Fans mostly confident there will be football this fall

SAUGUS – There weren’t a whole lot of people at World Series Park Wednesday worried about whether they would have football to watch come September. The Lynn Babe Ruth 15s were battling Peabody for the District 1 title and on this muggy July night, the boys of summer took precedence over the boys of fall.Still, football season has a knack for stealing away the remnants of summer and if the fans who were willing to share their thoughts on the NFL lockout are right, the sound of smashing helmets will replace the crack of the bat right on schedule.Click here for a photo gallery.”I’ve been so involved in this stuff (Babe Ruth) that I haven’t really thought about it, but there’s too much money involved,” Jim Beliveau said. “They’ll work it out by next week.”John Erelli of Lynn is also confident there will be football this fall.”I think they’ll resolve it. They’re not that stupid,” Erelli said. “There’s so much money at stake for both sides, although I think the owners are staring them (the players) down right now, waiting for them to blink. I wouldn’t mind blinking for that amount of money.”Glen Davis of Saugus thinks it will end soon.”There’s too much money involved for the owners or players to lose a football season,” he said. “They’ll come to a mutual agreement.”Retired Lynn Police Chief Jack Hollow said he had his doubts a month ago that things would work out, but he’s expecting football to start on time this year.”I think they’ll get it done,” he said.Bob Davis of Saugus, who spends the better part of his spring and summer keeping World Series Park looking like Fenway Park, hopes the two sides will reach an agreement.”I hope it (a continued lockout) doesn’t happen because people love to watch football,” he said. “I think the players owe a lot to the fans. They shouldn’t jip the fans out of a season.”Dan Donovan of Lynn is in the “work it out” camp.”These people make more in a year than most people make in a lifetime,” Donovan said. For what they’re getting paid, they should work it out. It’s the working guy paying their salaries. Most people can’t even afford to go to their games.”The only one who had his doubts about the two sides reaching an agreement soon was Harry Barton, formerly of Beverly and now of Saugus.”It’s millionaires fighting billionaires,” Barton said. “The hard part is that everyone associated with it (football) is taking a beating as well.”Barton knows a thing or two about working. Earlier this summer he retired from his job at Moynihan Lumber after 57 years of service.”I would hate to see it (an agreement) not come about. It would be an awful fall without football,” he said.