Misguided Loyalties

RIGHT Magazine (1996-1999)

Misguided Loyalties
by Timothy Rollins

JANUARY 7 - "The thing about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch." - Actor Scott Glenn playing the role of Commander Bart Mancuso in the movie "The Hunt for Red October".

And man oh man, did the NBA players flinch – and how! Showing loyalties to themselves and no one else, the players relented and accepted a deal for a new six-year labor agreement for no other reason but to get at least a portion of their hyper-inflated salaries. They realized that in this case, half a loaf was better than none at all. Had NBA Commissioner David Stern not been able to get the agreement, he would have followed the recommendation of the team owners and canceled the entire 1998-1999 regular season, which would have been the right thing to do in the first place, and which he should have done just out of principle.

If there is any one thing the American people simply cannot tolerate, it is millionaire players and multi-millionaire/billionaire owners squabbling over money. The average annual NBA player salary is $2.9 million, more than many Americans will make in their lifetimes. Back in November, the players were lamenting their "sad lot" of lockout and their so-called poverty around a casino table in Las Vegas, where just sitting at the table cost them $100 each. Just how many ‘poor’ people do most of us know go about lamenting their lot from a vacation spot? None? Didn’t think so.

If there was ever a case of a professional sport shooting itself in the foot, it is clearly the NBA. Before the lockout was imposed on July 1^st, the NBA had never lost a game due to labor unrest and had in fact, set the standard for all professional sports to follow. The NFL, NHL and especially Major League Baseball have had numerous labor actions over the past 20 years and change.

Remember the baseball strike that resulted in the cancellation of the playoffs and the 1994 World Series? That action of unmitigated gall and greed on the part of players (most notably Orel Hershiser) and owners resulted in a boycott of baseball and sharp reductions in not only attendance at ball parks, but also lower television revenues for the networks, thus sticking it to the owners as well.

It was not until the magic of 1998 with several men chasing and two of them breaking the single-season home run record that had been held by Roger Maris since his 61 in 1961. Mark McGwire hit 70 homers, and Sammy Sosa made 66 round-trippers, while the New York Yankees had their best season ever with an American League record 114 wins, with Houston and Atlanta also each having over 100 wins a piece as well.

Unlike baseball, hockey or the NFL, the NBA does not enjoy the deep fan loyalty base the others do. It was not until Commissioner David Stern came around with the 1980’s "Showtime" approach that fans took to basketball and made it the world’s most watched sporting activity. With Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and more than likely, Michael Jordan gone as well, much of the luster the NBA once had has failed to pass itself to a second generation of players. Say what you want, but I do not think that Shaquille O’Neal is nowhere near as good as Jordan, Worthy, Johnson, Bird or any of the greats of the 70’s or 80’s.

One of the concessions the union allowed was a hard salary cap for players. Hopefully, this will put an end to player salaries that can only be described as asinine. I mean, no basketball player, regardless of how good he is, is worth signing to a nine-figure contract as was done with Shaq and the Los Angeles Lakers a few years back. Shaq may be an excellent player, but nine figures? At that rate, the only people who will be able to afford to attend Laker home games would be Jack Nicholson and Dyan Cannon or having Spike Lee courtside at Madison Square Garden. Had the salaries not been reined in, the only people that would eventually be able to afford basketball would be those whose mugs get on the tube regularly.

I don’t know about you, but when I watch a basketball game, I like to concentrate on the players and the game itself rather than a television camera showing which of the glitterati are in attendance. Perhaps that is one of the many reasons why college basketball has such broad appeal to me. Unlike the pros, college players use basketball as a means to an end, rather than as an end unto itself. Most of these kids know they will never make the pros, and it is just as well.

I was a student at the University of Utah when Phoenix Suns head coach Danny Ainge was playing for BYU. Danny had a well-earned and much-deserved reputation of trying to weasel out of certain calls by the referees, particularly when it came to contact with other players. His buzz phrase seemed to be "I didn’t touch him!" Ainge was an aggressive player who did his darndest to get the ball to the hoop, whether scoring the bucket himself or passing it off to BYU teammate Fred Roberts for the easy two. His record of scoring in double-digits in 110-plus consecutive college games probably still stands as a BYU and possibly NCAA scoring record, and was probably a key factor in his receiving the prestigious Eastman award while in college.

As a pro, Ainge was the 6^th man in helping the Boston Celtics win two NBA titles in 1984 and 1986, and helped the Portland Trailblazers and the Phoenix Suns make it into the NBA Finals as well. His take-no-prisoners style of play was legend. When Maurice Cheeks once complained about Ainge’s aggressive style of getting the ball, Ainge reportedly remarked, "Mo, I’d do the same to my wife if she were going for a lay-up."

Unlike many players in professional sports, Ainge, while mouthy on occasion, never complained about the "poor players". He showed both players and management that he was committed to win and to do what was best for the team. And while I tend to think of Suns owner Jerry Colangelo as something of an opportunist, I must credit him and Cotton Fitzsimmons with having a great deal of wisdom when it came to Danny.

They selected Ainge to be the head coach of the Phoenix Suns a couple of years ago. Phoenix was the team Ainge spent his final years as a player. When he took over as head coach, they were at like 0-15 and nobody thought the Suns would have any chance whatsoever at making the playoffs. One of the first things Ainge did as Head Coach, was to have selected road trips where the players were able to take their families along. The players responded with such intensity and unity that the Phoenix Suns were able to get into the playoffs that year, defying the odds and the conventional wisdom of the time.

With this protracted labor action, the NBA has done itself some serious damage and it will be a long time before fans place their trust in these prima-donna owners and players again, if ever. If there was ever a case of where some serious emergency brown-nosing has to be done, this is it. By holding out for over six months, the owners and players have sent a clear message to the fans, and it reads "To hell with them!"

Well, now that the lockout is over, it is time for the fans to pay back the owners and players in spades. Fans should boycott all NBA games for both the remainder of this season and all of next season, to include the networks refusing to air games. This, more than anything, will send a message to the NBA players and owners who hopefully will understand that in basketball, as in all professional sports, that the fan is #1 as it is they who pay the inflated ticket prices that pay their salaries.

I also believe that the City of Philadelphia should sue the pants off the NBA for the $35 million they would have had brought into the city for the all-star game which had to be canceled because of owner and player intransigence.

Now that the crybaby owners and players have agreed to shake hands and make up, it is time for the fans to make their displeasure known and how.

Let the boycott begin. ***