Before anything else, if you're an NBA fan, and have been following whatever news came out of the negotiations for the last couple of months -- I highly recommend you check out Phil Taylor's article on the back page of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. Though it's fictitious -- it's really funny, especially the parts about David Stern. Bravo to PT.
That said, it appears they have at least a tentative deal in place and if both sides approve it, and the lawyers go into warp speed drafting up the fine print, it looks like we're going to have pro hoops this year after all.
Owners have been losing money and players have been losing money. Businesses, their employees, concessionaires, parking lot attendants -- you name it -- they've all been losing money. Who's been saving money? Joe and Jane fan. Regardless of the temptation, they weren't able to skip a house payment to go see a game. Hmmm. Guess there's a couple ways of looking at this.....
Unlike the NFL management/union stand-off a while back, which had the whole country in an uproar, this one pretty much flew under the radar. The masses didn't care. The media will normally go crazy shining a spotlight on Justin Bieber if he gets a zit, but they were ominously subdued about the NBA snafu. You'd think that would tell those people something.
By most accounts, a shortened season will start around Christmas. This is where the "better way" comes in.
Why not start their season about that time every year? The NBA, like the NHL, has always taken a back seat while the gorilla in the room, the NFL, is playing anyway. Instead of the NBA finishing off their season in June, why not finish it up in August every year? From June to August, barring a weekly NASCAR race, and an occasional golf or tennis tournament that's worth watching -- there's nothing going on anyway except baseball entering it's midseason "dog days" of summer. The June-August window would give the NBA prime exposure with little competition to worry about. Better yet, by the time they crowned a champ in August, the NFL would be coming on board again. Perfect.
Except for the Detroit Pistons. While my heart goes out to those that may be adversely affected -- even if the contract is approved -- do they REALLY have to play? I mean -- what's the point? They're going to get drilled like a newfound oil reservoir in Texas. What's worse is the Palace is a dry well right now. Yours truly doesn't understand why hired hands will get paid millions when they can't produce any Texas tea.
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