When asked what he'd say to fans who just want football and don't care about the bickering between the NFL's players and owners, Titans owner Bud Adams responded frankly.
"I’d like that, too," he said, according to the Tennesseean.
The 88-year-old owner, however, offered more than empathetic quips in his comments on Monday. He also offered a guarantee.
"It's going to be a few months here, but we'll be playing this year. I guarantee we'll be playing," said Adams.
"It’s one of those things that [the players] haven't been very [much] wanting to work out a deal with [the owners]," Adams said. "But we'll be playing football this year. I'll tell you that for sure."
Adams' comments came as he was presented the T.J. Martell Foundation's Lifetime Humanitarian Award, with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also on hand for the ceremony.
Goodell, however, was more defensive than optimistic in tone.
"We've said we're prepared to negotiate," Goodell said. "We did not pull away from the negotiating table. The union did, to pursue a litigation strategy. We're prepared to negotiate tomorrow.
"We are preparing for our season," Goodell went on to say. "We're doing everything to make sure we can play football in 2011. We want to get back to the negotiation table and that's the fastest way to get that done."
The owners and players return to court April 6 for a hearing in the players' antitrust lawsuit.
