Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt To Attend Today’s Mediation Session

It has been a while since we got too much into the whole labor thing around here because, quite frankly, we know you were sick of hearing about it. We were also sick of talking about it and we recognize that the NFL Draft is a much more interesting topic to be discussing.

That being said, I am forced to give you a brief update so I can keep you all informed.

Judge Susan Nelson has yet to rule on the players request for relief from the lockout but in the interim, she has ordered both sides to return to mediation with Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan. Boylan spoke to both sides separately the last two days and today the whole gang is getting together.

Well, sort of.

The players and their lawyers will be in one room, while a small group of owners, including our own Clark Hunt, and their lawyers will be in another. There will be a third room where the sides will come together and, like junior high students at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, will attempt to overcome the invisible barrier that seems to be keeping them from truly coming together on the NFL dance floor.

From what I am hearing from the talking heads, there isn’t a ton of optimism anything will actually get done. The feeling seems to be that both sides are going to dig in and wait for Nelson’s ruling. The players seem to feel she is leaning their way and the owners reportedly believe that even if the judge does rule against them, that they will have a pretty good shot at winning the appeal.

Unless Clark Hunt suddenly becomes wooed by Mike Vrabel’s intangibles as they gaze at one another across the mediation table, I doubt his presence will make a difference. He is unified with the owners, Vrabel is unified with the players and his eight-pack of beer and We are going back to Draft Thursday.