SOME TURKEY LEFT OVERS

Now that November is leaving
us it is time to concentrate
on December. For those of us
that have been wishing for a
very 'special gift, it seems
we will be rewarded. On
Christmas day we can awaken
to the knowledge that yes,
indeed, our Lakers will be
playing on the basketball
courts and not the legal ones
for a change. Seems we will not
see Andrew Bynum there,
as he has been suspended for
the first five games. No Phil
either but we will welcome to
the team, a new coach in seeing
Mike Brown spurring the team on.
The 149 day lockout is finally
history and we can breathe a big
sigh of relief as we cheer for the
Laker team with a 66-game
season this time. December 25th
we will be playing up against the
Chicago Bulls. We also will be
seeing a fit Matt Barnes. He has
lost 15 lb's. and strengthened
his surgically repaired right knee.
Three days ago Pau Gasol returned
to California from playing in his
native country in Barcelona.
He is also fit and eager to play.
Training camp begins December 9th.
Mike Brown has taken the well used
triangle away and replaced it with
the emphasis on specific play calls
and post-up chances. Along with this,
there is talk of hope for keeping
Lamar Odom on the roster.
There will be some back to back
games due to the scheduling and
the regular season would run through
April 26. This means that the
regular season will actually end
about 10 days later than is usual.
The last possible day of the NBA
Finals would be June 26, two weeks
later than the championship series
ended last season. Teams would play
48 games within their conference
and 18 non-conference games.
No team would play on three
straight nights more than three times.
Back to back games might also be
played during the second round of
the postseason.
We are proud of Derek Fisher for all
the hours he put in for negotiations
and flying time. He too is eager though
to be playing basketball but he is a
very noticed part of our team at age 37
to be a player plus our players association
president. He has invested countless days
and nights at the conference table and we
thank him profusely for all energies given.
Now it is time to knuckle down and begin
putting our suits and ties away and bring
out our purple and gold uniforms.
We are Lakers and want to play some basketball!
Let the games begin, and thank you St. Nick.
Babs Wells

P.S. FOR NBA TODAY

Unlike!
NFL lockout is looking more
and more truly like the NBA's will
jeopardize the entire season.
Hoping not, but as of right now
it is not looking too promising.
Minnesota Timberwolves forward
Anthony Tolliver was watching back
in March, when pro football players
announced they were disbanding their
union and suing the NFL under antitrust
law.
"We shall see how the next steps go"
Tolliver said at the time. "Hopefully
we'll learn from them".
Well, now it is time to find out what
Tolliver and his peers picked up.
He is but one of a handful of basket-
ball players, including All Stars
Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant,
who filed class-action antitrust
complaints against the NBA in
Federal Court during this past week.
This could lead to a dragged out
legal process or, as happened with
the NFL's labor dispute, wind up
bringing the sides back to the
table to negotiate.
"We have seen every twist and turn
and I imagine we will be seeing
many more. Hopefully a settlement
can be reached, relatively quickly,
and the NBA season can be saved".
said Jeffrey Kessler, outside
counsel for both the NFL and NBA
players associations. "That would
be the very best result for every-
one, to have a litigation settlement
now".
The NBA's lockout came swiftly
on the heels of the NFL's, but already
has lasted longer, and there's one
very significant difference: Football's
labor dispute resulted in the loss of
only one exhibition game, while the
NBA is on its way down the path toward
a shortened regular season - if one is
played at all.
The lockout does not just hurt players
either, it hurts workers. It hurts cities.
It hurts people who really need the income
provided by the NBA and most of all here
is what we ought to keep in mind, that the
players do not want this lockout either.
Some players have already agreed to play
for charity. Some are opting to play
overseas. Kobe Bryant has been in contact
with Italy as most of us are aware of.
Dwyane Wade has already authorized his
agent to listen to viable offers also.
Both leagues' labor problems began, at
the heart, as arguments over how to
divide billions of dollars in revenue.
(about $9 billion for NFL and about
$4 billion for the NBA) but also over
how to change the rules governing player
contracts and free agency. Last Tuesday
marks the day players were to have received
a paycheck. One that did not take place.
and so, we, the fans continue to listen
to what so ever we are being told and
continue our hopes in seeing some games
being played before seasons' end.
Babs Wells

JUST HOW DO YOU SPELL GREED?

