“Come over here son, we need to have a little talk. I know you are excited about graduation and that you’ve been looking forward to the fruits of your labors finally bearing. And I’ll be honest, your mother and I won’t couldn’t be more proud of you than we are right now.”

 

“Unfortunately, your mother and I are also part of the teachers union and we feel that we are grossly underpaid, that are benefits aren’t adequate, and that the school board is not taking care of retired teachers the way that they should have. Because of this, we’re asking you to not walk down that aisle and accept your diploma on that stage in front of the rest of your family and your friend’s families. We’re asking you to skip the graduation ceremony as a show of solidarity to your parents, their union, and the struggles we are now undertaking. I know it’s not fair, but we need you to be a man about this and do what is right in your heart.”

 

Sound familiar?

 

It should. It is basically the same load of tripe that the NFL Player’s Association is asking those rookies who were lucky enough to qualify for the NFL and get invited to the draft to do. That’s right; they want those kids to stay at home on April 28th and forego their moment of glory and attend another gathering held by the union rather than the NFL.

 

It is bureaucracy at its finest moment folks, folks like DeMaurice Smith asking those kids who worked hard t get where they are to now put it off in the favor of litigation. That’s the same DeMaurice Smith that didn’t earn his stripes on the playing field. He earned them in the courtroom, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

 

I’m sure Mr. Smith wasn’t asked to postpone taking the Bar Examination after graduating from law school though was he?

 

Truth be told, I don’t care what side of this argument prevails, I understand some of the points on both the players side and the owners side. My personal concern is that there is football next season to watch. I don’t care if one owner or another is willing to pay these guys millions of dollars and benefits to play a game 16 times a season. I don’t really mind if those guys who can capitalize on it want to have more of a share of the profits.

 

I just want football dammit!

 

Trying to take away the draft is just another sign that neither one of these parties has any interest in playing football in 2012. The players have been set on litigating this from the get-go, feeling that they will have a better chance of getting what they want by taking it to court. Meanwhile, the owners made no bones about the fact that they would lock-out the players in order to gain another billion dollars of profit at the players’ expense. Meanwhile, I’m fairly sure that the Americans that make up their viewing audience are getting more and more irritated with the level of greed over a game.

 

IT”S A GAME!!!!

They want difficult? Let them sling fries or clean bathrooms. Let them try to build the same product 200-300 times a day for a slave wage stressing over whether or not your company is going to send your job overseas to save money this month or next. Those are real problems.

 

Playing football is not a real problem. It’s a hobby that they are lucky enough paid to do. These kids getting their shot at it to do it are some of the lucky few and they deserve their time in the spotlight. Don’t take that away from them or us.