Your NFL Strike/Lockout Update: Meetings and decisions (Rich vs. Rich--Day 4,112)

Roger Goodell/File

We can't say that "D-Day" is here, but it has been a somewhat busy week in the land of NFL negotiations and we'll have the added bonus of a legal ruling from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals today (Friday).

1st things first. Yes, the league and the NFLPA (not a union) have been meeting the past 2 days in Chicago. The hope: getting negotiations jumpstarted. The outcome: Unkown. Both sides were decidedly non-committal with their answers saying that "The fact they were meeting is good".

Several of the principals took part in those meetings. For the NFL: The Jolly Roger along with owners Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, Jerry Richardson, John Mara and Art Rooney. For the NFLPA: DeMaurice Smith, Kevin Mawae, Mike Vrabel, Jeff Saturday, Tony Richardson and Dominique Foxworth.

And while they didn't go into detail about what was discussed, enough came out of it that Judge/Mediator Arthur Boylan has postponed next weeks scheduled mediation sessions.

Now as for today (Friday):

We are supposed to find out the decision on the owners appeal of Judge Susan Nelson's decision to lift the lockout back in late April. The 8th Circuit granted the owners a stay on that decision which is why we've had no mini-camps or anything like that.

The expectation is that the owners are going to win their appeal and the lockout will continue. Why? We don't really know. We aren't labor-law experts and quite honestly, we don't understand the reason why there is a lockout/strike going on anyway. We know it has something to do with the owners and the players both wanting a bigger "piece of the pie" along with a few other minor details.

Don't get your hopes up yet for your NFL Football, though it's coming. We think this is going to drag on a bit longer, but both sides are starting to realize the longer this goes on, the more likely they are to piss people off. Though we've been a bit disappointed in the lack of concern on the fans part.

The decision comes at approximately 11:00 a.m eastern time and we will update you as soon as we are able to.

Here's another group who wanted a "Piece of the Pie":