re: owners players

["Noah Evans" <ishbak@hotmail.com>]

> 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 never denied saying that I thought the players had a greater right to 
basketball related income. My discussion with Bentz involved whether or 
not I thought the players were as  *greedy* as the owners, not who I 
thought had the moral high ground.

> 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.

"Picking" through an argument allows me to be precise in my response to 
an argument. I hardly believe myself an "expert". However --given the 
ambigious and often misinterpreted nature of internet debate-- it is far 
better to give a sentence by sentence response. That way  one can come 
close to assuring the thoughts one is referring to are obvious.


> We need employees and in this
> case it's basketball players.  

But do the employee's need owners? Given the current decline of the 
sport(i.e. teamplay, fundamentals) and the rise of the current lust for 
money, I would love to see a league managed by basketball savants who 
don't know a thing(and probably don't care much) about business. People 
that would get the money out of basketball.
	That why I'm sick of the basketball owners. I don't care if Gaston 
makes money. Actually I would rather he didn't. The owner's blind drive 
for profits is what created the star system(that's why I love seeing the 
owners hoist on their own petard--their creation of the star system, of 
marketable players that sell merchandise, and the star player's 
contracts is the same thing that's eating into the owner's precious 
money today), soaring ticket prices and pay per view blazer games(not 
that anyone would want to see any blazer other than Sabonis).
	That's why I propose getting rid of the owners, establishing a player's 
league instead. I'd love to see a league managed by Cousy, Heinsohn,  
Bird and their ilk with input from the current players. A league full of 
people who know more about basketball and less about marketing. A league 
where the players *do* shoulder the fiscal burden. How many 
Stackhouse's, Sprewell's and Webber's would you see if their paychecks 
depended on their wins and their objective value to the team, and not 
how many shots they jacked up or how prettily they dunked on a contract 
year? A league where players were accorded respect for their value to 
the team rather than how many jerseys they sell.
	Of course it will never happen, especially not in America. So I will 
continue to reluctantly support the players, even in their greed, 
because I like basketball --even in its tarnished form. But I'll be 
damned before I ever support Gaston and the way he and the other owners 
rape the sport in their quest for the almighty dollar.
 
Noah

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