This is why I'm siding with the players as the NFL labor mess continues:

NFL players, in one respect, are like you and I. At any time, they can be fired from their job, let go, relieved of their duties, whatever you want to call it, when their employer doesn't feel they can't get the job done.

Considering the damage done to their bodies during their playing career, NFL players, more than any other pro sport, deserve more, and they're apparently fighting for more with NFL owners. I have no problem with that whatsoever.

Keep negotiating and forget about deadlines. My feeling is the owners are giving the NFLPA a Tuesday deadline to agree to their collective bargaining agreement because they want desperately to put on their four-game exhibition season to guarantee money at the gate and the concession stand.

Hopefully, the players won't budge, but at some point, those with the most money - the owners - will probably win out in the end.

Still, I'll be rooting for the players until the end.

- Makr Podolski