Now that both sides played ?chicken? to see which one would blink first and no one did, the ?Lockout? now looms into the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season. It?s a shame that in today?s economy the gang of billionaires and millionaires cannot come together to divide millions of dollars so that all can continue to be fed. Sure there are always three sides to every story. There?s a ?my side?, there?s a ?your side? and there?s a ?right side?.
The ?right side? seems to always be the most obvious place to be, but getting there is always ?the road less traveled?. That is going to be the cause of major problems. Not only for the players who will not get their hundreds of thousands of dollars on the first and the fifteenth of the month, but those dedicated and lower-paid concession workers, ushers and security guards that won?t get paid.
The last lockout of this sort was in 1999 and the NBA had an abbreviated season of 50 games to which the San Antonio Spurs prevailed as champions over the New York Knicks. It took however the NBA about five years to get themselves back in the good graces of society and most of all, corporate America.
The NBA is taking a major chance, however, in this day and age with the economy and other uncertainties that plague the country. The average Joe who makes 40,000 per year and has a wife and kids to support won?t be as sympathetic when they hear how these human, ?Gross National Products? cannot come to an agreement. Football and baseball are more popular sports although one can probably see more basketball hoops in neighborhoods than baseball and football fields.
In the end, the fans are the important factors about the game as they, in essence, pay the player?s salaries and feed the coffers of the owners. The NBA needs to quickly come to some sort of agreement, sign some sort of plausible deal, get out on that court and?play ball!
