NBA 2011-12: Do Not Open Until Christmas

Image via WikipediaIn the wee small hours of Thanksgiving weekend while most Americans were stuffed with turkey, football and Black Friday purchases, the NBA settled its lockout.  This was just days after it was widely assumed that the 2011-12 season was kaput.

The new 10-year labor agreement (pending approval by owners and players, even though they dissolved their union) includes a nearly 50/50 split of revenues, a stronger luxury tax on owners who go over the salary cap, restrictions on free agency, and shorter player contracts.  This should appease small market teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, who won't have to go through another LeBron James All Stars situation with Kevin Love.

The NBA wants to begin its season on Christmas Day, with three games that were originally scheduled for national TV.  They will play a 66-game schedule, with 16 already lost in the two months since the regular season was supposed to start.  And it will end on time, with the playoffs going from late April to mid-June.

So did you really miss the NBA?  With pro and college football reaching its peak, and the NHL getting some attention for a change, basketball was hardly missed.  Besides, this was a really stupid time for the NBA to go on hiatus after a successful season.  With a struggling economy and millions of people out of work, the problems of millionaires and billionaires didn't amount to a hill of beans.  Even the National Football League figured that out during their recent lockout, which is why they managed to save a full season by coming to an agreement with its players prior to training camp.

But now it's a few weeks of frenzy before the opening tip.  Schedules have to be rewritten.  A truncated free agency period will take place.  A week (or so) of training camp and maybe a preseason game or two.  Then, let the hoopla begin.

Black Thanksgiving

The first known celebration of what has come to be called Thanksgiving was in 1621, when the residents of Plymouth colony (now part of Massachusetts) invited the Wampanoag tribe to share a successful harvest with them.

Since then, future generations of native Americans have been rewarded through death, illness and assimilation, while being forced to leave the land we now sit on and were moved into reservations.  Casino profits notwithstanding, reservations have usually been a hotbed of crime and poverty, with the U.S. government not doing much to improve their situation.

Now Thanksgiving itself, which has been a holiday for as long as the country has existed, and has been immortalized by the likes of Norman Rockwell, has been rendered irrelevant by Christmas.  If it weren't for the novelty of having turkey and football on Thursday, few people would have noticed.

Of course, this isn't exactly breaking news.  Holiday decorations have been up at your local mall since at least Labor Day (another occasion that has lost its relevance due to changing times).  Radio stations have been playing "Jingle Bells" and its ilk 24/7.  And TV commercials featuring Mr. Ho Ho Ho have been running since Halloween.

What's different this year is that Black Friday, which has become the single biggest retail shopping day of the holiday season, has been creeping into Thanksgiving.  Walmart has said it will open Thursday at 10 p.m.  Target says they want to open at midnight.  Their publicity flacks tell us that they're just responding to the wishes of the consumer, who don't want to get up in the middle of the night to pony up for the 50-inch plasma TV that becomes available at 4 a.m. at rock-bottom prices.

But it comes at a cost to the store's employees, who have complained about (and even petitioned against) the idea because they'd be missing Thanksgiving with their families.

It's all quite touching, but retail employees aren't the only ones missing out on the big dinner.  There's hospital staffers, police officers, firefighters, pro football players, the TV crews who cover their games . . . did we leave anyone out?  They'd love to be home with their families, but they have a job to do whether it's a holiday or not.

Besides, the realities of today's retail world almost dictate that stores like Walmart and Target open as soon as the Big Meal is finished.  Those who are too stuffed with mashed potatoes to show up at the mall will simply turn to their computers, where online stores are open 24/7.  When will we have reached the limit?  Who knows?

All of which makes you wonder what generations of native Americans must be thinking, as the white man's greed has pushed aside a day originally designed for Pilgrims to give thanks for merely coexisting with their neighbors during that rough beginning after landing on the Mayflower.

Have a nice Thanksgiving.  Remember, operators are standing by to take your order.

