The Front Row with MARK NELKE July 21, 2011

"Are we gonna have football?"

I've given up keeping track of how many times I've been asked that question in the past few months, after the NFL owners locked out the players on March 12 when the owners and players couldn't decide on how to most fairly divide their billions.

At first I was like most of us - worried that we would have to do without pro football for at least a while.

It's become quite the part of our lives - something to look forward to on Sundays after coming home from church, or after enjoying a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, pancakes, toast, etc. Not all on the same Sunday, mind you, but you get the drift.

Did I mention bacon?

Anyway, the more the two sides couldn't agree on a solution - or worse, couldn't agree when or where or even to meet - the less concerned I got and the more angry I got.

If it's not that big a deal to them to get things settled, I thought, why should we care so much?

THERE ARE some who would say not having NFL football would leave a gaping hole in our lives.

Stuff happens and we always seem to find something else to do. Los Angeles had not one, but two, NFL teams at one time. Now they have none, and it's not like the citizens are pining for pro football to come back to L.A.

Besides, depending on which team you are a fan of, having no games this fall might not be all bad. Sometimes I'll tune in when the NFL Network would show some great games from the past and it will remind me how good my 49ers once were.

If there was no pro football on Sundays, watch how fast the college game swoops in on that day. There's already more games on Saturdays than you can keep track of; they would just slide a few of those games over to Sundays ... and Mondays. There's already some weeks where college football is on TV on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays anyway.

I think people would be more angry around here if there were no high school football games on Friday nights. What would fill that void?

Maybe volleyball, or soccer under the lights might a little. But more than likely, you might get one of the local college teams to move a home game to a Friday night — TV or no TV.

But it sounds like we won’t have to worry about that anyway.

BECAUSE THESE days, they’re back to teasing us again.

News reports trumpet supposed “leaks” from sources, saying a settlement is near.

We all get excited, like back in the day when we used to hear rumors about that cute girl in school.

Then the leaks come back with people saying calm down, a deal is not finalized, that there is still work to be done.

So we’re still waiting ... and hoping.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at [email protected].