NFLPA Executive Director De Smith was an accomplished litigator.
But we doubt that he ever did very well at poker.
With the NFL, by all appearances, ready and willing to allow 2010 proceed without a salary cap, Smith is blinking more than Costanza after being squirted in the eye with grapefruit juice.
Earlier today, Smith made even more clear his desire to do a deal before the salary cap goes away in March 2010.
"The uncapped year is also a virtually 'unfloored' year as well," Smith said in an exclusive online chat with the Washington Post. "In addition to the ceiling change, there is a significant change to the minimum salary for players. The players have made it clear to me that they want a deal before the uncapped year, I agree with them that it is in the best interest of the game as well as the fans and the players."
Smith, in our view, has decided to risk creating the appearance that a bad deal can be crammed down the union's throat before March 2010 in the hopes of winning the P.R. battle that will be waged as 2011 approaches.
And even though the general public has yet to pick a side in this battle between two fat kids over the last piece of pizza, Smith has drafted the fans into his camp.
"I will do everything to ensure [a work stoppage] does not occur but it will require us to work as one team with our fans, local officials, stadium workers (over 100K of them), and the families of our players," Smith said during the chat.
We think the far better approach would be to meet the league's nonchalance regarding an uncapped year with equal nonchalance, and to defer for now any effort to persuade the fans to pick sides. The free agency that the players long coveted has resulted in most fans -- as Billy Crystal puts it -- rooting for laundry. So if push comes to shove, fans will be far more likely to align with the teams, not the players.
Smith's approach also entails plenty of irony. His predecessor, Gene Upshaw, salivated for the chance of getting to an uncapped year. Now that more and more people have realized that the uncapped year won't be utopia for the rank and file, the union is sprinting in the other direction.
Regardless, Smith's words and actions are setting the stage for the union to do a bad deal, if the union truly wants to do a deal before the salary cap -- and the salary floor -- disappear.
Get that deal done D. U blinked - its over!
The players will regret voting Johnie Cochran wannabe De Mo Smith as their leader. The owners are going to hammer the union in these negotiations. Sorry playas, you are going to be giving back quite a bit on this contract.
in
over
his
head
just like resident zero.
His only hope is to get his Marxist buddy in the WH to help him out but he's just about out of juice as well. Payback's a MF ...
All this concern is for naught... Roger Goodell and the owners will surely be schooled in Chicago-style tactics.
With De Smith's connections to the White House and his friendship with Obama, the owners are sure to get an offer they can't refuse, if push comes to shove.
That is, after all, the way things are done now, right?
Your articles keep suggesting there are some fans or parts of the public who are "on the owner's side". Where do you get that idea? The status quo was working for us, the public. The owners killed the status quo. They get the blame. Why is this hard to understand? Who the hell supports the owners anyway?