NBA - EGOS CONTINUE TO COLLIDE

I wrote about the NBA early season game cancellations October 13th, and did not expect the parties to come to an early solution. As I stated then, I could actually care less if the entire NBA season is cancelled. Certainly several groups would be financially harmed, namely the innocent employees who labor in the concession stands, the many support personnel for the games, the cities where the teams reside would lose tons of stadium and tax revenues, and (since I do not know the contents of the radio, cable and TV contracts) probably the local and national media that carries the games.

The over-paid egotists who play the game, their agents, and the mega-rich NBA team owners would get less, but hardly be in a bad financial way.

I suspect media moguls and team city officials will put pressure on the bickering parties to get a settlement and salvage some part of the season so revenue can flow into their coffers. The latest development indicates that the parties are still far apart, because professional arbitrators are having little success in achieving a solution in this long-festering labor dispute.

Today several media outlets announced the strong words that emanated from that over-the-hill, self important sports authority Bryant Gumbel, the former NBC ‘Today Show’ co-anchor who is now the host of HBO’s little watched ‘Real Sports’ program. Here is what he said, with side comments from Newsblues.com:

“Bryant Gumbel, host of HBO’s Real sports, blasted NBA Commissioner David Stern on Tuesday’s show, accusing him of acting like a “modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys.”

“It’s part of Stern’s M.O., like his past self-serving edicts on dress code or the questioning of officials,” continued Gumbel. “His moves were intended to do little more than show how he’s the one keeping the hired hands in their place.”

“The NBA’s infamously egocentric commissioner seems more hell-bent lately on demeaning the players than solving this game’s labor impasse,” said the infamously egocentric former ‘Today’ show host.”

“Some will of course cringe at the characterization,” Gumbel admitted. “But Stern’s disdain for the players is as palpable and pathetic as his motives are transparent.”

Your Commander agrees that these comments are those of an equally egotistic, over-paid, self-appointed sports authority talking about another ego driven professional sports commissioner that add little or nothing to solving the root problem with the NBA.

We all would be better off if we let this debate play-out between the players and the owners with the full knowledge that what ever settlement is reached the fans will be expected to line-up like sheep and finance part of the agreement with increased ticket prices and ridiculously priced concessions and merchandise.

The NBA is no longer a game of sport, but a venue filled with criminals, thugs, and bullies who receive a piece of a massive financial pie into which many conflicting forces are dividing the spoils. The only problem is that the gullible basketball fans will lose when the settlement is ultimately achieved.

I still think the owners should cancel the entire 2011/2012 NBA season, because it will be great sport to see the players scramble to maintain their posses and stay clear of the law in foreign lands.

COMMANDER GRANGER