After a long evening out with family and friends, I decided to catch up on some scores from Sunday’s football games. As I watched the highlights and the latest sports news, I had a certain peculiar feeling come over me. “Something is missing,” were the words that echoed through my head. As the sport anchor switched to different stories, the feeling became more intense. It wasn’t until I logged onto Twitter and scrolled across a story retweet about a comment NBA player Carmelo Anthony had made that the missing piece. Literally hit me like a hammer hitting a nail on its head the NBA Lockout.
According to Bleacherreport.com, Carmelo quoted lyrics from one of his favorite song that he felt describe his generation and fellow athletes’ position on the lockout and injustice in America. “My generation: Athletes today are scared to make Muhammad Ali-type statements,” stated Carmelo. I am usually in tuned to the latest updates on any major sports news. Unfortunately, the NBA lockout has a different approach and atmosphere regarding the coverage of their issues. When the NFL had its lockout, the players, owners, and members of the national football league players association were hitting the media with their concerns and status of the agreement at least everyday. The same cannot be said about the NBA lockout, one of the reasons the players are not saying anything is because there is an apparent gag order that prohibits players to discuss the legalities of the agreement. The union wants to contain the amount of information flow that is being delivered to the media. Another reason some players are not being active as football players is because some have other means of income. For example, Deron Williams and Kobe Bryant among other players have been offered a substantial amount of money to play overseas until the lockout is lifted. For football players, there were not many alternatives that were going to paying $3 million dollars. Therefore, a sense of urgency was necessary because the longer an agreement was not reach, the longer the players went without being paid.This led me to believe that for some players being silent has been a golden opportunity for their professional career during the lockout. Of course there are many players who have not been afforded the chance to play overseas. For instance, Delonte West of the Boston Celtics was recently hired at a furniture store, which is really usual. However, due to his criminal record, Delonte is not allowed to travel outside the country. On the other hand, other players are choosing to take this time to be productive and give back to the community. Stephen Curry of the Golden Warriors decided to finish up his psychology degree. While other players are conducting basketball campus and working with their foundations. Nevertheless, however the players are spending their time, they should defiantly make more of an effort to insure that their opinions as well as their voices are being heard. If not for themselves, than for the millions of fans. Malcolm X said it the best, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”
Photo Reference:
1389Blog-Counterjihad. (2011). Bill C-51: Immediate Threat to Free Speech and Free Press on the Internet in Canada. Retrieved from http://1389blog.com/category/media/art-design/graphic-arts/
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