For me, the question of nature versus nurture was settled long ago. Some things only become of interest because of the surroundings where you live.
I am not a long time NBA guy. Yes, I watched the showtime Lakers in the 80’s and the Jordan-led Bulls in the 90’s but it wasn’t until I moved back to Denver and Carmelo followed me shortly after did I really engage with the NBA. Each year since Melo’s rookie year, when the Nuggets made it to the playoffs, my enjoyment of and interest in the NBA has grown like the Grinch’s heart. Now I am season ticket holder for the Nuggets, just in time for a season that almost didn’t happen.
Likewise, I grew up in a bi-partisan home that never really cared about or discussed politics. Like a lot of those Occupy ____ people living in tents it was at college where I first started paying attention to politics and, even then, only to the few issues of interest (go hug a tree and thank it for your oxygen, bitch).
But after school I moved to D.C. for work and, immersed in the belly of the beast, I woke up and started caring. Yes, there were issues of importance but also a level of gamesmanship in politics to satisfy my dormant competitive streak. I like when people I like win. And I hate when people I hate win (looking at you, Saxby Chambliss you spineless, witless, brain-sucking jackass), though I always try to keep it respectful.
So, the long journey of my life, from a non-NBA fan with no political interests to NBA die-hard and politics geek has led to me a strange epiphany.
The NBA is the most backward political arena in the world.
Only in the NBA, do you have owners (made up of billionaire capitalists, who are predominantly staunchly conservative), seeking regulations. As every other industry in the country spends millions of their profits to keep the ‘socialist’ agenda of the government out of their businesses, NBA owners are legitimately begging for an impartial governing organization to put limits on what they can do.
Wall Street is doing everything in the power (and most likely things that aren’t in their power) to keep regulations from being imposed on them to reduce the risk of a global financial meltdown.
Energy companies are so intent on short term profits, they are appalled at being asked to conform to regulations that may cost them some of their record profits in the short term but would maybe allow our grandchildren the ability to walk outside without dressing like an actor in Contagion in the long term.
But the lockout we just completed was due in part to the owners saying: “You know what, I am not smart enough to understand a cost-benefit analysis and can’t be trusted to figure out an appropriate salary for my employees, so please put limits on the risks coming from my idiocy.” I don’ remember too many hedge funds asking the Fed to place restrictions on the risks they can take in search of profits. The NBA owners are pleading with the NBA to limit the decisions they make, the exact opposite of every other business in the country.
In contrast, the NBA Players’ Union flew in the face of unions everywhere that are typically home to staunchly progressive groups seeking equal opportunities and shared profits. The NBA Players’ Union was out to make the most possible money for its members, common sense be damned.
Rather than seeking equitable wages that ensure prosperity for all and continued health of the entire industry, the Union was seeking maximum money, ignoring the reality that the more money the Union brings in, the less financially viable several of the teams become. Would most Unions rather have a slightly reduced salary pool or a smaller union because several teams shutter and there are fewer jobs for players in the NBA?
The typically liberal NBAPA (full of stereotypically liberal black players) took the conservative ‘let us make all that we can without interference’, while the conservative owners (full ofstereotypically conservative old, rich, white men) took the liberal “let’s regulate this industry for the good of all of us”.
Up is down and night is day in the NBA.
And now by stepping in and halting the Chris Paul trade to the Lakers, the owners have gone from liberal to nearly communist.
No longer, can an individual exercise free will – whether they are a General Manager or a player. Now, a central authority dictates what is in the best interest of the community as a whole. All ‘workers’ are the same and should be fairly distributed.
Would NBA owners accept this level of top-down authoritarian control in whatever industry they earned their billions? Of course not.
But this is the NBA, where political ideals and political realities aren’t just disconnected. They are exactly opposed.
I find it interesting that all of this occurs soon after Mikhail Prokhorov purchased the New Jersey Nets.
A Russian Oligarch, Prokhorov is very familiar with a political system where a central authority dictates who will be winners and who will be losers and what is in the best interest of everyone involved.
He will fit right in the new NBA.
