We’ve reached doomsday week in the NFL CBA negotiations and this labor Armageddon threatens our continued enjoyment and obsession of all things Kansas City Chiefs football.
I’m mad. This whole thing sucks. I run a Chiefs website. We have a very specific way we do things around here and the labor situation has thrown everything out of whack. Normally we’d be in full free agency mode, talking about any and all players the Chiefs could possibly pursue to fill holes before the draft. These discussions are always a lot of fun and they bring a lot of new voices and opinions to the boards.
Unfortunately, the whole billionaires arguing with millionaires over money has changed all of that. It isn’t just AA that is getting effected either. People are actually losing their jobs over this stuff. Belt tightening has been happening around the NFL in anticipation of a potential work stoppage and unfortunately that has meant teams have gotten rid of some employees that probably didn’t deserve it. Keep in mind that it isn’t like the NFL players and owners aren’t making money. They’re making it by the truckload. They just want more.
How is it fair that some administrative assistant making 35K a year should lose their job because Jerry Jones wants an extra billion bucks?
The answer is that it isn’t fair. All sorts of folks that have nothing to do with the NFL are going to lose out because of this mess.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it. The calls to boycott the NFL are well intentioned but unrealistic. The countless fan sponsored petitions floating around the internet aren’t going to make a lick of difference. The theories that the NFL will risk alienating fans like Major League Baseball did during its strike are flawed. The fact of the matter is that many people find baseball to be boring and that, more than any ill will harbored by fans over the MLB strike is why baseball is no longer America’s pastime.
No, the NFL could probably go away for an entire year and still come back more popular than ever. We’re a football country. We love it and all taking it away is going to do is make people miss it even more. I can’t fathom how depressed I would be if there was no football on Sunday’s in October. I’m serious. I barely make it through KC’s bye week. I hate the week before the Super Bowl so much that I get excited about watching the Pro Bowl! The Pro Bowl for heaven’s sake!
As the March 3rd deadline to get a deal done approaches, things are looking more and more bleak. While we’re not sure exactly is going to happen come March 3rd, it appears very unlikely that we will see a deal in place. That means we’re going to have to ride this thing out, possibly for months.
That being said, I’ve put together a list of things you can do to entertain yourself until the NFL is back and running like it’s supposed to.
1. Read Arrowhead Addict
We aren’t going anywhere no matter how bad this thing gets In fact, we plan on cranking out just as much content as usual regardless of how long this thing lasts. You’ll want to stick around just to see if I can keep coming up with crap to writer about! I still have plenty of players to go through in our Chiefs Roster Evaluation series and I’ve already gotten bored enough to post a picture of Shaun Smith in his bathing suit a couple of weeks ago. Heck, if things get bad enough I may even resort to posting the picture of Smith and some naked chick that he also has posted on his Twitter account.
Hey, when there is no football all bets are off.
2. Make Fun Of Al Davis
Everyone likes to make fun of Al Davis and his legion of Halloween costume wearing fans. There are countless S&M dungeon jokes to be made about Raiders fans and when things slow down, you can bet we’ll turn to ridicule of guys wearing dog collars and black lipstick.
3. The NFL Draft
We still have the draft. Thank the good lord for the draft. It isn’t until the end of April. Surely a deal will be done by May. I don’t want to think about what things might look like around here in June if there stil hasn’t been free agency, mini camps or OTA’s.
4. March Madness
There might not be free agency this March but at least there will be some exciting sports with the annual NCAA college basketball tournament. Sure, this place might turn into a college basketball blog for a month but there are worse things that could happen.
5. Vote for Danielle!
Speaking of March Madness, Danielle, one of Captain Morgan’s Morganettes is Arrowhead Addict’s official entrant into the Captain Morgan BraketMaster Challenege sponsored by Spike TV. Danielle is from Kansas City and is a huge Chiefs fan. Help me coach her all the way to the championship by voting for her in the Captain’s NCAA style tournament of beautiful women. You can win really cool prizes if you do well filling out your bracket.
Alright Addicts, that is all I’ve got for now but I encourage you to get in on the action. What are your suggestions for ways to pass the time if an NFL labor deal is not reached this week?