it is certainly a warning that the players better not pull any of that wisconsin teacher (or related osamabama rent a mob) bs.

You’re not stupid. It’s easy enough to check. Several of the most passionate pro-owner commenters never posted on PFT (at least not under these usernames) until the players decertified on Friday. One of them had only commented once before Friday–to condemn Judge Doty’s ruling against the owners a few weeks before. Of course they’re plants.

Some guy called me a union plant LOL I’ve posted on here every day and on CFT every week for almost two years and anyone who’s read my comments knows my team allegiances. That’s the difference between me and these other guys. I have a history on the site.

Simple solution to this if I’m the NFL;

“The players involved in proven and/or alleged criminal activities while there is no collective bargaining agreement in place will not be disciplined or fined as dictated by the terms of the previous collective bargaining agreement.

However, a non-negotiable term of the new collective bargaining agreement will be that the NFL, without fear of collusion charges being filed, will have the right as individual organizations or as a whole, to not employ persons with criminal records, existing or pending.”

It’s really that simple.

I’m a 9-5 Mon-Fri working stiff, but the things I do on my Saturday nights absolutely affect my job status. I’m not even a public figure, but if I get a DUI Saturday night and my boss found out, I’m liable to get fired Monday morning.

Just my $.02
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It might be that simple if the league were talking about not hiring these players. They’re not. They’re claiming they have the right to bring the players back and then punish them for things that happened when they had no authority over the players at all. Completely different issue. This is more like having a current employer dock your pay because they found out you were late to work at a previous job. It’s simply not something they have the legal right to do. A team can sign them to a contract or not, but they (or the league) can’t actually punish them for something they did when they weren’t working for them.

I completely agree with you. Last week a couple of things happened that is very strange.

#1 several comments were made suggesting that the pro-player commentors were actually players.

#2 there was a dramatic sudden increase in pro-owner sentiment.

Wednesday of last week the vibe was pro-player and on Friday of last week the vibe was pro-owner.

Now not only are people pro-owner but they are blindly pro-owner. No matter how ridiculous the owners statements are there are a dozen supporters (each with a thumbs up brigade) that blindly support the owners.

I still don’t agree that this should be a freebie for any player to screw off though.

Actually, they would sue and win a ton of money because that’s ILLEGAL. It’s a lockout – they can’t hire scabs.

Yet another uninformed NFL fan fails at adding his 2 cents to the situation that he doesn’t understand. Nice try, come and take another crack at it tomorrow.

There are rumors circulating that The NFLPA* should think twice before it decides to regulate recidivism, so let me just clarify something: If the past is any indication of the future, it will once again attempt to guarantee the destruction of anything that looks like a vital community. This is not the first time I’ve wanted to clear the cobwebs out of people’s heads and help them understand that The NFLPA*’s ability to reason from premise to conclusion is nearly non-existent. But it is the first time I realized that there are some basic biological realities of the world in which we live. These realities are doubtless regrettable, but they are unalterable. If The NFLPA* finds them intolerable and unthinkable, the only thing that I can suggest is that it try to flag down a flying saucer and take passage for some other solar system, possibly one in which the residents are oblivious to the fact that he who pays the piper calls the tune. With that in mind, I did a little research to find where The NFLPA* gets its money. It turns out that it comes primarily from high-handed whiners, inarticulate deviants, and—you guessed it—complacent flibbertigibbets. This explains why when The NFLPA* says that all any child needs is a big dose of television every day, that’s just a load of spucatum tauri. And that’s it. The NFLPA* is capable of a large array of negative feelings.

If the NLF’s tactic was to sway public opinion by blitzing the popular blogs (which I know it was), you’re going too far already, dudes. The jig is up!

It’s just another round of people supporting a “cause” or a “philosphy,” that is actually detrimental to their own well being because they’ve been told otherwise. Bush tax cuts anyone? Idiots.

“The players involved in proven and/or alleged criminal activities while there is no collective bargaining agreement in place will not be disciplined or fined as dictated by the terms of the previous collective bargaining agreement.

