Management Stooges

It's remarkable to me how pro-management, or "pro-billionaire," the average NFL fan is in the current labor dispute. One need only read a sample of the comments on Profootballtalk.com to come away astounded how sympathetic the posters are to the owners' position and, in turn, how vitriolic they are against the players.

Even more amazing is that - judging by the comments under most news entries - readers blame the players for the lockout...even though it is the owners who reopened the collective bargaining agreement and locked out the players that has led to the work stoppage.

It is just stunning to read how fans favor the owners in their quest to take even more than the existing $1 billion off the top before sharing revenue with the players;the anger directed at the players for wanting to see the team's financial books, and the anger at the players for suing the league. Commenters are under the mistaken impression that all NFL players are millionaires even though the average salary is $800,000 and the average career lasts no longer than four years.

There must be something about football that engenders this pro-owner mentality. As I've written previously, football fans appear more interested and incensed when players don't play to their contracts - to the point of suggesting clawbacks of signing bonuses - than fans of any other sports. (For example, where was the outrage among basketball fans (or football fans for that matter) when the Sixers bought out Chris Webber's contract to the tune of$48 million only to watch C-Webb immediately sign another albeit less lucrative contract that was an albatross around the Sixers' neck after the buyout).