Why I'm Torn About the NBA Lockout's End

My friend got excited as he looked at his phone late Friday night and said "well, the NBA lockout is over". There was no rejoicing from anyone in the room, no champagne flowed, no cigars lit. My reaction was pretty indifferent, I think I was more concerned with our game of "Catch Phrase" at that moment. And so here we are, the NBA lockout has ended. There are those who are jubilant because they will be able to watch their favorite teams and NBA stars. Chicago Tribune Sports had a poll question on Saturday about reaction to the lockout. To my surprise, nearly 75% of the responders at that point said that they could care less about the lockout ending. I honestly think for many people this lockout has left a bad taste in their mouths. It confirmed what we already knew about NBA players and owners. The latter are a bunch of greedy, control obsessed group of billionaires.(I would make one exception, Mark Cuban, he seems to be a cool dude) The former are a group of self-absorbed crybabies that have know clue what's going on.(There are also exceptions in this group) The lockout has left me wondering what I will do once Christmas Day comes.

I haven't "loved" watching basketball since June 14th, 1998(if you don't know, too bad, I'm not explaining). That was the end of one of the greatest era's in basketball. From that point on basketball was just something I watched to pass the time. The 2010-2011 NBA season was a good one, I will admit that. I did enjoy watching D. Rose and the Bulls make their playoff run. I tuned in for the games that were available to me in Michigan. I started staying up late to watch the West Coast games even though I had to get up early the next day. I was approaching an interest in basketball that I hadn't known since 1998. Even when the Bulls were eliminated, the drama of the big three down in Miami did help me to watch some of NBA Finals.

Then all that momentum got lost with the lockout. I saw billionaires and millionaires fighting over who got the biggest percentage of billions of dollars. I realize, as another blogger pointed out, that the lockout was not just about money. There was the issue of control, the owners and the league wanted more control. It was quite poetic that while the NBA lockout was drudging along, the Occupy Movement began to gain momentum. I am not here to promote or demonize the Occupy Movement. But from what I do know, one of their major rallying points has to do with corporate greed and all that goes along with that. You contrast that with the NBA lockout, two groups, millionaires and billionaires both claiming that they are not getting enough of the pie. It actually sickens me a bit. Meanwhile, because they aren't playing games, hot dog and beer vendors, and security guards aren't making money to support themselves and their families.(I don't have any hard stats on this but I could imagine some people(not players of owners) lost some income because of the lockout).

The NBA lockout reminded me of what I hate about sports in our country, the pure economics of it. People get paid way too much to play a game. People have to pay way too much to go see a game. I don't want to take anything away from the talent that these athletes have. I know they have worked hard to get where they are. I know a lot of them have come from nothing and now they can support their families. I love those stories and I love when athletes do give back to their communities. But I don't think, on the whole, they do enough.

This lockout will taint my vision of the NBA for quite some time. I don't know if I will tune in on Christmas Day. The tension I feel is that I love sports and I have since I was young. It is a huge part of my life. Probably 70% of my conversations with people are about sports. I wonder if I spent that much time talking about my faith, the bible, God, Jesus, justice, injustice, hope; would my life be different? Would I be making a bigger impact on the world? It's all about balance and putting my love for sports in it's proper place.