Good morning Giants fans, and happy weekend. Well, it's not as happy as we thought it would be. Players reviewed the new CBA yesterday but still did not vote on it, and will not reconvene until Monday. So league offices now may or may not open next week. And preseason games appear to be in jeopardy. Alas, it seems the only way a fire will be lit under the NFL's collective arse is by the threat of losing the very thing that caused all this--nine billion dollars. And we know they won't let that happen for very long. Still, the way this keeps getting dragged out is demoralizing for fans, and they are angering us with each passing day.
N.F.L. Owners’ Vote Puts Pressure on Players - NYTimes.com
In a way, you do have to hand it to the N.F.L owners. Once they set sail on the Good Ship Lockout, they have been all in. Never mind that it was an obvious ploy to fatten their bottom lines, to grab more of the league’s $9 billion in revenue and take advantage of a players union it believed would fold like a $2 umbrella. And now that the players have shown to be more in the $20 umbrella neighborhood, the owners rolled out their latest strategy, ratifying a collective bargaining agreement the players hadn’t agreed to and telling them they’re the ones holding up the season. Yes, the owners orchestrated the lockout, dug into their platinum-lined bunker and claimed the players were letting America down. If there were some international award for chutzpah, someone should be whacking N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell in the knee with it.
As NFL Lockout Drags on, Who's the Bad Guy? - ABC News
Former pro quarterback Jim Miller hosted a four-hour show Friday on SiriusXM NFL Radio and estimated at least 60 percent of the callers were angry with the players.
I'd say that's on the low side. But I know some of you understand, to some degree, why the players need to review this with a fine tooth comb. We just want freaking football, that's all.
Michael Arace commentary: NFL owners should get flagged for false start | The Columbus Dispatch
The Hall of Fame game has already been canceled. (Elsewhere, folks shrug over this - but not in Stark County.) There is a real possibility that one or two more weeks of exhibitions will be scratched. The till for the 2011 season is going to shrink, and if that happens, the owners will have no one to blame but themselves.
Scramble'11: NFL's post-lockout schedule - NFL Nation Blog - ESPN
As of this moment, we don't yet have labor peace in the NFL. That means we can't possibly project when the events you are so interested in -- free agency and training camp, to name two -- will take place. But I do think we can begin laying the foundation for how Scramble'11 will flow once the dam is lifted. What follows is the scheduled the NFL mapped out Thursday evening after owners ratified the collective bargaining agreement. It's now awaiting player approval. We don't know when the clock will start, but we do think we know what will happen after it does.
The word "tease" comes to mind, but okay. Will the players vote next week? After all of this, I feel like they might not and drag it into the following week. One thing I have to point out, too--if the players' work day is Sunday, why do they need to take weekends off at this point? That, to me, is insulting.
And yes, we do have some actual Giants tidbits....
Edwin F. Royston, football player, dies - baltimoresun.com
Edwin F. Royston, who played two years as a guard for the New York Giants in the late 1940s and was a shipbuilding executive, died of cancer Saturday at his home in Seaside Park, N.J. He was 87 and had lived in Highlandtown.
Ottis Anderson to be removed from suit against NFL - WSJ.com
Former NFL running back Ottis Anderson won't be listed as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the league after what his representative and a lawyer handling the case call a misunderstanding. Anderson was one of 75 retired players named in the suit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit contends the NFL concealed information about the danger of concussions for decades. Jason E. Luckasevic of the Pittsburgh law firm Goldberg, Persky & White said in an email Friday that "appropriate measures are being taken at this time" to remove Anderson and his wife as plaintiffs. Anderson's representative, Van Adams, told The Associated Press that Anderson spoke to the firm once but never agreed to be involved in the suit and was surprised to see his name on it.
Try to enjoy your weekend, everyone.....