BY MIKEY MIGO
I enjoy the NFL at times, but my sport is the NBA. I grew up in the 90’s so I was blessed with the golden age. It didn’t hurt that I’m a Bulls fan and got to see Michael Jordan play at his peak. It’s like if I were a Yankees fan and got to watch Ruth or Mantle play as a kid. I’m going to always be a Bulls fan. Even the past six or seven years. While people in the Chicago area were ignoring basketball even existed I was still sticking with my team. With maturity came rationale. I’d go into a season hoping for the absolute best, but knowing that if my team made it to AT LEAST the second round of the play offs then it was a successful season. Then Derrick Rose, Noah, Deng, and the rest of the team really started to kick ass last year. They meshed well and all stepped up. They had a great season and showed TONS of promise for the future of the franchise. You just know they’re on their way to a handful of rings and a shelf full of awards and trophies. It’s not JUST because of their success that I was looking forward to the season, it was the fact that basketball was becoming fun again. Not since MJ was around had I spent so much time keeping up on the league’s happenings and games. I was happy to see the Mavs finally give Cuban his ring. I was happy to see Miami fail. I was happy to see guys like Kevin Durant and Rondo show that in 10 years the league will still in good hands.
It was all too good to be true.
What’s the point of trying to be a sports fan these days? Just when you put the thought of these game players making millions, if not hundreds of millions dollars behind you and start to enjoy the game they pull the bitch card.
The NBA is currently on a “lock out”. The translation is simply “the NBA players are on strike because they want more money”. That’s all it comes down to really. The NBA owners aren’t innocent. They’re making TONS of money and the players “want their piece”. Another issue is the fact that certain markets and cities are making TONS more money than the smaller market teams. The L.A.’s, the Miami’s, and the New York’s are all where the players want to play because of the extracurricular activities and weather. Meanwhile, places Oklahoma City and Milwaukee are left to the wolves and middle class superstars. In reality there’s only like a dozen teams and the rest are just underdog filler. So basically, the NBA players want to make more money, work less, and be able to get on TMZ after the game.
I miss the days of when a player would ride it out on a team. Guys like Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller and John Stockton rode it out on their teams for their whole careers. It was a HUGE deal when Barkley went to Phoenix, when The Glide went to Houston, and the Mailman went to the Lakers. There was a sense of loyalty and consistency that made it a real ongoing story. I think it was probably Shaq jumping from Orlando to the Lakers when all of that changed. It became an open field for the Free Agents. Players leveraged themselves to pretty much be able to do whatever they want. And they have, they still do, and from the looks of it, they still will. Two weeks are already lost and it’s looking more and more likely more games will be cancelled. And really, now if they decided to come back tomorrow would it matter?
Maybe we, the fans, should go on strike…
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