Yahoo: Time for players to turn off court vision

[SkinsHokieFan]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AgdWiZUL7TI7VzS2sWL4YPE5nYcB?slug=jc-cole_owners_mediation_offer_to_players_040711

The NFL’s latest offer to resume mediation with the players may be the best surrender scene since the knights fled from the blood-thirsty rabbit in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

If you read carefully, you can almost hear the screams of “RETREAT” from 280 Park Ave. in New York City all the way in Minnesota. Now, it’s time for the players and the decertified NFL Players Association to be wise, accept the offer and not take this as an opportunity to bludgeon the league.

Click link for rest

And the key paragraph

What it also means is that, after three years of demanding that the players give back money, the owners got hit with a heavy dose of reality. They found out that the problem with their arguments isn’t that federal judge David Doty, who oversaw the Reggie White settlement for nearly two decades, was unfair to them. It’s that their arguments are bad. On Wednesday, Boies, one of the nation’s top lawyers, did his best to make something out of nothing, extending discussions again and again. In the end, however, he was like a great French baker trying to make croissants from Play-Doh.

[Voice_of_Reason]

That is a very well written article. Though, if chaos ruled, and there was no salary cap or draft, the 'Skins would definitely be one of the "have" teams. Granted, they would have to spend their money wisely (which they haven't shown a propensity to do), but the cost of a mistake is significantly less, and they could spend money at will. They just have to be careful not to turn into the O's of the last decade, who spent a lot of money for no returns.

[wildbill1952]

The jist of the article is that the owners had their collective heads handed to them on a platter and even a great lawyer cannot win their case for them. The players, even though the court case appears to be moving in their favor, now need to be magnanimous in their apparent victory and just talk with the owners and get the deal done, even to the point of just keeping what they had, The sticking point, as before, will not be the split of the money, but the requirement of the owners to provide proof of what the split should be through audited financials.

Hopefully, neither the owners nor the players talked themselves into hoping for a windfall. When expecting a windfall of significant magnitude, expectations can make negotiations impossible.