OWNERS, PLAYERS

["Dorine" <norine@sover.net>]

Noah, you did say “they (meaning the players) not the owners have a greater
right to basketball related income”. Therefore, your statements that you
didn't say that are untrue.  I very seldom get into these arguments, but it
seems that lately every post someone makes is picked apart line by line by
you, as though someone appointed you the expert among us and you have to
answer anything and everything.
Could you cut that out?  Please?  It's become very annoying, at least to me.
    You're not the first one to say you don't go to the games to watch
Gaston sitting there in his suit.  That is, I'm sorry to say, a childish
statement.  Of course you don't, wouldn't we look silly sitting there
starting at Gaston?  Any one of us, going into business, is expecting to
make money, or at least to make a living.  We need employees and in this
case it's basketball players.  They are paid better than most employees, but
the owners should get more money, they are the ones who invested and take
all the risks.  They invest many, many millions of dollars.  It's mind
boggling, the amount of money it takes just to keep a club going, and that
expense is paid for by the owners, be they a corporation or a single human
being.  None of that expense is born by the players.  In the real world of
work, you have to work your way up the ladder and prove your worth.  Even
then you don't “demand” to be the highest paid, or you're probably out the
door.  Do most of us have guarantied contracts?  No.  Can we sit at home for
months or years and continue to receive our full paycheck indefinitely or at
least for the life of our contract, and all our medical bills are paid for
us?  No.
    You are right, they are entertainers.  That's a given.  But actors,
etc., are paid for a job, not guarantied to receive a certain amount for any
movie they make.  They may have an “asking price”, but no maker of a movie
has to pay it, and if enough of them won't pay it, he/she is not going to be
working.  If it's true for other entertainers, then why are any pro sports
players guarantied and paid on their potential?   When an actor, or any
other performer, becomes a “star” they get the bigger bucks.  That's really
all most of us are asking.  Prove you're one of the best, then demand the
big bucks.
    I know I'm rambling, sorry about that, but this whole argument, with
these scenarios, gets a little silly.  Flame away, I just needed to get this
out.
Dorine