There is room for reasonable debate about who is lying or who is just crying in the two major professional sports of football and basketball.

Since the NFL owners refuse to open their books to their player partners, one could make the argument "What are they trying to hide?" On the flip side of that argument, why should any business owner have to reveal anything to his employee or an outside contractor?

The NBA owners, on the other hand, are falling all over themselves opening their books because they claim that most of their franchises are losing money. Whose fault is that? Someone needs to pass a law protecting the NBA owners from themselves. NBA ownership is a classic example of self-destructive, addictive behavior.

So now both leagues are in the midst of fighting- billionaires fighting with millionaires. Most of us really could care less. We fault them all because almost every argument is about greed. The lone exception to that rule is the irreparable damage that has been done to retired and disabled athletes. There is definitely a place for them at the bargaining table.

With estimated NFL revenues of some $9 billion expected this year, why can't something be done to reach out to the athletes who are disabled because they put themselves in harm's way on the gridiron? Aside from that issue, most of us could care less how the rest of the pie is split.

The last thing the NFL wants at this point is to have a court of law dictating to them solutions for this problem. With all due respect to judges everywhere, you know you're in deep water when any higher authority says to you, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

Couple this with the possibility that owners could begin losing revenue from the preseason games that are just around the corner and suddenly the bosses are squirming. The first side that blinks loses.

With the NFL work stoppage now over one hundred days in length, the eleventh hour is here. The time for a settlement is clearly now for gridiron bosses. The union previously wanted over half the pie for the players and the bosses said no to that proposal.

"I'm from the court and I'm here to help you" is quietly being whispered in the owner's ears. The court seems to be saying "fix this mess or we'll fix it for you boys." You can guarantee that if the judicial steps in, those books will be opened forthwith and some stunning accounting practices will be unveiled for all to see. This is the last thing the bosses want to see happen. Tick, tick, tick.

The NBA mess is another story. While NBA commish David Stern seems to have done a terrific job selling the product, the idiot owners can't seem to get out of their own way, over spending on athletes that are past their prime in hopes of buying a championship.

How to you protect people from self-destruction? Why should they? Let them fail. Contraction might, in fact, be the best thing that could happen to the NBA. Let some of these losing markets disappear into the sunset. Let the profitable franchises stay and goodbye to the weaklings. This is what capitalism is supposed to be about. As the Mafia bosses in The Godfather once said, "After all, we are not Communists." The NBA is more socialistic than capitalistic.

Marx said, "From each according to his abilities and to each according to his needs." This seems to be the way the NBA is being run nowadays. Let's take special care of those guys who are losing money and let's do so at the expense of those who are profitable. Marx would be proud.

At the time of this posting, no solutions have been reached in either professional league but my guess is that the NFL will fix their problem just in time before the cavalry arrives, thus saving the "golden goose."

On the other hand, look for the NBA to miss some or all of next season. It appears their stupidity had no bounds.