When the NBA and union announced early Saturday morning that they had a hand-shake agreement to end the lockout, it didn’t seem real. I rubbed my eyes, re-read the news on my iPad, then went back to sleep. Perhaps it was because most of us who have followed the unfortunate situation are numb to the entire ordeal. That’s what nearly five full months of back-and-forth bickering will do.
I spent the 2010 season covering the NBA. I wrote a weekly column for NBA.com, as well occasional features for the team websites. When I left the league, where I worked for over two years, it was a decision based on a number of factors, including job security. I had escaped the first round of layoffs and there were no guarantees there wouldn’t be a second — there never was. I know good people in league and team front offices who were let go because of this lockout, and while all landed on their feet, it was still hard to swallow. Even those who remained employed never felt fully comfortable that their jobs were safe.
To be completely honest with you, I didn’t love the game of basketball before 2009, my first year with the league. I liked the sport a lot, but never watched the NBA on a nightly basis. The game grew on me very quickly though and I found myself tuning in to NBA TV, TNT or ESPN most evenings. Part of it had to do with the fact that I needed to know what was going on, but the other part was because I was genuinely interested. I can say it: I became a major fan.
All of last season, I covered at least one or two games a week in either New York or New Jersey. I even traveled to major events, such as All-Star. The only times I covered the NBA before 2009 were on occasional nights for this website. I loved my job, which also entailed overseeing 22 team websites. I mostly enjoyed talking basketball with the players and coaches and bringing their stories to my readers. Tyler Hansbrough and I chatted about his transition to the pros, JJ Barea about his time in the NBA D-League, Blake Griffin about the dunk contest and Chris Paul about free agency. There were nearly a hundred other similar conversations had between last October and this past June. This interaction certainly helped me become a fan of the game quicker.
I witnessed first hand the Carmelo Anthony trade circus, LeBron James’ first visit to New York as a member of the Heat and Paul Pierce silencing the return-to-respectability Knicks in Boston’s first trip of the season to Madison Square Garden. The most memorable game for me though was the Knicks’ first playoff game at The Garden in seven seasons. I’ve never sat inside an arena so loud, where the energy just engulfed you, like that night. Playing the Celtics certainly helped, but this atmosphere proved basketball could be as exciting as any other sport. Afterwards, Pierce spoke about the fans, saying he tried not to let them get into his head. Boston ended up sweeping the Knicks out of the playoffs. What I decided though was that if basketball was back in the Big Apple, it had potential to blossom in other cities. Last season was a major turning point for the league, in my opinion.
But my fandom has faded. It has nothing to do with leaving the league. I did, after all, love my time there and still have many friends who work for the league and its teams. It has to do with the back-and-forth between the players and owners. Over the nearly 200 days the lockout lasted, there were many times it appeared to be resolved, only to have the carpet pulled out from underneath the deal. You can only take that so many times before it gets old. In the end, is the deal agreed upon so drastically different than what it was a month or two ago, when the season could have started on time? Not really.
I liken my fandom to those thousands who started following the game last year for the first time when LeBron left for Miami or Carmelo came to New York. Basketball was interesting and enjoyable and, heck, it was likeable. But those casual fans who came on board in recent years aren’t going to stick around. They’ve moved on and need to be won back.
It’s no secret that the NFL is the most popular sport in this country. After their lockout ordeal earlier this year, there was so much uncertainty as to how the sport would rebound. Luckily for them, it’s as exciting as ever. The fans still show up every game day, just as they did before. The NBA won’t have that luxury. Sure, Los Angeles and New York will continue to sell out. But the New Jersey Nets, who are playing their last season in the Garden State, already have a tough time drawing in Newark. The Nets are one of several teams that will continue to struggle bringing fans through the turnstiles to watch 60 minutes of basketball. Lockout or no lockout, it didn’t help though.
There are those who argue the league shouldn’t start their games on Christmas. I say, why not? Had there been a season, the games would have been played that day anyway. The players shouldn’t care, as they’ll finally start drawing a paycheck. The television audience is happy, as folks have something to watch on Christmas other than the looping yule log video. The only folks who may care with a sense of bitterness are the fans who love attending games and the arena workers.
Why are fans going to show up on Christmas to support a team and league that tugged at their emotions the last couple months? So much of the lockout was about money that fans might have no desire to offer up their hard-earned cash to support a team, the league and players. To combat this, I expect teams to offers great ticket offers, some as low as $99 for nosebleed season tickets. They have to.
What about the arena employees who have lost almost three months of work? They’ll return to the job because of the pay, but they’ll do so with a slight displeasure. These are the little folks, the ones raking in $8 an hour, who couldn’t support their family because of millionaires fighting billionaires. I hope all workers receive a nice Christmas dinner on Dec. 25.
A lot of this is just rambling thoughts, some I have expressed on Twitter over the last couple of months, but others new. I truly feel it’s important for the media and fans to express themselves at this time. No matter what our titles are, fans or media, we are all consumers of the business of basketball. What happened this offseason will never be forgotten, but the game will return to respectability one day. It’s lost traction and the momentum it had built up in recent years; however, if it was close to peaking before, it will peak again. The task at hand might just be more difficult this time around.
The only positive right now is basketball is back. Who will be watching and actually cares are what remains to be seen.
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