Jeremy: Players Associations

The NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) will expire this summer following the current season, at which time we will all be subjected to the endless talks about how players should be allowed to make even more money than they already do, and how owners cannot afford to keep paying these types of salaries. Are you as excited as I am? (I'll wait a moment while you let the sarcasm sink in.)
The big debate currently is that David Stern, the NBA's up-standing commissioner (COUGH!!!), would like to explore the possibility of adding an age minimum to the CBA, keeping high school players from entering the NBA. I've already given my opinion on this matter, but the current debate of the upcoming CBA talks has me thinking of something else.
I'm in the beginning stages of forming an opinion, and I would like the seven of you who read this site to explore this opinion with me.
Are players associations ruining sports?
Driving home tonight I heard an interview on the radio with Marcus Camby of the Denver Nuggets and the subject of age minimums came up. So far every player that I've heard discuss age minimums has been opposed to it, and Camby is no exception. Blah, blah, blah. Not the point. Camby then went on to talk about the current CBA expiring, and then, very nonchalantly, alluded to the fact that some people are already talking about the possibility of a lockout.
Does this attitude by the players concern anyone else?
We already have one of the four major professional sports in a lockout that cancelled AN ENTIRE SEASON and threatens to do the same to part of the upcoming season, or replace the entire NHL roster of players with "scrubs." Major League Baseball seems like it is constantly on the verge of internal combustion. The NBA already lost half of a season in '98 and now they are talking about the possibility again. Even the NFL has lost playing time because of labor disputes.
At my young age of 27 I have witnessed lockouts in all four of the major sports, and apparently I can plan to see this happen to each sport every couple of years. It's gotten to the point where it's almost a foregone conclusion that when a labor agreement expires the entire league of players will put a "kibosh" on the season, leaving the fans to wait in the balance to see what is going to happen next.
So who is to blame?
Well, it would seem to me that there's plenty to go around. First, some of the blame has to drop on the fans (if loving sports is wrong, then, baby, I don't wanna be right!!!). We are all willing to pay the ever increasing and ridiculous prices for tickets, merchandise, food and booze at the games. Let's give credit where credit is due. We hate the fact these guys whine about how the millions of dollars that they make aren't enough to feed their families, and yet, when the ticket prices go up we are applying for a seventeenth credit card so that we can pay for tickets.
Second, we know a great amount of blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the folks who are raising ticket, merchandise and booze prices: the owners. Enough said.
So, next, should we blame the players? Okay, yeah, let's give them some blame too. I mean, here, in all of the major sports, we've got plenty of guys who are willing to stand up and say "Hey, that seven figure salary I'm making isn't nearly enough. I mean, come on, I'm playing a game out there... I mean... DANG IT!!! I didn't mean that. I meant to say, I'm sacrificing my body for the enjoyment of the fans, I'm entertaining people."
Have you ever heard a players association, from any of the major sports, step up and say, "You know what? He should not have said that and we do not support that statement." NOT A CHANCE. Everytime an idiot like Latrell Spreewell flies off the handle and makes a boneheaded comment about not being able to feed his family, his local players association not only supports him, but also his idiot statement, and suddenly it becomes the stance of all of the players. But is that accurate?
When a guy like Donald Fehr tells the media that MLB players don't support steroid testing, and yet, some players come out and say that they support it because they want their sport to be pure, who are we to believe?
When an entire NHL season is lost because the players association and the owners won't give into each other, and then some NHL players step up and say they just want to play hockey, who should we support?
The players associations in all of the major sports have brought us to a point where, as fans, we can expect lockouts every couple of years. Not only is this practice, and the mentality that supports it, destructive to the fans, but it's also destructive for the players, and as a whole, I believe, it's incredibly destructive for sports in general.
This mentality, which has spilled over from one players association to another, is bound to spill, as the "me first" mentality of millionaire players has already rubbed off on young athletes, into youth and little league sports.
How close are we to hearing about an entire 7th grade basketball team who refuses to play their season because they aren't happy with the jerseys that they will be required to wear?