COLUMN: NBA: Where some bull happens
I never expected to be held hostage by my favorite sport.
But there I was at 3:30 a.m. Saturday, tweeting, texting and talking about how the NBA was back.
The next morning the error of my ways hit me like LeBron James coming off a screen toward the hoop.
The new season will start on Dec. 25, a happy Christmas gift to all the fans, right?
I get it, this was a fight between millionaires and billionaires, but there is a group of people that are going unnoticed in all this excitement for the new season.
Many staff members found themselves out of a job on July 1, as the lockout began. Teams such as the Lakers laid off employees by the dozen, not to mention the others that were hurt in the area by a lack of business for two months of the season.
Meanwhile, in swanky hotels, players and owners sat in suits telling each other they were at fault and lawyers were left explaining there was little hope for a season.
Isn’t the NBA is supposed to be “Where Amazing Happens?”
If you can’t dunk a basketball or own the team, then apparently you aren’t all that amazing to this league. Meanwhile, while the NFL lockout was going on, people like Panthers owner Jerry Richardson assured his staff they would be safe.
Being amazing is not returning to a job you had for years after two months off because some millionaires and billionaires couldn’t get along and at most times acted like two cliques of middle school girls (and that’s an insult to middle school girls).
While it’s likely some players or owners gave some of these staff members some cash to get them through, it still begs the question, how much does the NBA respect its fans and those that support it locally when it pulls this and expects good PR from playing on Christmas day?
Furthermore, how much disrespect is piled on these staff members? I’m sure if these scouts and other non-operational staff members would get into any type of argument as serious as the labor talks got, they would be canned quicker than some players can dribble.
As the tweets and interviews came in Saturday afternoon, the lack of respect toward fans that have put up with this nonsense for months now was beyond unimpressive.
Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant tweeted, “Mannn I’m bout to get a ratchet tattoo on my ribs that say ‘survived the nba lockout in 2011.'”
While Durant is actually one of the more respectable players in the league, doesn’t this show a clear lack of admiration for the fans that helped pay his salary, not to mention the support staff that make his job possible?
On Christmas day in Miami a young King James will play, but rest assured he’ll be back on vacation by May.
