Re: Good!

[Kim Malo <kmalo19@idt.net>]

At 09:44 AM 11/4/98 PST, "Jim Meninno" <jim_meninno@hotmail.com> wrote:
>It seems to me the "lockout" is more a result of Falk already having 
>been crowned "king rat" and installing his clients at the head of the 
>union.  Let's face it, you don't end up disgruntled when you're making 
>twenty million dollars a year unless someone is egging you on. 

Look, I'm not denying Falk's influence or the fact that such egging
certainly does go on, but in point of fact yes, some people are quite
capable of begin disgruntled, no matter how much they're making, without
someone else egging them on. Particularly when young and spoiled. Trust me
-I worked in a bank trust department and I've heard it all myself. But since
it was the *owners* that initiated the lockout (don't understand why you
felt the need to put quotation marks around it), not any theoretically
disgruntled players (remember, the players weren't disgruntled -they were
quite happy to continue with the existing system) it wouldn't matter either
way. 

> Falk and 
>other agents see that every dollar in the owners' pockets is four cents 
>out of theirs.  And those four cents add up.  Their only interest is to 
>absolutely maximize player salaries because that is what their commision 
>is based on.  They seem to think that they can be as greedy as they want 
>and the league will continue to prosper.  I hope they are wrong.  Or 
>maybe they just want to make as much as they can now because they expect 
>it all to end one day.  Either way, I think they are the most 
>destructive force in sports and I truly hate them.
<snip>

You are overgeneralizing, although I agree that that's likely the case with
many agents. But just as it's the biggest name players who are coming across
as the greediest, it's the same with the biggest name agents. There are
other ones, such as the guy in Cleveland who was Ronny Grandison's agent
(can't recall his name. he died this year) who was well known leaguewide to
work above and beyond the call for his client's best interests, rather than
just to maximize the lining of his own pockets. The problem isn't agents per
se so much as abuses by some, particularly ones like Falk that believe they
are more important than the games that provide their livings. OTOH in the
times before agents players did get regularly screwed from not understanding
what was going on and thinking they had no leverage/options.

I'm probably no fonder of agents than you are, but the simple fact is that
the current situation derives from excessive greed on *all* parts and that
the owners -not the players or agents- initiated a lockout to try to force
the league into protecting them from the consequences of their own
stupidity. Players and agents can demand until they're blue in the face, but
unless someone gives in to their demands all it gets them is, well, blue in
the face. I'm not saying the owners should 'just say no' to all such
demands, because it isn't that simple. Look at all the vilification of
Gaston here for daring to object to AW's idea of fair compensation or the
Timberwolves situation where the owner overrode McHale's refusal to give in
to Garnett because he needed to draw fans to keep his newborn franchise
afloat. But the real evil by agents isn't in the lockout, it's in things
like making their young stars think image is everything and shoe contracts
more important than learning to shoot free throws. Which is part of why
you'll never convince them that they aren't more important than the game.
Even more than the contracts they demand as signs of 'respect' and their due.
  
-Kim
Kim Malo
kmalo19@idt.net