Blame the players

by sauceycor on Nov 16, 2011 4:00 PM PST

Here's the bottom line. 90% of the players in the NBA are uneducated thugs.How do people without a college education become so entitled?

The owners OWN the team....you are part of an organization, the thought of a player earning 50% of an organization is ludacris. They should be earning 25% tops.

What the owners need to do to these greedy b*&&tards is to let them bitch and whine and go play in Europe. Open the league back up to players who actually want to play under their terms. I guarantee you'd have 85% of the players accepting the owners new deal.

The 15% (Kobe, Carmelo, Lebron, Deron Williams, etc) basically all the prima donnas of the league will complain, take their talents to Europe where they can get paid, realize how much it sucks over there and then come home. I'd rather watch players who want to play for the sport than a bunch of Kobe's who want to hold out and be greedy bit*&&s and ruin it for the rest of us.

There's not another organization in the world where employees make even close to 50% of profit sharing. What makes the NBA different?

Am I being emotional or does this make sense to anyone else?

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!

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assuming this isn't simply a troll post

also assuming this doesn’t get taken down here is what I have to say:

“Here’s the bottom line. 90% of the players in the NBA are uneducated thugs.How do people without a college education become so entitled?”

actually 21% of NBA players have a college degree which is much more than say baseball where only 26 players/managers total have a college degree this is just the nature of the sport in baseball you have to complete a long arduous time in the minors(usually) where in basketball you can go right into the NBA from college. Also calling people like Anthony Toliver, Danny Granger thugs is ridiculous, I would say the vast majority of NBA players are anything but thugs.

The owners OWN the team….you are part of an organization, the thought of a player earning 50% of an organization is ludacris. They should be earning 25% tops.

Most smart business models state that a company should be around 1/3rd of income on payroll, however services businesses can afford to pay a larger percentage in payroll and this is for small businesses for larger companies. The NBA being a services industry and being a large business 50% would actually be slightly below what most businesses spend in payroll when compared with income.

What the owners need to do to these greedy b*&&tards is to let them bitch and whine and go play in Europe. Open the league back up to players who actually want to play under their terms. I guarantee you’d have 85% of the players accepting the owners new deal.

The 15% (Kobe, Carmelo, Lebron, Deron Williams, etc) basically all the prima donnas of the league will complain, take their talents to Europe where they can get paid, realize how much it sucks over there and then come home. I’d rather watch players who want to play for the sport than a bunch of Kobe’s who want to hold out and be greedy bit*&&s and ruin it for the rest of us.

Well actually I don’t think any player actually would prefer to play in Europe all players know that their best earning potential is in the U.S. and that the NBA is the best league in the world. The issue is not that they don’t want to play in the U.S. it is that there is no NBA to play in. Why not make some money in Europe while the lockout is going on?

I don’t know if Kobe is one of the players that wants to hold out, but I do know that this contract that is being negotiated will be in place for years after Kobe retires, if Kobe is holding out I don’t think it is for himself. Check this out Kobe makes more from endorsements than salary if there is no NBA and he plays in Europe he will get less endorsements.

I don’t think the super stars that want to hold out are doing it for themselves I think they are doing it because they feel as though the Union is making too many concessions that that the deal would not be fair.

There’s not another organization in the world where employees make even close to 50% of profit sharing. What makes the NBA different?

In the NHL it is 54%

The NFL is 59.5%
since there is no salary cap in baseball check out what each individual team spends

So basically 50% of BRI down from 57% is actually less than most other big sports.

Am I being emotional or does this make sense to anyone else?

Yes you are being overly emotional and no you make no sense.

Look I want the lockout to end, I want the players to sign whatever the owners want simply because I want to watch basketball. I also cannot conceive of caring about BRI when it would mean I would still be a millionaire. However looking at it from a purely business perspective the owners seem to be over reaching as compared to the other sports. The players seem to have made concessions, especially compared to the old CBA. The greedier side is most definitely the owners.

If seems as though the owners want to be guaranteed a profit, which as anyone knows is not how business works. I personally believe that cities with fans that support them and high revenues should be able to spend a little more.

Personally as a fan I would like to write up my own complaints about the NBA, but that mostly has to do with how the season is structured and teams tank at the end of the season and nothing to do with wages.

by brutusbrutus on Nov 16, 2011 5:07 PM PST reply actions 11 recs

Well said.

