It has begun. The battle of the billionaires vs. the millionaires. That’s what it all boils down to, doesn’t it? The National Football League is currently out of commission, and regardless of all of the excuses being thrown out by both sides, it really comes down to the money. On Friday, after a week delay that gave some cause for optimism, the NFL Players Association officially de-certified as a union, and were subsequently locked out by the team owners. The real losers, of course, are the fans.

Of all the major sports, I am most drawn to professional football. As much as I love baseball, college football, college basketball, NASCAR, and the rest, I look forward to the NFL season like no other. I am not sure I can pinpoint exactly why that is, but I have no doubt of it. Beyond the game itself, which I love, there are the added facets of fantasy football and gambling. Sure, I play other fantasy sports, and betting is available on just about every type of game, but pro football seems to be more conducive to both, maybe because my first experiences with both fantasy sports and sports betting happened with football. Anyway, at this point, there is a very real chance that neither of those hobbies of mine will be available this fall. Instead, we get to listen to a bunch of rich people argue. Maybe there will be proposition bets on each of the various points of contention between the (no longer a) union and the league. Perhaps one of the sports books in Vegas will lay 50-1 odds on the league having more than 10 games per team this season. We could create a fantasy game where points are accumulated by the number of court appearances made by the various parties, or the number of self-serving news conferences held.

I am not sure whose side I am on, although I tend to think that I would choose the players if forced to line up behind one of them. The main reason for this is that the current action is of the owners’ doing. Only two years into the last Collective Bargaining Agreement, the owners decided they didn’t like the division of revenues that they had agreed to only two years earlier, and they exercised an opt-out clause that was built into the deal that allowed them to void it after the 2010 season. The players were happy with the way things were, and were content to continue with the status quo. Considering how short a time there was between the last deal and the owners’ decision, I can’t think the money men are being reasonable. That said, I am not well-versed enough in the current points of contention to know what is keeping the two sides from coming to a new agreement or who is more at fault.

I know that there are many NFL players that are not millionaires, and not all of the owners are billionaires. The owners are running businesses, and didn’t get where they are by giving away the farm. The players generally have short careers, and need to make as much as they can while they are still able to perform, while also looking out for their own futures and their health. The thing they all seem to be missing is that they are sitting on top of a gold mine as the most popular sport in America. The league is more prosperous than ever, and the fans are legion. The only thing that this work-stoppage can do is whittle away at that fanbase and cause the diehards to feel disenfranchised. If any of these people have sense, they will make sure that this is resolved quickly and with no impact on the actual season.

Bad sports, continued:

2) A few months ago, a bunch of star football players at Ohio State were suspended for having received improper benefits from a local tattoo parlor. Although the issue arose before the Buckeyes’ bowl game, the suspension was set to begin at the beginning of next season, when Ohio State plays a bunch of patsies, rather than leaving the television networks with a crummy bowl game that would have been missing players like quarterback Terrelle Pryor. That was bad enough. This week, it was revealed that head coach Jim Tressel knew about the infractions months before the news came out and did nothing about it. Worse yet, it looks like nothing more than a two-game suspension will happen to Tressel, despite lying to his bosses and to the NCAA.

3) Max Pacioretty, a winger for the Montreal Canadiens was injured on Tuesday when he took a vicious check from Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins. The check took him headfirst into a stanchion at the end of the bench. Pacioretty has some pretty serious injuries, and the hit is being investigated by Montreal Police.

4) A bomb of some kind was found on the edge of the Pebble Beach golf course last week. Police dismantled the device before it could do any damage.

5) Ashley Vickers, a soccer player for Dorchester in the English league, tackled a streaker who had run onto the field on Monday. Rather than receiving thanks from the officials for putting a quick end to the idiot’s fun, he was inexplicably given a red card and ejected from the match. I guess they didn’t like his tackling form.

6) The Big East basketball tournament was the site of some atrocious officiating last week. Officials left the court and ended the game even though there were still 1.7 seconds left on the clock and Rutgers should have had an opportunity to tie or win the game after Justin Brownlee, of St. John’s, traveled while celebrating and then threw the ball into the stands.

7) Goldy Gopher, the mascot for the University of Minnesota, was decked during a gymnastics meet last week by a fan who didn’t like his act.

Good sports:

1) With the NCAA Basketball Tournament about to start, I am hopeful that this column will be full of Good Sports stories in the coming weeks. As an appetizer to that, there were a couple of phenomenal endings to games in conference tournaments this week that are worth calling out. Kemba Walker, one of the best players in the country, knocked down a huge shot at the buzzer to lift UConn to a win over Pitt. Then, on Saturday, Isaiah Thomas of the Washington Huskies put his team over the top against Arizona with a last-second jumper.  Good stuff.

Bad sports, good sports appears every Monday.

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02

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