Let's be candid.

Professional indoor lacrosse isn't going anywhere.

You know it. I know it. National Lacrosse League commissioner Jim Jennings knows it, and Professional Lacrosse Players Association president Peter Schmitz knows it even better.

Sure, Jennings could (and, considering how stubborn PLPA has become of late, probably will) cancel the 2005 season early Saturday morning, but the sun will continue to rise in the east.

This is not a laissez-faire declaration that it doesn't matter a damn if lacrosse lives or dies, because, as you all know, it matters greatly to me.

But you'll also see no prediction of an eleventh-hour deal from this writer, although I'd be ecstatic to see one. It's fairly clear that Schmitz intends to call the owners' bluff on this midnight Friday deadline of theirs.

Among other things, the union wants revenue sharing among the teams. Three clubs (Colorado, Philadelphia, and Toronto) made money last season; seven did not.

Schmitz and his associates are making a stupid call in this high-stakes game of Texas Hold'em, because none of the outstanding issues are that important and (far more so) because the Board of Governors isn't bluffing.

For once in their lives, they've set a deadline which they intend to keep.

When the clock strikes 12:01 AM Eastern time on Saturday, there will either be a collective bargaining agreement in place or there will be no National Lacrosse League season.

The problem facing the players is that while the sun will indeed rise on Saturday, it'll be rising on 1994 all over again.

In cancelling the season, Jennings will instruct the eleven NLL franchises to release all the dates they've booked at their respective home arenas and wait for further instruction.

You know, even if you have to dig deep into the pit of your stomach, that some teams won't do that.

Does anyone think Stan Kroenke will go quietly into the night, abandoning his sellout crowds when the only other pro team left in his arsenal this winter is the Denver Nuggets? It's not like the Avalanche will be taking the ice any time soon.

Does anyone think Brad Watters will drink the Kool-Ade when he's drawing huge crowds of his own?

Or, for that matter, is there a person out there who believes Russ Cline and Chris Fritz give a rat's ass about instructions from the league -- the league which, in case you may have forgotten, Cline and Fritz created eighteen years ago?

Kroenke, Watters, Cline and Fritz march to their own drummer in this league, and as the owners of the only three teams to turn a profit last season, it's very easy to understand why.

That won't change now, because there will be lacrosse this winter, and it will be on their terms. They'll bring a couple like-minded owners along with them, and the show will go on.

It won't be the National Lacrosse League by name, but you might find yourself hard-pressed to tell the difference.

And the players will come, as they did last year during the strike (shattering what little unity the players had) and as they have done for nearly two decades, despite the often-tenuous relations with management.

No, professional lacrosse player isn't an occupation (yet), unless your name is Gait or Tavares or Grant.

However, there are enough players committed to the idea that this can be a full-time gig someday, or at least are committed to the idea of making a few bucks playing the game they love.

The players would not be averaging $12,800 per season like they did last year.

They wouldn't be getting a dime if they don't dress for a game.

They wouldn't be insured against lost pay due to injury.

But they'd be playing lacrosse.

Nobody wants that kind of lacrosse, though. Many around this league, myself included, remember the days when the best players made a couple hundred bucks per game and were treated like shit by management.

But at least the teams were sharing revenue back then.