By publicly pronouncing his pessimism, David Stern is making a giant mistake. "We did not have a good day," he sourly stated after talks Tuesday. Still, on the scale of Alexander (terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day) to Ice Cube (I gotta say, today was a good day), his feel somewhere in the middle, which some saw as encouraging. Then came the rest of the week, when players and owners met amongst themselves that, as much chatter as there was around them about compromise, they couldn't care less about it (which is exactly how we feel about
Mad Men).
It's a bully move by the owners, but keep in mind that these are a different breed of bullies: they give out lunch money instead of taking it away. Enough lunch money for a three-course meal. And the food being served wasn't cafeteria-grade. The steak was Sirloin, not Salisbury. The owners simply want to scale back and cut the course to two. Players will still eat well, they just won't get Glen Davis-fat*.
On Thursday, players and union leaders donned shirts with the word "stand" printed on them for a press conference, but one side needs to stand down^. If they keep slinging stones and stonewalling, there is no (sling)shot of the season starting in 2011. David Stern, unlike Goliath, will not fall on his face.
* Does this argument make us pro-management? No, it makes us hungry.
^After all, didn't Rosa Parks teach us that fighting for your rights involved sitting?
