The NBA lockout has been going on for a while now. It’s been nothing short of a disgrace to the sport and is rapidly growing frustrations of fans of the sport.
If you asked me, I feel that it is David Stern and the owners fault. Stern is supposed to ensure that the NBA doesn’t go through another wretched lockout, yet he has failed. He’s supposed to make sure the players and the owners are on the same page, yet he hasn’t even given the players a damn book. Stern has been on the owners side the entire time and hasn’t even presented the players with a fair offer. The owners and Stern are so focused on creating competitive balance, they forget that the NBA has never been a highly competitive league in it’s history.
In the past ten-years (since 2001), there have been nine different World Series Champions. That number can grow to ten in the next two weeks. In that same time frame, the NFL has had eight different Superbowl Champions. In the NBA, there have only been six. With most of them, the exception the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks, having won a championship prior to this time span. The NBA has run on dynasties. Was David Stern complaining about competitive balance when Jordan ran off with 6 of 8 championships in a row?
I also blame the players. It doesn’t seem that they have been to invested in these talks either. They are more focused on going over-seas, making commercials, or playing pick-up games. David Stern has dominated the talks and it has become really clear, Billy Hunter is not going to lead the Union to a win in these talks. He doesn’t even have the players 100% behind him.
This leads me to the biggest losers of the lockout. That’s us, the fans. We are being locked out from enjoying a sport we love. Hundreds of workers in the NBA have been worked out from doing their “job.” Thousands of ushers, concession stand people, and other NBA arena jobs have been locked out from being able to provide food for their family.
The owners and players can bitch all they want to about losing money. But the fact remains, it’s a battle between Millionaires and Billionaires. This is while most Americans are suffering through a bad recession. Owners and players can continue complaining about losing an NBA season. Most Americans are having trouble making ends meet.
The NBA is coming off of one of it’s highest rated seasons in the past decade. Them losing a season would be a major blow to the sport. The NFL has produced a fantastic season thus far, coming off of a lockout itself. The MLB produced an unforgettable September and the playoffs have been incredibly amazing to watch as well. The NBA is taking for granted that the fans will come right back, even if the NBA loses an entire season. What they fail to realize is, that it won’t be that easy.