The NFL Lockout Lives On, Thanks To Activist Judges And An Abortion Of Logic

On Monday afternoon, a court of appeals granted a temporary injunction that overturns the ruling of Judge Susan Nelson last month, and ensures that the NFL Lockout will continue at least through the appeal hearing next month. But it gets worse. The opinion offered in the case all but guarantees the players will lose that appeal, extending the lockout indefinitely.

Who’s ready to dive back into the murky territory of legal analysis?!

The ruling starts with this. As far as lifting the lockout is concerned, the judges argue that it hurts the league as much as keeping the lockout in place would hurt the players. Tie goes to the billionaires, I guess? In their written opinion, the judges downplay harm to the players, and focus instead on the threat to the NFL if players negotiate contracts in the offseason without a labor agreement in place.

As the opinion reads, “The district court gave little or no weight to the harm caused to the League by an injunction issued in the midst of an ongoing dispute over terms and conditions of employment. The court found irreparable harm to the Players because the lockout prevents free agents from negotiating contracts with any team, but gave no weight to harm that would be caused to the League by player transactions that would occur only with an injunction against the lockout.” As far as harm to the NFL is concerned, that’s the only example the court really mentions.

Which makes perfect sense, except... Wait a second. Who negotiates those contracts?

Oh, that’s right! The same teams the court’s so worried about.

In other words, it’s only a threat to the league if teams suddenly decide to start signing guys to hundred million dollar contracts. So if the team’s can’t operate in a free market responsibly, then yes, the NFL could go bankrupt. But what’s wrong with that? You could say the same of any other business in America. Why does the NFL get the kid gloves treatment?

Nevertheless, that “threat” was enough for the court to decide that lifting the lockout could kill the NFL business as we know it, and the lockout is now back on. That’s all that matters. We only mention the court’s logic to show how incredibly flimsy it was. Especially considering the precedent they’ve set, which basically amounts to legal insanity.

As the dissenting judge notes, siding with the NFL in all this basically co-signs “the bizarre prospect of employers attempting to force employees to remain in a union so as to preserve the employers’ valuable antitrust exemption.” And here we are! With a couple of United States justices overturning a prior court’s air-tight ruling to help protect an economic model that pretty much makes a mockery of capitalism.

As Judge Nelson wrote in her original decision:

The NFL’s argument that ... enjoining the lockout will cause the League harm because such an order will necessarily expose them to antitrust liability is unpersuasive. Insofar as such liability would flow from the League’s lockout violating the Sherman Act, the League cannot predicate harm on the results of its illegal conduct.

But now they can. At least according to the Appeals Court. Because heaven forbid NFL free agents be able to negotiate contracts without a firm salary cap in place. That would be CHAOS.

Anyway, it’s a pretty disgraceful move from the court. As for the lockout itself, it’s a major blow to the players. Monday’s ruling pretty much guarantees that we’ll either miss the 2011 season entirely, or the players will cave, and the owners will win.

At this point, I’m not sure which option would make me angrier.

With that, let’s get into more Talking Points...

Speaking Of Insanity... A Salute To Lenny Dykstra. Because for all his faults, you gotta admit, the guy knows how to make crazy seem entertaining. And he’s back at the front of our minds today, thanks to a a 1993 Philly Magazine profile over at Deadspin that follows Lenny to a casino:

Laughter comes easily as long as Lenny F-ing Dykstra is winning. He’s breaking no laws, not imbibing like the Babe or scuffling like the Georgia Peach or abusing women, children or imported vehi­cles. Just a fun-loving jock doing what jocks have always done to fill the long months between games. A competitor needs competition. Perhaps his good fortune foreshadows that of the Phils. You root for him, the cute bugger, somehow finding your own joy in his.

That scene takes a turn for the worse a little later in the profile, but you knew that already:

Lenny is taken aback. Way back. Someone has actually spoken to him, said what needed to be said, and you realize how alone Dykstra has been. No wife, no entourage, no buddies. Self-flagellation is a gambler’s best friend.

“Why you wanna show me up, dude?” he beseeches. “Why?”

Dykstra rises now, as does his anger.

“I give a fuck about the money! I know how much fucking money I’m losing. It’s my fucking money! I know how much fuck­ing money I’m fucking losing! I give a fuck! I give a fuck! Fuck you!”

It’s basically his career in finance all condensed into one night. Pretty amazing.

Kind of like how went from this, in 2008 with the New Yorker:

It takes some getting used to, the idea that Nails, of all people, could end up serving as an exemplar of the transition from professional athletics to respectable civilian life...

To this, in 2010 with the L.A. Times:

MESS WITH NAILS, YOU GET THE HAMMER.

A Window Into The FA Cup. From Jeff MacGregor over at ESPN:

One-nil, the Sky Blues win the FA Cup.

And for the next 10 minutes, Wembley Stadium is the loudest place on earth. The players for Manchester City climb the stairs to the royal box. The fans of Stoke City rise and applaud them while the tears stream down their cheeks.

“Experience the insanity of an English Cup game” is definitely top-five on my bucket list.

The World’s Best Beard Goes To... Germany, technically. But aren’t they all winners?

Hey, The NBA Lottery Is Tonight! You can follow along here. And everybody has different rooting interests tonight, but I’m pretty sure we can all agree that this would be the best possible outcome:

(*glances over at China*) Yep, It’s Still Insane Over There. In America, we complain about the way pesticides make our fruit turn weird colors. In China, well... the AP reports:

Watermelons have been bursting by the score in eastern China after farmers gave them overdoses of growth chemicals during wet weather, creating what state media called fields of “land mines.” About 20 farmers around Danyang city in Jiangsu province were affected, losing up to 115 acres of melon, China Central Television said in an investigative report. ... the report underscores how farmers in China are abusing both legal and illegal chemicals, with many farms misusing pesticides and fertilizers.

In China, they use so many pesticides, the fruit f***ing explodes.

This Is How Every Hockey Player Should Celebrate A Title. Via Bruce Arthur:

FYI The Chuckster’s Is Still The Greatest. The best take yet on gay athletes, via the Post:

Barkley said gay players pose no problem, adding, “Man, we need to outlaw guys who suck at sports.”

“I really like ESPN,” Barkley added. “They do a great job. But like once every two or three months, they bring all these people on there, and they tell me how me and my team are going to respond to a gay guy.

“First of all, every player has played with gay guys. It bothers me when I hear these reporters and jocks get on TV and say, ‘Oh, no guy can come out in a team sport. These guys would go crazy.’ First of all, quit telling me what I think. I’d rather have a gay guy who can play than a straight guy who can’t play.”

And Finally, Arnold’s Love Child Should Surprise Nobody. The L.A. Times broke the story--if you can really “break” a story that mainstream media missed for over a decade--but anybody that’s acting surprised over this news has clearly never seen Pumping Iron (HT: Jimmy Traina)