Mark Murphy

Not sure what he's smiling about.

No one really seems to be happy about the lockout/lawsuit festival the NFL and the players are going through at the moment, and Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy hasn’t done much to inspire confidence it’s going to end anytime soon.

“Having been on both sides of this, this is really disappointing,” said Murphy, who was a player in the league for 11 years and also served as an assistant executive director of the NFLPA. “To me, this takes us back to where we were in the 1980s. It’s a shame. We’ve all benefitted from the relationships we’ve had.”

It should be pointed out that the NFL’s last two work stoppages occurred in the 1980s, which may or may not have been because everyone was coked to the gills and banging hookers without condoms instead of working on a labor deal.

If you’re too young to have lived through the 80s, trust me. That’s what people did then.

Anyway, the players went on strike in both 1982 and 1987, which resulted in lost games. While the 82 strike only resulted in lost games, the 87 strike also subjected us to games involving replacement players, also known as scabs. This would be when all-time Green Bay Packers greats, such as Jim Bob Morris and Warren Bone, chiseled their names into Packers lore.

What makes the whole situation worse, is the owners have reportedly saved for the lockout.

As National Football League team owners and the players union dig in for a potentially lengthy legal battle, NFL officials said owners have already set aside enough money to cover them in case the 2011 season is canceled.

In addition, NFL officials said there isn’t an immediate financial threat from the $4 billion in television-rights revenue that may be withheld because of a recent legal ruling. According to the owners’ plans, they only would need that money if the labor strife drags on to the 2012 season.

The NFLPA challenged the NFL’s television deal in federal court and won, earlier this month. The owners were denied access to their $4 billion television contract, which, it was assumed, they needed to get through the year.

If that’s not the case, we’re all probably in for a long, drawn-out process.

Murphy isn’t exactly ready to start calling games, yet, but does it really matter at this point?

“We still have a lot of time,” he said. “At the end of the day, I am hopeful that cooler heads will prevail without any interruption.”

We’re all hopeful, Mark. That doesn’t make it so.

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