ShareThisMoney is not the root of all evil, but the love of it most certainly is.
Like the cottager and his wife that killed the golden goose to try and get all the gold at once, the NFL owners and the NFL Players Association (you decide who's who) seem bound and determined to do the same thing.
The league itself is at the height of its popularity both at home and abroad. In the midst of the technological revolution in which we live, the NFL is truly a year-round sport.
Think about it -- if you follow the sport, you're either talking about what's happening now, what just happened or what might happen next season.
Why would anybody want to mess with that? Either side could give you 9 billion reasons why.
As a normal guy who gets highly upset when he loses a $20 bill, it's hard to fathom how someone would feel about an uneven split of "just" a million dollars, much less a billion. But, that's where we are all the same.
Both sides may posture and rattle their sabers about a strike/lockout, but they need only look to Major League Baseball for a cautionary example.
Money doesn't make people do stupid things, but sometimes it provides the motivation.
In a matter of speaking, MLB is still recovering from the 1994-95 work stoppage.
That particular strike swallowed up both the 1994 World Series and, eventually the Montreal Expos while simultaneously helping to create an aura around the game so bad that steroid-induced home runs seemed like a plausible way to bring fans back to the game.
And when you consider the steroid allegations, ongoing legal proceedings and the stain it left on the game itself, the lingering aftereffects of its last strike will reverberate for years to come.
Hopefully, the new national pastime can learn from the mistakes of its first -- especially since it was that last mistake that allowed the NFL to surpass it in popularity in the first place.
And money doesn't make the world go 'round, but it can get you a view from space.
(Contact Stephen C. Smith Sr. of the Wichita Falls Times Record-News in Texas at stephencsmith(at)yahoo.com or at www.facebook.com/stephencsmith1.)
