The CBA, the Chiefs, and Lots of Snow…
By author
So I’m sitting here thinking about the Chiefs as I’m stuck here in my house. Snow-nami 2011 officially struck T-town yesterday leaving us 18-21 inches where I live (depending on which internet site you read). This has given me plenty of time to think, about the season the Chiefs had last year, about the upcoming Super Bowl, about which of my family members I’d eat first if the snow continued to fall, but mostly about the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
I am not going to pretend that I know all of the forces at play, how they interact, or exactly how much money is involved. I’m sure I could have spent those hours I wasted on Madden destroying the Ravens over and over again more wisely doing research, but if the previous statement lets you into my psyche at all, right now I’m not in a research mood. I’m pissed off.
I understand the basic principle of a union. It’s a group that is paid to represent a work force to their management so that the workers earn a fair wage and benefits for the work they do. This is not a political website, and so I am not going to turn this into a pro or anti union conversation, I just wanted everyone to know that I understand the principle of what is going on if not all of the intricacies.
I also understand that the idea of a union was to protect people from poverty and having to live like animals despite working themselves to death under horrible conditions. I am pissed off because what is going on in the NFL, and what may keep me from seeing the Chiefs play new games anywhere other than Madden, is not the same argument at all. This is a bunch of multimillionaires and billionaires fighting over more money than most of us can comprehend.
Another thing that is pissing me off is that the legacy of the Chiefs and Hunt family is being negated by the action, or rather non-action by Clark Hunt in these proceedings. Lamar Hunt’s lifetime of work was a major part in building the NFL into what it is today so these greedy assholes can publicly squabble over gigantic piles of money. With his help the NFL was catapulted past the NBA, NHL, and even MLB to become the prominent sporting league in the US. Now his creation is being jeopardized and his son has not adequately filled the role he stepped into.
Major or minor market aside, there needs to be a voice of reason here to point out that not only will a lockout result in lost revenue for everyone, but that a lockout will be extremely detrimental to the progress of the sport. It happened to baseball when I was a kid, and I don’t know that MLB has ever fully recovered the fan base lost during that time. Of course the hardcore fans (such as those reading a Chiefs site during Super Bowl week when their season is over) will still be there, but there are a lot of people watching that could easily be turned off of the sport in the event of a lockout.
So, where is Clark Hunt? Has he adopted the same silent approach to the media that Pioli and Haley have? Why the hell can’t these freaking idiots come to an agreement? Neither side is really making sense at this point. The owners won’t listen to the players and agree that they could keep the exact same deal they had before that has obviously spelled success for the league, and the players don’t seem to understand a basic principle that when your workload is expanded the disproportional gain in salary will inevitably result in making less per hour, or game in this case. Anyone here gone from hourly to salary? If so I’m sure you’d be an expert at explaining how this works.
Well I fear that if I continue, all I will be doing is venting more frustration and thus doing nothing more than mere rambling. I know the tie in to the Chiefs here is a little thin, but I was really looking forward to free agency, the draft (which still is going to happen), and seeing this team take the field next season even more improved. I can’t help but feel that with all of their money and nice things that we as fans have collectively given them that they owe us, but none of these people really seem to care about the fans in this conversation. Just how they can get more for themselves. It’s downright depressing.
Well there you go Addicts. Feel free to vent your own frustrations about the CBA, and state your own opinion of what you think should happen. I’ll be looking forward to some discussion with you all, but for right now I think I’m going to go kick the Ravens’ asses again. Hopefully that will make me feel better, and stave off cabin fever for a little while longer. Last game was a KC win 78-42. Redemption.