If the NBA takes a hard fall, will anybody in Cleveland and other non-destination cities care enough to help it up? So asks Bud Shaw.
View full sizeWith Carmelo Anthony as the most recent NBA star to hold multiple teams hostage, the stage is set for a duel between the haves and the have-nots in the upcoming labor negotiations. That could be a battle that the NBA really can't win, says Bud Shaw.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If the NBA takes a hard fall, will anybody in Cleveland and other non-destination cities care to help it up?
The NBA and NFL might want to take a big-picture step back. When the most peaceful sports league in America is Major League Baseball, they really should check themselves.
It's like getting noticed at a party with Charlie Sheen in the room. You should probably stop drinking from all six Bongzilla tube funnels at the same time. You've gone too far.
MLB's collective bargaining agreement ends in December. Maybe the worry will grow over the summer, but for now it appears owners and players are looking at the date as a renewal of vows compared to where negotiations seem certain to take football and, especially, basketball.
Some people say my cultural references are seriously dated. Oh, really? Well, then let me try again. I say baseball owners and players are enjoying the best marriage this side of Sandra Bullock and Jesse James.
Maybe it comes from having survived a self-immolation when it canceled the 1994 World Series. Nobody wants to shower each other with lighter fluid in front of a flaming grill again anytime soon.
But if I had to guess on one league doing just that, it would be the NBA, which lost games even more recently than baseball (1998-99), but seems ripe for another interruption despite growing revenues.
The NBA has never really been a true democracy among clubs as far as championship possibilities go. There's always been power bases. Only eight franchises have won NBA titles since Seattle's win in 1979. Apparently, that's too many for today's NBA stars, who would like to reduce the league to New York, Boston, L.A., Chicago, Miami and the Washington Generals.
What's good for the league -- star-studded teams to put on TV over and over -- isn't good for individual franchises outside the biggest and sunniest markets. David Stern needs to fight for the little guys. And the hope is he will -- once he comes to from swooning over the ratings.
NBA owners who are already concerned about dwindling profits are digging in even more after "The Decision" and the Carmelo Anthony saga. It's not just the feeling that NBA stars are wielding more power than ever. It's the reality. Unlike the NFL, where it's nearly impossible for business moguls not named Art Modell to bleed money, NBA owners are much more vulnerable to losses.
San Antonio, long an example of how well-run small market teams can turn a profit and hoist a trophy, is thought to be losing money.
As for baseball, don't put too much stock in the old-style rhetoric heard in recent days. Kenny Williams, the GM of the Chicago White Sox, called the idea of $30 million baseball players (like Albert Pujols) "asinine." He said he'd rather see the sport shut down to spread more parity if need be.
Yankees' owner Hank Steinbrenner railed against his complacent players "building mansions" and suggested that sharing revenues with owners who aren't trying as hard to win was akin to "socialism." But that's Williams and Steinbrenner. You don't expect measured, understated perspective from those two any more often than you expect it from Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann.
Unless Mike Hargrove comes back to play and adjusts his batting gloves four times a night, baseball seems safe from serious interruption.
The NFL? Too smart to sabotage itself. Players' careers are too short for them to justify losing even part of a season.
The NBA? Owners feel they've lost control and that the players think the game is all about them.
Other than The Decision, The Melo-Drama and a man jumping over a car to dunk a basketball with a gospel choir standing by, wherever do they get that idea?
SEPARATED AT BIRTH
Charles Woodson and Troy Smith -- Jim Jerome.
VP Joe Biden at the State of the Union address and the old curmudgeon in the balcony from the Muppet Show. -- JT, Medina
SPINOFFS
View full sizeIf Phil Dawson wasn't available, wouldn't Ryan Pontbriand be the most-fitting Brown to receive a franchise tag? Bud Shaw is being at least 50 percent serious with that question.What does it say about the Browns that when they finally franchise a player, it's a kicker? Nothing terribly bad about their talent level over the years. Franchising Phil Dawson was a smart move...
The only reason I mentioned it is I picked long-snapper Ryan Pontbriand first in the Browns' Franchise Tag Fantasy Draft...
Isiah Thomas is supposedly seeking credit behind-the-scenes for luring Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks. Luring? He needed to be lured to New York about as much as I need to be lured to a pierogi smorgasbord...
Yankees' owner Steinbrenner, no doubt feeling he spoke for Yankees fans, blamed the team's failure to play up to its potential in 2010 on some players being "too busy building mansions" and "not concentrating on winning" after capturing the 2009 World Series.
Yep. Same problem here, Hank. Overpaid players still groggy from the last victory parade. Now please be quiet...
HE SAID IT
"I don't want to sound arrogant but I did something in one year people couldn't do in their whole collegiate careers." -- Cam Newton, sounding arrogant.
HE SAID IT (IN THE THIRD PERSON)
"The ideal situation is drafting Cam Newton as quickly and fast as possible. ... Do I care where I go? No." -- Cam Newton, using inside knowledge to say Cam Newton will happily play anywhere.
YOU SAID IT
"Bud:
"If you worked for the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, how would you entice pro athletes to play here?" -- Dodie
I'd sell them on the lack of post-game traffic.
"Bud:
"With Brett Favre retired and Carmelo Anthony traded to the Knicks, who will be ESPN's next Athlete Ad Nauseum?" -- Tom Hoffner, Broadview Heights
That die was already cast by Sunday night of All-Star weekend. Justin Bieber.
"Bud:
"Now that Travis Hafner is juiced on Propecia, will he be a smashing 'designated hit-hair'?" -- Jim, Seven Hills
I'm guessing you'll be here all week?
"Bud:
"Conversations always seem to come in Cleveland about which one of our pro sport franchises will break this city's title drought. Isn't it time to lay off the championship predictions and worry about which one of our teams will be the next to finish above .500?" -- Nick
Yes. If there's one thing old and tired in Cleveland, besides me I mean, it's those incessant championship predictions.
"Bud:
"In view of the Cavs' dismal performance -- taking a cue from The Q scoreboard -- is it time to incorporate 'The Diff' in the daily standings so we can keep track of the spread in wins and losses?" -- Gary, Wickliffe
First-time "You Said It" winners receive a T-shirt from the Mental Floss collection.
"Bud:
"After his triple double in a losing cause at the NBA All-Star Game, do you think LeBron should take his talents to the Western Conference?" -- Jim O, Chardon
Repeat winners receive a phantom elbow injury.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/budshaw/index.ssf/2011/02/with_nba_headed_for_a_fall_wil.html
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