NFL Labor Issues: 5 Ways To Keep Peyton Manning and Tom Brady Playing in 2011

That is a face that says to me, "I'm not going to budge on my demands and it's too bad if there is no NFL season next year." 

The fact that there are even talks about an NFL strike is ridiculous and childish on both the owners and players side.  This is the United States of America, and come Fall, we need football.  Do they understand how many angry people there will be on Sundays if there is no football?  The USA will become the most depressed nation in the world if there is no football and that will be placed at the feet of the owners and players of the NFL.

Being the person that I am (I was a peer mediator in Elementary School), I believe I came up with a solution to the labor talks.  I don't have Roger Goodell's or DeMaurice Smith's e-mail address to send them these ideas, so I thought I would share them with you.

5. Move to Canada and Watch the CFL

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TORONTO, CANADA - OCTOBER 07: A giant Canadian flag is passed around during an opening night pre-game ceremony before a regular season NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens at the Air Canada Centre October 7, 2010 in Toronto

This would be the ultimate slap in the face to the NFL.  First, no one wants to live in Canada and that includes Canadians.  Second, have you ever watched the CFL?  It is like pee-wee football compared to the NFL.  What would make this all that better would be if everyone acted like they really enjoyed the CFL.  I know that last part would be extremely difficult, but couldn't we do it to get back the NFL?

Probably not, and I really don't want to live in Canada, so hopefully it doesn't come to this.

4. Give All the Owners and Players Salaries to Charity

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SAN FRANCISCO - NOVEMBER 09: Kevin Jurovich (L) and Delanie Walker of the San Francisco 49ers pack boxes of food while volunteering at the San Francisco Food Bank on November 9, 2010 in San Francisco, California. With only a few weeks to go before the st

If the only thing keeping players and owners from figuring this whole thing out is money, then let's remove money from the equation.  The NFL will pay for all living and food expenses, with some cash for personal things, for both the players and owners.  All other money generated will be spread across different charities of players and owners choosing.  This would only have to be done for a year and might show everyone that money actually isn't all that important.

This would mean that Bryant McKinnie couldn't have a $100,000 bar bill, but I think he could learn to live off a couple beers at the bar instead of 15 bottles of champagne.

3. Make the Lingerie League the New NFL

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LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 06: Zipphora Chase #19 of the Los Angeles Temptation runs for yardage against the Philadelphia Passion during the Lingerie Football League's Lingerie Bowl VIII at the Thomas & Mack Center February 6, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lo

I am kind of regretting not making this the number one idea to get the NFL back.  In fact, the more I write about the Lingerie Football League, the less I seem to care what happens with the NFL.  I seriously just stopped writing and looked up the schedule for the 2011 season (it isn't out yet).  I have no idea why Fox or CBS hasn't put this game on prime time, but watching women in lingerie play football at noon on Sunday is starting to sound pretty good to me.

2. Players and Owners Could Stop Being Selfish

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WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 08: NNational Football League Players' Association (NFLPA) executive director DeMaurice Smith arrives with players for negotiations at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service building March 8, 2011 in Washington, DC. Represen

If all this is really due to money, we have some problems.  The minimum salary for a rookie in the NFL last year was $285,000.  The average household income in America is $45,113.  The average salary in the NFL is $770,000.  Anyone who is making, at a minimum I remind you, $285,000 a year and thinks that they need more money to survive has lost their mind.  I wouldn't even know what to do with $285,000 a year, let alone a few million.

It isn't just the players either, as the owners are acting like giving away some of their millions of dollars is the craziest idea in the world.  I don't even want to know how much money Jerry Jones makes a year, but could he give away 20 percent of it away and still survive?  My guess would be yes.

Both the owners and players need to sit down and ask themselves if they really need an extra million dollars to live.  If they do, then we will see you in 2012, but if they don't, let's get this big ordeal over with already.

1. Let Us Play

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ORLANDO, FL - DECEMBER 12: Frankie Oliver #4 of the Peewee football League runs with the ball during the Pop Warner Super Bowl at the Disney Wide World Of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida on December 12th 1998. (Photo by: Scott Halleran/Getty Images

If the players and owners can't figure out how to get the NFL back in 2011, the owners should hold open tryouts and let average people play on Sunday's.  You could pay each player a flat salary of $150,000 for the year and that would make millions of people come out and try to make the team.  The owners would also get to keep more money and it might actually be entertaining to watch.

Could you imagine watching your friend, who is currently an accountant, make the Eagles or Titans as a starting wide receiver?  I think the game would become even more popular if we were watching people we actually knew, people we actually talked to on a regular basis.

I know that if the Titans sent out a flier that they were holding open tryouts to make the squad in replacement of the real players, I would stand in line for days at the chance.

Hopefully, the owners and players can get it figured out, but if not, lets give one of these ideas a try.