The New England Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles so badly last weekend that PETA intervened on an injured Michael Vick’s behalf and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives changed the national bird to the F-16.
The 2011-12 NBA season is probably not going to happen. What recourse does the average NBA fan have? Navigating a winter without professional basketball will be difficult. Alternatives are scarce. NBA fans could watch professional hockey. For me, that would entail getting corrective eye surgery to follow the puck or developing an affinity for watching bearded Canadian men fight. The former is too expensive, and the latter is available on YouTube.
One bizarre feature of American life is that perhaps our most highly publicized labor disputes are between rich athletes and super-rich sports team owners. Rarely do the plights of the athletes or owners inspire much sympathy. The average fan roots for a restoration of play, not for upper-income professional athletes to win a decisive victory for labor against management.
