No Subject

Yes, the damage always finds its
way to the lowest end. And so we
sit here two weeks away from the
cancellation of the NBA season.

It would serve them both right.
Let them all lose their
millions.

But there go our rooting
interests, our fan loyalty and
commitment all these years. Did
it ever mean anything to stand
by your team?

Did these guys ever care?

The NBA says it is now prepared
to recommend to the league's
owners the season be canceled
Jan. 7 if there is no new
collective bargaining agreement
before then.

It's a chicken fight right now.

IT'S TIME FOR THE PLAYERS to
veer away.

There's no shame in losing --
and players know someone always
has to lose as long
as you can fight another day.

It's time for the players to
deal. It's time for players
association executive director
Billy Hunter to forget his
promise to kick David Stern's
butt, and to save the butts of
so many of his union members.

Get them working again. Get them
paychecks before they begin to
lose their careers.

After all, there now are 29
first-round picks prepared to
sign guaranteed contracts, and
another 29 coming in a few
months. That's at least 15
percent of the union membership
that won't be working in the NBA
by next fall, if there is an NBA
next fall.

Let them go to work now and make
what they can while they can. No
matter what the players think,
they are replaceable.

I CHECKED THE RECORDS AND there
was a league even before Michael
Jordan began playing.

People gasped about games in the
NBA. Before Jordan was even
born.

Institutions live on. Players
come and go.

Let them enjoy their special
gifts while they have the
chance. There is a big
difference between owners and
players.

Owners get in to make money.

Players don't.

Players play the game. Would any
of them not have started playing
if they knew they were never
going to make any money? No.
They played because they had
special skills and loved the
game.

OWNERS ONLY HAVE BEEN involved
because they love the money.

So it's time for the union to
call a vote of the full
membership.

If the players are ready to go
back and play, let them say so.
It seems incredible a union run
by African-Americans for mostly
African-Americans is denying its
membership the right to vote on
their futures.

If the players reject the NBA's
offer, then at least everyone
knows they were involved and had
the chance to decide their own
fates. Then they can live with
it.

For too long this ridiculous
fight have been over who is the
biggest, baddest and toughest.

Union director Billy Hunter was
brought in to face down Stern.
Agent activist David Falk often
has told those around him it is
he who runs the NBA. They were
going to show everyone how tough
they were, and never mind the
consequences.

THE OWNERS, REALIZING THEIR
BUSINESS was spinning out of
control and beyond their ability
to control it, decided they must
have a new economic system.

The events in baseball, of
spiraling salaries that seem
certain to lead to another labor
holocaust in a few years, only
convinced them more they have to
change the rules. Even losing a
season would seem worth it.

They can afford it, even if it
would seriously damage their
basketball investments.

Would it hurt Ted Turner?
Cablevision? Paul Allen? These
people and companies have other
interests. They continue to
work. They continue to make
money. Life will go on.

But where do the NBA players go?
A chance to take a few years off
and study the classics? This is
the best it will ever be for any
of them. It's the way it is for
athletes. In a way, it's sad.
Because they peak in their lives
at 25. But it's so high it's
probably worth the subsequent
decline.

Take that away and all you have
is an embittered life.

THE PLAYERS WERE PREPARING for
this fight since the 1995 labor
negotiations.

New team player representatives
were selected. Hawkish union
lawyers gained control. They
were not about to be pushed
around.

So where are they? David Stern
also needs to help them, as
little as he'd like to. He's
also forgot what he came for. So
what if the union looks like
it's won. Once this battle is
over, Hunter becomes a guy only
heard from during Latrell
Sprewell's next outrage.

Stern is back in control. So
just as the league is asking the
players to rescue them from
themselves, Stern must rescue
Hunter from himself. He must be
thrown something that looks like
a major concession Hunter
wrangled. As Mel Brooks said in
the movie Blazing Saddles,
"Gentlemen, we have to protect
our phony baloney jobs."

The limousines are getting
closer. Is a crash worth it?
Everyone prospers if one pulls
away. It's time for the players
to do so. They can live with it.

Sam Smith is the author of "The
Jordan Rules" and a columnist
for the Chicago Tribune.



Copyright © 1998 SportsLine USA, Inc. All rights reserved.
CBS "eye device" is a registered trademark of CBS Inc.