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Vecsey Blasts The Union and Hunter
[New York Post]
SPORTS
MISSION: IMPASSE-ABLE
By PETER VECSEY
--------------------------------------------
WHILE David Falk's Freedom Fighters are
staging their first charity ball tomorrow
in Atlantic City (there are still a few
luxury suites available), Michael Jordan
will be playing in the Lexus golf
tournament on NBC; network interviewers are
standing by waiting to be boycotted.
Jordan's conspicuous lack of support for
his fan-unfriendly companions and
power-grubbing agent (anything to procure a
client or a photo opportunity, that's his
motto) should tell us everything we need to
know about what he thinks of this on-going
fiasco.
If Jordan believed in the game, I suspect
he would've attached his presence to its
basis rather than distance himself from it.
Which brings us to the $2 billion question
only Billy Hunter can answer with any cost
certainty: Will there be a 1998-99 NBA
season? From what I've read over the last
few days, it can't possibly get under way
until the union's core of counterfeit
communicators finish insulting our
intelligence.
How dare Alonzo Mourning and Karl Malone
insinuate that racism is playing some kind
of a role in the impasse between the
league's 29 white owners and the players
who are 85 percent black! It never fails to
amaze me how low people are willing to go
when they don't get their own way, screw up
big time (Latrell Sprewell), or just flat
out can't take the pressure.
Racism, my rear bumper! Anybody who says
money isn't at the root of this pernicious
stalemate have simply chosen to live in a
world of make believe until it's time again
to play in it.
How dare Mourning and Malone imply they're
being disrespected by the owners because of
their color when Mourning is the Poster
Child of Greed (see defection from Hornet
teammates, fans and the city in 1995 and
forced trade to the Heat because $10
million per year wasn't enough) and Malone
has dishonored his Jazz contract every
chance he could.
Being black sure didn't hurt Mourning and
Malone (or any player) when their
individual contracts were being negotiated.
So why should it be a factor regarding a
new collective bargaining agreement?
As Hunter admirably noted on BET last week
when the same lame innuendo was raised, "If
the owners were all black we'd be arguing
about the same issues we're stuck on now."
Racism, my tail gate! The players are quick
to point out how white the owners are, yet
it doesn't seem to bother them at all how
predominately white their union is;
everyone in a position of authority, it
seems, except Hunter.
Do the players really believe the fairy
tale that the agents (specifically Falk,
Arn Tellem and Eric Fleisher) have their
best interests at heart in this negotiation
ahead of their own? Get real! Should the
league get a ceiling on high-end salaries
(there won't be a season unless it does)
and a hard cap, or a scale on the lower end
players, agents figure to become all but
extraneous. The players are on the verge of
losing a season's salary. The agents stand
to lose their careers.
And you wonder why Falk's clients (Patrick
Union, Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Dan
Schayes, etc.) dominate the players'
negotiation committee. He's controlling the
talks. Manipulating the players. Pulling
Hunter's strings. Right from the git-go,
Falk has made it clear to Hunter:
Give up my high end players (Antonine
Walker, Rod Strickland, Stephon Marbury,
Allen Iverson, Vin Baker; all of whom, you
know very well, Falk has promised $100M
contracts) and you'll be fired the next
day.
Whether Falk can back up that threat
remains to be seen. But it certainly
becomes more understandable why Hunter is
taking so long to make the same deal he
could've had months ago, saving at least
$400M in players' salaries in the process.
That's why, I submit, Hunter keeps
demanding that David Stern set a drop dead
date. Only when he's feeling that burden of
losing his players' entire paychecks will
he feel comfortable in giving up the
high-end players (as if signing for an
average of 15M in the first year and 24M in
the sixth year of the new can be termed a
major sacrifice).
Only then will he take on Falk, it says
here. Not that Hunter doesn't have inner
fears that are far removed from Falk.
Sources say Hunter openly admits he's
afraid to make a premature deal that might
have players ticked off two years from now.
What a wimp! Either you've got the
confidence, experience, acumen and guts to
make a deal or you don't.
Clearly, Hunter does not. So he stalls. And
he baits Stern, knowing full well how much
the commissioner is fighting a number of
owners from canceling the season. And he
incites his troops with a them against us
rallying cry. And he holds weekly
conference calls that turn into pep
rallies. And he uses all the right catch
phases that get the players into an
emotional frenzy.
'How do we get rid of Stern," they chant.
"We'll start our own league," they say.
"Let's strike the playoffs if we don't get
what we want now," they blather. "Baseball
players held tough and look how great
baseball players are doing," they
underline, not caring about that the sport
continues to struggle. "Let's set our own
drop dead date," they declare.
Meanwhile, Hunter avoids discussing the
issues with his membership. There are no
fresh ideas. No details. No clue. Instead
of addressing each other's concerns, how
the majority of players can be helped, and
what does the league want in return, Hunter
keeps them unified by continually firing
them, planting the seed of racism in their
minds.
How many times has he distorted what Stern
or the owners said? How many times has he
turned obscure issues or wrong ones into
mountains of distrust? And when he's got
nothing going for him that day he merely
makes stuff up as he goes along.
The players' (and the league's) only hope
is that the inexperienced, incompetent
Hunter knows when to accept. And that his
procrastination will be worth what was lost
in salaries. In the end, we'll find out
whether it was worth losing $400M for what
was gained over the length of the new
agreement.
The fact is, if Hunter does get it done
it'll be in spite of him. If he gets a deal
done, he won't deserve it.