Roger Goodell is an idiot

Roger Goodell told the Tennessean recently that NFL fans wanted an 18-game schedule, which is one of the main obstacles right now in getting a labor deal done. The players, who have lived a 16-game schedule (plus four preseason games, plus possible playoffs) do not want it. The owners, who merely see dollar signs, do want it.

As for the fans? Goodell is sadly mistaken. We don't want an 18-game schedule, at least the educated among us. We just want football, and we want it on the second weekend of September like we normally get it. We don't need two extra games at the end of the schedule to see more teams play their backups either out to rest them or out of necessity thanks to the injuries that have been racked up throughout the season.

For a league that claims a lot of what they're trying to incorporate in the new labor agreement is for the players' safety, this is a truly tone-deaf statement. So now all of the sudden players are going to be safer playing in two more regular season games?

Most of us knew that this lockout was all about greed (the players, by the way, are willing to play under last year's CBA, but the owners want more), but this just lessens any doubt there was about it.