Archive for June, 2011
Sorry for the delay between posts. I was in Dallas and have since found my way to Philly. But I digress, the real story is that a champion has been crowned. Yes the Dallas Mavericks have their first title. Its time for Mark Cuban to pull out the cubans. Their previous championship loss to the Heat has been avenged and LeBron is still without a ring.
Does this mean we can conclude that James made a bad “decision?” Not yet, but there is evidence for both sides of that debate. LeBron is the most hyped up athlete in pro basketball. This makes expectations for him very high, This wasn’t helped by people (Scottie Pippen for example) claiming he is superior to Micheal Jordan. He has also brought some of this upon himself. Not only did he air an ill-advised television special to announce what team he was going to sign with, he has alienated his hometown and claimed he was going to win 6 titles.
As if out of a James Bond movie, the NFL and the NFLPA met in a secret location late last night. Somewhere in Chicago, the two sides got together before they were scheduled to meet in a St. Louis courtroom on Friday. What was talked about is unknown. What was accomplished is unknown. What is known is that they met, and they did it without lawyers. What will come of it? Perhaps nothing, but court ordered mediation was cancelled as they were having their own discussions.
This has to be considered a good sign. Perhaps in this round of negotiations hostilities will drop. I do not believe that any significant progress was made. I believe that we are still far away from having a CBA. But this is hopefully a step that will lead to many more in the journey towards ending the lockout. The lockout is currently in its 79th day, and is the longest in league history. But the fact that the NFLPA is willing to attempt to make progress outside of litigation is very promising.
Its official: Winnipeg is finally getting a professional hockey team back. No its not the Pheonix Coyotes, who left the canadian town in 1996 for Arizona, as was originaly speculated. The city of Phoenix voted to subsidize the theam’s losses to the tune of $25 million to keep the dogs in the desert for at least another year. Instead the Atlanta Thrashers are moving notrth, making Atlanta the first city to every lose 2 professional sports franchises (they lost another hockey team when the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary in 1980).
The move was mainly financial in nature. The team’s ownership claim to have lost over $130 million since purchasing the Thrashers in 2004. They attempted to find a local buyer for the last 4 years to no avail. With no other options, they sold the team to True North Sports and Entertsinment. The deal is worth $170 million, with $110 million going to purchase the team and another $60 million going to the other owners as a relocation fee. The question is will the team fare much better up north, in a city that already lost a franchise due to financial reasons.