That was like my 10th attempt at a headline and even now I’m not so sure I like it. I’m not sure about anything anymore. I’m hell on the waitress at the diner. It takes me an hour to get dressed nowadays. And don’t let me into the produce section because it’ll take me all day to find the right cantaloupe.
I wasn’t always this way. I used to be firm and decisive. But then the lockout happened. And then I tried to decipher what was going on with every twist and turn. I’d sit and refresh my screen time and time and time and time again hoping for any little morsel of news and the I’d try to figure out what it meant. And every time something positive came out I’d go nuts and then it would be followed by something negative and I’d get depressed.
I’m a yo-yo. I’ve been broken. I don’t know what to make of anything anymore. Both sides met last night until about one in the morning. Here’s the positive:
“We can get there in the next day or two,” one high-ranking league official briefed on the talks said. “But it’s still a volatile process, and egos can still get in the way. …But there’s a lot of reason to be hopeful.” – Yahoo
As he left the news conference early Thursday morning, after 12 hours of bargaining, Stern stopped in the crowded hallway to converse with union economist Kevin Murphy, who says he is trying to arrange his schedule to be here for the next session to start at noon.
Stern encouraged Murphy to show up, saying, “It will be a good day to be here.”
It was late. Stern was tired. The comment was vague. It didn’t sound like a real promise of a deal. But it certainly didn’t sound like a guy preparing to blow apart the talks with a dramatically lower offer, either. – TrueHoop
The negative is that they’re still talking and we don’t have a season yet. As Stern put it:
“I would not read into this optimism or pessimism,” Stern said. “We just continue to negotiate as we continue to negotiate.” He added, “We’re not failing, and we’re not succeeding.”
You’re also not playing basketball, which is the biggest problem.
I want so desperately to read into that overheard tidbit on TrueHoop. I want that to mean today is the day this gets done. But we’ve heard Stern make proclamations before (like Stern yelling “tomorrow” when Billy Hunter said a deal was within reach. That was before Halloween). So color me unimpressed by the optimism. These are cranky old men. Stern could wake up today and not get enough prunes or something and be too pissed off to get a deal done. They’re meeting also meeting at noon. That’s not a lot of sleep for the old fella.
Damned if I know anymore. There’s been no rhyme or reason to these talks at all. So anyone making a prediction today is flat out guessing.
