NBA Lockout: How We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Insanity
It seems the prospect of Nuclear Winter continues to grow during the NBA lockout as negotiations have reached an impasse, according to Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Honestly though, should any of us really be surprised?
What perhaps is surprising is the mixture of angst and denial that continues to leave most sportswriters in knots.
In reading Bill Simmons' form of not so silent protest over at Grantland, you would almost believe that Simmons is working through the five stages of grief, but can't quite seem to reach the final stage of Acceptance while trying to move on to the NHL.
"If the NBA owners and players think fans will sit around moping without basketball, they're sorely mistaken. Only the NFL has the luxury of saying, "If we disappeared, our fans would freak out until we came back."
Sorry, NBA, we can always find other things to do in November and December.
And eventually, every month after that. Fans adapt. Habits change. People like me say, "Screw it, I'll give hockey a real chance." Suddenly, you're not looking at the same landscape anymore. That's the danger of what the NBA inflicted on itself, that's what made these past few months so indefensible and that's why hearing on SportsCenter about last night's "marathon" negotiating session made me want to wave both middle fingers at my TV.
Initially I was upset, but soon figured it was best to ignore the situation until after the Super Bowl and perhaps by then move on if things weren't resolved. Yet in order to read about actual sports being played, one really couldn't miss it. ESPN and PTI host Michael Wilbon captures that sentiment and figures we should be at Stage Two—feeling mad in order to get the ball rolling:
"At some point, probably when the NFL regular season starts to wind down, people are going to notice the absence of pro basketball. And even if they don't much like or care about the NBA, they'll weigh in with their scorn for the lockout. And at that point, which will also coincide with players missing paychecks and owners' failure to fill empty arenas, both parties will realize that not as many people care as they'd like."
The thing is, I'm not mad now; in fact I'm quite comfortable at Stage Five...Acceptance.
With the exception of players like the New Jersey Nets' Deron Williams and San Antonio Spurs' DeJuan Blair, who smartly inked deals abroad, few people are willing to embrace that option.
Instead it would appear that as negotiations continue to go nowhere, so many of the key players involved on both sides of the bargaining table have seemingly lost their minds.
Zach Lowe's "The Point Forward" for Sports Illustrated highlights some of the more priceless moments of what's transpired since the lockout began. Oddly though, he excludes Ron Artest's appearance on "Dancing with the Stars" and my new personal favorite that surfaced just yesterday.
ESPN's Chris Broussard reports, "a dozen of the league's best players are working to join forces on what would be a two-week, six-game, four-continent blockbuster tour."
Broussard continues with a description reading like something out of the ridiculously lavish Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, "The tour, scheduled to begin Oct. 30 and end Nov. 9, will make stops in Puerto Rico, London, Macau, and Australia. Each game will be staged in an arena that holds at least 15,000 fans. Two games each will be played at sites in London and Australia."
Really?
Can someone explain to me who is going to pay good money in these places to watch a bunch of severely jet-lagged players fight the urge to yawn for four quarters as they try to feign interest in throwing alley-oops to each other?
But wait...it gets better.
It would seem tour founder Calvin Darden "is hoping to broadcast the games in as many international markets as possible and perhaps in the United States as well."
Outside of the games in Puerto Rico and possibly London, who is going to be able to watch in the States given the games in Macau and Melbourne will likely be played in the wee hours of the morning for the majority of the country?
Finally, wasn't Kobe Bryant, who happens to be linked with this boondoggle, going to Italy last week?
Seriously, all of this is beyond our control, so why not sit back and enjoy the comedy?
If things happen to get resolved in the coming weeks, consider it a Christmas Miracle.
Until then do yourself a favor this holiday season, stop worrying about the lockout and instead enjoy its rich comedic gifts that not only keep on giving, but get more and more amusing with the passage of time.
