No Class

In the most recent episode of Real Sports, Bryant Gumble closed the show by offering this advice to new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

"Before he cleans out his office," Gumbel said, "have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch."

Is it too much to ask Gumble to conduct himself with an ounce of class. Don't get me wrong I enjoy controversial rants by the likes of people like Coulter as much as the next guy. However, if Gumble is going to pretend to be a journalist he should at least act like a professional. If however he is wants to be a controversial commentator then he has no business calling NFL games. His recent deal to do play by play for the NFL channel should be instantly revoked.

Besides showing absolutely no-class Gumble demonstrated that he does not understand the sublties of the CBA's. Most of the criticism leveled at Upshaw & the NFLPA is the fact that they agreed to a hard salary cap and that players don't get guaranteed contracts.

Sure MLB and NBA both have guaranteed contracts but to the detriment of the game. Teams are constently saddled with underachieving players that have ridiculous contracts. In NBA & MBL only a handful of teams are competitive each year and both leagues have experienced extended strikes or lock-outs in the recent past. Let's not forget that NFL teams have 53 man rosters and there is no way that teams could have 53 guaranteed contracts. The average career for an NFL player is 3.8 years rookie contracts are six years. If contracts were guaranteed that would ruin the NFL.

True, it was Upshaw that agreed to a hard salary cap in exchange for free-agency. Since this agreement the television contracts for the NFL have skyrocketed. So while a salary cap might seem like a bad deal for players, it is not a bad deal if the revenue is significantly higher. Teams are The NFL is head and shoulders above the NBA & MLB in total revenue. If the NFL adopted the CBA of MLB or the NBA the result would be an uncompetitive league with lower ratings and smaller television contracts. That means a smaller pool of money with which to pay players.

Ther is a reason that the NFL has all of their playoff games aired on network television not cable like NBA & MLB. Also baseball and basketball have far more games than the NFL to generate live gate revenue. With only 8 regular season games, TV contracts are imperitive to the financial success of the NFL.