I'm a proponent of common sense.

I've long advocated a Common Sense Party to compete with the Democrats and Republicans. It's a commodity that seems to be lacking in our society.

George Floyd was murdered this week in Minneapolis by a police officer. Floyd was black. The officer, who put his knee on Floyd's neck and suffocated him, is white. As of this writing, the officer hasn't been charged, though he and three other Minneapolis Police Department officers were fired.

It was murder. I saw the video. Floyd can be heard on the video telling the officer he couldn't breathe before losing consciousness. There's no defending the officer's actions. None.

Yet some tried, including the mayor of Petal, Miss., Hal Marx. On Thursday, I called Marx out on Twitter. I thought nothing of it, really. For me, it was simply common sense. Later that day, I got a direct message from a former Ole Miss student-athlete thanking me for my tweet, telling me that "not many like you speak up for people like me, so I just want to let you know how thankful I am for that."

That broke my heart. The player was one of my all-time favorite people I've ever covered, an absolutely wonderful human being. For the record, he's African-American. I try to be compassionate and empathetic, but I can't pretend to know what it's like to be him -- a young, African-American male trying to make his way in his chosen field, or what it's like to be him, every time he gets behind the wheel of a car, knowing he could be profiled by police simply because of the color of his skin.

I won't name him, for he messaged me in privacy, but his words gave me a glimpse of what he must feel when he sees what happened to Floyd.

It's something I don't have to think about. If I get pulled over, I'm careful. I roll down the window, put both hands on the wheel, obey the officer's requests, etc. I typically have my driver's license in my console, so I ask permission to get it out. If I'm asked if I'm armed, I answer honestly that no, I'm not carrying. That's the extent of it. If I get pulled over, it's because I'm speeding. I'm not being profiled. No part of me fears for my life.

If I go jogging, I worry much more about being profiled by a dog than I do the neighborhood residents. I've been chased by a damn snarling Pomeranian, but I've never been chased by three rednecks in a truck armed with shotguns.

More importantly, I've never worried about one of my children being profiled, pulled over and potentially harmed. My kids go for a run or a bike ride and I think nothing of it.

The former Ole Miss athlete referred to above doesn't have that luxury. He knows it and I know it. And there's only one real difference between us -- well, other than his athleticism and my affinity for nerdy history podcasts -- and that's the color of our skin.

All of that isn't to forgive and/or accept the violence in Minneapolis in the wake of Floyd's death. The riots aren't achieving anything. They're not moving the hands of justice any faster. It's difficult to sympathize with people who are burning down businesses and throwing rocks at police cruisers. When protests become riots, their message is lost in the cacophony.

But that DM Thursday nagged at me last night. I thought about my son, Carson. He's 13. I write about him here a lot because he's my heart and soul. I love him deeply. I'm far more concerned with his life and success than I am my own. I'd die a thousand deaths for him. I suspect it's the way you feel about your children.

I asked myself how I'd feel if Carson were to be arrested on suspicion of something fairly frivolous, like Floyd was. Floyd wasn't a murder suspect, mind you. No one had caught him raping a child. Supposedly, police thought he may have passed a counterfeit check or a counterfeit bill or something. By any measure, the force was excessive.

So back to my question. How would I feel if Carson, in a similar situation, was handcuffed, thrown to the ground and an officer put a knee to his neck and choked the life out of my beautiful son over the next nine minutes, just because of the color of his skin?

Deep down, I know the answer. I'd feel rage. I'd feel hate. I'd want vengeance and I'd want it at damn near any cost. I'd feel uncontrollable, undeniable rage.

We, as a nation, simply must do better. We have to demand more from law enforcement. We've got to try to find a way, even when we completely disagree with one another's viewpoints, to have civility. It's really that simple.

I really believe most people are good. Most people are decent. Most people are like me. They mind their own business and live their lives. I know I'm busy. I'm building two businesses, raising three children and two Labradors with my wife and just trying to get to the end of each day in one piece. I just want to go for a run, pour a beer and see if Bobby Flay loses that night on the Food Network. That certainly doesn't make me a racist. Boring? Perhaps. Racist? Nope.

But I think we have to start speaking up when we see blatant racism, and that goes across all walks of life. These are trying, uncertain, scary, crazy times. Anything one person can do to calm the proverbial waters is worth doing. To me, that's just common sense.

