Hear me out...There are only 32 people that matter in the NFL

The NFL is the most frustrating professional American league in the whole country. Who else puts forth such a beloved product while also having the largest collection of sleezballs running the operation? Trick question, the NCAA has America's highest terrific product to scumbag suits ratio, but the NFL is a close second.

Don't fret this is not another 900-plus words on Deflategate, as tempting as that may be, this is about the 32 NFL owners in their desperate attempt to okey-doke everyone into believing they're living, breathing human beings.

The owners have an effective tool in commissioner Roger Goodell, not because he's a visionary or works well with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), both of which are difficult to say with a straight face. He does exactly as he's told, sticks to the party line and he provides cover for the owners. He's the best human shield money could buy.

For all of Goodell's incompetence he's only the tip of the iceberg. The owners are the driving force behind shady behavior of the NFL. Look at how they're handling concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE ).

The House Energy and Commerce committee released a report earlier this week detailing how the NFL tried to influence the National Institute of Health's research into CTE. By no means is this a hammer dropping on the head of the NFL, it's just another LED lit exclamation point in the NFL's Vegas-like marquee saying "GO TO HELL!!!!"

The owners fight against the link between their sport and CTE isn't out of some noble cause or due process. Their fight is 100 percent self-interest, they don't want to deal with the lawsuits. Does it matter to them that the men who built this league to the Goliath it has become are suffering? Not one bit.

Then again it's tough to hear the pain from those men when they've gone the full Golem with their billions of dollars.

Don't fall for any of the "good will" press releases either. These are hallow offerings to avert your gaze from their hellish behavior. They had a parade when they gave up their tax exemption last year, big ups to the league that makes north of $9 billion for that sacrifice. Or last week when they showered themselves with confetti when they announced they'd return $700,000, of taxpayer dollars to the people after it was discovered they and the other leagues charged for those military presentations.

The NFL has the foolish belief they'll be able to outlast or outspend the CTE problem. There's the saying, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," and the NFL is headed down the same path as Big Tobacco.

Big Tobacco denied, denied, denied the negative effects of smoking until one day it caught up and broke them.

The irony in the 32's pursuit to save every nickel of their billions is they're eroding their own future. By denying the waves of concrete evidence they're pushing future generations away from the game. High school football still remains the most popular sport but the numbers have dipped. It's when you take a look at the youth levels when the red flags start fly as they've taken significant hits in participation.

The 32 will effectively turn the NFL into boxing where only the desperate play and the top athletes will move on to basketball, soccer or baseball.

In the next 10-15 years the NFL won't be what it used to be. Unless, the 32 reverse course and decide to take their lumps now and help those who built the NFL. Although that would require them caring for someone other than themselves ... probably need to get a jump on the NFL's eulogy.