"Maybe The Best Of Things"
The Draft could be the last bastion of normalcy for fans - not to mention for the league and its players - for quite some time if the labor impasse stretches into the summer.
By PackerAaron
Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
I found myself thinking about this quote when reading this post over at Pro Football Talk.
It would seem our good friend Mike Florio thinks that Eagles safety Quintin Mikell is "right" when he says the following:
How are we going to have a draft and there’s not going to be any football? How are you going to have a first-rounder cross the stage and shake [Commissioner Roger Goodell’s] hand? . . . . 'Welcome to the NFL. You have no job.'
Mike adds:
Mikell is right, and more and more fans share those same feelings.
They do? That's not the sense I get at all.
My sense is that the draft has started to take on the last bastion of normalcy for fans. If the labor mess isn't sorted out prior to the draft (and, breaking news - it won't be) the long stretch of unknown that awaits after Mr. Irrelevant's name is called is not something fans are looking forward to.
Mikell's quote echoes some other things I've seen regarding the release of the NFL schedule tonight, with commentators saying they don't understand why the NFL is releasing a schedule for a season that is in doubt.
I can't speak to the NFL's intentions, obviously. But it makes sense for the league to keep as many things in place as they normally would during the offseason so that if and when their is a resolution to the labor impasse, there is limited amount of time needed to get things back up to speed around the league.
The media likes to paint the two sides in the NFL's labor dispute as combatants of some kind. But the truth is the "showdown" between the league and the players is nothing more (or less) than a business negotiation. And the vast majority of league people and players respect and even like each other. They are all just in a holding pattern waiting for the few decision makers (with the aide of a judge or two) to work through this impasse.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with fans (or the majority of league personnel and the players) hoping that things work out in time for the 2011 season to be unaffected.
After all - hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things.
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Comments (6)
andrewgarda
April 19, 2011 at 03:57 pm
I absolutely agree with your reaction to Mike's take. I get the sense that fans ARE angry but clinging to the Draft as a life boat in really choppy waters. I think ratings and attendance at the event will be high. Just my .02 though.
April 19, 2011 at 04:27 pm
Hold the draft in Zihuatanejo
PackerAaron
April 19, 2011 at 04:34 pm
Right?
April 19, 2011 at 05:00 pm
right
April 19, 2011 at 04:43 pm
The Draft will be big in my opinion because of the lack of real football information. So fans are going to be watch, some to see who their team picks, some to see what the audience will do. Should be interesting. Me, I'll wait to the end when the Packers pick, then turn it off.
April 19, 2011 at 07:23 pm
It's only April ..... To this point only free-agency has been shut-down because of the stalled CBA ...... There's no logical reason to view the draft as any different than any other offseason (although teams may approach it a little differently than in the past) ...... Eventually, offseason prep will take a hit but that's (more or less) an even playing field for all 32 teams .....
So far, all GB is doing during this lock-out is getting healthy (and rested) ..... Some (if not all) of the players & coaches have got to be lov'in it .......