NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw wanted to make a statement about the steely resolve his members would have in a potential labor showdown with the League. And he decided to use the NHLPA as Exhibit A: "We are not hockey players," Upshaw said Thursday afternoon. "And they are not hockey owners. So this is what they have to understand. And if they believe that there's a chance that we're the hockey players, that curved stick on the ice, that ain't us – even though they play in Green Bay, where it gets pretty cold ... That's not where we are. The economics in this league are good and getting better. And the players should get their fair share."Upshaw clearly sees a parallel between his association's looming war with the NFL and the issues that (depending on whom you believe) initiated the lockout: NFL owners can reopen labor negotiations this fall, and want to reduce the players' share of league revenues from its current level of around 60 percent. But as Upshaw noted: Football owners can't use the crutch NHL owners used in claiming to fight for the survival of the League, and football players are already getting a "fair share" by competing in a capped environment. But Upshaw is selling hockey players short -- he thinks they're labor war pushovers, but, in hindsight, they may have won more than they lost. Maybe his buddy and noted hockey fan Snoop can talk some sense into him. Because if there's anyone who understands the nuance of the CBA, it's the guy who gave the world "Gin and Juice."
The NFL's labor leader did have some sunshine for the NHL's labour leader, Paul Kelly, praising his decision to reach out to Gary Bettman: "I'm from Texas, and we know that you catch a lot more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. And I think Kelly understands that, because he's now trying to catch some flies with some honey by meeting."
