Light at the End of the Tunnel?

This post is being written on the evening of June 17. As of this writing, we don't know:

• Where Donovan McNabb and a bunch of other players will play their next game.
• If Randy Moss and many others have a next game in them.
• What will happen with Chase Beeler and the host of undrafted free agents waiting (impatiently) for a chance to impress an NFL club and turn into one of those "I can't believe no one drafted him" stories.
• When the National Football League, despite its fictional-for-now schedule, will see its next action.

Despite all of the uncertainty that has descended over the football world like smog over Los Angeles, some people are showing signs of optimism.
For one thing, Yahoo Sports, one of the many Web sites that host fantasy football, sent out an e-mail Wednesday inviting folks to sign up for this year's fantasy football game. Now, it's possible that this was an automatic e-mail set to go out on a certain date, and that Yahoo simply forgot to tell its computers to put that e-mail on hold.
Then there are the magazines.
This week, the people who bring you this fine blog were in a bookstore that has a sizable magazine section. We wandered by the sports section of that magazine section, and we saw at least four freshly printed magazines on one of our favorite topics: fantasy football. You might not know where Carson Palmer will throw his next pass, but there are several publishers willing to tell you right now whether you should bother drafting him as a backup.
Now, it's possible that these publishers had to put out these magazines because of advertiser or printer obligations--that it would have cost too much money to wait for a definitive agreement between players and owners. It's quite possible that neither the magazine people nor the Yahoo people know anything more about the NFL situation than you do.
It's also possible that someone has heard something about the negotiations of the past few days, and even if the owners aren't presented a united front, maybe there is reason to believe we will have football this fall, after all.
Either way, it makes no sense to ignore the negotiations altogether.
It also makes no sense to miss your chance to vote on the People's Pitstop lineup. The polls will close Friday night. Just pick 2 A List drivers, 4 B List drivers and 2 C List drivers to represent the Internet's favorite fantasy NASCAR team Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
We'll be back with the results.