There are a lot more people currently scheduled to lose a whole bunch of money in this next month of canceled NBA games than simply the billionaire owners and millionaire players who are currently engaged in this unproductive marathon session of staring contests.
Bar and restaurant owners, ushers, ticket takers, taxi drivers, team employees, the girl who balances plates while riding the unicycle at halftime, concession stands workers, secondary market ticket brokers, and tons of other people are about to take a major hit. There really isn’t an overabundance of “other jobs” out there for these people to walk out of their houses and get in the meantime either if you hadn’t noticed.
The issues are serious, and local economies throughout the country will be certainly hurt by this NBA impasse in the short-term. As a result of all that, John wondered aloud over the weekend when Barack Obama would involve himself and his policies into these talks by way of a political intervention to help end this NBA Labor dispute. That answer to his question? Maybe last night.
With Doc Rivers, Vince Carter, and Grant Hill on-hand for a speech he was giving down in Florida, The President spoke on the NBA Labor Dispute publicly for the first time.
This from UPI.com:
“With NBA greats Vince Carter, Grant Hill and Doc Rivers among the supporters who showed up for his re-election fundraiser at the Sheraton hotel in downtown Orlando, Obama brought up the pro basketball league’s labor impasse.
“The reason I came here is I’m trying to resolve the NBA lockout,” the Democratic president joked. “We need our basketball.”
With polls showing Americans’ support for him has waned since he was elected in 2008, Obama used a basketball analogy to describe himself “a fourth-quarter player” — a competitor who comes through in the clutch.
“I don’t miss my shots in the fourth quarter,” he said.”
While Obama was technically “joking”, and really wasn’t down there to resolve the Lockout, I imagine this could be where political campaigns do begin. Lob something out there under the framework of a “joke”, gauge the reaction, devise strategy, and then boom – courtside for John Wall and the Wizards vs. Kobe and the Lakers before the end of November.
I don’t see how you could make things move along any slower, Mr. President; so if you have any ideas, by all means be my guest, sir.
Photo: Huffington Post
