Talks Between NBA, Players' Union Collapse--Maybe the NBA will go away!!

Yahoo/AP ^ | 5/18/05 | CHRIS SHERIDAN, AP Basketball Writer

[Semper Paratus]

I've been a Celtics fan back before Havlicek stole the ball but the antics of the present team in the playoff series with Indiana was beyond the pale.

[BIGZ]

You can't have a Union without a Company but you can have a company without a Union.

[Muscadine]

This would be good first step toward cleaning up the USA.

[vollmond]

They just want to keep my Wizards from winning the Championship next year. I know this, because they stopped hockey to keep the Caps from winning the Stanley Cup. Something about clear signs of the Apocalypse, I guess.

[Dog Gone]

In Houston's case, it was voted in by City Council. No taxpayer vote unless you want to make it one step removed.

[jimboster]

The fact the NBA exists saves a couple of hundred lives a year.

[concordKIWI]

life can go on without them

[rdb3]

In Houston's case, it was voted in by City Council. No taxpayer vote unless you want to make it one step removed.

The American Airlines Center, home of the Mavericks and Stars, was voted in with a tax on hotels and rental cars. I actually voted against it. Mark Cuban and Tom Hicks can write a check for a new arena if they wanted to. Former mayor Ron Kirk campaigned for it before he left office in southern Dallas County by promising that it would create jobs. Reunion Arena isn't used for anything really anymore, and the people down there didn't understand that this would not create anything, just move some jobs one mile north.

It passed.

My father voted against the measures for Jacob's Field, Gund Arena, and Cleveland Browns Stadium. They all passed, too. In fact, former mayor Michael White of Cleveland championed a tax measure that would have given Art Modell a brand new stadium to convince him to keep the Browns in Cleveland. The measure passed. Modell still moved to Baltimore.

What can I say?

[Tacis]

A close friend who is deeply involved in negotiations tells me that the main barrier to progress is the diversity program and it's implementation!

Why do these guys have a union when the major problem is the greedy bastard of an agent that ecah one has?

[Dan from Michigan]

No! I don't want the Pistons to follow the Red Wings. :(

[PeteB570]

What's the NBA?

[R.W.Ratikal]

Even if the NBA went away, who would notice? Basketball is so boring it makes test patterns look exciting.

[SengirV]

That's when I stopped. Constant traveling, and the totally biased penalty calling based on players names. Two sets of rules - one for big names, and one for no names totally turned me off.

[Enterprise]

Well, I might make an exception,

[Dog Gone]

I guess I prefer that this labor dispute be resolved. Basketball does generate revenue and the government does collect its share of taxes from it.

If it shuts down, the government will come looking elsewhere for the revenue, and that might mean me.

I haven't been a big fan in recent years and I resent subsidizing megamillionaires who own these franchises. It's just not right. But that's a different issue from the labor negotiation and potential lockout problem.

[GnL]

Hey, be nice. He does have a family to feed, you know.

[RichInOC]

If WNBA players looked like that, the NBA could go bankrupt and nobody would notice, or even care.

[L98Fiero]

"Even if the NBA went away, who would notice? Basketball is so boring it makes test patterns look exciting."

I'll take your word for it. I have never watched a whole basketball game nor do I intend to start.

[Dick Vomer]

NBA cancels season..... who cares?

It'll just give me more time for ...... hockey.

[Faraday]

Great! A thread where people who don't like the NBA can whine about a labor negotiation and tax issues. I don't much care about the money and contracts--I figure that's between the employer and the employee. But, IMO, of course, NBA basketball has no peer in the world of sports-even the NFL. The second round of the play-offs has been a great display of talent, strategy, and stamina. The conference finals should also be terrific. My hope is for a Phoenix/Detroit finals. That would be a classic match-up.

Oh, and I promise not to comment on any threads that raise contract negotiations involving the ballet.