Ravens WR Derrick Mason has been a vocal critic of the NFL as the owners and players continue to figure out the next collective bargaining agreement. Mason's latest shot at the NFL is aimed at Commissioner Roger Goodell and it gives us a glimpse of what these two sides think about each other right now.
Speaking on 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore this week, Mason was asked about HGH testing, which is a topic Goodell has recently addressed.
"He's been on the crusade about HGH, but he needs to be on a crusade about getting these owners together and trying to work out a deal. He's to me is just....he's a joke. He's a joke because every time I look he's talking about performance enhancements instead of trying to figure out a way to make sure football is played in August."
Tell us how you really feel, Derrick. That one side has (or continues to) resort to name-calling doesn't bode well for the two sides to do the most logical thing -- sit down and negotiate.
"Yeah I mean he's no kin to me . He's grown man and I'm a grown man, but you know we're walking around and he's talking about performance enhancements and keeping the sport clean, which is a big thing, but I think right now you know the fans don't want to hear about that. That's the last thing they want to hear about. They want to hear about what are you doing as a commissioner to get both sides together to try to work out a deal and you're going around and you're talking about other things as opposed to putting together two sides and trying to work out a deal."
Though I don't agree with calling Goodell a "joke", I do agree with Mason's overall point that fans don't want to hear about HGH testing right now -- they want to hear that a deal is done and there will be football in 2011.