http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/36223/20050612/lockout_imminent/ It's really time for David Stern and Billy Hunter to retire. There's too much bad blood between them -- and too much tired blood as well. The NBA owners and players need a transfusion of new blood -- before the fans are bled dry. Now let me leave this bloody theme before the puns become even more anemic. Both the owners and the players make plenty of money. It's not about that. It's a power play -- or a passion play -- a game above the game that, in the end, will remind us of Romeo and Juliet. Both families will be remorseful but the future of the families will die. The two sides already have allowed their past to die in shame, as evidenced by the way they have rewarded pioneer players like George Mikan. It's time for new leadership and new vision for both sides. Wouldn't it be great if the nobility of our site contacted the nobility of all the other fan sites to orchestrate a massive petition to remind both owners and players that they work for us -- not themselves? As fans, it is time for us to rise up and do more than cry, "A pox on both your houses!"
I don't know I think Stern and Hunter have thrust their Sport further than any other in the last 25 yrs basketball I THINK has past Baseball in American Sports and is Second to Soccer internationally. They maybe on their last legs. . . we should see how they play out But remember. . . .early 80s and late 70s the NBA championships were on TAPE DELAY Rocket River i maybe wrong. . .maybe mid 70s
RR, I did not mean to imply they have not achieved great and noble accomplishments for the sport. However, eventually, change must come to pass, and the old must give way to the new.
I don't know either. July and August may not be hectic as it usually is with the silly free agent nonsense, but training camps shouldn't be affected, and we won't lose any regular season games. Hunter and Stern may be pretty dogged in their approach, to an embarrassing degree sometimes, but I'm hard-pressed to come up with a better negotiating pair in pro sports. I know this is a pretty light read on the situation -- but the owners completely dominate the players in the NFL, the exact opposite happens in baseball, and the NHL hasn't played a game in 12 months -- so I'm confident Stern and Hunter have the best interests of the game and their constituents flowing hand-in-hand.
I think Stern should retire as soon as the new CBA is finalized. Hopefully a successor has already been chosen. He has done a great job for the owners (and the NBA in general I guess), but it's time for new blood. Based on the last few months, Stern seems to be losing his grip a bit. I seriously think the beginning stages of senility are creeping in. League leadership needs a new face. I have never regarded Billy Hunter very highly. I suppose a union head should be part leader, part servant to the players & agents. Hunter is 0% leader, 100% sevant. It may be the agents and players prefer it that way.
I think people are overstating BB's popularity.. I can understand the bias since this is a Rox team fan site but BB is nowhere near Football, Soccer or even Baseball in terms of overall popularity and or generating revenue, J
Baseball? it is debatable whether or not basketball is bigger than baseball in the US - on the worldwide scale it is not even close. Basketball, as far as team sports goes, is a solid no.2 to soccer. Football and baseball are really not even close globally.
The guy on SR 610 late nights (can't remember his name) brought up an interesting point the other night while I was listening. He talked about how Stern is the commissioner of the NBA, so why is he always taking the side of the owners? Interesting perspective that I had never thought about. You would think Stern would be more concerned about the game as a whole, and do what's in the best interest of the game...yet he takes sides with the owners instead of trying to bring the owners and players together, slowing down the whole process.
He is taking the side of the owners because of the fact he is commissioner. Stern collectively represents the owners, not the players, and I would guess this is spelled out in the NBA charter.
Stern is impressive. He really is the best commish in the modern sports era. He can be draconian at times, and has put marketing above all else (May 2-Ball forever live in infamy), but does have the best economic system in sports and relatively few performance drug scandles. Hunter, on the other hand, strikes me as pathetic and bad for the union. It seems his only purpose is to take a hard anti-Stern stance, no matter the issue, and bluster. He doesn't look to strike common ground, he doesn't consider the issues in context, he just fights for the sake of it. When he pulled the race card out a few weeks ago (when the agents successful lobbied against the nearly-done deal), he sealed it for me. If the lockout happens, it's because Hunter forced the union to take hard stances on relatively minor issues and didn't look for creative compromises that would make both sides happy. And that's a tragedy. Evan
