A quick clarification on the previous post: fellow blogger Ray Frager reminded me that the NFL Network will carry regular-season games next season not only on Thanksgiving, but eight times total. There's no way the league trades network rights money for cable fees if it doesn't mean more money in their pockets (the network is going to get on a whole lot more systems between now and the start of next season, and you'll know when they do by the jump in your cable bill). It's safe to presume that the union knows this, and has it in mind as it argues for a share of everything, not just what the owners feel like sharing with them.

Anyway, conveniently enough, the NFL has given itself more time to straighten this out; it is delaying the start of free agency by three days and thus won't start tonight at midnight as scheduled. So the situation is still "as dire as dire can be,'' except that now it isn't.