re: secret meeting of the owners last night...

[OnlyPantherFaninMaine]

Wake me up when this mess is over. Really putting a damper on my fandom!

[rayzor]

Greg_A_Bedard Boylan signed the order cutting off mediation for settlement talks.

AlbertBreer Just got to my hotel room ... Read the court filing on next week's mediation being cancelled. Wording is interesting, to say the least.

might the end be near?

not getting my hopes up. big roller coaster, though.

more...

AlbertBreer It reads ... "Whereas, The Court has been engaged in confidential settlement discussions involving the above captioned matter ..."

(cont): "... it deems it appropriate to cancel the mediation session previously scheduled in Minneapolis for June 7 and June 8."

AlbertBreer OK, in layman's terms ... Parties are in "settlement discussions", per the court, which isn't the same, but not far from CBA negotiations.

AlbertBreer ... In 1993, the last time issues this serious existed, the NFL and players reached a "settlement". Terms of the next CBA were in it.

[Jangler]

Secret meetings in the burbs.

Exactly how I thought progress would be made.

[SCP]

"I'm going to be nice," Smith said. "No comment."

Damn, D. Smith gets on my last nerve. For being such a "smart guy", he sure makes some annoying ass comments. Just say "No comment" asshole. We are not here to listen to your attempts at humor.

Jerry Jones can suck a fat one too. Riding off in a Ford Escape.... oooh, look he's trying to save money. Please.

Other than that, this is better than nothing.

[Cat'sGrowl]

This is funner when you have a pug.

Hate that dog..

[Cat'sGrowl]

Damn, D. Smith gets on my last nerve. For being such a "smart guy", he sure makes some annoying ass comments. Just say "No comment" asshole. We are not here to listen to your attempts at humor.

Jerry Jones can suck a fat one too. Riding off in a Ford Escape.... oooh, look he's trying to save money. Please.

Other than that, this is better than nothing.

I think DeSmith is realizing he's lost this battle and is frustrated because he's seeing the mistake he made by not caving in sooner. I'm glad he's frustrated. Bum deserves it for screwing the fans, the players, and the game most importantly, over.

Hope he gets fired.

[Montsta]

Jerry left in a Ford Escape? The debt of the billion dollar football temple must be kicking his ass right now. :D

[Highlandfire]

Good Stuff lets get this done

[rayzor]

updates...

Greg_A_Bedard From a source close to the labor negotiations: "It's a very, very important step but it does not necessarily mean...

....that there's going to be instantaneous progress." Expect talks to resume next week.

Greg_A_Bedard The composition of the groups of owners and players is significant. Spectrum of views and people that can make a deal.

Greg_A_Bedard It's "easily the biggest step since March 11" but "wouldn't jump to conclusions." On the right track but ways to go.

It should be noted that the NFL had "no interest" in settlement when NFLPA offered it on March 21.

But this would be a global settlement of everything pending, just like in '93. NFLPA would likely reconstitute.

adbrandt Timing of clandestine NFL-NFLPA no-lawyer meetings interesting, right before tomorrow's lawyer all-star game in 8th Circuit.

Greg_A_Bedard Still wondering how the 8th Cir fits into this. I would expect both sides would wait for that decision. What affect would it have?

AlbertBreer As for tomorrow -- BIG numbers: Between 20 & 30 players are expected to attend the injunction appeal hearing at the 8th Circuit courthouse.

AlbertBreer So again ... 20-30 players expected in the courtroom tomorrow. But the big 3 -- Manning, Brady, Brees -- not expected in St. Louis.

adbrandt Special to espn.com: primer on tomorrow's NFL-Players appeal hearing: http://tinyurl.com/6yfo7yo

brandt's link above has a repost of the article he did for national football post already lined, but it also has a couple video clips talking to john clayton/golem and adam schefter talking about what happened and possible implications.

[SPANKY]

Did they need to meet in secret to talk about how they have fugged this up so bad? It's not a secret, so why the secret meeting? Can we have court ordered football now?

[DaCityKats]

Jerry left in a Ford Escape? The debt of the billion dollar football temple must be kicking his ass right now. :D

Smokescreen

[Highlandfire]

I think DeSmith is realizing he's lost this battle and is frustrated because he's seeing the mistake he made by not caving in sooner. I'm glad he's frustrated. Bum deserves it for screwing the fans, the players, and the game most importantly, over.

Hope he gets fired.

Dbag Smith is nothing but a fuging assclown. And you are right he is pissed because he is getting his ass kicked. He gambled and lost, tough poo.

I also agree I hope the players vote to can his ass. That will pretty much end his political aspirations.

[DaveThePanther2008]

Did anyone else notice the JR has disappeared from the Meeting? Or at least how the media is portraiting it.

Go to the NFL.com page. There are a multitude of articles about this topic. Most of them cite Jerry Jones, Robert Craft and John Mara as participants. Only once did I see Jerry Richardson mentioned. While slightly trival, it just shows the lack of respect that the Panther Organization gets.

Something bad going down... "Jerry Richardson of the Carolina Panthers and the other owners...."

Something good happening... "Jerry Jones, Robert Craft...blah blah blah."

BTW Rayzor....thanks for all the Tweets and info....

[SCP]

I noticed that in a yahoo article. Even made a comment on it. JR was in the picture that accompanied the article and they still didn't mention him. But if something bad happens, they throw JR under the bus by god and throw a small market jab in to boot.