Re: Charity begins at home

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu wrote:

> j.hironaka@unesco.org wrote:
>
> > I'm not a labor history expert but it seems to me just intuitively
> that
> > the owner's insistence on elements of command-economy,
> market-rigging
> > would draw howls of protest from ordinary folks if it were imposed
> in
> > almost any other American labor context (whether against super
> wealthy
> > screen-actors or working-class truck-drivers).
>
> The proposal by the owners has nothing to do with "command"
> (centrally-planned) economy or market-rigging. Collusion by the owners
> not to
> pay a player above a certain amount would be an example of the latter,
> and an
> imposition by the league of arbitrary, non-guaranteed salaries on each
> player
> would be an example of the former. If you think that there are
> "regular"
> unions that do not accept restrictions on their compensation, you may
> have
> been living in France too long :) (although that's not true even in
> union-run
> France, even though it sometimes seems that way).
>
> Salaried employees, whether unionized or not, by definition must
> accept
> limitations on both the amount and the growth of their salary-related
> compensation, or there's no point in employing them. Moreover, in the
> real
> world owners have the option of firing their employees, or reducing
> their pay,
> to improve the infamous "bottom line" when it is unsatisfactory. In
> the NBA,
> the employees (the players) can't be fired even if they assault their
> superiors (see Feerick's decision), the few non-guaranteed contracts
> to
> marginal players notwithstanding.
>
> It is inarguable that the combination of no limits on compensation +
> guaranteed long-term contracts in a limited-commodity market like the
> NBA is
> simply not feasible. If you think that the owners should just let Adam
> Smith's
> "invisible hand" control the costs in the NBA, you're dreaming. Truly
> free-market economies do not exist anywhere in the world, even under
> the most
> favorable conditions - which professional sports certainly do not
> have.
>
> > On the face of it, the
> > escrow system really seems to me like an almost comical demand. How
> many
> > bosses do you know would be ballsy enough to ask you (with a
> straight
> > face, even) "just in case I spend too recklessly, can't I please
> just
> > deduct it from your future salary?"
>
> How is it comical, given the above? If your employer spends too
> recklessly on
> your salary, Joe, when the times get tight, you'll simply be asked to
> take a
> pay cut, or be fired. If you were irreplaceable or un-fireable, and
> refuse to
> play along, your company will fold (I'm not talking about unesco.org
> here :))
> More likely, you'll accept a compensation package that fits the
> employer's
> growth plans from the very beginning, or will be told to take a hike.
> In the
> real world, no-risk offers that are worth more than half the company
> are
> exceedingly unlikely, and almost never are termed "insulting" by the
> intended
> recipients.
>
> > I guess what spares this owner-imposed lockout from being more
> uniformly
> > perceived by both conservative and liberal pundits as strangely
> > "un-American" and "anti-competitive" is that the player's are widely
>
> I think what spares it is understanding that a business can't operate
> by
> having growing-without-limit, virtually irreducible (i.e., guaranteed
> contracts) operating costs.
>
> > characterized as super spoiled and shallow people, regardless of how
>
> > hard a few <g> may have worked to beat the many and staggering odds
> it
> > takes to earn a job in the NBA.
>
> Well, let's not be kidding ourselves here, Joe. I, like most people,
> could've
> been practicing my b-ball skills every waking hour of my life, and not
> made it
> to the NBA. As either McHale or Red said, if it were all about hard
> work, we
> could put five plumbers or carpenters on the floor, and win
> championships.
> Although, undoubtedly, many NBA players worked hard to get to the NBA,
> I doubt
> they worked any harder than the average b-ball recreational player.
> There are
> plenty of NBA players who did not pick up a basketball until they were
> in high
> school.
>
> K. Kveraga

Super post all the way IMO in the sense that it made me rethink things,
particularly in light of the guaranteed contracts etc. which I
conveniently overlooked.  It's true we United Nations empoyees (working
in France no less) don't necessarily have the clearest grasp of reality
sometimes.  :-)  We actually have an active staff union here, believe it
or not.

The one point I'd argue with is your last one concerning "I doubt they
worked any harder than the average b-ball rec player". I think there are
probably 5000 or more Americans who can play basketball well above the
rim and have all the height and physical prerequisites of an average NBA
pro (say a Greg Minor or Herb Williams). I've seen US highschool teams
where EVERY single player could dunk in the warmup drills (even the
point guards).  I'm sure many of us have see this sort of thing.

Basketball is a truly difficult sport. No way is it easy, Jose. Few of
us could hit 80 of 100 freethrows (the only "easy" thing about the game)
even if it meant a job in the NBA, and I'll admit I've probably spent
more time shooting around in the gym than I put into studying books.  I
think NBA pros sometimes just try to make the game look easy, the same
way we pretend we didn't study all that hard after we've aced a
chemistry exam or whatever. But these guys are incredibly
well-conditioned compared to most other pro sports athletes, simply
because there's so little time spent standing around in basketball. Just
imagine still being fresh after playing full-court man-to-man defense
for 10 minutes against the quickest and strongest player you've ever
played against. I'd probably lose 5 pounds in sweat sprinting back and
forth. No way would we be as mentally alert on offense. I don't know how
Bird played 40 minutes per night and could still take the last shot.

I'm not sure why I'm getting all bent out of shape over this, but I know
I really dislike it when people say NBA players are "just tall" or
"natural athletes." Most of us have played the sport long enough to
refute this. For me, rec league basketball is just a great excuse to
drink beers afterwards with all your friends (plus it's cheaper than
"poker night"). As far as I understand it, Antoine and Ron didn't have
so much as a single glass of beer all last season. They can't afford to
do that stuff to their bodies, anymore than a boxer in training can.

Anyway, thanks for the good thoughts in your post.

Joe

****