Arman is shockingly sad.
Because I always expected this to happen, and yet, maybe I didn’t.
No pictures, no songs. Just words. And tears. And pain.
The title of this blog is what I’m assuming someone like Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, sports columnist Bill Simmons or any NBA fan has said at some point today.
The Players Union did it. They actually did it. They thought with their egos or their penises or something other than their brains and rejected probably the best deal they’re ever going to get. The Players Union will now disband, more than anything, to freak the NBA owners into giving them a better deal. That won’t work. Look back to the Michael Jordan piece to find out why, Jordan is an owner now, and even though he doesn’t have NEARLY enough clout as he did as a player, I would think Jordan embodies the owner position – “We’ll never give in.” Which is a much better position than the… former… Players Union decision of “We need to win this.” And now we are where we are. In a horrible place.
As NBA Commissioner David Stern said, “Nuclear winter is coming.” If I have a guess, there won’t be many more for the rest of the month of November. The NBA owners will take this seriously and, a little personally, as they should. They offered a straight 50-50 deal and got it slapped back in their face multiple times. The Players Union choosing to disband is even more of a personal attack. It’s clear that the players are announcing to the league that they’re everything and the owners are nothing. It’s way different than the NFL, it always was. Why do so many rookies make such a large impact in the NFL? Because of youth and energy, but also because football doesn’t change. From high school on, those plays are the same plays, they just get faster and players get better. Not to mention football players are chess pieces and drill masters. Basketball is improv. It’s all about the players playing and the bottom line is you can draw up the perfect play and it not mean anything. It’s an on the court sport. And the players want everyone in the league to know that, because their selfish.
Don’t kid yourself, the players really are the bad guys here. They don’t understand the changing market and growing risk of the owners – and the fans. What fan is going to pay $80 dollars,$100 dollars, $120 dollars for a mediocre seat at a game? No smart one. Because with inflation, the year-to-year loss in ticket sales and the fact that people are finding their own home entertainment system better for sports viewing than seeing it live, there needs to be some sort of a change. And the players just won’t agree to that sentiment. Their view, as Blake Griffin said on the BS Report, goes something like (and I’m paraphrasing), “If you had a house and someone said you can’t use these two rooms anymore, wouldn’t you be mad?” Sure. I would be furious. But if I realized that I never really technically have any ownership over “the house”, maybe I would realize that they can do whatever they want. I can put up a fight, but I have no claim to “the house”.
I have to say, I’m really disappointed.
Shockingly said was how I put it earlier.
It looks like this blog is going to be running for a loooong time.
This is Day Seventeen. Welcome to nuclear winter.
No comments:
Post a Comment