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BEWARE OF THE FASCIST: Even in what seem trivial as the NBA. Look and realise how this speaks against unions and the workers right to get their fair share of the pie. See how fascist Matt Langone down plays the idea of unions. It's easy to knock unions at this level due to the amount the players make compare to the disposed workers who have been gauge by corporation. Read how hatred and discontent towards the concept of union and the idea of workers right is slander in this trivial fascist statement we get bombarded with day in day out. No wonder people are so fascist and so anti union and anti-workers. Never in this article does it mention how much money is made on these guys from tv deals, endorsment, ticket sales, merch, parking, hotdogs,video games, game resell packages and on and on and on. Unlike workers who can easely be replace NBA player are not easely replace. read any article and see this fascist propaganda being spewed. what is important is the anti union message these stories. Question every statement and see how it applies to you as a worker vs the corporation and oligarch that control you. The use fo the word Player is important because it's a distance from the word NBA workers. And the final move is to turn to the suffering fans. the suffering fans who are the consumers. Who pay for it all. As if the concept of money is the entitelment. ==> ARTICLE <== http://www.lowellsun.com/highschool/ci_19338571 NBA stands for No Basketball Around By Matt Langone, mlangone@lowellsun.com Updated: 11/15/2011 09:53:31 AM EST Over the past four-plus months we learned early on that the NBA players union was indeed delusional. We just didn't know they were this delusional. Yesterday, on Day 137 of being locked out by NBA owners, the players union finally reached the apex of their delusion. It was crunch time. Time for the players to end the madness and the increasing sentiment from much of the public that they are nothing more than spoiled, stubborn, clueless millionaires. The ball was in their court. A perfectly reasonable, fair proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement from the owners sat on the players' table. All they had to do was the right thing -- agree to it. Instead, the union responded with yet another collective slap to the face of NBA fans. They rejected the offer and are in the process of disbanding the union and taking legal action by filing an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA. A long, cold winter of settling matters in court appears to be what is in store. Negotiations can continue, but who is going to hold their breath for that? Had the players accepted the offer, a 72-game season beginning Dec. 15 would be in the works. Now, having any kind of season at all is in severe jeopardy. As an unabashed, staunch follower of the NBA, I find it difficult to have even a shred of optimism. The players had the chance to right the ship and opted not to. They will ultimately pay the price. Under the leadership of union executive director Advertisement Billy Hunter and union president Derek Fisher, the players were never interested in accepting what Commissioner David Stern said was the NBA's best offer. The sides would have split all basketball related income (BRI) 50/50 under the agreement. But players were concerned that the league's desire to increase competitive balance and restrict big-spending teams would limit their free agent options. Plus, the players were already turned off by the fact that Stern gave them a supposed "ultimatum" which would have called for a worse proposal if the players didn't agree to this one. If you're into that sort of thing, the seven-page proposal summary from the NBA is available on the league's website. But the concessions, or lack there of, that the owners were willing to make and the issues the players have are irrelevant. At a time when the economy is in poor shape and unemployment numbers are high, the whole negotiating process has been in poor taste. A deal should have been done by now. At the end of the day, any way the estimated $4 billion pie is sliced, millionaires are going to get richer. That includes both players and owners. The fans aren't going to be played for fools and wait patiently while they iron out these idiotic kinks. NBA players should know better. The problem is that this group has a sense of entitlement that is clearly getting the best of them. They somehow managed to snag 57 percent of the BRI in the last bargaining agreement, while owners reportedly lost hundreds of millions of dollars over that span. Of course, we need to take the owners' financial figures with a grain of salt. Still, in what other industry do employees get to split revenue with their bosses? The precedent does not bode well. After the last lockout in 1998-99, which wiped out 32 games, interest in the league plummeted. Average Nielson ratings for NBA Finals games went from 18.7 in 1998 down to 6.5 in 2003. The league has since regained popularity thanks to an unmatched ability to market its superstars. But those same superstars will take a huge hit in the court of public opinion after this lockout. The truly unfortunate aspect of all of this is the fact that the league is coming off arguably its most compelling season in quite some time. The country was captivated as the champion Dallas Mavericks stunned the Miami Heat and their super-hyped trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh last June. Because the players failed to do the right thing yesterday, that may be the last NBA action we see for quite some time.