NBA strike needs to end while the league is still in tact 

Chris Boyce, Staff Writer

I am issuing a warning to the National Basketball Association’s owners and players: Be careful. 

The NBA has blatantly offended the most powerful institution in all of professional sports: The Fan. 

Back in 1994, Major League Baseball dared to challenge the almighty sports fan and lost. 

Baseball has only now recovered from the strike four years ago, and it took a miracle season and 70 home runs to do so. 

Now it is basketball who has the guts to test the fans, and the NBA will certainly be burned if it doesn’t reach an agreement. 

The issue at hand?  Money. 

Surprised? Me neither. 

Both sides want more of it, and are intent on canceling games to get it. 

It is greed that’s at the heart of all professional sport labor disputes, and it’s getting pathetic. 

Paying athletes astronomical amounts can’t be justified, and may eventually lead to the downfall of the league. 

They call it a lockout, because the collective bargaining agreement has expired, so the players are locked out until a new one is established. 

The collective bargaining agreement is basically the way teams and players do business, in regards to contracts and free-agent signings. 

A “lock-out” is just a fancy, complicated word for strike, and it is just as wrong as any professional sports labor dispute. 

This strike has lasted for four months (118 days to be exact), and the two sides still can’t agree.  The owners want to eliminate the Larry Bird rule which states a team can sign its star player for whatever amount it wants, despite the salary cap. 

Because of this, the owners say, salaries have become too high, and 15 of the 29 NBA franchises are losing money. 

For example, the Larry Bird rule allowed the Minnesota Timberwolves to sign Kevin Garnett to a six-year $126 million  contract. 

Also, Michael Jordan was paid $33.14 million last season due to the rule, putting the Chicago Bulls way over the $26.9 million salary cap. 

The players say the Larry Bird rule is fair because it rewards the best players in the league. 

Other topics on the table are league policy on marijuana, free agency, rookie salaries and player discipline. 

Both sides claim they are being treated unfairly. 

I don’t think so. 

It is the fans that get repeatedly screwed, because as the salaries for players go up, so do ticket prices. 

The average NBA salary is a measly $2.2 million.  How can they afford to eat off of that? 

The owners are just as guilty, after signing a $2.6 billion television contract with NBC and TNT. 

Poor babies. 

Does the league really believe that when or if the dispute is settled the fans will come running back to them, filling up seats as they eagerly await the start of a new season? 

The chances of this are rather slim. 

We sports fans will find entertainment by other means like say, hockey, or maybe even the wild world of pro-wrestling. 

I bet Stone Cold Steve Austin would rather smash a chair over someone’s head than negotiate in a labor dispute. 

For some reason, the genius leaders between the two sides can’t seem to comprehend who really runs the show. 

The real boss is the fans, of course, their tickets pay salaries and contribute to revenues. 

These loyal supporters eventually will get fed up with pathetic strikes and rising ticket prices. 

Just as Major League Baseball witnessed four years ago, people will stop going, stop watching and stop caring. 

Baseball had to learn the hard way, and now basketball is following in its footsteps. 

The NBA has already canceled the first two weeks of the season, and if an agreement isn’t reached quickly, the rest of the November schedule will be lost and maybe even some of December. 

The NBA, up until now, has never lost a game due to labor disputes in its 52-year history. 

So I’m asking the NBA to put an end to this childish circus.  You’ve already exposed yourselves as money-hungry. 

Now, NBA still has a shred of dignity left, but as the strike goes on, owners and players are going to look more and more the fool. 

The players and owners need to put their differences aside and do their jobs: PLAY BALL!