I considered hiding the diary for being unsubstantive, but your response is far too thoughtful and eloquent to take down. Highly rec’ed.

I'm rooting for the laundry services. — fuller over bryant

by Sleepy Freud on Nov 16, 2011 6:09 PM PST up reply actions

(ditto hardcore’s great thoughts below).

I'm rooting for the laundry services. — fuller over bryant

by Sleepy Freud on Nov 16, 2011 6:11 PM PST up reply actions

Excellent response.

by Uwe Blog on Nov 17, 2011 9:09 AM PST via mobile up reply actions

one of the best responses I've ever seen

strongly rec’d

"There’s no such thing as off the charts, just get a bigger piece of paper. If you can’t figure that out you shouldn’t be charting anything" - Skep

by Duby Dub Dubs on Nov 17, 2011 10:06 AM PST up reply actions

Wikipedia is not to be trusted

Look, I agree with many of your points, but your numbers are not quite accurate. The NFL is the gold standard among pro sports as far as I’m concerned, and the players are making nowhere near 59.5%, and the league is making far more than the NBA.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6687485

by ERock386 on Nov 18, 2011 4:04 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs

Did you read your enitre link?

They were formally receiving 59.5% with $1 Billion taken off the top for the owners. So it was closer to a total of 53%

They accepted 48% only because they got the $1 Billion back, and the owners agreed to nearly fully pay out each of their individual salary caps. Meaning the NFL players gave up some revenue, for HUGE SYSTEM CHANGES IN THEIR FAVOR.

Right now, the NBA players are being asked to give up revenue, with HUGE SYSTEM CHANGES IN THE OWNERS FAVOR.

See the difference?

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 18, 2011 10:46 PM PST up reply actions

Of course I read it

My concern is that no one else here appeared to have, and there are posters further down spewing out his false assertions as fact (no offense to you Brutus).

As you just stated, the players were getting 59.5% under the previous CBA with $1 billion off the top, whereas NBA players have been getting 57% with nothing off the top. Currently, the NFL players get 48%. The poster was trying to make it seem like the NBA players get less than NFL players. However, as you pointed out, NFL players are currently making less than the 57% the players were getting and less than the 50% they just turned down.

The 57% is higher than any other sport, and that is not even debatable. Yet someone says NFL players get 59.5% and provide a crummy link, and everyone accepts it as fact and recs the post. And if you really want to point out the differences between the two, then you need to acknowledge that the NBA owners are trying to make their system more like the NFL and the NBA players are having none of it. The NFL players currently get 48% of revenue, non-guaranteed contracts, a hard cap, and now even a rookie pay scale AND the franchise tag (which players hate). Yet, the NBA players would balk at a similar offer, and you wonder why the NFL is so much better off than the NBA.

by ERock386 on Nov 18, 2011 11:22 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs

Nothing off the top isn't actually true in the NBA

and teams aren’t required to pay out nearly as high a percentage of their salary caps.

The owners have written some couple hundred million in profits out of the BRI, that the players see no part of, and in addition are now trying to include the travel costs into the players’ portion of it.

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 19, 2011 12:15 AM PST up reply actions

I was not trying to say what players deserve or don't deserve

I don’t care at all. I was just trying to show that the player’s deal that is currently being discussed is no where near unreasonable with regards to how the other major sports work. 25% as the original poser suggested is the more ludicrous number. As you remember that as in response to…

“There’s not another organization in the world where employees make even close to 50% of profit sharing. What makes the NBA different?”

There are plenty of organizations like that. Look I don’t care about the players getting money, they will always make more money than 99.5% of the population I am just saying that to portray the players as thugs, who are completely out of line is just wrong. I want the players to sign personally but I put a large portion of the blame for the long lockout on the owners.

by brutusbrutus on Nov 19, 2011 12:47 AM PST up reply actions

Like I said before, I agree with most of what you said. I was just pointing out that the numbers you posted were incorrect and misleading, and that NBA players do in fact (under the old CBA) get the highest split of revenue in all of major sports.

I believe that both the players and owners are at fault. I just get frustrated when some people (not implying you are in this group) so blindly side with the players seemingly because it’s so easy to hate the owners (which I admit, it is). And yes, any talk about the players being thugs or anything of that nature is ignorant and has no place on the site.

by ERock386 on Nov 19, 2011 1:06 AM PST up reply actions

There is no such thing as ’blindly" siding with the players. It is always acceptable to side with labor on principal because in a social system organized by extremist financial darwinism, i.e. Reaganomics, ownership will always try to take as much as it possibly can and therefore has no legitimate ethical basis and is fundamentally untenable.

