Another Casualty of Lockout; "Hard Knocks"

No NFL team will be on the popular HBO series "Hard Knocks" this summer.

HBO said Friday the uncertainty of the lockout "made it impractical for a team to commit" to its yearly training camp reality show. The series is set to return next year.

The network will broadcast a 10th anniversary special Aug. 31 looking back at past "Hard Knocks": Baltimore Ravens (2001), Dallas Cowboys (2002, 2008), Kansas City Chiefs (2007), Cincinnati Bengals (2009) and New York Jets (2010).

Back to Work for NFL Players

I would say back to work for coaches, scouts, and other team officials, but they have been working all throughout the lockout. 

The real work begins now for everybody associated with the NFL.

Starting Tuesday morning, players can start working out a team facilities and classroom instruction can begin.

Trades can be made starting Tuesday.

Drafted and undrafted rookies can be signed beginning Tuesday at 9 a.m. Team can also begin negotiating with their own and other free agents, although they cannot be signed.

As of 3:01 p.m. Thursday, teams can waive or terminate player contracts.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, teams can renegotiate the contracts of their own players.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, teams can sign their own or other free agents.

Teams can start practice 15 days before their first peseason game.

When Will the Players Vote?

Let's hope for sooner rather than later.

The NFL owners passed a resolution Thursday to end the lockout, but the sport continued to be in a state of suspended animation yesterday.

However, sources with the owners and players said they are optimistic the NFL will be back in business within a week, hopefully much sooner.

Executives with the NFL Players Association spent yesterday going over the full proposal owners approved by a 31-0 vote (the Oakland Raiders abstained).

“Player leadership is discussing the most recent written proposal with the NFL, which includes a settlement agreement, deal terms and the right process for addressing recertification,’’ NFLPA president Kevin Mawae said in a statement.

Despite a report saying players would not meet until Monday, the NFLPA will work through the weekend with the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell to finish the deal.

With every day that passes without an agreement, time will continue to be a pressure point.

The NFL canceled the Aug. 7 Hall of Fame exhibition game on Thursday, 18 days before it was to be played. (Considering the lockout, it seemed unfair to give the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears an extra week of practice over other teams.)

Monday would mark 17 days before the first full slate of exhibition games are to be played on Aug. 11, when the Patriots are scheduled to host the Jacksonville Jaguars. Those games could be pushed back, possibly up to four days.

The NFL Lockout is On, it's Off, and Back On Again

A federal appeals court on Friday granted a temporary stay of an April 25 lower court order that had ruled that National Football League owners could not lock out their players.

The 2-1 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis allows NFL owners to again suspend football operations, as they seek to revise the current system and negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the league's players.

"We are back to a lockout," said 8th Circuit court clerk Michael Gans, who confirmed the court's ruling.  The lockout is back on, but to what degree?

Friday's announcement, which became public during the second round of the NFL Draft -- the last element covered under the previous agreement between the two sides.

Appeals court judges Duane Benton and Steven Colloton voted for the temporary stay, writing that they wanted to "give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the motion for a stay pending appeal."

The lone dissenting judge, Kermit Bye, said that the temporary stay shouldn't be granted -- arguing unsuccessfully that such an order should apply only to an "emergency situation."

If games don't start on time late this summer, it would be the first NFL work stoppage since 1987.

No word on how long this lockout may stick.