Somehow I missed the fact that the NBA Players Association filed legal grievances on December 1 citing unfair labor practice by the NBA over issues with the new ball. The charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Yes, some Federal judge paid with tax dollars was going to have to decide if, under the National Labor Relations Act, switching the basketball was a legal or illegal. Wow…
Fortunately for tax payer dollars (and for less embarrassment for mankind in general), the NBA has decided to switch back to the old leather basketball.
Leather Ball Will Return on Jan 1
I’m going to guess when the players association and the league can’t agree on something as fundamental as a the ball, that the renewal of the agreement in 2011 is going to be painful if things don’t change.
December 11th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
Ah, labor issues in pro sports… millionaires squabbling with billionaires never grows old.
December 12th, 2006 at 1:04 am
It just amazes me that this crowd of very well compensated people has to resort to using Federal legislation enacted during the Great Depression. The NLRA was originally designed to give employees the right to organize, protect employees from employer abuse, and protect the economy from large scale work stoppage. It hardly seems any of these are necessary for pro-sports to succeed, let alone rely on for dispute resolution…