That being said, there are very valid reasons to side with the players with regard to the BRI%-centric nature of the negotiations. If all the owners wanted was a more stable, tenable agreement, as they have diceitfully attempted to argue in the media, they would have made the central issues revenue sharing and a hard cap. By using the media to misrepresent a reduced share of BRI for players as the only solution to their alleged financial woes, the owners revealed their insatiable greed and completely frivolous agenda.

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 7:42 PM PST up reply actions

*e

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 7:44 PM PST up reply actions

I do believe some posters do “blindly” side with the players. And as I said, I can somewhat understand why, but I do not view it as acceptable like you do (agree to disagree I guess).

And if you read my other posts (people don’t tend to respond to my points that criticize the owners for some reason), then you’d see that I’ve been very critical of the owners’ inability to figure out a system for revenue sharing.

However, I don’t see the owners as manipulating the media like you do. They get fined for anything they say, while the players talk to the media daily. David Stern is a different story, but the owners haven’t manipulated anything through the media unless you want to drag out some conspiracy theory or something.

by ERock386 on Nov 20, 2011 3:09 AM PST up reply actions

Alright well Stern is the voice of the owner’s interests in the media, so, essentially we agree their side is being manipulative through the media.

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 22, 2011 5:48 PM PST up reply actions

Technically, Stern represents the NBA, not the owners. But since the owners have no other voice in the media, Stern has, in a sense, taken on that role.

Either way, if you want to argue that Stern is manipulating the media more than 450+ players, Billy Hunter, and the swarm of lawyers and agents on the players’ side, then go ahead. Continue with your conspiracy theory. And don’t forget, the media has a liberal bias; in other words, they’re unlikely to take the owners side.

by ERock386 on Nov 23, 2011 2:00 PM PST up reply actions

The numbers were just cursory, I quickly researched it just to show that

the other sports all got around 50% of income or more. I was using the numbers to point out that the 50% split is not unreasonable.

by brutusbrutus on Nov 20, 2011 2:13 AM PST up reply actions

I know. And I agree with you.

by ERock386 on Nov 20, 2011 3:03 AM PST up reply actions

I would also say that wikipedia was not technically incorrect

It just failed to mention the billion dollars off the top thing. Wikipedia is actually more accurate than a standard encyclopedia. I don’t care ultimately what the players and owners agree on I just want them to agree.

by brutusbrutus on Nov 20, 2011 2:15 AM PST up reply actions

...and

I’m pretty sure it’s not normal business practice to spend more than half your company’s revenue on labor. In this case, ehow.com is not to be trusted. If you’re going to link things and make these points, you need to at least find more reputable websites.

by ERock386 on Nov 18, 2011 2:27 PM PST up reply actions

I think somebody already pointed this out...

but service industries often spend 50% on payroll

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 18, 2011 10:48 PM PST up reply actions

Yes, ehow.com did

And yet it’s still not good enough for the players. And I’d be interested to see what qualifies as service industry and why basketball qualifies as one.

by ERock386 on Nov 18, 2011 11:14 PM PST up reply actions

It’s because the “product” is the labor. Same reason there’s no sales tax on all the tattoos I do.

by Uwe Blog on Nov 19, 2011 12:27 PM PST via mobile up reply actions

Payroll is often times, if not most of the time the biggest expense a company has

by brutusbrutus on Nov 21, 2011 9:42 PM PST up reply actions

Non-rec!

Come on man this is slow pitch softball! I can’t rec that! Also, I disagree with one thing! I don’t think teams that make more money should be allowed to spend a little more [on player salaries]. So there!

