No News is No News in NBA Lockout

Suddenly NBA lockout negotiations have turned into a game of tennis. One day the ball is in the owner’s court. The next the ball rests in front of the players.

More marathon talks have yielded the same results as ever – nothing.

To think we’re any closer to seeing a season now than we were two days or even two months ago is foolish. There is no way to comprehend this labor strife any longer.

The owners demand a 50-50 split. The plays oblige. Nothing.

The players demand a soft cap. The owners oblige. Nothing.

No news is truly no news when it comes to this lockout. The latest rumor making the rounds is that there is a proposed 72 game schedule on the docket. That would be great. Beyond great in fact. I could live with a season minus only 10 games. But how likely is that to happen?

Now aside from Metta World Peace’s ill advised Tweets, there hasn’t been any truly teasing talk of the lockout ending. There haven’t been many reports filled with optimism. So I guess there really has never been a reason to feel betrayed. At least not in the public sense.

Publicly David Stern has never let on that any progress has been made.

Privately though, this really hits home. I fully realize that sports are nothing more than entertainment. I’ve made my peace long ago with the business side of athletics.

However this entire situation is nothing more than a cash grab. It is so blatant and obvious that it is laughable the owners can even dare to make more requests.

It is also becoming increasingly difficult to view the players as greedy. They’ve willingly given back their split and met many of the demands including all of Executioner Stern’s ridiculous deadline.

Yet here we stand. No movement at all. Only the promise of more talks to come. Exactly what more can be said?

At this point reaching an agreement won’t be viewed as a victory for either side. Somehow both parties are just going to have to rollover in some way and make a deal. And about all that will do is buy us all sometime until the next work stoppage.

Oh the joy!