Is There A "Do Not Call" Registry for the NFL?

It's Tuesday afternoon and I'm minding my own business while working at the office. I answer a call on my BlackBerry, only to hear the pre-recorded voice of Joe Fonzi telling me that the 49ers are having a conference call with the commissioner and I'm invited! Not only am I invited, but I don't even have to do anything to register! The team will be calling me tomorrow night when the event starts!

"If the 49ers call, tell them I just stepped out of the office."

I have no idea why I am still on the 49ers' phone list. I've asked them to leave me alone, but every time I think I'm free from them, something like this happens. Telemarketers are more subtle than the 49ers organization.

It's occurrences like this that make me think the 49ers still haven't come to grips that many of their former customers have stopped doing business with them. I'm not the only person who keeps getting pestered by the team after choosing not to renew my season tickets - several other former ticket holders are still getting contacted on a regular basis by the team for events like this. And yet, none of us have received a call or a letter asking us why we have chosen not to renew. Instead, we're being treated as though it's business as usual and we can't wait for the 2011 season to get started. Nobody is listening.

Then again, apparently nobody at the NFL league offices (and, to a lesser extent, ESPN) is listening, either, as they continue to pretend that there isn't any lockout while conducting their regular offseason activities like shoving the NFL draft down our collective throats.

Maybe it's just me, but I find it insulting that the league and ESPN are spending so much time hyping an event that will have no logical result. Why have a draft when you can't sign the players? Shouldn't signing an agreement with the players' association take precedence over choosing which collegiate athletes will be told which team they will (eventually) play for?

I won't be answering the call tomorrow night. I've already attended one of these conference calls with the 49ers before, and it was a complete waste of time. A friend of mine dialed in to the Chargers' call with the commissioner last week and he hung up after 10 minutes of self-congratulatory rhetoric about how the league is doing all they can to provide the best possible experience for us fans.

If the league wants to provide the best possible experience for fans, they can start by locking themselves in a room with the player representatives and not doing anything else until both sides have come to an agreement. Until then, I'll pass on whatever they're dishing out.