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 7:18 PM PST up reply actions

you are right of course, the owners own teams just as any other business ownver owns their business and the players are highly qualified, experts in the the field of their choice who can demand high dollar salaries thanks to the market – sounds pretty all-american to me, and both are greedy bastards in equal proportions – it’s truly hard to get worked up for or against either side, but I’m more understanding of the players’ position for the following reasons:

the owners locked the players out – of course that’s their perogotive, but the players did not strike for better conditions

the players have publically stated that they were ready, willing and able to negotiate a compromise but the owners have proposed all take aways, and not been willing to examine the systemic issues … if I recall the players had previously been awarded 57% of the revenues that were included, which isn’t far off from other sports (see brutusbrutus above), and they were willing to come down some in exchange for other concessions – it’s the owners who have been playing hardball in the negotiations

the owners have not opened their books, and several revenue streams seem to be excluded from the tabulations of what the owners have been raking in, I don’t buy that the owners are really losing money overall and if they are, my suspicion is they are lumping costs into the franchise for tax purposes … I wonder if the owners aren’t really grasping at ways to have the players pay for the owners’ mistakes – whether poor contract management or poor personnel evaluation, it’s the owners who offer contracts to players and if they have overpaid they have themselves to blame …

most of the players in the NBA come from American colleges and universities, why that qualifies them as thugs I’m not sure … many many of them participate in community service programs for neighborhoods underserved around their home town or their team’s home … perhaps it is tatoos – or another quality – that is thuggish to you?

we all want them to get on with the games, but it’s pretty hard for me to see how the players are the bad guys in all these negotiations – the owners are at LEAST equally to blame, if not more so, imo

~ an original fan of the SF Warriors

by hardcore on Nov 16, 2011 5:22 PM PST reply actions 4 recs

If you don’t believe the owners are really losing money overall, why aren’t you “all worked up” like me? Boo! get your work upped, immediately!

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 7:49 PM PST up reply actions

it's not about money now

not really, anyway

the players have already lost more money than they will likely be able to recoup even with a slightly better deal

if the entire season is missed, most players will never be able to make up the difference in salary that they lost from not taking a “worse” deal.

it can’t be strictly about money, because the players would have already given in

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by Evanz on Nov 16, 2011 7:27 PM PST reply actions

Agree.

It’s about taking a stand. Not just for themselves, but for the future. They know if they accept this deal, they’ll never see a better one, even if/when the economy improves. Rather than accept what the owners are essentially trying to ram down their throat, they chose to fight back.

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 17, 2011 7:19 PM PST up reply actions

In my industry, most tattoo artists make 50% + tips. Sometimes 60%, if they manage the shop too. The owner stays home and gambles on the stock market and hangs out with his family. He shows up once a week to collect his half.

And while my industry is full of uneducated thugs, we do have a very specialized skill set. We also manage to take very good care of our owner, who doesn’t have to do anything work related besides count money. He takes about 8 vacations a year.

by Uwe Blog on Nov 17, 2011 9:04 AM PST via mobile reply actions 1 recs

There wouldn't be a an occupy movement going right now...

if more people had the balls to demand what they think they should be paid.

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 17, 2011 7:17 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

So your solution to entrenched aristocracy controlling a financial system that has delegitimized the sovereignty of the nation-state, topped off with 30+ years of batsh_t crazy, balls to the wall, burn the poor for fuel Reaganomics is telling your boss you want more money? I’m pretty sure somebody already thought of that one.

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 7:58 PM PST up reply actions

Apparently not enough.

Because everyday, many, many people in the US are accepting cuts in pay, or in benefits, just to ensure they’ll maintain a job. Meanwhile, their company’s profit margins continue to climb.

That’s exactly what the players AREN’T standing for in this situation, and I find it wonderful. We all know that the owners ARE making a profit. Hundreds of millions in profits that aren’t calculated as part of the BRI find their way into their pockets. The value of a franchise is on the steady incline. The leaked financial statements from the New Orleans Hornets do not match the teams’ supposed losses. It may, perhaps, be true, that the owners aren’t making as large of a profit (not certain considering the viewers and sales the NBA had last season), but that’s how an economic downturn works. For them to base their demands for the future off of what’s happening now is absolutely unjustified. Major system changes, huge reductions in the players’ cut of the BRI, even less freedom of movement for players in free agency. All the while deceiving the public about what they’re financial situations really are.

Yes, it’s so much easier to have the kind of balls the players are showing when there is a union, and you’re one of few hundred people in the world with the right skills and athletic attributes necessary to get the job done. But it still takes something meaningful not take the best deal on the table when you think it isn’t a fair one. No matter how much that deal is worth, whether it be a couple hundred million, or just a few thousand.

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 20, 2011 11:24 PM PST up reply actions

OK, I’m with ya. Good on ya players!

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 22, 2011 5:46 PM PST up reply actions

The players have it so good, and even with the prosposed deal they would have it incredibly good considering the economic woes.

