Re: Final Thoughts on the Lockout

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.andara.com>]

Bravo Paul!

Let me add yet again that this is a lockout initiated by the owners which
prevents the players from earning their salaries.  This was not some coup
d'etat where the players just said the hell with this.

In my opinion, if the issue of race is a factor, it is not one which was
generated by the players.

Cecil

-----Original Message-----
From: damekmo@teleport.com <damekmo@teleport.com>
To: celtics@igtc.com <celtics@igtc.com>
Date: Saturday, December 05, 1998 2:49 AM
Subject: Re: Final Thoughts on the Lockout


>>1.  It's been little commented on, but its obvious to me that there a
>>strong race-solidarity siege mentality going on.  There's no other way
>>Billy Hunter could convince so many players to wipe out their
>>livlihoods for the sake of a few stars 20+ million contracts.
>
>Uhh...let me think...maybe they've thought it over and they actually agree
>with him? See below concerning your deal breaker.
>
>>It has
>>never been stated explicitly, but I am sure there is a strong
>>any-semitic strain going on here as well.  It's a real shame that some
>>of the stupidest players in the league, such as Alonzo Mourning (who
>>has made anti-Jewish cracks in the past, unlike so many other players
>>who feel the same way but kept their mouths shut)
>
>They haven't said anything but you know they're anti-semitic?
>
>>are in control of
>>the lockout.  We are standing strong, and they won't be happy until
>>they have broken us, exploited us, given us a wage we can't survive
>>on, etc.  What shit.  Can the fact that David Stern is Jewish - and
>>looks Jewish - and that many other owners and/or executives are Jewish
>>as well be wasted on the players?
>
>Since you think so...obviously not.
>
>>What makes me mad is that the more worldly,  independent-minded older
>>players, like Derek Harper or Charles Barkley (conspicuously absent
>>from the entire lockout issue), don't speak up.
>
>Uhh...maybe they agree too.
>
>>3.  Finally, I wish the owners would take the timing rules off the
>>table.  That is such an egregious dis that it almost guarantees a
>>canceled season.
>
>Let me get this straight...you see the above as a deal breaker but the
>reason Billy Hunter wont agree to a deal is because he's a Jew hating
>racist? Let me make sure I understand this...off the top of my head, the
>players have agreed to place a portion of their salaries into an escrow
>fund to be drawn on by the owners if player salaries go above a certain
>percentage of revenues...they've agreed to an onerous taxation system which
>would make a lot of the owners at least think twice about signing players
>to huge contracts and therefore would have the potential to further (along
>with current salary cap rules) limit the movement of players...they've
>agreed to extend rookie contracts...and they've asked for  mediation three
>times...and they're stupid Jew hating racists? Look, Josh...I think the
>players are going to, as some say on this list, "give in," but perhaps,
>right now, they actually believe that the owners are looking for a hard cap
>or nothing, and that, as Danny Schayes (that idiotic white guy who's being
>bullied by the Jew haters) has said, the owners haven't been negotiating in
>good faith. As the author of a "Bob Ryan's a racist idiot" post, let me
>propose that the "lockout" has almost nothing to do with race, on either
>side. The owners and players may not like each other for a lot of reasons,
>but right now, it's about the green stuff.
>
>>
>>Josh (don't bother to flame me, this is how I see things.)
>
>And it's all so clear, isn't it Josh?
>
>
>Paul M.
>
>
>