Yet rumors remain rampant that Deion Sanders signed with the San Francisco 49ers at an artificially-reduced salary to keep the club under the salary cap, with Nike indirectly subsidizing the salary by increasing his Nike contract.

In the NBA, it's the same story. After imposing their own salary cap, the owners signed a series of dubious incentive-laden contracts with players, crude ploys to avoid the cap.

That left the league suing the owners, claiming the contracts were violations of the cap.

What's the deal? Either fish or cut bait, guys. It's enough that we should have to put up with lost seasons because you want a salary cap. But to hypocritically circumvent it, well, that's just....

Never mind. I want to see the sports back in their position as joyful respites from the problems of the world.

Flux. All these leagues (I didn't even have room to knock the NHL) are taking advantage of their fans, stupidly, childishly, selfishly, in the process leaving themselves in a state of flux from which they may never fully recover.

Here's hoping that the owners don't lose sight of the fact that whatever labor victories they may enjoy could prove to be completely pyrrhic in nature.