The players can never regain the money they are going to lose which is going to be millions. I think the players really got shafted since they had no vote. Their vote was determined by a few on top with their own agendas. If you topple the NBA..what will you have..nothing. You want a healthy NBA.

by tenkaistar on Nov 17, 2011 11:24 AM PST reply actions

LOL this guy.

blaming it on Kobe, LeBron, and Carmelo when it’s the average player who’s salary is going to suffer.

plus, it was widely reported Kobe WANTED to take the deal because he’s getting older and only has so many more chances at a ring.

gotta love people who take shots at players over something they clearly know nothing about.

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 17, 2011 7:33 PM PST reply actions

Yup. The superstars will get paid no matter what kind of CBA is in place. The guys in the middle will be the ones getting hit the hardest.

by bObaBaLLa on Nov 18, 2011 9:57 AM PST up reply actions

I’ve been posting here the last few days here trying to defend the owners and present what I believe to be a balanced view (where the owners and players share the blame) of what is happening here. But the OP is just ridiculous. I believe he may be Dan Gilbert himself… or MJ.

by ERock386 on Nov 18, 2011 3:51 AM PST reply actions

I could care less

I’m over this season and already am looking forward to next year. I have a hard time feeling sorry for either side, millionaires arguing over billions. I don’t want to point fingers or assign blame here as both sides are to blame, and it’s the average player and fans who suffer.

No, I choose to enjoy the college basketball season, the 49ers, and various combat sports. The NBA will not be getting a dime from me this year.

"That was very funny about the old man basketball skills. One is lucky to escape injury when playing against those crafty, crusty sumbitches. And it’s just demoralizing when they demonstrate yet again how to use the backboard from range." - Charlie Custer

by SmittytheCutman on Nov 18, 2011 1:24 PM PST reply actions

I agree

I care about individual players exactly as much as they care about us. I just like watching high-level basketball. Just throw 5 guys out there in Jerseys and lets get it on. Kobe, Carmelo, etc can go away for all I care. They are easily replaced.

by warriordrp on Nov 18, 2011 1:29 PM PST reply actions

They are easily replaced.

Actually, they aren’t easily replaced at all. I can’t imagine how you got that idea. It’s just so wrong.
These aren’t dudes who work at Target or McDonalds or wherever. These are highly skilled, highly specialized workers. Some of them are downright impossible to replace (superstars) and the less good players are simply really hard to replace.

by Reverend_Randy on Nov 18, 2011 2:12 PM PST up reply actions

Agreed

If they were easy to replace, they wouldn’t have a union in the first place.

by ERock386 on Nov 18, 2011 2:24 PM PST up reply actions

As much as I've loved basketball over the course of my 39 years,

I’ve learned that as you get older, other things become more of a priority. I LOVE Warriors basketball but honestly, when the owners and players pull this type of crap, I enjoy other aspects of life and basketball tends to fade a bit.

Maybe it’s maturity, getting old, whatever you want to call it, but for some reason this lockout has really dampened my enthusiasm for the sport. I’m angry, sad, and apathetic.

by SmittytheCutman on Nov 19, 2011 12:49 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

Agreed.

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 8:03 PM PST up reply actions

minus the part about players being culpable ;)

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 8:04 PM PST up reply actions

You're right on one front

The players are stupid. I think Evanz made the point (Larry Coon has as well) that the players have already lost more $ by missing games than the % difference in BRI that they were quibbling over.

I also think that the players are absolutely, morally right in all of their positions. So what? That has zero financial value, and provides them with no negotiating leverage; especially considering the general public will tend to blame the millionaire athletes instead of the billionaire owners. The same billionaire owners that will be billionaires whether or not there is a season.

The players should have bent over and taken what was offered to them. All they are doing now is hemorrhaging income while harming the people who work in and around the arenas. When this is all over with, they players will have lost more money than they would have had they taken any of the deals offered to them since July 1. This will continue to be the case as subsequent deals are offered and/or more games are cancelled.

Resistance is futile.

Man, I don’t care nothing about no Mike Montgomery.

by bloodsweatndonuts on Nov 19, 2011 1:19 PM PST reply actions

Resistance is futile.

There’s a reason the gap is widening between the 99 and the 1. This is it. Now, I know many of the players are also in that 1, but they’re still the employees in this situation. Bending over and taking it, as you advised they should do, would be weak, and give them nowhere to go but down. I wish many of our countries’ other workforces had the balls to demand what they deserve, rather than take the best they can get.

