NFL Labor Pains

Ugh.

After the most fun playoffs I've ever had the pleasure of watching (because the Packers won them), the NFL has really lost my interest in the past few months.

We're not supposed to hear about the NFL after the Super Bowl has been played for at least a couple months. But this year, the nation's most popular league has conspired to occupy us for an entire calendar year, with talks of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement instead of fantasy sleepers, quarterback ratings and top defenses.

I'll be extremely original and tell you that I don't care about any of this. At the same time, however, I understand that it has to be worked out in order for there to be football come September, and that is important.

But the way this thing is playing out is ridiculous. Finally, there are reports of a proposed deal, and all the players and owners have to do is vote on it. First, the players were going to vote on it Wednesday, and then the owners on Thursday. Now it's Friday, and the players still have not voted on anything. What is going on?

This is clearly a big deal for the players, and they want to get it right, but honestly, they should simply be reading a document and then voting on it. That should not take more than a couple hours, let alone two days.

Look, I'm not suggesting the players need to blindly vote yes. If they don't like the deal, they should turn it down. But waiting and taking up all this time is the worst possible scenario. Now what happens if they vote no after taking their time? 48 more hours of wasted time that could have been spent doing something more productive, like proposing changes to the current deal on the table. And that makes it 48 hours more likely that the NFL season doesn't start on time this year. That is something all of America doesn't even want to think about.

Ugh.