Joe Paterno: Legend Lost

Image via WikipediaJoe Paterno's 46 years as head coach of the Penn State football team came to an abrupt halt Wednesday, caught up in the scandal created by the arrest of his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on child molestation charges.  First Paterno announced his retirement, with the intention of coaching the remainder of the Nittany Lions' regular schedule.  But the school's board of trustees wouldn't let him do that, citing his failure to adequately inform higher-ups and law enforcement about the alleged abuse.  They replaced him with Tom Bradley, who takes over on an interim basis.

(For more on the scandal, please see The Bludog Chronicle at http://thebludogchronicle.blogspot.com/.)

Paterno has coached the Nittany Lions since 1966, winning 409 games in his career (more than any other coach) and two national championships.  He is the reason why Penn State joined the Big Ten conference, why Beaver Stadium now seats more than 100,000, why players from all over wanted to play for him, and why (until now) the athletic program was as squeaky clean as the football uniforms.

But Paterno is now 84 years old.  Because of injuries, he recently did his coaching from the press box instead of the sidelines.  Questions have been raised about when and if he should have retired.  Before the scandal, the university couldn't bring itself to tell Paterno to please step aside, partly because students and well-heeled alumni would react badly if they did.

Now it's too late.  Joe Paterno's legacy has come crashing down because he hung around too long, and has come to believe that he was Penn State football.  Then stuff hits the fan.  Nobody knew it would turn out like this.

UPDATE:  Paterno died January 22 at the age of 85, due to complications from lung cancer.  Granted, this is not the way for a coaching legend to go, given his alleged role in the Sandusky scandal.  Instead, this just made things a whole lot murkier.

Joe Frazier (1944-2011)

Joe Frazier, who died Monday of liver cancer at 67, was an Olympic boxing gold medalist at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games and later the heavyweight champion of the world.  He had a 32-4-1 record during his professional career, with 27 of those victories coming by knockout.  Two of those losses were to Muhammad Ali, the other two to George Foreman.

Back when America still cared about boxing in the 1960s and 70s, Frazier's career was fought in the shadow of Ali.  When Ali was relieved of his heavyweight titles because he refused to enter military service during the Vietnam War, Frazier became the new champion.  Once Ali was reinstated, he and Frazier fought in two of the most historic matches in the sport.  Frazier won the "Fight of the Century" at New York's Madison Square Garden in March of 1971.  In 1975, Ali earned a TKO in the "Thrilla In Manila" when Frazier's swollen eye prevented him from making the 14th round.

Frazier may have been an intimidating presence in the ring--he was, after all, nicknamed "Smokin' Joe" because his punches tended to leave a puff of smoke on his gloves.  But Ali, a worldwide figure with his larger-than-life personality, ridiculed Frazier for being more of a "white man's champion" in an era of Black Power.  Frazier resented Ali for that for a long time.

Frazier kept the heavyweight title from 1970-73, until he lost it to George Foreman in a bout at Kingston, Jamaica.  It was best known for ABC's Howard Cosell shouting "Down goes Frazier!" multiple times after he hit the canvas, which led to Foreman's second round knockout.

Boxing has devolved into a chaotic mess long after Frazier hung up his gloves.  Too many anonymous champions in too many organizations.  Pay-per-view pricing out average fans and casual viewers.  champions' refusal to face a worthy opponent unless the money is right.  The increasing popularity of Ultimate Fighting.  Joe Frazier may not have floated like a butterfly or stung like a bee like his more famous rival, but he more than held his own in the ring.

Vikings '11 Midseason: The Future Begins Now

Image by Hawk Eyes via FlickrOn this bye week, the Minnesota Vikings have a 2-5 record and are last in the NFC North division behind the Super Bowl champion (and undefeated) Green Bay Packers, the surprising Detroit Lions (they're not just for Thanksgiving any more), and the so-so Chicago Bears.

This season has so far been punctuated by spectacular second-half collapses against the Lions and San Diego Chargers, bad losses to the Packers and Bears, and the inexperience of coach Leslie Frazier and his staff contributing to those losses.

