A & D

This offseason has been full of jabs between Marvin Lewis and Chad Johnson (Ochocinco). You could say that it started in Week 17 when Chad sat out of the Ravens game and Lewis challenged his commitment to the team (after Chad had visibly been playing injured since the Monday night game). After that there was a ton of drama through January and Chad talked a bunch of trash even going as far to say that he wanted to fight Lewis in a “cage match”.

Since then the back and forth between the two has been minimal, everyone has been focusing on Carson Palmer and all the changes taking place around Paul Brown Stadium. That is, until today when someone asked Lewis what he thought of Chad’s MLS tryout. Lewis went on to slam Chad by saying:

“How does he do at anything? What has he ever done that he’s completed? What circle has he ever connected in any way?”

Way to be an adult, Marvin Lewis. Rather than say something productive, encouraging or just simply “no comment” you go and blast him on a national stage. Aren’t you supposed to be a leader on the team, setting good examples for everyone in the organization? Instead you yourself help create more distractions and drama for the Bengals.

Remember the old proverb: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Both you and Chad could learn from those words of wisdom.

Its no wonder Carson Palmer would rather retire than play another season with this team, they’re literally self destructing in front of our very eyes. Certainly there is someone on the team who is willing to step up and be an adult, set an example and lead this team. It almost seems as if Carson has been the only leader on this football team all along.

There’s a lot of talk out there since the lockout about if incoming rookies should even attend the draft. Some veterans say that they should skip it altogether to show a unity with the veteran players while others say that they shouldn’t miss out on this once in a lifetime event. Personally I think these new players should attend the draft and participate as normal, any further distancing by the NFLPA from the NFL and its functions is only going to turn the fan base further against their cause.

Both players and Owners have expressed a desire to continue negotiations and bring the lockout to an end. Mike Vrabel (of Ohio State fame) stated the other day that he and others would like to deal with the Owners directly without a third party (the NFL labor board) involved. The problem with this argument is you still have representatives for all players negotiating with Owners you still essentially have a form of a third party since not every player would be in attendance. This is not a fair means of negotiation, then.

The alternative to that is for neither side to have third parties involved and for each Owner to come up with agreeable terms then approach their teams separately. This would effectively cut out the middle men and allow each individual Employer to work with each individual Player and allow them all to find terms that they agree with. This would essentially make the NFLPA non-existent or at the very least just an organization that would collect the funds and manage all of the finances of the player’s pensions and other benefits.

Remember, the NFLPA was dissolved between 1989 and 1993 due to a CBA negotiation breakdown in 1987 and a new CBA was not reached until 1993. The best case scenario here is that Owners establish a cap the players can agree to, that contributes more to pensions and future/veteran/retired players medical care and that they can come together and get a deal done. Some think both sides could reach out to each other before the April 6th date on the Anti-trust lawsuit, though I see that as a bit optimistic.