Legal courts are now being hastened to.
NBA players believe that there is some
sort of discrepancy regarding being
locked out to train or play basketball
for 140 days or so. They feel that they
will have a good case to pose to the
lawyers now that all other negotiations
have broken down. It is just possible
that being in a "locked out" position,
antitrust regulations have been violated
and that they have a good case to present.
Attorney David Boise, who represented
the NFL during that sports stoppage, has
now been brought aboard by the basketball
players and it seems they do have a case
to file being locked out with the players
not able to play. They want to get
back to work and it is feasible that this
case might not take all that long to remedy.
Boise claimed, "if you are playing a game
of poker and you run a bluff, and the bluff
works, you become a hero. If someone calls
your bluff, you lose. In this case, I think
that the owners overplayed their hand".
The way it seems today is that the players
gave in on concession after concession after
concession, but greed is a terrible thing.
It actually becomes a most dangerous thing.
For a full season, the amounts that could
have been made run into the billions of dollars,
but irreparable harm has taken place now
with players unable to play in their rather
"short careers" with the NBA.
Boise acknowledged that the case could take
months, but hoped there would be a settlement
before too long. Often lawsuits can get delayed
but in everybody's interest it is hoped that
this matter can get resolved promptly.
The longer it goes on, the greater the damages
that the teams will face, the greater the damages
that the players will suffer and perhaps most
important of all, the longer basketball fans
will be deprived of basketball. So it is hoped
that the legal courts will move quickly.
The players have shown their willingness to
negotiate throughout but you cannot negotiate
by yourself. That has to be done only if you
do have some one to negotiate with.
There are two suits-one filed in conjunction
with the players' association in the Northern
District of California and another filed in
Minnesota, likely with a favorable venue
in mind. The NBA already has filed a pre-
emptive lawsuit in New York seeking to
prove the lockout is legal and likely would
push for cases to be moved there to gain the
legal home court. So again our waiting game
comes into all this muck.
As of right now it seems that in order to see
basketball with these players we know, we
might be forced for awhile to see them
on Italian courts, Spanish courts or...?
So as of this date, games through Dec. 15
have been canceled and Tuesday marked
the players missing their paychecks. This
makes it with no games for 26% of the season
as it's standing today.
Babs Wells

O.K. ARE YOU READY????

Seems talks did end up with a far better
consideration for players being allowed
soon to play some basketball. The date
(right now) that has been set is for
a 72-game schedule starting on Dec. 15.
The league presented the players' association
with the new offer on Thursday after nearly
11 hours of bargaining, hoping it would be
enough to end the lockout. But union president,
Derek Fisher said it doesn't address all of the
necessary system issues that are important to
the players. At least not entirely, as they still
felt some system issues were extremely important
to try and close all of this out.
So at this point the way it appears is that for
right now they have decided to end things and just
take a step back. By doing that, they would go
as an executive committee, as a board and confer
with the players reps. and additional players
over the next few days. I guess after that some
other considerations would be about what the
next step might be at that point.
On Monday or Tuesday, it seems it is possible
to have a new proposal, if good enough, for the
full membership for a vote. They can then say
yes or no, but not bother asking for another meeting.
Commissioner David Stern says that there just simply
comes a time when you have to be through negotiating,
and it has come to this point in time now.
Stern mentioned that it is not the greatest proposal
in the world but he feels he has the obligation to
at least present it on the table. Union executive
director Billy Hunter agrees with this too.
Beyond the salary cap system issues that divide
sides, there were six pages of what Hunter called
ancillary items, such as the draft age and the
commissioner's disciplinary rights, that still must
be addressed before a final deal.
And so it stands thus.
Babs Wells

