NFL: Hypocrisy. It has it.

Ahhh...there's nothing quite like labor strife between billionaires and millionaires to make one appreciate the simpler things in life. This week the sports talk shows have been chattering non-stop about the latest apostacy to the national religion of football--the idea that the NFL is going to start "cracking down" on helmet-to-helmet hits and other unsafe tackling practices in an effort to try and "safeguard the safety of NFL players."

Never mind the fact that professional football is built around mongoloids running into each other at high speeds and with maximum leverage so that an oblong spheroid can be carried across the final frontier of pretend enemy territory. In other words, this ain't flag football and it was a game designed to mimic warfare, which isn't nice and pretty either.

The NFL Player's Association has had increasing player safety and minimizing serious head injuries on it's agenda for nearly 15 years. According to former player rep Marcellus Wiley, the league could allow safer models of helmet than the Riddell and Bike brands most players use, but those brands have precedence because they pay more in sponsorship deals with the league. If players were forced to wear mouthpieces, that would also reduce the risk of serious head injuries.

There's more: until today apparently, the NFL's marketing arm was still selling videos online that featured some of the same unsafe hits that the league claims it wants to discourage. NFL Films also turns up natural, ambient sound at field level to try and amplify "the sounds of the game"--which include the vicious hits that have helped the league to become so dominant and that fans have come to expect.

Players are unwilling to change their ways, even if it is in their best interest. The owners want the good PR of appearing to stand up on this issue even when they are not. Why the tempest in a teapot now? Simple--the league's collective bargaining agreement is about to expire and this is all posturing so that the NFL's owners can gain important concessions that will allow them to reap even greater profits in future years:

--An 18-game regular season

--Perhaps some give-backs on free agency and a rookie salary cap in exchange for a greater contribution to the NFL pension plan and more post-retirement medical benefits.

We the fans, of course, are the pawns just like we always are. I guess until we stop paying billions of dollars for NFL ticket packages, season tickets and merchandise and stop gambling on the NFL to the tune of billions of dollars more, I have no right to complain and neither does anyone else, because money will always rule the day and the hypocrisy of everyone will always be a part of the bottom line. Still, it's important to remember that when billionaires and millionaires are squabbling, nothing is ever quite what it seems.

Peace...