While the NFL dominated the sports landscape the past two weekends, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association continued to dawdle and damage their own popularity.
Negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement between baseball's owners and players are set to resume Monday, but there have been no indications that either side is prepared to make the kinds of concessions that would lead to spring training starting on time.
There has been one encouraging development in the baseball world: MLB is prepared to expand use of robot home plate umpires in the minor leagues, instituting it in Class AAA games for the first time.