No thanks, NBA, we’re good
Ryan Fung
You want basketball this year, you should head down to the park
It’s looking like the NBA won’t come back from its lockout, and the season could be officially canceled in a matter of weeks. In a year where we successfully avoided an NFL work stoppage, I think I’m alright with the NBA season getting canceled. Apparently, so are all of you. Apathy and revulsion for the current labor strife is at an all-time high, and the general sentiment is that we could all use a break from the overpaid, clock-stopping antics of the NBA.
When the NFL’s lockout started to encroach on the average football fan’s comfort level, concerned fans were like spurned boyfriends in some sappy love song, pleading to their lost loves for a way to resolve the situation. With the NBA, fans’ sentiment has been more like Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way”: Fans aren’t putting up with the lamentations of spoiled athletes and greedy owners because the sport’s many cracks are starting to show, and we’d all just rather have the winter off.
Take a look at the proposed Nuggets starting lineup if you need any more reasons to not get excited for NBA basketball. Murderer’s row doesn’t quite describe the mediocre squad that would be jogging out on to the court at the Pepsi Center if they got this straightened out. Wilson Chandler is still listed as starting power forward even though he signed his season away to play in China. Ty Lawson can return from playing with BC Zalgiris in Lithuania once the lockout ends, but based on how much less he may make, he might want to stay where he is. The Nuggets cupboard is pretty bare and, despite all the excitement we talked ourselves into about this new post-Carmelo lineup, they won’t be looking so hot if they do return to action.
Another reason to be moderately disgusted with the NBA is the collateral damage a potential cancellation of the season will have on the local economy. Even if we're not counting the gas it takes to fill up Chris Andersen’s monster truck, many in and around the court will suffer. With the sub-par Avs attendance fading fast, having a Nuggets game every other night would certainly be a boon to the micro economy that is lower downtown and in the area surrounding the Pepsi Center. The Nuggets were always a pretty big draw, and them not playing this winter will affect a lot of people who don’t wear size 16 shoes (for lucrative endorsement deals) but who do rely on the revenue those games provide. The players definitely don’t win any points for their bargaining prowess, but the bartenders, waitresses, parking lot attendants, and everyone who works in the Pepsi Center will be the big losers if this all goes down the drain. A season, even a shortened one, would still be a positive to the people who depend on that income.
Even if there is a deal, the real issue is whether the actual product on the court is worth your attention. The Nuggets went from a recent playoff staple to becoming the Utah Jazz: a mountain-time-zone team with a great fan base but no real hope of making a dent in the playoffs. The fans and the people who depend on the NBA to make a living deserve a resolution, but the question remains, even if the Nuggets do play this year, will anyone really care?
