Thursday’s labor sparring wasn’t just contained to Demaurice Smith and Jeff Pash.
In an exchange that encapsulates the rising tension between the league and player’s union, we present some comments from NFLPA spokesman George Atallah and NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.
Atallah, speaking to Bob Glauber of Newsday: “If owners continue to question players’ commitment to negotiations, we’re prepared to make public all our unanswered proposals.”
Aiello on Twitter in response: “While George is at it, ask him when is union going to respond to our 150 pages of draft CBA provisions that they received eight days ago. Waiting.”
Atallah on Twitter: “I would like to request an expense credit from the owners on the last three hours of my life.”
Attallah also emailed to the Associated Press that the only thing the NFL has “been committed to is a lockout.”
Well, that was depressing.
We’ve apparently reached the point where both sides are trying to win public favor and snipe instead of truly working together. It’s amazing to think either side believes this approach will go over well with fans.
This back-and-forth hammers home a point we’ve said all along. In the end, there won’t be a right side to this debate. An agreement is right, and a lack of agreement is wrong.
There will be no winners in a work stoppage and both sides seem to care too much about being viewed as the biggest loser.