No matter what side you fell on -- owners or players -- every fan of American football agreed on one thing: Just get your act together and get back on the playing field.

A lot of attention was paid in the media to the so-called little guy -- you know, the pipe fitter who scrimped and saved for his season tickets. Was he concerned about paying players millions of dollars to play a game? Or was he union all the way? After all, wasn't he in a union, too?

"Just play ball" was the answer.

But in conversations with friends, we all came to another conclusion, namely that we had no clue what the NFL lockout was about in the first place.

"Um ... player contracts ... and, um ... the owners' money," was the usual insightful answer offered from the peanut gallery.

According to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, here's what was at stake:

1. No draft. "Why should there even be a draft?" said player agent Brian Ayrault. "Players should be able to choose who they work for. Markets should determine the value of all contracts."

2. No minimum team payroll. Some teams could have $200 million payrolls while others spend $50 million or less.

3. No minimum player salary.

4. No standard guarantee to compensate players who suffer season- or career-ending injuries. Players would instead negotiate whatever compensation they could.

5. No leaguewide agreements on benefits.

6. No limits on free agency. Players and agents would team up to direct top players to a handful of elite teams. Other teams, perpetually out of the running for the playoffs, would serve essentially as farm teams for the elites.

7. No leaguewide rule limiting the length of training camp or required off-season workout obligations. Each club would have its own policies.

8. No leaguewide testing program for drugs of abuse or performance-enhancing substances. Each club could have its own program--or not.

In the end, the owners pretty much got their way, with the exception of a rookie wage scale and denial of an 18-game regular season. But most importantly -- and as anti-capitalist as it may be -- the $9 billion of annual revenue will continue to be put into one pot for the next 10 years. That deal will likely ensure the parity that NFL fans in small- and large-market teams like, the parity that turned the NFL into America's favorite sport.

Players like Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth agreed, too.

"We were trying to make the game better for those guys that played it in the past, in the present and in the future," Whitworth said. "We got this thing done. Now let's play some ball."