Way too early to count out NBA season
There's much pessimism these days about the prospect of NBA basketball coming soon to an arena near you.
Let's face it, you wouldn't call it good news when you read that, “Behind closed doors, David Stern and Billy Hunter curse at each other like sailors. Their lawyers lash out like longshoremen … The behind-the-scenes battles during the NBA lockout are more fierce and foul-mouthed than either side would like to admit.”
Nor is it a positive when Stern says, “There may not be a solution, and we accept that. I now recognize the possibility, or the likelihood, that the season will expire.”
The season will expire?
To which Hunter replied, “Our players have decided that if push comes to shove, and they compel us to miss a season, we'll miss a season. Our membership is definitely prepared for that possibility. And we're not blowing smoke.”
Wow. Positions entrenched, fox holes busy, and no one backing off. This is very bad news for NBA fans.
Except, all of these quotes and thoughts were from December 1998, and the lockout ended in early January 1999.
That is why you can't believe nuclear threats issued during a sports labor dispute, with both sides posturing and pushing the other to the limit in order to extract concessions and get what they can before making a deal.
It could happen again, and a 50- or 60-game NBA season is still possible.
What's different this time is the owners believe the CBA agreed upon to end the last lockout is what caused their claim of financial hardship now, one they say has 22 of 30 teams losing money.
So the circumstances are different and the stakes raised, but I'll not believe the season is canceled until we reach Feb. 1 and there's still no deal, and that's 11 weeks from now.
So whether they find it themselves or through the courts or NLRB, there is still plenty of time to salvage a shortened season and another spectacular postseason.
In the meantime, the bad news for Bulls fans is this really hurts their club's development. The Bulls possess one of the best practice coaches and teachers in the NBA in Tom Thibodeau, and this work stoppage means months and months of lost time that would have been used to learn and improve.
For older teams like the Heat and Celtics, it's an advantage to play a shorter season, but for the Bulls it undoubtedly hurts them both short term and long.
But if we ever get to have that discussion, it will at least mean there's an agreement in place and the players are headed for a brief camp and a fast season, which will be good news for basketball fans.
And it says here that there's still plenty of time for that to occur.
Good riddance
Agent Paul Kinzer is merely doing his job when defending Aramis Ramirez against the criticism of Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly, but he went too far in calling Brenly “low class” for merely doing his job.
Brenly tells the truth on TV, and for that Cubs fans should be grateful. He does not pretend something's good when it's not, and Ramirez has been a dog both in the field and at the plate for a good portion of his last several years in Chicago.
In the field, he's always been a pylon. At the plate, his slow starts have doomed the Cubs the last two years, and Brenly has never been shy about letting Ramirez have it.
It's not a new criticism. When Ramirez dogged it, Brenly told the truth, and anyone who's watched the Cubs consistently and doesn't have an agenda knows it's the truth.
So Kinzer can defend Ramirez all he wants as he tries to fool another team into overpaying a designated hitter disguised as a third baseman.
Ramirez can still hit when the games don't matter, or when he's got someone else in the lineup taking pressure off him, and for that someone's probably going to hand him lots of cash again.
As for the Cubs while they rebuild, Ramirez serves absolutely no purpose here.
White Sox
While Ken Williams ponders his offense for 2012, a part of him has to believe Adam Dunn, Alex Rios and Gordon Beckham can't possibly be as bad as they were in 2011. If that's true, the Sox instantly become a better offensive club without adding a single body.
But there's another side of Williams that can't bear the thought of another season as miserable as the last, which is why he's listening to offers for several players due to become free agents at the end of 2012.
He simply must.
Penn State
Miami Herald's Greg Cote, on Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky: “Paterno, before the dumbfounding revelations, was the winningest football coach in NCAA Division I history. He still is. Except now that hardly matters. Now his epitaph is sealed, and it will be his sad response to the Sandusky scandal.”
Backward baseball
N.Y. Post's Joel Sherman: “These are the Bizarro GM Meetings in which the Marlins are chasing the top of the free-agent market, the Nationals are considered financial stalking horses and the Yankees are hardly making a ripple.”
Best headline
Sportspickle.com: “Joe Paterno dutifully reports locker room murder to athletic director.”
And finally …
ABC's Jimmy Kimmel: “Last night's Occupy Oakland protest got out of hand. Demonstrators broke windows, hurled Molotov cocktails and chunks of concrete. Police said it was the worst riot in Oakland since the last Raiders home game.”
brozner@dailyherald.com
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