NFL Lockout: After Positive Reports, Deal Through Mediation Seems Unlikely

Court-order mediation between the NFL and the NFLPA resume on Tuesday, supposedly to attempt and reach an agreement that would end the current NFL lockout. as recently as Friday, it looked as if there is optimism to be had as talks had gotten "serious." However, that was through only Albert Breer of NFL Network.

According to more recent reports through Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com, neither side is serious about current negotiations.

The stark differences between the reports is discouraging. I will admit that I initially believed that mediation was going to be pointless. This latest report seems to go along with my initial impressions. Both sides believe that they will win in court -- the players through Judge Nelson and the league through appeal.

Hearing that there was progress made and that both ides seemed intent on getting a deal done was certainly good news.

Now I just don't know what to think. I'm not sure which is worse. Before, we had lots of supposed information, but that was mingled with a lot of rhetoric. Now there is supposed to be complete public silence, but some information (or misinformation) is getting leaked and even that information is conflicting.

I guess the moral of the story is to take the sit-back-and-wait approach with new information on the hearings and the CBA.

Based on what sources are said to being used, I am leaning more on Breer's reports because he claims a source within, while Freeman's information comes from people "familiar with talks."

What do you think? Do you think that there is progress being made or that the Breer information is just teh league's way of using its network to represent itself?