And Now To Harsh Your Football High, Ravens Corner Dominique Foxworth

If you’ve been reading TSB, you know we’re all whipped into a frothy lather about NFL season starting. (Even the stories we’ve heard a million times.) But there’s that whole issue of impending labor stoppage that looms over the future of the league. And yes, I realize the most people think about the future of the NFL generally involves keeper leagues.↵Alas, here’s Ravens CB Dominique Foxworth, a member of the NFL Players Association Executive Committee, to douse you with cold water and bring you back to reality via the Carroll County Times.↵↵⇥Times: Are you optimistic that there will be football in 2011 or do you expect a lockout?↵⇥
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↵⇥Foxworth: “That’s a tough question. I think it’s dangerous to be too optimistic. I think it’s important that we all prepare for the worst. We want football. I’m going to do everything in my power, and I know everyone in the union will do everything they can to have football for us and for the fans. The biggest thing I can say is I’m hopeful.”↵↵↵Foxworth seems like a smart guy, so rather than focus on his bizarre “dangerous to be optimistic; I’m hopeful” phrasing, let’s think about the “prepare for the worst” part of things.↵

↵↵2010 could be a potentially uncapped year, which would serve to effectively throttle the parity the NFL has fought for -- at least from the perspective of teams being able to spend similar amounts of cash. As bad as that would be, 2011 is the real issue. That’s when we’re talking lockout.↵

↵↵As a 26-year-old, I’ve been through one work stoppage I cared about in a big way. Baseball lost more than a few fans of my age group thanks to that strike in 1994. (No, the NBA lockout didn’t even come close to disrupting the way I followed a sport like the MLB strike did.) Now, it’s entirely possible -- maybe even probable -- that Foxworth’s “prepare for the worst” statement is posturing. But why would the NFL even risk its stranglehold it has on the American sports consciousness? From afar, it certainly seems like -- current economic crisis not withstanding -- the NFL makes money and probably swims around in a vault of it like the intro to Ducktales. Don’t screw this up, NFL.↵

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