A Day, A Week, A Year

            Attention all: THE WORLD OF SPORTS IS IN PERIL. OK that was a little dramatic even for me. But I am almost pressing the panic button. The last time we spoke the Boston Redsox were a lock, the Buffalo Bills were undefeated and the NBA was still a glimmer of hope on the horizon. Oh how quickly the seasons change...To say that it was a week of turmoil in professional (and collegiate) sports is to call World War II a 'minor skirmish between neighbors'.  In case you are wondering, my dramatic/artistic license was just renewed so you have two more years of bad puns and illegitimate references. But through it all there is one issue that has been nagging at me repeatedly.


          Why is it that the NBA cannot come to an agreement on "labor issues". The last time I checked labor issues involved labor, not the lack of. The predicament that David Stern, NBA commissioner and the players union have gotten themselves into is ugly, disgusting, and sickening. Everyone wants to dissect which party is at fault, and which needs to give way to end the stupidity. I rest blame solely on the shoulders of those most deserving, everyone involved. David Stern hasn't budged an inch in negotiations, and the players have shot themselves in the foot again and again by not budging. Lets retract four months....this is where the wavy lines and fogginess take you back to a time far gone.
          It's June and The Dream Team is playing The German National Team for the gold medal. I would change that sentence if you gave me one reason that it was incorrect. The entire nation (including a surprising majority of Cleveland) is praying for the inevitable to not be true. But wait, could it be??? Here comes a 7 foot tall foreigner with a fade-away jumper that rivals Kobe Bryants' famous closeout move (actually they proved he was innocent, the 'fade-away' was consensual) to send daggers into the hearts of few. The point is that everyone had a team, everyone was cheering for somebody finally. The NBA was at a high point unseen since Jordan v. Kemp/Malone/Thomas/Anyone.
          Now ask yourself, what would be the next logical choice for ANYONE involved in the upcoming labor negotiations. If you answered lockout, sign non-pending contracts with overseas teams and show no sign of budging on a series of incredibly out of date monetary agreements with your owners, you are incorrect. To be fair, picture your self as an NBA owner as well. What is your incorrect move? If you answered do not give into your celebrity elite that you have thrived on for a decade, claim you are losing money, get caught lying and then STILL not budge on simple things like free agency then you are 0-2, and you fail. However by failing you have also passed the test to be an NBA owner, agent or superstar.
         So where do we go from here? How did we get here? Will this happen again as soon as the next contract expires? The answers are darker and less optimistic than I would like to examine, but it makes for one hell of an article. The Jordan-era ushered in a new breed of athlete, one that came with many upsides, and downsides. Every team tried to reproduce the structure of what he was. Not as a player, not as a man, but as a commodity that could be bought and sold (and when the time granted, traded). With every organization that found a winner there was ten that bet on a losing pony. Even with such horrible odds, if your team got the Kevin Garnett or Lebron James of the draft, it was worth five Darko Milicic and Shawn Bradleys. But with 32 teams, the majority aren't getting James, Dunkin, Pierce. Add into the equation that your immaculate savior is all of eighteen years old with a couple million in his pocket and NBA< Sustainable. The answer isn't as simple as pinpointing the problem, but it may be as rational. The first among many changes needs to be the age rules. A nineteen year old is more than likely not capable of responsibly handling life, add a couple million and free airfare across the world and the numbers dip astronomically. Pressure these kids to spend a couple years in college, or at least just outside of where they grew up and get the notion of being a productive member of society in their head. Just because you are 6'8" and can dunk from the locker room doesn't mean you can make a good decision. Enough of those people in one room make a lockout (example 2011 lockout). After all is said and done I don't think this is the end of professional basketball. In fact, I think all will return to normal. Normal being the fickle two-headed beast that we the fans have created. In answer to the final question I posed, yes this will happen every time the current contract expires. It happens in every union across the country, what would make this one any different? Maybe television, marketing rights, merchandising and stadium renewals??