NFL Lockout Continues Though Not Much Has Changed

In case you missed it, the NFL lockout is back on. Judge Susan Nelson lifted the lockout last Monday and after residing for several days in the grey area, the league decided to allow players to go into team facilities and speak with coaches. But the players that came in on Friday morning were gone by Friday night when the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to temporarily put the lockout back in place.

Here’s a sampling of a recent interview he did in case you forgot what the owners say publicly on a daily basis:

The players, I know there is a lot of rhetoric that flies around about this, the players were the one’s who got up from that table, walked out of the room, decertified, and filed an anti-trust lawsuit. That’s the timeline and those are the facts.

Because at the end of the deal it’s not going to get worked out through litigation and through a court system. It’s going to get worked out when two business parties sit across the table from each other. We didn’t start the legal proceedings. The players did and hopefully we can convince them that litigation isn’t the right path and that negotiation is.

We were sitting at a table and negotiating. The players chose to get up from that table, with a real offer on the table. I don’t believe it was an insulting offer. I know the head of the union [DeMaurice Smith] has called it the worst offer in the history of mankind or something like that and maybe it and maybe I’m missing it, but they chose to get up from that table, decertify, and start the legal proceedings.

We should be hearing from the courts this week whether the NFL lockout will continue or if it will be lifted.