This Week In The Lockout: Next Week In The Lockout...

by C.A. Clark on Oct 22, 2011 1:03 PM PDT in The &!$%ing Lockout

This is my first installment of This Week In The Lockout. It may also be my last. After all, this is Dex's baby. He started it as soon as the lockout got going, and every week he's ponied up the keyboard to give you the latest updates about the status of professional basketball in this country of ours. He'll be back next week, and as far as either of us can tell at this juncture, for all the rest of the weeks thereafter. So I may never write another TWITL again.

Somebody will. This lockout isn't going anywhere. It's a festering mass, and it's infected tendrils have dug deep within the game. The only thing that's certain anymore is that a pound of flesh will be taken when the infection finally does get cut out.

In preparation for my time filling in on this auspicious, if not particularly enjoyable, assignment, I did two things. First, I read a bunch of articles about the lockout over the past week, something I rarely do. I usually ignore the lockout like I ignore a sink of dishes needing to be washed, and for the same reasons. I don't see the point in learning about it, because the business aspect of basketball is not a subject that tips my interest scale. All I know, all I need to know, is that the lockout is ongoing, and it will end eventually.

The second thing I did was read Dex's last entry into the series. I wanted to get a feeling for the flow of the topic, whether he inundates you with news links, delivers mostly opinions, or just uses it as another excuse for a cat video (surprise! it was option 3). Instead, what I got was depressed, because what Dex wrote about the status of the lockout last week was almost word for word what I was planning on writing this week. Aside from the revelation that actual regular season games were cancelled last week, this week's news is a virtual carbon copy. In fact, I'm making a day-by-day template that we might be able to use going forward.

Monday: The NBPA and owners resume talks to resolve the lockout.

Tuesday: Deadline passes which results in cancellation of more games

Wednesday: Someone reports that the two sides are close to agreement on a revenue split.

Thursday: The owners say HAHAHAHAHA JK and go back to the same hard line demands they've had all along

Friday: Talks break off, with no new talks scheduled

Do you know why a sequence of events like this can occur more than once? There's really only one explanation. It's because this whole charade is a game. The owners know exactly what they are doing. They are crushing souls. This two steps forward, three steps back bullshit is all part of their conniving plan.

And that plan is going to work, because the longer the lockout goes, the uglier both sides look. If there's one thing you should learn about business (and these events have absolutely nothing to do with anything but business), it's that the people in charge don't give a shit about looking ugly. The players? They need to be liked. It helps them find new teams, helps them land endorsements, helps them be who they are. It doesn't matter if you blame the owners 80% and the players 20% for this whole nonsense, the 20% damages the players far more than the 80% damages the owners.

So get used to lots and lots of "negotiations", lots and lots of progress, and lots and lots of breakdowns. All the while, this whole thing will only be solved in one of two ways: The players must either completely surrender to the owners demands or must convince the owners that their demands are so unreasonable that armageddon is possible. Armageddon is the formation of an entirely separate league. The ideas about such a league are slowly coming the surface all over the place, but nobody takes them seriously. As long as those ideas remain pipe dreams, non-threatening fantasies that owners can laugh at, we remain no closer to basketball being played. And we will be subjected to the same ridiculous negotiation tactics over and over again.

See you next week ...

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Comments

lol i loved that clip

what movie is it from?

"It ain't Chinese algebra. If you get stops and you execute on offense, normally that team wins." - Tony Allen
"One thing LeBron James has won that Kobe Bryant never has, and never will: A bronze medal."- Josh Tucker

by steffun4tw on Oct 22, 2011 1:43 PM PDT reply actions

intolerable cruelty

Roll Shaw
Follow @Geniespool

by gen!e on Oct 22, 2011 1:44 PM PDT up reply actions

thank you i feel that would be a good watch to understand the labor situation haha

by steffun4tw on Oct 22, 2011 2:33 PM PDT up reply actions

I HOPE YOU'RE NOT COMPLAINING!!!!

another excuse for a cat video

You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness

by SoCalGal on Oct 22, 2011 2:27 PM PDT reply actions

A fan's version of the day by day template:

Monday: Oh yeah, another meeting.. probably gonna end like all the others ones.
Tuesday: Pssh, watch it break down tomorrow.
Wednesday: Wait, they might ACTUALLY be ending the lockout soon!
Thursday: NOOOOOO! They sounded like they were making progress!
Friday: Can’t believe I fell for it again. I know for a fact I won’t make the same mistake.

Rinse and repeat.

"The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else." – John Madden

by bengalithugg13 on Oct 22, 2011 8:32 PM PDT reply actions

so unbelievably, undeniably, embarrassingly true :/

by steffun4tw on Oct 22, 2011 8:47 PM PDT up reply actions

i am now starting to miss watching the black mamba play. this is something that we are all gonna have to get used to pretty soon.

"the man who created a legend; the legend who resurrected a franchise."

by chaucer on Oct 22, 2011 9:16 PM PDT reply actions

Seems like a lockout is going to become more and more common. I agree that having to get used to seeing the words lockout and sports in the same sentence is the norm; hopefully this time not for so long.

Halloween World

by champion-michael on Oct 23, 2011 7:32 PM PDT reply actions

Clooney's acting reminded me of the Lakers 3 points hooting

Horrible

The whole thing is sad but I see it different. The players want to make the money but they put forth a Horrible effort until the playoffs. Then wounder why the arenas are half empty.

by SkyHooker on Oct 24, 2011 7:13 PM PDT reply actions

Some arenas, not all.

You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness

by SoCalGal on Oct 24, 2011 7:21 PM PDT up reply actions

Right, not all, but the trend is the wrong way

With players starting to assemble their own teams the NBA has entered a new dynamic. We are in for a long shutdown because the Players have been able acquire the power to determine the destiny of the league. Do you really think the Owners are going to allow that?

How long will teams like Indiana, Sacramento, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Utah, New Orleans, New Jersey, Charlotte, Houston, Toronto, Atlanta, Washington, survive under the current system? Who would really want to play for these teams?

The players may be fixated on the money, I doubt the owners are that single minded. The colluding of players to form mega teams can not be allowed anymore than colluding of owners to restrict salaries.

by SkyHooker on Oct 25, 2011 7:15 AM PDT up reply actions

The players aren't the ones fixated on money, the owners are.

You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act. - Tex Winter
Tweetness

by SoCalGal on Oct 25, 2011 8:59 AM PDT up reply actions

The Owners are riding a sinking ship and they know it.

The sport is in need of a serious overhaul and letting the patients run the asylum will not work. Lebron’s narcissism succeeded in showing the owners who has the power in the current structure. Money is the only issue discussed in the press because it is the most obvious and easiest to write about.

This is all about reestablishing control.

by SkyHooker on Oct 25, 2011 11:24 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

You are so right

In all three of these comments. I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

"I promise you, we’re going to build a dictating, dominating, attacking defense. I’ve said it a million times. It’s not a slight on our offense, but we’re not going to win any world championship until we have that." - A.J. Smith

by njg425 on Oct 25, 2011 8:23 PM PDT up reply actions