NBA Lockout: Players Need to Take Cues from NFL

On the day before Super Bowl XLV, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson openly mocked and chided players at a negotiating session in Dallas. Among those drawing the ire of the only NFL owner who was also at one time a player, were Drew Brees and Peyton Manning.

In a report by Michael Silver of Yahoo Sports, several sources from the players' side claim that the two star quarterbacks—particularly Manning—were Richardson's primary targets.

That meeting did not save us from a lockout, but it did turn public sentiment squarely in favor of the players, where it stayed for the remainder of the negotiations, and sent a message to the owners that the players were united, and its biggest stars were willing to roll their sleeves up and do the bargaining themselves if need be.

How much of a role did this play in the eventual season-saving agreement? I don't know. But I think it's safe to say the players' united front played some role, and I'm willing to go out on a limb and say it was the reason we will play 16 games this season.

Looking at the current NBA lockout, there's very little to be found in common with the NFL's situation. The league appears to want to miss games, Stern's tactics have been bullying and shrewd, and, perhaps most disappointingly, the players are anything but united.

Where Manning—perhaps the greatest quarterback of his generation—was pleading for good-faith negotiations and a focus on player safety, Kobe Bryant's negotiations are happening halfway around the world as he tries to work out how many millions he'll make per appearance in the Italian league.

Where Brees suffers taunts from an ornery owner whose disdain for the players is borne of his jealousy at their inflated contracts, LeBron James is organizing exhibition tours with his buddies.

Where Jeff Saturday, standing at the podium following the announcement of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, thanked Myra Kraft, the late wife of Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, for allowing her husband to participate in the negotiations despite her failing health, Amar'e Stoudemire is talking about founding a players-run basketball league.

I can't pretend that the players aren't taking their cues from Stern—whose actions and attitude during the lockout have been questionable and, I would argue, counterproductive—but one of the benefits of being a union is the ability to stand separate from the executives, to have a set of morals and standards not beholden to those of the ones who seek to oppress you.

To state it succinctly, the players can do better than empty threats and world tours.

I am aware that it is perhaps somewhat unfair to judge the NBA players against the efforts of the NFL players. The demographics are different.

There are more players in the NFL with college degrees, so it stands to reason that those players could be more useful in negotiations than, say, Kobe or LeBron, neither of whom attended college.

But there is a reason that NBA players are losing the battle for fan sympathy in the same calendar year that NFL players won, and it has nothing to do with race or education level. The simple fact is the NBA players don't look or act like they care.

Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul might think playing games around the country makes them look like they love the game, but in reality all it does it make them look disconnected. There isn't a man, woman or child in the U.S. who wouldn't trade a year's worth of All-Star exhibitions for an end to the lockout.

Therefore, barnstorming only serves to remind fans that you're not playing basketball that matters. And because those fans realize these stars aren't doing anything to make real basketball come back, they've turned against them.

Some insiders, including Stephen A. Smith, believe that a deal is likely to happen while there's still a chance to fit in all 82 games, so all of this might be moot—and I hope it is—but in the meantime, I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth because the league that I love has been abandoned by the stars who made it great.

It's time to get off the court and into that conference room.