Lockout is a lose-lose for everyone

History repeats itself a lot in the NFL.

The Steelers are perennial winners. The Browns are lifelong losers.

But whether a team rises or falls the fans support every team from its players to  its owner – until the billionaires and millionaires squabble over the fans’  hard earned money.

Paul Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks, owns three yachts and still has enough money to buy a hundred more, because the fans paid him extra money during the 2010 season for small-sized large beers.

Albert Haynesworth, defensive tackle of the Washington Redskins, is a self-proclaimed $100-million slave, because fans paid to watch him play, or, in some cases, fake injury and not play out of pity.

One must have a lot of self-pity to claim to be a $100-million slave.

Now pity and greed are driving the NFL towards repeating its own history of lockouts.

The two most recent lockouts occurred in 1982 and 1987. Players and owners only lost one game of revenue in the 1987 season, but seven games were lost in 1982.

Commissioner Roger Goodell broke into the league’s headquarters in 1982 as an administrative intern to former commissioner Pete Rozelle, so he should know everything about lockouts in the NFL.

Goodell should know how much there is to lose if the owners lock the players out or if the NFLPA decertifies.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said a lockout between March and August would cost the league $1 billion, meaning one-ninth of the league’s total revenue for 2010 can be lost before the 2011 preseason.

If a deal is not reached owners will see the worth of their franchise drop, and players will not see any game paychecks or roster bonuses.

Pittsburgh’s young Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey is a new CBA away from a $5 million option bonus, and he’s just one player waiting to see if he will get paid.

There are hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in owners’ bank accounts waiting to be transferred to players.

These already billionaires and millionaires should be counting their blessings, not their wallets.

But the wealthy and rich are not even the biggest losers if there is a lockout – the fans are.

If history repeats itself  fans will lose faith in the game, players and owners, but those are still losses that will affect the owners and players.

The greatest loss for fans will be the chance to cheer their team on Sunday afternoons.

It is time the NFL paid the fans back.

Every time a new labor dispute between the NFL and the NFLPA arises the fans should be paid back with a new deal and an uninterrupted football season.

But the NFL has not learned from history of lockouts.

Owners and players still insist on fighting over its fans’ money and flirting with every fan’s faith.