I Dislike Your Favorite Team

That title probably goes without saying, and they continue to shift the goalposts on this labor issue so effectively that it is hardly ever mentioned that the current CBA was opted out of by the owners.  It had another year to go, but they just couldn't wait to get this fight going.  So, do remember that, when people talk about how "these two sides can't come together".  Remember who is grasping for more.

That said, I think it takes all kinds of special nuts to start a Twitter feed with the name NFLlabor (something I would be happily unaware of, it not for ProFootballTalk), and then post nothing but ownership propaganda.

Occasionally, they just show how much they care--like quoting Daryl Johnson on how players need to wear padding--gosh, does anyone recall how the owners withdrew out of the CBA because they were demanding players wear kneepads?  I'm sure taking an extra 1.8 billion dollars is just for kneepad purchasing purposes.

But good lord is the vast majority of it just ridiculous.

Repeated quotes from Bob Batterman, like "Owners clearly do not want a lockout" and "This is a union waiting for a lockout", that then just link to extended NFL articles.  Of course, Twitter only has 140 characters available, and thus some context is lacking in those tweets, like who the fuck Bob Batterman is.  Let me tell you what American Lawyer's Brian Baxter told us back in 2008 when the owners first hired Batterman (and before they opted out of the CBA):  "The possibility [of the owners opting out] became more distinct when the league hired L. Robert Batterman of Proskauer Rose. Batterman is well known in labor circles for his National Hockey League work  It was Batterman who presided over the NHL labor negotiations that scuttled the league's 2004-05 season, making it the first North American pro sports league to lose a full year to labor strife.  'Batterman bullied [the union] into submission,' says one sports labor lawyer who requested anonymity. 'If one accepts the conspiracy theory of collective bargaining, this means the NFL must be looking for trouble,' says another."  That's the guy the NFL is putting out in public to extol the noble virtues of the owners!  That guy!  It is like they are daring the media to be like, "So you are the bad guys, right?"  I mean, he's not a guy you quote on your Twitter account, unless you are feeling all sorts of ballsy.  Congratulations owners, on your HUGE BALLS.

But they aren't done, clearly.  Here's a very special and hilarious tweet:  "Poll: 99% oppose Congressional involvement in NFL CBA talks"  Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk does a pretty half-assed job of questioning those numbers.  He questions them, as one would have too, but he mainly talks about online polls unreliability, and voters who know how to release their IP, and so on.  But not once does he demonstrate that he clicked through and actually read any of the site that hosted said poll.  The poll isn't just unscientific, the blog itself probably isn't read by anyone to the left of say, Mitt Romney.  On the post that the survey appears, blogger Ed Morrissey writes, "As Hot Air readers know, I’m a big fan of NFL football, and my weekly football picks are one of my favorite regular features.  I also love to follow and write about politics, too.  That doesn’t mean that I think mixing the two is a good idea, however."  That's like saying, "I love Jell-O, and I love politics.  Doesn't mean I want Congress getting all up on food companies."

Congress isn't all about politics.  It's also about policy and legislation.  Just saying.

Not only is the NFL tweeting about a poll conducted online at a conservative blog, it's tweeting about a poll conducted online at a conservative blog that has been hilariously over-the-top stupid a number of times.  Example.  Example.  Example.  Example.  Example.  Example.  Example.  And so on.   People who write and read this blog aren't just conservative, they are crazy right-wing--the kind of people who can believe that Obama had APPLAUSE signs at the Tuscon memorial (seriously),  You could probably garner over 50% of them to vote for privatizing drinking water.  Congratulations, NFL!  You've won over the crazy right-wingers of the Internets!  You should absolutely tweet proudly over that.

So, you see--this lockout, that was predicted more than two years ago by labor attorneys, and more than a year ago by yours truly, isn't about money!  It's about kneepads, making sure that Bob Batterman has a public forum, and that Congress doesn't protect those darn millionaire players.  Who opted out, again?