Public holds misinformed view of lockout’s good and bad guys

Here we sit in the third month of the NFL lockout, and it seems as if not much has improved.

Judging from the media scrutiny and daily reports surrounding the talks — or lack thereof — nothing really has changed since the Collective Bargaining Agreement expired.

One of the few measurable things continuing to change from the public’s perspective is its increasing hostility towards the league, its owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Since the lockout began and daily extensions on the CBA proved futile, Goodell and his 32 team owners have become synonymous with greed, exploitation and selfishness.

This happens while the players across the NFL, all of whom earn over $300,000 in 17-week periods, are viewed as an oppressed group of humble men.

Let’s stop right there before I yack all over that last paragraph and get a few quick facts straight. The lowest paid player in the NFL made $325,000 in 2010. The league owner with the lowest net worth is a multi-millionaire. The average fan can only dream of both those salaries.

Colts owner Jim Irsay recently said it’s easy to think greed is the central factor when a $9 billion issue can’t get resolved timely, but there’s much more to it. Irsay went on to tweet that he and Pro Bowl Center Jeff Saturday could have resolved the issue on “cocktail napkins.”

My only question is why hasn’t that reservation to Rick’s Café Boatyard in Indianapolis been made yet? Because right now, talks between the players — well, former Players Association — and the NFL are not only about as fruitful as LeBron James in the fourth quarter.

But fans and critics alike are letting the greed of the owners and league skew their view of the opposite side.

Start with Goodell. The former intern with the NFL is now paid nearly $10 million per year to do two jobs: enforce the rules and integrity of the league while acting as the NFL’s chief “owner.” That means reflecting the views of his inferiors, whether he likes it or not.

If you were to ask Goodell behind the cameras, notepads and lights, I bet a good sum of money he’d tell you league owners are acting out of line.

But, just like it’s a defense lawyer’s task to defend a crook who is almost surely guilty, it’s Goodell’s job to act as the figurehead for his 32 employees.

While the public gets caught up in the antics of the owners, there’s also a hidden agenda on the part of the players. We all saw the sideshow act the Saints and Vikings put on opening night of the 2010 season by standing together in
“solidarity.”

The only thing I saw while their arms and helmets were raised were their fat pockets hitting the ground. Let’s reserve that act for underpaid workers and oppressed child laborers overseas.

Plus, there’s some hypocrisy to go along with the players’ actions. If so much of the greed the owners have put on display is wrong, then how does Peyton Manning (who just so happens to be a chief plaintiff in the players’ lawsuit) have the right to hold out on signing a contract until free agency resumes? So he can make his payowut anywhere from a nickel to a million dollars higher than Tom Brady’s?

Let’s remember who’s won three Super Bowls and who’s won one.

But most of all, let’s remember the good guys’ perception isn’t really that good — it’s greedy.