As you all know, I always write blogs giving advice about dating, sex and relationships. I want, however, to take a slightly different spin on that in this blog.

Let’s talk about marriage . . . kind of. Does anybody else feel like the standoff between the NFL and the NFL Players Association right now is like a bad marriage?

For those of you who have been married and are now divorced, do you remember what it was like to argue with your ex over money? Your spouse might have thought you were hiding money — that there was more money there and now there isn’t enough.

Then you went to a mediator, to whom you had to turn over all of your books and records to show proof about your finances, and to settle suspicions of whether one party was not paid all to which they were entitled for their time in the marriage.

I read and I listen to what everyone involved in this has been saying. I’ve listened to their B.S. (there’s no other way to put it), and I realize they are all so selfish.

First of all, if you own a business in which you are making all the money and you are very generous to the players (or, in the context of a marriage, if you supported your spouse), then there is no need for you to show your books. They don’t need to see where all of your money is going — especially money unrelated to the money in dispute. If you want to build a new house, or build a new stadium, they don’t need to know what they’re getting. They are already getting a lot out of it.

What I don’t like about this whole thing with the NFL players strike and the NFL owners, is that they forget about all the ‘little people’ and how it is them who are most affected by all of this.

I really don’t feel sorry for millionaires. Apparently, they are putting together a rookie fund for all the poor first year rookies from last year who only made the league minimum — which I think was around $320,000.00.

Really? You can’t make ends meet on $320,000.00? That’s insane. I mean, absolutely insane.

Then there is the NFL. All of this affects a lot of people outside of the owners and the players. What about all the people whose lives are being affected by this? There is an affect on people from the executive level all the way down to the average joe.

The ad execs who sell NFL advertisements get commissions based on the ad time they sell. If there are no games, they won’t earn any commissions. So they will be affected.

Outside of the executive level, there are a whole host of people who are affected. How about the guy who is hustling outside the stadium to sell those foam “#1” fingers? He only has eight regular season and two exhibition home games a year to sell his stuff and earn enough to support his family. Without that income, he is going to have to stand outside U-Haul every single day hoping and praying that someone has an odd job for him to do.

How about the food vendors or the seat ushers who work for minimum wage? What about all of the ‘little people’ who are affected by what’s going on between the NFL and the players?

So we get a divorce. Nobody ever thinks about the repercussions of that on other people — and it often those “other people” who are affected by it the most.

The little guy who sells those foam fingers outside the stadium is like the kids during a divorce. While all the mudslinging is going on, the kids are affected by it — and affected by it more every day it continues.

Both sides realize that there’s plenty of money to go around, but right now feel like it’s easier to be apart than it is to be together. Is it really though? Is it really that difficult to come to an agreement so that other people are not affected long-term by this?

So I have a little message for both parties to this football marriage: Come on! Drop the egos NFL players! You get paid enough. Wise up NFL owners! You’re making money.

I’d love to have a job where I get paid $3 million a year for playing a game. That is a privilege.

Granted, there are repercussions for playing a game like NFL football like injuries and medical issues when your playing days are over. You knew all that, however, when you signed up for the job.

Come on folks. Think about all of the other people who are affected by your selfish ways. Sit down, come to an agreement, and allow other people to work and support their families.

I don’t feel sorry for the spoiled millionaires (or, in the case of the owners, the spoiled billionaires). The people I feel sorry for is the average guy — that foam finger selling kind of guy, or the hot cocoa vendor running all over the stands kind of guy — who are truly being affected by this egotistical standoff between the NFL and NFL Players Association.

So what does this have to do with dating.

Dating is all about being able to talk about everything that is going on.

I know most women will not care about this topic, but I think all of you can figure out how to twist and turn this to make it very conversational friendly.

So today I want to see how all of you would twist and turn this into a conversation, that you can speak about with the non football fans out there.

So many great tidbits here.

I can see a theme about our work ethic and entitlement society that we are in.

That’s just a hint.

What do you all see here?