NFLPA Petition: How Fans Can Make an Impact, Prevent an NFL Lockout in 2011

With all the excitement, surprises and intrigue the 2010 NFL season has brought, it's hard to believe there may not be football in 2011.

The threat of a lockout looms 125 days, five hours, 46 minutes and 35 seconds away from becoming a harsh reality.

The owners aren't budging and the players stand as one, as evidenced by each player raising one finger in unison before each game.

If only there were something we could do about it.

We are simply fans of the greatest sport on the planet. What do we know?

We couldn't possibly crunch the numbers and play peacemaker long enough to get these two sides to finally reach an agreement.

How could we possibly contribute to help prevent a lockout?

Well, my readers and fellow football fans, there's a way.

The NFL Players Association just started up a new website called NFLLockout.com. On the site, you'll find a myriad of information aimed at educating fans like you and me about the ins and outs of the potential lockout in 2011.

Included in this is information into how it could impact communities by eliminating jobs as well as traffic at venues such as sports bars. There's also info on what the lockout is and isn't about.

They've also started a petition aimed at proving to the owners that the fans genuinely care about the situation.

The complications of the lockout fall squarely on the shoulders of ownership, as evidenced on the site, which outlines the ramifications of a lockout. The players are fine with the current CBA, the owners are the ones who elected to opt out of the 2006 extension early.

All that information is detailed on the website. The bottom line is, the owners need to know that we care. This petition is the best way to show them.

To those who say it wouldn't matter, I say: Who are the most important people in football?

I'll give you a hint: It's not the owners, the players or even the coaches.

It's us, the fans. The owners need us to make money on tickets, jerseys, lunch boxes and overpriced beer at their stadiums.

Moreover, the players play this violent, emotional game for us, the fans. They are entertainers in the purest form. They get just as much excitement from hearing us scream at the top of our lungs as we do from watching them pull off amazing feats of athleticism week in and week out.

We can do this. We, the fans, are the most powerful entity in football. We just don't know it yet.

Follow @NFLLOCKOUT on Twitter, and "Like" facebook.com/nfllockout to join the fight and get the word out.