The only victories have been against a terrible Arizona Cardinals team at home, and the Carolina Panthers on the road--but only after the Panthers missed a game-tying field goal with seconds left in regulation.

This season has also seen the ascension of rookie quarterback Christian Ponder as the Vikings' starter, replacing the ineffective veteran Donovan McNabb during the Sunday night game at Chicago.  (Does this mean the Vikings are done using past-their-prime NFL quarterbacks as starters?)  Ponder has played well in the two games he's started since then, but he needs a few more the rest of the season for a better evaluation.

The Vikings have also had the usual run of players in trouble with either the NFL or the law, so appearances on the police blotter no longer have the shock value they once did.  Only one player that we know of this season is no longer with the team, and that's Bernard Berrian.

Off the field, the ongoing haggling over where the Vikings will be playing after this season continues.  Some recent developments:

• Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, who has yet to call for a special legislative session to consider a new stadium, has dropped the idea of using sales taxes to help pay for one.  So now it looks like some kind of gambling revenue (casino, pulltabs, racino, etc.) is being favored, despite its pitfalls.
• The Vikings still insist their top choice for a new stadium is in Arden Hills.  But a poll released by the Star Tribune newspaper said its respondents seem to prefer one of Minneapolis' three proposed sites (one of which just happens to sit on land the Strib owns near the Metrodome).
• The two remaining home games the Vikings had to play elsewhere last season because the Metrodome roof collapsed might end up forcing them to play another season there, according to a clause in the team's lease.  It sounds far-fetched and may not be legally binding, but those involved say this shouldn't affect the stadium negotiations.  The Vikings may not think so.

For the rest of the 2011 season, and with no chance of making the NFL playoffs we should have a better idea of what the future holds for the Minnesota Vikings.  On the field and off.

NBA Lockout: Reality Bites

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeOn what would have been the first week of the 2011-12 NBA season, arenas sit dark, with the exception of concerts and hockey games.  The trash talking of Charles Barkley has been replaced on TV by Dick Vitale yelling "Awesome, baby!", with only college basketball and the NHL to fill the void between NFL football games.

As of November 3, the NBA's owners have locked out the players for 126 days, caught in a dispute over a new collective bargaining agreement.  The owners (who make billions) want to split $4 billion down the middle with the players (who make millions), but the players want the split to be in their favor.  Already, the pre-season and the first month of the regular season have been canceled.  The longer this goes, the more likely it is that the entire season may be gone.

The lockout has lasted longer than TV reality princess Kim Kardashian's marriage to New Jersey Nets player Kris Humphries, whose separation after 72 days of wedded bliss was announced this week.

The August wedding, which reportedly cost around $10 million, was telecast a couple of weeks ago on the E! network in a two-part special witnessed by four million viewers.  Kris Jenner, Kim's mother and manager of all things Kardashian, denied that the lavish nuptials were a ploy for higher TV ratings in addition to the other programs the Kardashians appear in.  So maybe it just didn't work out.

Kim earns a nice living doing whatever it is she does, thank you very much, so she didn't need to lean on her husband for financial help.  Kris Humphries, on the other hand, will be missing a few paychecks thanks to the lockout.  Unless he has a slew of endorsement deals, he shouldn't expect to get much in the divorce settlement to tide him over.

As for the NBA rank-and-file:  If your name isn't Kobe or LeBron, and not married to a Kardashian, you're either playing ball overseas or working the late shift at the local Home Depot.  You're probably still wondering how you'll live from paycheck to paycheck when millions of basketball fans don't even have that luxury.  And, once the lockout ends, you'll be wondering why you're stuck playing in Memphis or Minnesota while the best player on your team takes his talents to South Beach or L.A. with other All-Stars from bad teams.

Whenever the lockout ends (and everyone hopes it's soon), the owners, players and NBA commissioner David Stern will have a hard enough time picking up the pieces without trying to win back the trust of the fans they abandoned.  How long before those who play the game realize that fame and dates with reality TV stars are fleeting?  It's what you do with your future beyond the basketball court that matters.