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Saturday yet another meeting. This one
just a tad different is all. Now plea
is for 51% allowance regarding NBA
players. This then, is maybe the bottom
line and we shall see how it plays out
(a word play being the crucial word) !
Wednesday, apparently, is the deadline
given right now for acceptance as to
their ultimatum. However union president
representing the Lakers, Derek Fisher,
is skeptical that this would be the
final word after all. What all this boils
down to is whether or not there will even
be a 2011/2012 playing season after all.
On Wednesday, the offer is being threatened
to drop from 51% to 47%.
So if all involved are not on the same page
with this, (The league-imposed) deadline,
then it will very likely trigger more calls
to disband the union & by doing so, it would
mean taking the league to court, a battle that
could take months. What this would mean is,
a vote to de-certify would end this season.
Attorney Jeffery Kessler stated
that the players are beginning now to really
feel efforts at intimidation on what is right.
Now being offered, is not in the players best
interests. Compromise seems to be a dirty word
and the others in this fray are not giving
an inch so the players feel that they are
not actually being given a choice.
In a totally different realm, Billy Graham,
the Evangelist, celebrates his 93rd. Birthday
today, and he just completed his 30th Book
that he has written.
Another note of interest is that on Sunday.
November 6, 1861, James Naismith -
the inventor of the game of Basketball - was
born in Almonte, Ontario Canada.
And finally, we sadly bid our goodbyes to
one of the finest curmudgeons around,
that great writer and wonderful commentator
on CBS for so many years having gone in
for undisclosed surgery at 92, Andy Rooney
did not make it & so we lost his writing & his wit.
Good bye and we'll not disturb you as you so
often urged your many fans to honor.
Babs Wells

AND THE DRAMA CONTINUES TO PLAY OUT

Saturday, November 5th, the owners
and the players of the NBA, will once again meet.
They really need an economic move to end
this impasse. When negotiations begin again
the union leaders say that they are unified
as they seek to resolve the lockout.
The battle is not within the union, we are
being told by Milwaukee guard Keyon Dooling.
We also are reading that Derek Fisher is the
best president the union has ever seen.
As vice president, he stated that as committee
members report, they will stand behind him.
Owners and players have not met since talks
broke off Friday Nov. 28th. Billy Hunter, executive
director, said federal mediator George Cohen
contacted him earlier this week about possibly
rejoining the negotiations. Cohen probably
will not be involved in this meeting, but the
conversation led to Hunter calling commissioner
David Stern on Wednesday about resuming talks.
Hunter said union leaders had spent the past
several days cautioning players that the two
sides were still far apart on several system
issues, so completing a deal was not as simple
as a compromise on the revenue split.
Derek Fisher stated that indeed the players
were anxious to begin to play once more but that
they simply could not rush into a deal that
may become a bad deal just to save the season.
Although neither side seems to be shifting
their stance, the talks will resume .
And so fans, we sit it out again to watch and see.
Babs Wells

No Basketball games while we play the Waiting game

More negotiations rule the day. Players had 57%
of their monies and now have agreed to have 52.5%
and still it is not to be a given. Owners are
insisting on 50-50. Rome was not built in a day
we are told but these stalemate meetings continue
to go on and on with no exhibition games & we are now being
told no playing games even through the month of November.
Yes, realization has set in, no full NBA season is
any longer possible. The talks have broken down.
The old cap system allowed teams to exceed it
through the use of a number of exceptions, many
of which the league wants to tweak or even
eliminate. Union executive director Billy Hunter,
has called a hard cap a "blood issue" to players,
and though the league has backed off its initial
proposal calling for one, players think the
changes owners want would work like one.
Negotiations have broken off again over the
division of basketball related income, just as
they did last Thursday. The split, when any talks
resumed, continued to be a deal with 50-50 as the
only concession so far left standing.
Hunter went on to say "We made a lot of concessions,
but unfortunately at this time it's not enough, and
we're not prepared or unable at this time to move
any further". David Stern made it clear that owners'
future proposals would be made with the losses in mind.
Players eventually will get their money, but less of it.
However the damage to the businesses that rely on the
game will not be recoverable.
And, as has been said already before, other than we
fans losing out those businesses are sure losing out too.
With so many people depending on monies from games played,
seeing in print that even with a possible agreement now,
potentially $2 billion is at stake for each side, leaves
a bad taste in our mouths, speaking of such larger numbers.
Waiting game continues to plague us.
Babs Wells