NBA Lockout: Does the Doomsday Deadline To Approve the Deal Kill the Game?
The players in the NBA have until 11:59 pm on the day of November 9 marked on their calendars. So do the fans. Fans like me fear the game is making a big mistake here; that the ultimatum of the owners and Commissioner David Stern that demands the players take the best deal that will be taken off the table after 11:59 pm.
The owners are willing to give 51 percent of the revenue sharing—51 percent! That is like giving a big four-letter word to everything the players union stands for. How does a negotiation begin and end in take it or else? How is this good for the game? And is this the day that the NBA meets it's demise—its Doomsday?
Even if the players accept the 51 percent revenue offer, the game has been tarnished in my eyes and in the minds of other fans. While some people are blaming the players, I blame the game itself. Not the owners, who should pose in the mirror for a moment with their bank books and thank themselves for running up the court and shooting the ball into the rim and all of that other stuff.
Oh wait, the players do that and only one of them (Michael Jordan, the face of the NBA) has had the joy of being on the other end of things. He should understand the perspective of the players but instead he lately has been the face that may effectively kill the game.
Again, it's not the fault of the players, who make a ton of money, buy a whole lot of necessities and also hold franchises hostage while staging trades and free-agent movement. They also sit out for months at a time, sometimes even years with injuries while earning a king's ransom. Nope, 51 percent of revenue sharing is too little of the pie to even consider such a thing.
So before NBA Doomsday happens, with both sides acting as if neither of them has done anything wrong, are you even interested anymore? Do you want them to stop the madness before the football season completely consumes us?
I do. I wish that I could watch Derrick Rose, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant play. And what about the mystery that is Ricky Rubio? It would be interesting to see him and Kevin Love show off some fundamentals in Rick Adelman's offense. But I can't, and as a fan it hurts my feelings and that is what's killing the game. Does Doomsday add the finishing touches?
