To say that the NBA lockout has driven me mad is an understatement.
You see, I'n a rarity in Miami. I'm a basketball first fan in a football town.
The Miami Heat were the first local team I saw & I fell in love very quickly. That passion only grew in the Heat-Knicks playoff wars in the late 90s. That also explains my unnatural hatred for the Knicks.
As a Heat fan I also developed appreciation for the rest of the NBA. There's the Bulls dynasty, Stockton and Malone in Utah, the Lakers-Kings wars. Those are just a few...& then came the 1999 lockout.
This decade has brought in success that has healed the wounds of 1999 for the NBA. The biggest success has come from the draft class of 2003 featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh among others. Last season we saw this group command power and respect unheard of in recent league history during free agency. The playoffs that ended with the Dallas Mavericks beating the Heat were arguably the most exciting in NBA history.
You had the Memphis Grizzlies become the third 8th seed in history to beat a 1st seed when they took down the San Antonio Spurs. The Oklahoma City Thunder made their young presence felt. The Heat semifinals against the Boston Celtics was the most anctipated matchup of the playoffs. I can go on...
But then, when the NBA finally regained Jordan level popularity once more...they decide to lockout again.
It wasn't like no one saw this coming. The signs were there for years. However, for owners to pull all the stunts they have pulled so far and then bitch about losing money has taken this to sad, sad lows.
Now, as I type this and you read it the players and the owners are meeting once more after a 15 hour session last night that had the media there at one time fearing to eat a pizza and have a faceoff with hookers at the lobby of the hotel where the meeting is being held.
Last night was said to have been a night of decent progress in negotiations. Unfortunately we've seen this rope-a-dope happen at least twice since the lockout began.
The NBA, for their economic sake, better get a deal done soon. The media & the fans are getting tired of watching this bad soap opera.
The prospect that an 82 game season can still happen was raised by oth sides last night. That's after David Stern already cancelled the first two weeks of the season earlier. You can't go from giving that much hope to having things break apart (again) and raise the specter of losing the entire season (again.)
Who knows, maybe Newsday's Alan Hahn will be able to have his Stanley Cup celebration tonight.
I sure hope so.
No comments:
Post a Comment