but the hint was thrown out where everyone caught wind of it. They wanted to take something away from these players, something these long time NFL players themselves had the chance to take part in. Yet, because they were on strike, they wanted to ruin this same opportunity for players who had nothing to do with it.

We don't what's going to happen from here or even if there's going to be an NFL season when October rolls around. We don't know if the two sides are ever going to get back to the bargaining table and sort out their differences without Judge Susan Richard Nelson getting involved.

Nothing good comes from bashing each other in a court room. It just builds the wall between the players and owners and creates even more animosity towards each other.

The bottom line is, this won't end well.

Goodell has already blamed the players for these problems and a few of them have fired back at the commissioner and have gone so far as to call him a flat out "liar." If that doesn't give you a good indication about how things are going to go from here, I don't know what will.

The NFL doesn't deserve a season in 2011. The players should stay home and watch college football and the Major League Baseball playoffs on their televisions. The UFL and IFL will thank them for more television coverage that normally they wouldn't get.

Fans will be the ones I will feel sorry for the most. Those who can't wait to root for their favorite team as they make the run to the Super Bowl. Not only them, but the ones who count on the NFL for employment. I'm speaking of ticket takers, concessions, team store sales clerks, and those who work at the stadiums each and every Sunday.

Those are the ones who will be left in the cold if this squabble isn't decided in the next few months.

Honestly, I'm just fine watching baseball instead of hearing about NFL's training camp, something which means less than baseball's spring training.

So, if you're ready to hear more about what's going on in the courtroom than what's happening on the field, than the next few months will be right up your alley.

But if you look forward to watching training camp coverage on the NFL Network every year, maybe you want to look forward to something else this time around.


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NFL Lockout: Is Antonio Cromartie the Voice of Reason?

Antonio Cromartie isn't the most popular player in the NFL. In fact, he's probably not even in the top 25.

But while he may not be anyone's favorite, he's certainly saying all the right things during the lockout. Well, at least some might think that way.

The players are probably wondering why he's saying anything at all. Why is he crossing the proverbial "picket line" instead of sticking with the players' union against the owners? The answer to that is simple. He wants to play and I'm sure he's not the only one who feels the exact same way.

Just last week, Cromartie took to his twitter and called out both the owners and his fellow players who are in charge of putting together a new collective bargaining agreement.

"Im tired of all this emailing each other," he said. "How about the owners and the NFLPA get your behind's back to the table and talk it out there."

It started a firestorm of response from fans. Some were on his side while others wanted to know when he would ever stop talking.

Well, he wasn't done.

"We as players are depending on the April 6th hearing which could go either way. [Judge] Susan Nelson could side with us or keep the lockout going, then what? If Judge Nelson keeps the lockout we lose all the leverage. So in others words bump April 6th ruling get back to the table and handle it."

Say what you want about whatever side you're on in this battle between the players and owners. Cromartie is saying exactly what the fans believe to be true. He's saying exactly what the fans want him to say. This game is about them, right?

The verbal jousting back and forth between the players union and the owners has almost gotten to a point of no return. The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, has already been called a liar by a San Diego Chargers' linebacker Kevin Burnett during a rant on XX Sports Radio in San Diego, California.

"Goodell's full of it. He's a liar. You're a blatant liar," Burnett said of Goodell. "It's our league, it's we, we love the players, we want the league,' but what have you done for the players? What have you done, in all honesty, to improve the game, besides fine guys, besides take money away from guys, besides change a game that you've never played? … He's done nothing to improve the game."

The players want this game to get back on the field and away from the microphones and cameras just begging for the next quote so they can hand it to the other side for a response.

It's a never ending game that could destroy any chance the two sides could ever return to the bargaining table.

There's no question in my mind both sides want to get a deal done, that much is certain. What I'm not sure of is either side agreeing to anything. They have their list of demands but there are too many egos in the room to give in to any of them.

Antonio Cromartie is just one voice in a room of voices who aren't being heard. Everyone is trying to say their peace but they're all saying it at the exact same time, making it a room full of nothing but noise.

This should have never been put in the hands of a federal judge. Now that it is, this situation can only get worse.

Leave to a voice who's not always, or hardly ever, known as the voice or reason. Now, maybe people will wonder if he's speaking more truth than we've ever given him credit for.

He doesn't have the personal life most us would approve of, but when it comes to the NFL, Cromartie is dead on.

These two sides need to stop talking, get back to the table, and get a deal done before the NFL season goes completely up in flames.


Follow Todd Kaufmann @T_Kaufmann and National Football Authority @NFAuthority on Twitter

NFL Lockout: Roger Goodell the Latest to Throw Blame in the Players' Direction

In the boxing match which has taken place by email and through the media, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell became the latest to throw to blame at the feet of the players.

In an email sent to all of the active players around the NFL the commissioner told them, ""each passing day puts our game and our shared economics further at risk."

Goodell doesn't make himself look good at all for this email. We've heard far too many jabs from both sides through the media but the man in the highest office in the league shouldn't be the one throwing them.

His email went on to say the owners were ready to restart negotiations as if to say the players were the ones who were refusing to come to the bargaining table. He event went so far as to say, "walked out of the federal mediator's offices ... and filed a lawsuit."

Far be it for me to throw rocks at the commissioners' office but I would think it could be bad public relations to lob verbal grenades at the players. If he wanted the players to come back to the table to negotiate again, this wasn't exactly the way to go about it. I know he has to back the owners because, well, they work for him but why does he have to pick sides at all? Doesn't backing one side or another look bad on him regardless of what he says or who he says it to?

We don't know how long this lockout is going to hang around or what it's going to take for these two sides to finally come together to get the new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed. There's more at stake here than just a football season.

If the NFL believes their fan base is everything to their game, they need to prove it and do everything they can to ensure a deal is signed to save the 2011 season.

If that does not happen, the NFL can no longer complain about the lack of fan support. They did this to themselves.

It's not the time to be laying blame on each other. It accomplishes nothing.

Now is the time for them to stop talking and put their money where their mouth is. Both sides want the same thing, they just want it in different ways.


Follow Todd Kaufmann @T_Kaufmann and National Football Authority @NFAuthority on Twitter