Settlement Leaves Best of Season -- Column from miami paper

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

Settlement leaves best of season 
January 07, 1999 
      We interrupt the one-track Dolphins playoff buildup -- "This is
John From Miramar, will it snow in Denver?" -- to bring you the
exciting end of the NBA season.
     And I don't mean The End, as in over-and-out, thanks to
Wednesday's happenings. That's if "thanks" is your word of choice.
Because right now soon-to-be-ex-Heat-season-ticket holders are
gnashing their credit cards at having to pay for games they want
refunded and, after the past few months, have no interest in seeing.
     I go the other way. I'm looking forward to the second half of
this season. I really am. As the new ad campaign will no doubt say: "I
l-o-o-o-ve this settlement," and not simply because we don't have to
listen to Alonzo Mourning as the foot-in-mouthpiece of the NBA players
anymore.
     I love it because of the timing. Yes, if you can work past your
anger or apathy at players and owners -- and I have the name of a good
therapist who can help -- you'll agree this agreement is perfect
because it negotiated the riddance of the three most worthless parts
in any NBA season:
     1) November.
     2) December.
     3) January.
     As for the agreement itself, let the number crunchers and Samuel
Gompers Jrs. hash out who got more, who got taken, and who in short
got the better of whom. Who cares?
     This was never about money anyhow. When there's so much money
involved that everyone can't even count their pile, it's not about
money. It's about ego. It's about winning.
     Now it's about seeing if anyone shows up for what will be good
games. Think of it: The season is shrunk from the usual 82 games, half
of which change nothing and mean less, to a little more than half
that. By process of elimination, they're the half that counts.
     I wish they had this season every season. Every game means
something. Every night will impact standings. Every team that deserves
to make the playoffs will make it, too, because the Bulls with Michael
Jordan won't fare any worse no matter the number of games.
     That's if the Bulls have Jordan, of course. What he decides about
his playing future dominates all questions of whether and how far the
NBA bounces back. Of course, there are other issues in the mix.
     Like the Heat's marketing slogan could be: If This Lockout Didn't
Turn You Off Completely, Would Latrell Sprewell?
     Yes, the long-awaited Sprewell Sweepstakes begin now and the Heat
is one of the short-list of teams that have the stomach, as well as
the coach and the need, to grab him.
     For NBA-bashers, Sprewell would be another reason to click off
the Heat. For the where-did-you-go-Joe-DiMaggio crowd, it will be
another reason to click off the Heat.
     For the rest of us realists, it's clear anymore in sports that
fans think a bum is someone who plays in another city on another team.
But that's a column for another day.
     The column for today is this is going to be a fun second half of
a season if you care to watch it. In case you missed it, the first
half's highlights consisted of Commissioner David Stern shaving his
beard, players emerging from negotiations with cell phones strapped to
their ears and an All-Star game in Atlantic City that was outdrawn by
the nearest craps table.
     Now South Florida gets Heat coach Pat Riley back on the sideline,
coaching as if every game means everything, which for once in a sports
season it just might.
     The NBA is back, even if not all the way. The Heat is back for a
season of intrigue.
     And now let's return to your normally-scheduled program of The
Weather Channel Does Denver. 





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