This is a few days old now, but it definitely deserves its own post. Despite all of the brokering, discussions and haggling that took place this summer, the Steelers are still not happy with the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement.
They are unhappy enough with it that they were the only NFL team not to vote “Yes” last Thursday as the CBA was ratified league-wide and the lockout officially ended. Over 50% of the players had to accept the deal for it to be enacted.
Unsurprisingly, the Steelers biggest reason for not accepting the new CBA was how the NFL currently handles discipline.
“Roger Goodell (still) has total control over the fining process,” Clark said. “For us, that’s a deal breaker. We feel like someone else should be on that. We feel it should be someone who is not on the NFL payroll. When you know where your bread is buttered, you make decisions according to what they want.”
When James Harrison called Goodell a crock, among other things, in his widely publicized magazine interview it was shocking to a lot of people. But this vote makes it clear that the Steelers room believes the same things about Goodell. This is a very strong statement from one of the NFL’s oldest and most successful franchises and I’m sure eyebrows in front offices around the league were raised.
I do wonder how this bold move will affect any future hearings the Steelers have with the commissioner. I’d like to think he won’t take those things into account, but he is human and let’s face it…he hasn’t exactly went easy on the Steelers to begin with.
The players on the Steelers roster — specifically the defenders — are 100% sure that Goodell and the NFL are out to get them. This vote also makes me 100% sure that we are really rooting for the bad boys of the NFL in 2011. I can’t think of a bigger public display of hatred towards their respective league by a professional sports team in a while.
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