In mid-summer, fantasy football recruiting pends end of the lockout

For years, Fourth of July celebrations have been all about cookouts, fireworks and talking about football. This summer, however; football talks are taboo.

The NFL lockout has certainly placed a gloom over anticipation for another season of America's favorite sport. It seems that nobody wants to talk about football, at least not until this lockout thing ends. Simply bringing up the subject induced negativity and cynicism with my friends at a Fourth of July gathering last weekend. Can't blame 'em? I too have sensibilities about my opinions of the subject, as you may have read from this blog.

Here's my biggest problem right now. If I can't bring up football then I also can't inject any discussions about my fantasy league. I can't start recruiting. Will my fellow league members get side-tracked and lose interest? Will I be able to recruit enough players in time to start the BFFG? So far I've emailed and FaceBook-ed everybody and have received little to no response. Boo-hoo! "Just relax" I keep telling myself. It will all work out. It better. I hate the thought of joining a public fantasy league alone.

Sports media continues to report overall optimism that the NFL Players Union and the owners are making progress over the new collective bargaining agreement. The main obstacle, which is the overall revenue split between players and owners, is mostly finished. Still, issues remain including some class-action lawsuits players have against the league, which could probably hold things up a bit longer. Periodically we read headlines like today's "Order lifting NFL lockout thrown out" and it doesn't help reinforce the overall optimism. There's ups and downs in this thing.

I'm staying on top of the story. I can't wait to break the news that the lockout is over and we can return to a normal summer of football chatter.