For months, we’ve been waiting for the shoe to drop on the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement. Each side has been trying to get us to believe that they are the good guys–they are each practicing impression management.

Erving Goffman tells us that in every interaction we are playing a role. We have a particular audience, a costume, props and a script and we play that role in order to have control over the way that others see us. This is what the NFL owners and the NFL PA have been doing for months. They both want to wear the cape of the hero and place the mustache and evil monocle on their opponent. Every piece of information that is shared or “leaked” allows us to complete the impression of these groups.

When we hear the representatives of the NFLPA tell us of the lack of long term health insurance, the possible injuries as a result of the shorter preseason and longer regular season, and the injustices of changing the profit sharing, the owners become monopoly men, maniacally tapping their fingers on the edges of their over-sized desks.

Goodell promises that he will work for $1 if there is a work stoppage and he becomes a sacrificial lamb. The owners tell us how they are being bled dry and how the NFL PA are presenting “illustrations” instead of “proposals.”

Someone has got to be the hero and someone has to be the villain. Which group is doing the best job of managing your impression of them?