Back In The Day

With less than 100 days until the first scheduled game, every fan is getting nervous. Those that can end this haven't seemed to care too much. Perhaps the recent talks, minus the troublesome lawyers, will generate some movement. These talks are, at least, a positive step. If the lockout ended now and everything was jump started, harm to the 2011 season will be limited. If the start date of training camps is moved back, the quality of play that we are accustomed to will be diminished. The pace of the offseason, until the current labor fiasco, has been taken for granted. There is normally continuous team contact with the players. Some even work out daily at the team facilities throughout the offseason. There are several team workouts or OTAs. Organized Training Activities is such a stupid name for a team practice. There was a time when none of this took place. Back in the day, there was little to no contact between the team and the players after the last game of the season. This day was not that long ago. If a player was injured, there might be some rehab work to be done at the facility. At the very least, the trainer would take a look at the progress of the injury. There was no free agency on this day back then. Actually, it was much like a lockout, minus the despair of a vanishing season. The players came to training camp to get into shape and to install any changes to the offense and defense. Both are normally done in the offseason now. The situation that we are in now isn't much different than a typical offseason in the '70s. Seeing as the Vikings went to three Super Bowls, I kinda liked that decade. Excellent football is still possible without today's active offseason. Teams are just dependent on the offseason to accomplish what most teams had to in training camp back in the day.

Sometimes I think that this idiotic lockout is a cruel joke thrown at the fans. No one has laughed. It's never been funny. This needs to get settled. Great football can still be found with the abbreviated schedule that these clowns are forcing upon themselves. Back in the day they proved it.