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 19, 2011 4:32 PM PST up reply actions

Now, I know many of the players are also in that 1, but they’re still the employees in this situation.

The 99 v 1 concept is more about general income inequality than singling out the super-rich. The real movers and shakers are in that top 0.1%

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 8:24 PM PST up reply actions

…unless you’re talking about 1% of the population…man these slogans are confusing!

Occupy Stern

by The Bimbo Coles Experience on Nov 19, 2011 8:49 PM PST up reply actions

Bending over and taking it, as you advised they should do, would be weak, and give them nowhere to go but down.

That’s my point. “Down” is where they’re headed regardless of how much money the forfeit in the process. The quicker they realize that idealism is fools gold, the more money, aka the only thing of tangible value in this whole equation, they can keep for themselves and their families.

There is no hope, there is only submission and the bones that the powerful are willing to throw the rest of us. There is no fairness, there is no justice. There is only power and the players have less of it than the owners. The sooner they realize that, the better off they will be.

Man, I don’t care nothing about no Mike Montgomery.

by bloodsweatndonuts on Nov 19, 2011 11:40 PM PST up reply actions

That's a weak attitude.

And far from true. If there was never any hope, and only submission, we’d be in a far different place right now. The whole idea of fighting back against those in power is to take it back, and it happens all the time. But only for those who actually try.

http://nbawarriors.wordpress.com/

by Brownie13 on Nov 20, 2011 11:08 PM PST up reply actions

If there was never any hope, and only submission, we’d be in a far different place right now.

I’m saying that there is no hope now. Not that there never was any.

The whole idea of fighting back against those in power is to take it back, and it happens all the time.

It most certainly does not happen all the time in this country. It used to, but I think it’s pretty obvious that the people in positions of power realize that the rest of the population has no leverage and all. What are you going to do about it? Protest? Vote? Stomp your feet and pout? You’ve got nothing in your toolbox. They don’t care what you want and they don’t have to.

The players are in the same boat, albeit a much nicer one, and they can not win because they have no leverage. The owners have already won. They will still be rich by the time the players give up. Who’s being harmed by the lockout?
The people who work for the teams, arenas, for businesses around the arenas, lower-tier players? Do you think any owner is going to have to make any lifestyle changes because of the lockout? How do you win a negotiation without even the pretense of leverage?

The sooner you understand that you have already given in to your betters, the more at peace with your fate you will be. The players would be best served to take the gold-plated crumbs they are being thrown and go back to running around and jumping up and down for the public’s amusement.

Let me ask you this:

When is the last time “those who actually try” have been able to fight against the “those in power” and “take it back”? Since it happens “all the time”, I’m sure you have several very recent examples. How about from this decade?

Man, I don’t care nothing about no Mike Montgomery.

by bloodsweatndonuts on Nov 21, 2011 12:39 PM PST up reply actions

Interesting attitude. The media would have you believe that resistance is futile, since they are power brokers themselves. If you look a little harder though, you’ll find recent events that tell a different tale.

Check out what’s happened in Iceland. I’d put up a link, but I’m posting from my phone. Anyways, the whole country was about to get shafted by the EU. Instead of bending over, they unified and put the power back into the hands of the people. They ran their crooked bankers out, along with their crooked politicians. Right now, the whole country is contributing to a new constitution. Reform is possible on every level. Check it out for yourself, though you won’t find much reporting on it from US news sources.

by Uwe Blog on Nov 21, 2011 12:40 PM PST via mobile up reply actions

The media would have you believe that resistance is futile, since they are power brokers themselves. If you look a little harder though, you’ll find recent events that tell a different tale.

The media does dictate reality for most people. They take what is reported to be fact. Most people don’t read, view or listen to any international or alternative news sources. I have, however, read enough to know that recent events within the U.S. do not “tell a different tale”. I fact, I’d venture to say that things in the U.S. are far worse and exponentially more hopeless than the “power broker” media would have us believe.

And I am very specifically talking about the U.S.. I’m too ignorant to be versed enough in Icelandic economics to understand how they managed to tell the World Bank to go IMF themselves but I’d certainly read and discuss whatever link you post.

Although I’m guessing that the NBAPL’s situation is only analogous if they were boycott the NBA and form their own league.

Man, I don’t care nothing about no Mike Montgomery.

by bloodsweatndonuts on Nov 21, 2011 8:16 PM PST up reply actions