Lockout?

As I was watching the news Friday I was surprised to hear of a possible NFL lockout for 2011. I couldn't believe my ears. Was I really hearing this? No professional football for a whole year? My mind raced back a few years to when, because of salary problems, there was no professional hockey season. Could we have that same thing happen for what I consider a much larger sport? Just think, that would mean no Superbowl!

Now I lived in Massachusetts and am a New England Patriots fan but I can't say that I follow professional football as faithfully as BYU sports or the Boston Red Sox. So what got me was not the fact that I personally would not be able to watch football, but the reasons behind the possible lockout. NFL teams say that they are loosing money because players' salaries are so high. The teams want to keep the salary cap, which is set to expire, and give the players an 18% cut in salary (according to the article I read). The article that I read on ESPN.com (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4887844) said that this would mean an average loss of $340,000 for each player. After a bit of math I learned that this means the AVERAGE salary is $1,888,889. I'm sorry but if you are making that much you have no room to complain.

So a word to the NFL players. Get over it! You make more than almost everybody in this country. Maybe taking an 18% pay cut will be a reality check for you (if you can call making $1,550,000 reality). Hold off for a year before you buy your new yacht, it will be good for you. Learn how the rest of us feel.

Well, there you go, my first opinionated article of this blog.