So we’re back to football. Almost.

The NFL players’ association have agreed to the terms that the owners set forth in their CBA proposal from Friday. While the rank-and-file players still have to approve the 10-year agreement in a vote later today, there is strong indication that they will, and that the NFL lockout will end later today after 136 days.

The goal is for the NFLPA to present the completed document to its 13-man executive committee between 11 a.m. to noon ET on Monday, with a vote to follow. Some members of the executive committee aren’t expected to arrive in D.C. until the 11 o’clock hour. The player rep call will include a briefing of the deal and, in particular, changes since last Wednesday’s meeting.

The player reps would then vote on the deal. After that, the 10 plaintiffs in the Brady et al v. the National Football League et al lawsuit would have to sign off, which is fully expected.

At this point, what remains is “a few small points” in the language, according to a source.

–NFL.com

Tomorrow, rookies would be able to sign, players could be traded, and free agents would be allowed to negotiate with teams, but those players won’t be able to sign before Friday. The more interesting wrinkle of the current proposal is that all NFL teams would have to spend 99 percent of the cash in their available salary cap (which will be about $120 million). While some teams will struggle to get under that number, that’s big for teams like Cincinnati and Tampa Bay, who some people expect to find themselves at $50 million below that number or more. Hell, with $50 million, the Bengals could sign Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Casey Anthony and still have cap room left to buy Plaxico Burress a new pair of sweatpants.

You know, with the lockout still going strong, we often worry too much about how players are staying in shape and ignore the guys who don’t have to worry about that. Haha no, I’m not talking about kickers. I mean players who are always injured or irrelevant, like Chad Pennington and Daunte Culpepper.

Pennington hosted his annual 1st and 10 Celebrity Bowl event in majestic Huntington, West Virginia over the weekend, and his fellow one-time Miami Dolphins quarterback Daunte Culpepper joined in the cause to “build stronger communities by funding programs and institutions that seek to improve quality of life throughout southern West Virginia and the Tri-State area as well as East Tennessee”, according to the 1st and 10 Club’s mission statement.

This year’s event not only attracted Culpepper but also former Marshall and current Pittsburgh Steelers right guard Doug Legursky, as well as those other guys in that picture up there. Pennington, who also played at Marshall, considered Culpepper a rival in college, as Daunte played at UCF and the two programs were considered by many* to be rivals. Now they’re the two bestest buds in the whole world.

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Last month, as the NFL lockout gained steam and us fans were left to wonder what the future will hold, I pointed out that this work stoppage is about much more than watching our favorite football teams take the field next season. Lost in this mess are team and league employees who may not have jobs if this lockout holds up, but since none of them look good in tiny skirts, this is really about the cheerleaders. Despite the league’s ongoing legal battle, cheerleaders from every team are still holding open auditions for their 2011 squads like much hotter and younger versions of Norma Rae. In fact, most franchises have already declared that their cheerleader squads will still make appearances even if their teams are not playing. Bless their hearts.

Most notably, the daughter of an iconic player has risen from the ranks of young, cute and perky girls to wave her spirit fingers in the face of adversity. That girl is Alexa Flutie, the reigning Miss Massachusetts and daughter of Doug Flutie. Alexa is now a cheerleader for the New England Patriots and we can’t help but salute her strength and bravery. In fact, we recognize the great strides taken by all of the new Patriots cheerleaders that earned their tight outfits this week, like the ladies in the banner image. But why stop there? The Houston Texans cheerleaders are also deserving of recognition for announcing their 2011 squad, especially since they have hot blonde twins. And we can’t forget the Indianapolis Colts. They play in a dome, so they don’t ever have to bundle up like Alexa will. They also have a great tendency to hug each other. Win-win, friends.

Hey, why are you sitting here reading my babble? Go forth and celebrate true NFL bravery once more…

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A widely-shared but not necessarily sourced poll from Sports Illustrated reveals that if the NFL season doesn’t happen, people will use their extra time on things less important than football: love, cleanliness, fun, spirituality and communication.

Half of NFL fans (47.5%) say they would watch more non-sports TV and 61.2 percent would watch more of other televised sports without the NFL season. Fans would also spend more time surfing the internet (56.1%), with significant others (45.1%), doing yard work chores (43.6%), playing video games (33.5%) and at church (13%).

Don’t you love how the answers people came up with read like the “activities” category on a 15-year old girl’s Facebook profile? I like surfing the internet, spending time with my boyfriend, hanging out and going to church! It’s also pretty revealing that football fans seriously don’t have anything better to do. The line between a sitcom husband and a vegetative state is whether or not the Browns are playing. And look, they’d rather be on the Internet (surfing it) than spend time with their families. Poll: What would you do if your wife was killed in a car accident? “I’d probably visit more websites.”

Somewhere the guys at Bleacher Report are out trying to end football and kill your wife.

As we head back to sports, I can’t help but enjoy the tone of this new NMA creation, basically daring Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder to sue the rogue Taiwanese media outfit. Although to be fair, people probably barf at Redskins games without stale peanuts, either from being overserved or simply from watching their team.

And it was nice to see that panda score a big win in court. Pandas really don’t get the credit they deserve for being litigious animals.