Worst Time of the NFL Season is Now

Yes, you read the title correctly. The opening of training camps and this portion of the NFL season is the worst. While you may think it's one of the best times in the season since football is back and starting up and all, it's actually, to me, the worst. Even worse than when after the Super Bowl is over.

So what do I mean by this? Why is it the worst? I'll explain it all right in here.

Ask yourselves the following question. Once training camps open, what NFL news stories do you typically hear? Now there are a couple of answers, which may be the following:

1. I hear about players holding out
2. I hear about players arriving to training camp late for practice
3. I hear about a star player being injured
4. I hear about a player not really practicing towards potential
5. I hear about a rookie making progress
6. I hear about a free agent being excited to be on a new team and for the new NFL season.

Those are the six responses that I came up with as "typical answers." If you look carefully two thirds (4 out of 6) of those responses are NEGATIVE! The first response I listed as number one is the one that I want to focus on, and that's NFL player holdouts.

An NFL player holding out for a new contract to me is just selfish, demanding, greedy, and whichever other adjective you can use to describe that type of player. The sad part is 9 out of 10 times, the player who holds out usually gets his deal re-worked! In other words, THE TEAMS GIVE IN! I think it is awful and disgraceful for someone to give in to someone who is demanding, greedy, selfish, and individualized. This penalizes the players who are team players, who are in it to win it, and who play hard.

This year's example is DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles. He had a great season with all kinds of big plays, including the big punt return TD run that capped the Eagles comeback against the Giants. He is holding out for more money since he believes he is one of the top wide receivers in the league. Now I am not taking anything away from Jackson's talents. He is awesome. But I can name a handful of receivers who are at his level or better. He needs to play more and earn his money and not hold out after one really good season.

Now I applaud the clause in the new NFL CBA that penalizes players who hold out. They will get fined $30,000 each day they hold out. To me, it's a start. But if the NFL wants to really put an end to these holdouts, they really should raise the amount to $50,000-$75,000 per day. Then once you start adding it up, THEN it makes more of an impact towards the player.

I cannot describe to you what the feelings are inside of me each and every time I hear about an NFL player holding out. It hurts their team, it hurts the team chemistry, and it hurts the overall play of the team since they cannot practice without that single player.

Unfortunately, these NFL holdouts are a big story since big-named, talented star players are usually the ones holding out. Therefore it is the media's responsibility covering the story, and hence creating the buzz it creates. In addition, we don't get to hear more of the positive stories coming out of training camp like star rookies who are making progress in camp, free agent players practicing with their new team, teams who new players/coaches who are coming up with new offensive schemes, etc. Instead, we all have to put up with people being greedy and selfish.

The only good news out of this, is when these players fail on the field, then we can point to EXACTLY where/when these players didn't practice to learn the players since they were too busy worrying about themselves.

So what are your thoughts on this being the worst time of the NFL season? Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment below!