The NFL Lockout Logs for June… “Cautiously Optimistic”?

Photo source Google Images and juicedsportsblog.com

It’s funny how you get accustomed to things the longer you have them around, like a pair of old house slippers. As we near the end of the month as well as near the end of the fourth month of the lockout, it seems that the fervor of the fans has died a bit even as the urgency has increased.

Let’s go back and see what’s happened this month and try to read between the lines.  By my calculations we’re just about 111 days into the 2011 NFL Lockout with no clear signs of progress. Sure there have been rumors of progress but I keep seeing the same four words come up repeatedly in articles, “Cautiously Optimistic” or “Cautious Optimism”.

By virtue of the “court ordered gag” on CBA negotiations rumors are about all we have gotten all month, with the exception of carefully edited reports of the meetings between the NFL owners and Smith of the NFLPA. You know, I question that. I can’t prove it without having access to the original court transcripts, but I have always been under the impression that the gag order was specific to “mediated sessions”.

Did you catch the subtlety of that? There were some of the meetings that weren’t officially mediated sessions. Case in point: We started the month out with a “secret meeting”. Yeah, secret, as if all the people working at the airport don’t read the news. The meeting was secret about as long as it took the second corporate jet to land.

Yes, the judge from the mediated sessions was there, but it was reported to my satisfaction that it had been made clear that the judge was not there in the official capacity as a mediator. That coupled with the “release” after the meeting that details were secret based upon the gag order on mediation sessions speaks volumes to me. Neither the NFL owners or the NFLPA want to tell the public “diddly squat”.

We’ll go ahead and skip repeating the skimpy CBA news we got this month; we’ve read it already dozens of times. So where do we stand “now” after thirty more days of negotiation at the end of June? I can sum it up for you with five words.

“Cautiously Optimistic” and “Cautious Optimism”.

Like what you have read? Give Whodatdish.com props by liking us on facebook, become a follower on twitter, or grab our RSS feed. Prefer an application? Apple users can download WDD’s free app here, and Android lover’s can get the free app here.