To cope with the ever increasing craziness that is life everyone finds their own way to deal with the world around them.
For me, that thing this time of year is Arena Football. No matter how fast the world seems to be moving or how crazy things get, a touchdown is always worth 6 points, the sideboards are always there and my Orlando Predators always make the playoffs.*
So I was shocked to receive a tweet that the upcoming weekly Friday night telecast of Arena football on the NFL network was in jeopardy because an AFL strike was looming.
I was even more shocked to learn that this wasn’t the first AFL strike of this season. How could a strike occur in the league I love so much and I not hear about it?
Hang on kids, from here on out it gets weirder. Don’t worry if you don’t follow along, because I don’t either.
The “Strike” took place the first week of the season and only two teams participated in the “strike” but they both played the game....
I know what you are thinking, how could it be a strike if teams played their games anyway? The answer? I have no frickin’ clue. Did they use replacement players? Again, no idea.....
Although I did read an article saying that the strike “resulted in a very sloppy game”. That’ll teach ‘em! Good thinking AFL players union! Just play like ass! They’ll be ready to negotiate in the no time.
Prior to last week's second so called “Strike” articles were posted that only confused the matter.
Apparently, the AFL players’ union only requests that Cleveland strike,...yep, now we’re down to just one team striking....and the rest of the games that night would be played, as well as the games the rest of the weekend just not the one on TV....
And Cleveland might use replacement players, or their strike might not start until after the game that night, or they’ll have to forfeit. All of this contradictory info in the same article that I’m not even going to bother linking because your brain might just ‘splode if you try to read it.
As it turned out, Cleveland did forfeit, yes forfeit.....for some reason the AFL players union was cool with just one team not playing and letting them forfeit a game, so that week's game wouldn’t be televised. Canceling the only televised broadcast on tv for the AFL.
Can you imagine if a more traditional union did this?
I think it would go something like this:
Union: We’re going to have to go on strike
Members: Well, it will be rough but we can do this together!
Union: No, not all of you, just Gary.
Members: Won’t they just fire Gary?
Union: Yes, but trust me, this will work...I know what I’m doing....
Members: That makes no sense, but as long as you know what you’re doing...
Gary: Um,...I have a ques-
Union and Members: SHUT UP GARY! GO ON STRIKE! WE HAVE IMPORTANT UNION STUFF TO DO!
Gary: :-( okay......
Union: This is working perfectly! Just to be safe though we should try this again in a few weeks.....
Last night came a more sensical message from the AFL itself. It laid out in plain english what they were offering the union. I’m not taking sides here, but at least they took the time to explain their position, and wrote it in english and stuff. Also, they seem to know what the hell they are doing.
The scary thing for me, is unlike a strike in any other pro sport, I get the idea that the money might not be there to pay the players what they should be paid. Teams and owners just don’t have the unlimited funds to give the players like in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. Not that long ago, the league shut its doors for what they said at the time was financial difficulties. They came back a year later, but watching the games, the stands looked pretty bare. I’d hate to see the sport I love disappear completely.
I’m starting to think the indoor league the Omaha Beef are in is actually more financially stable. Even though the IFL is a step down from the AFL, traveling to Grand Island, Sioux Falls, Wyoming etc, has to be a lot cheaper than flying teams to mostly major cities all over the country, as is the case with the AFL.
In the same release, the AFL also said that the game of the week would be tape delayed to the following Saturday, a disappointment to me, as it gets harder and harder to not hear the final scores ahead of time (faster world remember?).
And today came news that the two sides were close to a deal. The AFL is willing to compromise with the AFLPA if, you know, they could figure out what the hell AFLPA was trying to do. Perhaps they’ll have Cleveland forfeit again, that went well.
* well, not this year, they’re like 1-12 or something, first time missing the playoffs in about 12ish years :-(
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