Last week it looked like the NFL lockout might end thanks to an assist from the much-maligned preseason, which is such a cash cow for football’s owners that they couldn’t think to have it canceled. If the lockout goes on much longer, though, the preseason will be truncated at best.
Which means it’s time to ask if the NFL lockout is really all that bad. Sure, it’s so choked the life out of the offseason that we’ve been forced to read Plaxico Burress tea-leaves, and it’s threatening the 2011 regular season, and it’s yet another example of the toxic relationship between this sport’s flush owners and its relatively downtrodden players, but there’s something in it for us: The preseason might not happen at this rate.
Think about the games we won’t have to pretend to enjoy—the games season-ticket holders won’t have to give away to fans of whichever team is on the road in the Edward Jones Dome that night—the A.J. Feeley snaps we won’t have to live or die with. Maybe the NFL lockout really just has our best interests in mind.