Welcome all visitors to the NBA’s Fight Club. If you don’t know where you are, then know this above all: Rule No. 1 of fight club is don’t speak about fight club.
Yes, I know you’ve heard this decree before somewhere in the pop culture universe, but it applies to sports as well. Silence and secrecy are staples to any fight club, especially one that is hosting a league on the brink of destruction.
Rule No. 2 of fight club is never agree to anything; stand rigid and set in your ideals. A deal will be worked out eventually.
Rule No. 3 of fight club is to remember that you’re a commodity, whether you’re an owner or a player. People want to see the NBA.
Or do they? The league’s ratings were at an all-time high last season when the Dallas Mavericks nipped the Miami Heat in game six of the NBA Finals; however, as the league’s strenuous lockout continues there has been little to no fan concern.
Unlike the NFL’s lockout earlier this year, the NBA has already cut their season short, and with the rest of the season in jeopardy, there are several of the league’s franchises that may not survive the work stoppage period. Yet nobody is panicking, and that’s what is most important to an outsider looking in.
“It took us five years to recover from the 1998 lockout and there’s probability that we may never recover [from this lockout],” said Billy Hunter, the players’ union director, to reporters before last Friday’s sit-down with players. “I think there will be some teams that won’t survive. Particularly if the season gets shut down, there will be teams that will not be around next year.”
That brings us to rule No. 4: If you are not naturally fit to survive, then you will die. Sounds fair to me, as long as the Timberwolves, Kings, Hornets and Bucks are first to go.
Fans don’t want to be bothered by another disparaging labor agreement, electing rather to be entertained by the NFL than yielding any attention to the NBA’s imprudent and hardheaded negotiations.
What’s scary for the league at this point is that there is little to no demand for the season to begin. With officials from the league and the players’ union meeting with federal mediator George Cohen separately on Monday afternoon, the top sports headlines across the major media outlets were about the NFL, MLB and collegiate realignment.
And what can true fans of the league do about it? Nothing, it seems.
“There are two striking things about the current NBA impasse,” said Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe. “One, if, as it has been reported, there really are NBA owners that will lose less money not playing than playing, then that’s a frightening stance to launch into negotiations. Two, the NBA players have the best deal in pro sports and will still have the best deal when this is over. I am cautioning everybody not to overplay the NBA’s hand — this isn’t football. Millions of American sports fans are not going to miss you. I wouldn’t test their patience. “
Rule No. 5: You’re welcome to leave whenever you’ve heard enough. The door just slammed, and the room is empty.
