Dirty, rotten, filthy, stinking rich

Oh, the trials and tribulations of being rich. Here's NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell lamenting the state of the economy, and giving us yet another reason not to support any public funding of stadiums for his league's owners.

"Unfortunately ... many of our clubs are having the difficult process of letting go employees. There is uncertainty out there, and we have to cut our costs so that we can continue to keep this business a successful business and grow this business at some point."

Cry me a river, Roger. Instead of the clubs cutting the employees who could very well be the neighbor down the street,trying to earn a living to pay the bills and put the kids through college, how about you stop paying bloated salaries to spoiled athletes, while putting the public on the hook to build more state-of-the-art stadiums? Or maybe you could have smaller rosters, because do you really need the 51st and 52nd man?

Does your club's #1 draft pick really need a $25 million signing bonus, when $24 million will do? Imagine how many employees could keep their jobs with that extra million, if your clubs told Drew Rosenhaus and his ilk to stuff it every time they came with hat in hand? It's not as if football players are going to disappear if athlete salaries get an overall 10% reduction.

Sorry Roger, I'm not buying your woe is me act. And following the Wall Street business model where you get rich off of the public isn't going to gain you any sympathy.