One of the prime topics of conversation during NBA All Star Weekend is the league’s labor agreement or lack thereof.
The league is enjoying an unprecedented level of popularity and its future is bright. Midway through the 2010-11 season, the league's talent level is deeper than ever and many of the those talented players are just beginning their careers. The NBA’s marketing machine is world class and interest in the league is at an all-time high.
However its road to success is approaching a giant pothole – otherwise known as its next labor agreement — and to me we’re entering a fascinating point in league history.
Forbes Magazine has reported that 12 of the 30 NBA teams lost money last season. And NBA Commissioner David Stern, several weeks back, claimed that league owners were projecting a cumulative loss this season of approximately 350 million dollars.
Stern has declared that the current labor situation is untenable because the players are being paid too much guaranteed money. The players for their part are digging in and this labor dispute shows few if any signs of getting resolved anytime soon.
There is also one glaring problem that I personally feel the NBA needs to fix because, if you ask me, it’s the one negative the league has faced for as long as Stern has been commissioner. Each season, too many teams have zero chance of making the playoffs.
Let’s face it, if you’re a fan of the Timberwolves, Wizards, Nets and a bunch of other teams, you’re basically watching games to see the opposing team because your team’s best chance to improve is to lose as many games as possible, get a high lottery draft pick and then have the ping pong balls fall the right way on lottery night. Luck plays too big a role in who’s good and who’s not.
Continued on the next pageI don’t expect a whole lot from my local newspaper, I’ve pretty much gotten used to their bias when it comes to political reporting. But the story that appeared on the front page Sunday, below the fold, was especially egregious. It is not an opinion piece, it’s an article that unsuspecting readers would believe isn’t tainted by bias. The reporter, Mark Weiner, obviously has it in for Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle. While the headline is somewhat innocuous, the first few paragraphs pretty much set the agenda. [Emphasis mine.]
When four days and nights of debate finally ended in the early morning hours Saturday and it was time to vote, U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle had no trouble making up her mind.
Buerkle had to choose between protecting Central New York from some of the deepest federal spending cuts in years, or supporting a Republican plan to slash $61 billion from the federal government’s budget through Sept. 30.
In an early test of her campaign promises to shrink government while also creating jobs in Central New York, Buerkle said the clear answer was to support the massive budget cuts – even if it means some short-term local suffering.
Oh, the suffering! What about the suffering our children and grandchildren will be subjected to thanks to Washington’s reckless spending for the past few years? There was no mention of how President Obama increased spending to unprecendented levels during his short tenure in the White House. Gee whiz, how on earth did we ever survive before he came along?
The article goes on to cite Democrats as if their word is gospel. Several paragraphs were devoted to the end of the “Just Say Yes” education program in Syracuse. Unless you continued reading, you wouldn’t know that the program has not been cut.
Matt Canter, Gillibrand’s spokesman, said the Say Yes grant was not specifically eliminated in a line item in the Republican spending plan. But he added, “The slash and burn proposal they put forward puts all programmatic funding into jeopardy.”
Okay then, why were seven paragraphs devoted to Buerkle wanting to end funding for “Just Say Yes” when it’s a total non-issue? Oh yeah, I forgot, they want people to believe that the children won’t be educated with Ann Marie Buerkle holding office.
The article also talked about the votes of Reps. Bill Owens and Richard Hanna. Owens is a Democrat who’s against any spending cuts. Hanna, another freshman, is a Republican who voted for the spending cuts, but cynically tried to cover his butt by saying he didn’t think they’d pass the Senate. That’s some way to stand up for principles, but hey, I’m sure he scored a point or two with the local rag.
Here’s the funniest, or at least the most ironic part of the hit piece on Ms. Buerkle, who said spending must be cut to get the economy on a more sound footing.
House Democratic leaders disagreed, and cited an independent study that found the spending cuts approved Saturday would likely result in the loss of 800,000 jobs across the nation.
Isn’t that interesting? It’s the exact same number of jobs the CBO director testified would be eliminated once ObamaCare is implemented. I could be wrong, but I certainly don’t recall Mark Weiner or the Post Standard covering that story.
In contrast, the Auburn Pub published Rep. Buerkle’s statement on her vote, without a whole lot of commentary accusing her of causing her constituents to suffer.
“I am proud of the work this Congress has done in passing the Continuing Resolution. Congress came together in an open and transparent effort to cut spending, save American taxpayers money in order to grow the economy and to set the climate for job growth. We are shrinking Washington to grow Central New York. No doubt about it, we are saving money for the American taxpayer.
The Continuing Resolution begins to shrink the federal government so that American families and business will not need to shrink their budgets any further to pay for excessive government spending. It is no coincidence that federal spending, federal debt, federal regulatory costs and unemployment reached record highs at the same time. By passing a leaner Continuing Resolution, we took the first step in cutting spending to create jobs.”
Note to Mark Weiner and the Post Standard: We’re broke! What part of that don’t you understand? Are you hoping we turn into Greece so you have a big story to cover? I’m beginning to wonder.
Update: The Other McCain linked – thanks!
Update 2: Da TechGuy linked – thanks!
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Hal Boedeker of Orlando Sentinel is The TV Guy. Dishing on TV, the news and what everybody is talking about.
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bench craft company
Central Florida <b>News</b> 13: Scott Harris has a new role – The TV Guy <b>...</b>
Hal Boedeker of Orlando Sentinel is The TV Guy. Dishing on TV, the news and what everybody is talking about.
Hyper-Local <b>News</b>: It's About the Community or It Fails: Tech <b>News</b> <b>...</b>
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