Mother of Mercy, Can This Be the End of the NBA?
DATELINE: HUMOR!
The great oldtime movie Little Caesar offers many lessons to the NBA.
In it, the archfiend threatens authorities of society, “A little buzzard like you will never put cuffs on me.”
As he is plugged with machine gun fire, Edward G. Robinson as the tinplate gangster mutters his famous exit line. It sounds a bit like the NBA union squawking to reporters as the final ultimatum is tossed at them.
The players are now threatening to disband their union and charge the owners with a RICO crime. Can this be the start of RICO?
For those wondering, the acronym stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization act, a law against public enemies.
It’s hard to believe that billionaire owners are racketeers when they offer millionaire players a barrel of money.
For many living in poor economic times, the NBA thug union begins to give the slick greedy owners a run for the money on the racketeering veneer.
Sometimes it’s hard to keep straight who the real bad guy is. We often think of James Cagney as another infamous gangster, sneering about “You dirty rat,” as he fires his pistol with paranoic abandon.
We almost feel like the NBA players union and owners group are a shootout where no one is okay at the corral.
Someone will end up like the Clantons in Tombstone.
They may have been too tough to die, but die they did with their boots on.
The players union of basketball greedballs may die with their high-top kicks kicking the bucket of bucks.
Can this be the end of the NBA? With so much money at risk, we suspect that some form of basketball will find its way to a new league on a new day.
The days of high rollers and low ballers may be reaching the crescendo. In the final reel, like a 1930s crime melodrama, the little caesars will end up public enemies.
The scarfaced fans may throw the switch on the NBA electric chair. “Top of the world, Ma,” another bad guy cried out as it all exploded around him.
William Russo's newest book is now out, ready for your tablet, your smartphone, your Kindle or Nook. Read RED SOX 2011: A WHIMSICAL AUTOPSY to find a month-by-month examination of the team, showing all the signs of trouble that most sports media missed. His other sports books are SEX, DRUGS, SPORTS & WHIMSY and RAJON RONDO: SUPERSTAR!
