The collective bargaining agreement between the N.F.L. Players Union and the N.F.L. expired without much fan fare. The two sides extended their negotiations and created some false hope that they could come to an agreement, but of course negotiations between the two broke down, which then caused the NFLPA to decertify and the NFL to lock out the players. Got that? Well, now we are left with a huge mess that very, very high priced lawyers will have trouble deciphering, let alone a whole gaggle of sports journalists! But we do what we do and I'll try to help us through this journey through the nine circles of hell or as Dante referred to it, The 2011 Lockout.

Both sides are trying to garner public support by laying blame on the other side, but there is plenty of blame to go around. The website Pro Football Talk has a finger-pointing poll posted that shows fans are leaning toward blaming the players.  When it comes down to it, this is a clear cut case of both sides vying for the biggest piece of the pie. The NFL is a 9 Billion dollar business. That is a big fat pie. When I voted in that poll it was a close call between pointing the finger at the owners versus both of them.  But greed is a powerful drug and the owners have been strung out on it for much longer than the players. They are asking for more money, but refuse to show the Players Association their books, which, if they are telling the truth, would prove that they actually need more money. So it is hard to trust the owners for obvious reasons. They have done a good job of painting the Players Association as predetermined to decertify and take their chances in the courts, but the more information comes out about the negotiations, the more it looks like the owners weren't willing to give much in the way of money or access to financial records. 

But from the fans perspective none of this really matters.  Who is right or wrong is an interesting question to debate, but we may not have games to watch come September! That is the real question; will there be 16 regular season games of N.F.L. football?  With so much time until opening kickoff there are many voices of optimism, but this will be a long process. The first case is an injunction by the players to stop the lockout and there was optimism that the first ruling would be sent down within a week, but now Adam Schefter reports that it could be judge to hear the case is also proving to be an ordeal. Much of the time line depends on the courts at this point. The quicker we can get through the legal hoops the sooner we should have a clearer idea of when and if we'll see pro football this season.

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