Lifting the lockout brings back football, but not progress  ST.
PAUL, Minn. -- What's probably best for NFL fans, in the short
term, is for Judge Susan Nelson to rule in favor of the players
following Wednesday's hearing of the Tom Brady et al v. the
National Football League et al case, and grant an injunction
lifting the league-imposed lockout.  What's good for the game,
long-term, might be another story entirely.  Yes, if an
injunction is granted and Nelson's ruling holds up in an
appellate court, the league will be forced to swing its doors
back open for business. Revenue will start flowing back into the
money clips of owners and players while the fight over the
financial structure of the game moves backstage. And yes, that
means you'll have your football in the fall.  But in the
meantime, the brakes will be pressed on the business of
football. The momentum the game has built over the last two
decades in becoming to America what soccer is to Great Britain,
or hockey is to Canada, could be slowed significan