Though we’ve yet to see the full agenda for this week’s ownership meetings in Indianapolis, we assume that the list of things to discuss doesn’t include a discussion of whether the lockout will unilaterally be lifted.
Former NFL linebacker Cornelius Bennett, who now serves as the NFLPA* Former Players Board of Directors, has requested just that in a letter to the editor posted over the weekend by the Buffalo News.
Bennett offers no specific reasoning for wanting the lockout to end, other than the general notion that the lockout keeps football from the fans of Buffalo, the site of Bennett’s most significant exploits in pro football. But did Bennett feel that way in 1987, when as a rookie member of the Bills he and the rest of the league’s players went on strike, wiping out a Sunday and Monday of football and ultimately subjecting fans to three weeks of Shane Falco and his not-quite-good-enough-for-the-NFL colleagues?
Bennett’s column also fails to point out that he’s a partisan in this fight, working for the NFLPA* and thus the interests of retired players as perceived and shaped by the NFLPA*.
In the end, Bennett’s item represents nothing more than an effort to tilt public opinion in Buffalo toward the players. And thus we’ll say once more what we’ve said several times -- if only the NFL and the NFLPA* would spend as much time negotiating as they do trying to secure the favor of the fans, the lockout would be solved by now.