Category: In the News

Wrestler The Iron Sheik weighs in on lockout

The iconic wrestler The Iron Sheik had a few words of sage advice for NBA players as the lockout stretched into its  141st day.

And surprisingly enough, his recent Tweet made as much sense of any recent takes about the extended work stoppage.

Here’s what The Sheik, by his Twitter account:

The Sheik’s makes a good point that both sides should consider.

And if they don’t,  maybe The Sheik should threaten Billy Hunter and David Stern with the Camel Clutch that brought down Bob Backlund. Or this kind of :  

MJ’s perspective changes with team ownership

Tigers apparently can change their stripes.

Ownership of an NBA team will do that to you.

Michael Jordan once was a hawk on all labor matters when he was a player. He famously is remembered by many former players for the way he took the late Washington owner Abe Pollin to task during the 1998 strike.

“If you can’t make a profit, then maybe you should sell your team,” Jordan told Polin.

Now, 13 years later, there’s been a dramatic transformation in Jordan’s perspective.

The New York Times reports that Jordan is who are determined to hold the line in the player’s share of the basketball-related income.

Jordan, who now serves as managing partner for the Charlotte Bobcats, has a  group includes between 10 and 14 owners sharing his sentiments.

That group wanted the players’ share of the BRI to be more than 47 percent and was extremely upset when negotiators proposed a 50-50 split last month. That group likely isn’t large enough to dictate the owners’ final policy, but it will still hold much influence in shaping how the deal is perceived by the group.

These concerns will be considered during an ownership meeting that will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, six hours  before the players and owners meet again in New York City on Saturday afternoon.

A lot of former players are wondering about Jordan’s dramatic change in attitude over the years.

I’m curious what “His Airness” as a player would say to his alter ego, the small-market supposedly struggling NBA owner, if they ever ran into each other.

Despite new offer, players break off talks for weekend

After nearly 11 hours of talks Thursday, the NBA’s players and owners broke off negotiations still without a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.

NBA commisisoner David Stern has been authorized by the league’s labor relations committee to make a revised offer.

And the offer wasn’t the onerous deal that would have provided the players with 47 percent of the basketball-related income as he had threatened.

It’s still not what the players wanted in the neighborhood of 52-53 percent. But it’s enough that the players will take the new numbers to their members for voting early next week.

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports that the deal is an . But it’s still not clear if it will be palatable for the players once they start crunching numbers.

NBPA president Billy Hunter said the key aspect of the NBA’s new offer is a mid-level exception increase for tax-paying teams for three years at $3 million per year.

Whether that will be enough to garner support from the union is undetermined. But Stern is confident a deal can be made if the players union gets approval from its membership.

“We have both done everything possible that it’s possible to do,” Stern told reporters after Thursday’s meetings. “I am optimistic owners will approve if union approves it.”

The league is offering the players a , Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.com reported.

“At this point we’ve decided to end things for now, take a step back,” NBA president Derek Fisher told reporters. “We’ll go back as an executive committee, as a board, and confer with our player reps and additional players over the next few days and then we’ll make decisions about what our next steps will be at that point. Obviously, we still would like to continue negotiating and find a way to get a deal done but right now is not that time.”

Maybe next week could finally be the time.