However, a non-negotiable term of the new collective bargaining agreement will be that the NFL, without fear of collusion charges being filed, will have the right as individual organizations or as a whole, to not employ persons with criminal records, existing or pending.”

It’s really that simple.

I’m a 9-5 Mon-Fri working stiff, but the things I do on my Saturday nights absolutely affect my job status. I’m not even a public figure, but if I get a DUI Saturday night and my boss found out, I’m liable to get fired Monday morning.

Just my $.02

Players should take the last contract offer and drop the rest in exchange for switching from challenge flags to booth review … and dumping Goodell for a decent commissioner who stops dragging them to Europe and fining them for legal hits.

Football is dead.

Duhh…FA were still employees of the NFL under the previous CBA. They were still covered by paid benefits and restrictions. All prior NFLPA players are currently locked out and no longer employees of the NFL. The have no paid benefits. The league has no control over players they no longer employ, and any attempt to punish them will surely result in legal action against the leagye.

Normally they’d have clicked thumbs down on every post about 50 times by now..

I actually commend the League…just because they are so full of themselves and cant see a good deal in front of them doesnt mean they get a free pass to break the law and do whatever they want…I think the owners should actually open tryouts to the public…anyone that wants to tryout…I guarantee everyone when the checks dont show up 99% of these guys will realize the world doesnt revolve around them…they will crumble like an old peanut butter cookie…
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First of all, what free pass? If players break the law and get convicted, then they’ll pay the same price for their actions that anyone else would. The problem with the league’s statement is that the players don’t currently work for the league right now…because the owners locked them out. If the players don’t work for the league, then the league has no authority over the players. This would be like having your current employer dock your pay now because you got caught skipping class in high school.
As for replacement players, good luck with that one. This isn’t a case of the players refusing to fulfill their contracts. The players are willing to show up to work, but are being barred from doing so by the owners. If the owners are worried about lawsuits now, just imagine what would happen if they breach the legally binding contracts they have with players now and bring in new people to play in their place. Also, you seem to make the common mistake of thinking that the NFL is just about football. It’s not. It’s about football played at an elite level. That’s the difference between the NFL and the UFL. It’s a moot point anyway, as the networks wouldn’t air those games. They learned that lesson the last time around, and the NFL won’t pay replacement players to play games the networks won’t air and fans won’t pay to go see.

Not so fast, Mike. On the surface it looks like a bad PR move (and may turn out to be such) but, in reality, this is not new. Unrestricted free agents are not affiliated or under contract with any team until they sign another deal, but the policy still has applied to them in the pass. It was never a free pass to act like an idiot, and neither is this situation. If the league starts calling players into Goodell’s office before a new deal is struck, then you have a valid point but as it stands now, this is much ado about nothing.
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I see what you’re saying, but there’s one big difference. An unrestricted free agent may not be subject to the rules of any one team, but they are still an active player in the league, and therefore subject to league discipline. This is a completely different issue. The Personal Conduct Policy that allows the league to discipline players whether or not they’ve been convicted of a crime was negotiated in the cba. Without a cba, the extent to which the Personal Conduct Policy expanded the league’s power to discipline players or control their actions has vanished, as has the substance abuse policy. This authority was a result of negotiations with the players. The league has no innate right to control the private lives of the players. They teams don’t actually own the players, simply the rights to negotiate terms for their services within the NFL. Furthermore, when the league locked out the players, it froze all of the currently existing contracts. If it hadn’t, then every player under contract could sue their team for breach of contract. So, if there is no negotiated personal conduct policy or substance abuse policy, and the teams contracts with the players are frozen, then the league currently has no authority over the players. So, what the league is saying is that they intend to punish players in the future for violating rules that didn’t exist at a time when they had no authority over the players. If the league really does want to stay out of court as much as possible, they might want to rethink such an idea.

Can I be one of the slaves? Slaves didn’t get paid like this. These players are richer than 95% of society. You are insulting those who were considered slaves.

A judge should take the money both sides are fighting over and donate it to charity and give it to people who truly need it, not some money hungry greedy people (players and owners). Give some to Japan and give some to help our own nation.