I know you don't come here for my thoughts on social issues, so I'll move on to sports now. Thanks for listening.

I grew up watching Major League Baseball. An avid Chicago Cubs fan, I've basically marked time with baseball seasons.

I'm beginning to wonder if there will be one this year and a part of me wonders if the game isn't on the verge of committing some form of professional suicide.

Powerful agent Scott Boras has recommended his clients refuse Major League Baseball’s attempt to cut salaries during negotiations with the players’ association, claiming team financial issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic have their origin in management debt financing.

In an email obtained by The Associated Press, Boras wrote that players should not alter terms of the March 26 agreementbetween MLB and the union that called for players to reduce their salaries to a prorated rate based on a shortened season. MLB on Tuesday proposed a series of tiered reductions that would cause top stars to receive the biggest cuts.

According to the Associated Press, salaries were set to range from $563,500 for players at the major league minimum to $36 million for Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole, the latter a Boras client. Under the March agreement, the range would be cut to roughly $285,000 to $18 million for the 82-game regular season MLB has proposed. Under the economic proposal made by MLB this week, the range would be reduced to about $262,000 to $8 million, including shares of a bonus all players would receive if the postseason is played.

“Owners are asking for more salary cuts to bail them out of the investment decisions they have made,” Boras told the AP. “If this was just about baseball, playing games would give the owners enough money to pay the players their full prorated salaries and run the baseball organization. The owners’ current problem is a result of the money they borrowed when they purchased their franchises, renovated their stadiums or developed land around their ballparks. This type of financing is allowed and encouraged by MLB because it has resulted in significant franchise valuations.

“Owners now want players to take additional pay cuts to help them pay these loans. They want a bailout. They are not offering players a share of the stadiums, ballpark villages or the club itself, even though salary reductions would help owners pay for these valuable franchise assets. These billionaires want the money for free. No bank would do that. Banks demand loans be repaid with interest. Players should be entitled to the same respect.”

Boras went on to cite the purchase of the Chicago Cubs by the Ricketts family and the redevelopment of Wrigley Field. Debt financing was key to both, he said.

“Throughout this process, they will be able to claim that they never had any profits because those profits went to pay off their loans,” he wrote in the letter to MLB players.. “However, the end result is that the Ricketts will own improved assets that significantly increases the value of the Cubs — value that is not shared with the players.”

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Rickettses’ real estate company, Hickory Street Capital, built and leases the Hotel Zachary, several restaurants and businesses, an office building and Gallagher Way, the plaza adjacent to Wrigley Field. The Ricketts family owns 11 rooftop clubs. The Hickory Street Capital assets generate millions in combined revenues that don’t go into the team.

The Cubs responded to the Boras memo by pointing to the team’s high payroll and ballpark renovations.

“The Ricketts family invested $750 million to save iconic Wrigley Field for fans today and for future generations,” Ricketts family spokesman Dennis Culloton said in a statement to the Tribune. “At every level they’ve built the best player facilities in the game. In 2019, the Cubs had one of the top baseball payrolls in the game. The fact of the matter is 70 percent of the team’s revenues which support the baseball operations come from having fans in the ballpark. Nevertheless, we thank Mr. Boras for weighing in.”

The Associated Press, citing an MLB document, recently reported the Cubs would potentially lose $199 million paying prorated salaries to its players during an 82-game season in an empty Wrigley Field. Only the Yankees, Dodgers and Mets would lose more, according to the document. The Cubs declined to comment on the report.

At this point, the two sides -- the MLBPA and the owners -- appear to be locked in a stalemate. And the clock is ticking. May is almost up. If the players are to have a second spring training in June and begin an 82- to 100-game schedule in July, they're running out of time to get started.

If there's no season this year, owners won't be motivated to spend in 2021 either, making a players strike a definite possibility. The current labor agreement ends after the 2021 season, making another work stoppage a near-certainty in that scenario.

It's baffling that the two sides are willing to risk this optic in the middle of a pandemic that has bottomed the American economy, but here we are. The NHL is coming back. So is the NBA. The NFL will play the season, perhaps with socially distanced stadiums, but the NFL will by-God play.

I love Major League Baseball, but no group is more out of touch with its reality than the league's owners and agents. There's time to save face and move on, and in today's society, the news cycle will make this week's spat very old news quickly. But like I said, the clock is ticking.