I'M INNOCENT! REALLY?
In fighting for final dollars, league has cost itself much more
Kurt Helin
Today I and a lot of NBA fans feel like Charlton Heston at the end of Planet of the Apes.
You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!
The ultimate stupidity of what has happened with the NBA lockout is that in the fight over the system of movement and the last dollars in this new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the two sides will have cost themselves hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars.
They are fighting over how to divide up the pie, but that pie is about to get a lot smaller. Fans are pissed.
There is almost zero chance of games on Christmas Day, which is when football starts to wind down and the average sports fan starts to turn his or her attention to the NBA.
There will be no games that day, and the backlash will cut the league and its revenue for years. Fans will feel the recession and see no NBA games and rightfully be disgusted.
Fighting over percentages of revenue while at the same time reducing the amount of revenue is maybe the ultimate foolishness on the players’ and owners’ part.
While nobody is blameless, I side with Ray Ratto of CSNBayArea.com that the owners have been the worst offenders.
They created this system, and everyone’s franchise values rose dramatically since Stern first masterminded the star-players-in-star-cities Strategy. This the owners deciding that profits can be increased and maybe even maximized with a new and more punitive system whose only real feature is that the owners can now be indemnified against their witless exuberance, poor judgment and flat-out mistakes.
And if you think the owners are taking all the financial risk, then you should see who paid for most of their stadiums. You, the taxpayer, did.
The owners’ biggest mistake was not giving the players a way out of the negotiations to save face (it didn’t have to be much). The owners had the big win, but to win by 30 was not enough, they kept on the full-court press and wanted to win by 40. So they gave ultimatums and drove this kind of bargain that was almost certain to make the players fight back with the biggest club they had.
The players are not blameless. They should have decertified long ago, not pushed the button and blown it all up Monday as time to save the season has run out. You can make an argument that they should have taken commissioner David Stern’s latest offer or at least put the entire thing to a vote of the entire union membership. If they accepted the offer, they still would be making incredible money to play a game.
But where we are now is that the sides are fighting over a shrinking pie. If they had solved this like adults, everyone would have gotten their fill. Now the game suffers and everyone goes hungry.
I feel like Heston right now.
7 p.m. ET: No. 6 Duke vs. Michigan State in New York (ESPN/ESPN3)
If you've made it this far in the Marathon, you're dog tired. Your vision may be faulty. You may be considering a warm bath and 15 hours of sleep. And then, if you're anything like me, your adrenaline will kick in. Why? Because this is when things get really good. Two of the nation's most prominent and consistently successful programs squaring off in Madison Square Garden for the inaugural Champions Classic? It's a massive fixture for more than its sheer basketball content. There will be plenty of that, of course. We'll get to see if Michigan State is ready to exceed expectations earlier than usual, and we'll get to learn more about a young Duke team that showcased plenty of its flaws in Friday night's escape vs. Belmont. More importantly, we'll get to see a coaching icon go for his 903rd win, the one that will nudge him above his mentor Bob Knight and make him the winningest coach in Division I college hoops history. If you're a UNC fan with an abiding hatred of Coach K, you can feel free to ignore the historic proceedings, but the rest of us will be watching.
8 p.m. ET: No. 8 Florida at No. 3 Ohio State (ESPN2/ESPN3)
Welcome to hour No. 21. It was this time last season when, having just chatted for 20 straight hours, yours truly was beginning to think the Marathon would never end. I became awash in existential doubt. I may have been hallucinating. I can't really remember. Then Jared Sullinger and the Ohio State Buckeyes woke me up. I wasn't the only one. OSU's dominant win in Gainesville announced the presence of Sullinger and the Bucks as one of the nation's true national championship contenders -- and they've been hunting that title ever since. Sullinger is back for his sophomore season, and he's already begun to flash his expanded perimeter game; he even knocked down a 3 in Ohio State's season-opening romp over Wright State. But Florida is no Wright State. When the Gators arrive in Columbus, they'll bring one of the best -- certainly the deepest -- backcourts in the country. Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton are experienced; freshman Bradley Beal is among the nation's elite new talents; and Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario, who reached the 1,000-point mark with the Scarlet Knights by his sophomore season, is a scoring machine. Florida's frontcourt won't do much scoring this season, but thanks to sophomore Patric Young, it will be as physically forceful as any in the country. Florida is hoping to make a statement symmetrical to Ohio State's, using an impressive road win to prove that it should be counted among the nation's elite. Your fatigue-induced hallucinations will have to wait.
Buckeyes Prepare for Florida
The Florida Gators
Matta called Florida “one of the best teams” he has seen this year.
Matta said they have experience and their guard play is tremendous. Half their shots are threes and they look to strike quick in transition.
Matta called Billy Donovan "One of the good guys." Said they talk frequently, except when playing each other.
Sullinger said this team is going to find out what kind of toughness they have tomorrow night and what kind of defense we have.
Sullinger: “This determines what type of team we are. Are we strong enough to handle back-to-back transition threes or are we going to crumble.”
Craft said with a team like Florida, it’s imperative for him to get back as quickly as possible on defense.
Youth and Inexperience
Matta said he likes playing a tough game like this early in the season because it gives him a better idea of his team.
Matta said one of the hard parts of coaching a young team is making excuses for them. He told this group he wouldn’t do that. Going to hold them to the same standard.
Matta said, “I think you could poll our team and they know we have a lot of work to do.”
Matta said Craft was poised and stoic in the Florida game last year. Showed no signs of being a freshman.
Matta said Craft always says, ‘what do I need to do to help this team win, not what do I need to do to play.’ He’s always won. Not a guy who makes excuses. How you see him in the games is exactly how he practices.
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