No, I just recognize that there are people out there that need assistance, and they're not all scumbag wellfare cases in which we're wasting tax dollars. The tax laws are in place, use them to your advantage or disadvantage, I really don't care.

My problem with my own Republican Party is the righteousness with which they think they are entitled to because of their birthright. It really is a party of hypocrites. Being born into a trust fund is not quite the same thing as being born into poverty now is it? If we ever truly had an equal playing field from birth, then a lot of other problems could subside as well. So maybe in a couple more centuries the folks living then can have a peaceful world. We'll just all keep at each other's throats until then.

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As long as there is some type of cap on rookie salaries I dont care what they do

Imagine you work for a company for 5 years, can do almost everything they want you to do...Your paid pretty good too..

Then comes some college grad, who can't do everything you do but is paid 3X more than you, wouldnt you be pissed?

Thats why I dont understand why the NFL vets are ok with allowing no rookie scale..At least I think the vets dont want a rookie scale

I think most of the players agree that you should get paid when you can get paid. We're still talking about a job life expectency of less than five years. I think they should reduce the salaries of the rookie first rounders, but those players earned bigger contracts from their draft status. The top ten players have gotten out of hand though. Look what we Hawk this year from how his rookie deal was structured.

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The vets want a rookie wage scale. They just don't want the rookie wage scale currently being proposed by the league, which locks rookies into contracts that are longer term than the players like. The players fear that the league's proposed rookie wage scale would lock them into that crucial 3- to 5-year period that represents most players' best chance to cash in. They also want to be able to negotiate their rookie contracts individually (with wage caps), while the league is proposing a fixed rookie scale across the board.

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I appreciate the breakdown pack93z, it really helped in understanding most of this hot mess.

One thing that I agree with is the rookie salary cap. I think the way these rookies have been getting paid is completely outrageous and almost to the point of disgust.

Sam Bradford agreed to a 6 year/78 million contract and the kicker, $50 million of that is guaranteed. Why in the hell should someone like Sam Bradford receive such a deal like that? May I add in case people forgot, that Sam Bradford completely jacked up his shoulder in his senior year of college football.

(Though I don't like the Mannings) I found this article written in 2009, trying to find contract info for quarterbacks that have earned what they are getting paid.
Eli Manning was at one point the highest paid player, earning $16.25 million a season. Peyton was making $15.66 million a season. That right there is messed up too...
Bradford's contract has him at $14 million per season and hell...if he drops on that shoulder and breaks it again, who cares because $50 million of his contract is guaranteed.That is just an example.

Everything I have read so far puts me on the players side. The thing that really kills me is the "other people" being left out of the talks here. You know, the average-joes similar to you and I like the beer vendor in Detroit, mentioned in Mortensen's article. What happens to these guys? Eventually if there is a lockout, you would think most NFL players can afford 1 year of no job (at least I think they can) and of course that is if the lockout only lasted a season. What about the 150,000 jobs around the NFL, the people not making 10-15 million a season? Those are the people I really think about in this whole mess.

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I like how SI says that billionaires and millionaires are fighting over how to split a $9 billion pie.

common guys.
Cap the rookies. Give them FA in 4 years
go to 18 game season. Kick more into the players health care program.
kick more into the owners pot but not to be used to cover the debt they incurred to purchase the teams. It has to be earmarked for infrastructure improvements.

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