Another year waiting for the QB, jamming cell phones, hidden ball tricks and more… While We’re Waiting
May 2, 2014One month in…Things must improve
May 2, 2014
Collective protests are tough to organize. Similar occupation rarely equates to similar viewpoints or emotion—even the most devout unions have scabs during strikes. This hasn’t stopped Cleveland Cavaliers guard Jarrett Jack from envisioning (and attempting to rally) a league-wide boycott of playing the game of basketball until the Los Angeles Clippers are pried from the billion-dollar hands of headline-making racist and all-around scumbag Donald Sterling.
On Thursday, Jack took part in an interview with the Bay Area’s 95.7 The Game in which he laid out the following plan of action:
“The thing I would propose is that nobody plays another game for the Clippers as long as that man is in control period point blank. And we don’t play another game until that man is removed. It’s not a Clipper issue, it’s a league issue and we should all take a stance on it.”
Jack is due $6.3 million next season, so his boycott would understandably be without cost. The issues which arise, however, are that there are players in the league who would be walking away from considerably more dollars; there are those who have not had the luxury of playing (and thus accumulating) for as many years as Jack; and the entire sale of the Los Angeles Clippers, if it were to ever happen, could be an incredibly long process.
As Yahoo!’s Kelly Dwyer astutely points out, not only is there pride at stake, but Sterling would be forced to cough up a check around $300 million to satisfy the tax bill. Sterling bought the Clippers for only $12.5 million 30-plus years ago; he would be on the hook for one-third of the difference between that figure and for whatever he sells the franchise for, which is estimated to be north of $1 billion.
There are plenty of grumblings surrounding the sale, which could potentially be stretched out until after Sterling’s passing—he turned 80 this past April. If this were to be the case, and players were to boycott for even a fraction of its duration, there would be plenty of lost wages to go around.
Jack undeniably means well, but the liklihood of his vision actually taking place would have to be categorized as increasingly slim.
[Related: Will Leitch discusses Donald Sterling, Chief Wahoo and podcasts]
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(Photo: Scott Sargent/WFNY)
12 Comments
Who knows? The Cavs might actually be more fun to watch as a team if Jack isn’t playing due to his “boycott” until Sterling (or his estate) sells the Clippers…
He would feel differently if “He” were in the playoffs.
Oh, Jarrett, Jarrett, Jarrett. Bless your heart.
You do realize that the team won’t be sold until…after a long court battle (think, years buddy, Years…), or Sterling keels over and dies.
Methinks the boycott would last only as long as the next paycheck.
With the egos in that league I can’t see it happening.
Jarret Jack already boycotted the 2014 season
yes, Jack thinks he’s being clever, but he is clearly on the other side of the line here.
http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/000/008/176/th_BoomHeadShot.gif
Those Bentleys don’t pay for themselves.
Hey! I got a question that needs answered on the roundtable thread!……. I’m extremely bored today.
Easy to tell someone else what they “should” do when it will have no impact on your life. Jack seems to also forget the lesson that came out of the last NBA lockouts: most of the players live paycheck to paycheck, so not playing and, subsequently, not getting paid is simply not an option for many players.
I’m already tired of people like Jack and his former coach Mark Jackson speaking about boycotts as if they didn’t have a personal interest in the Clippers players boycotting.
I also hope Sterling fights being forced to sell his team. I don’t know Sterling but I’ve certainly read and heard enough negative things about him to not be upset that I never knew him. Kind of ironic though how he was going to be honored by the NAACP. Which brings me back to my first sentence. I hope he fights it because I’d love to see billionaires waste their money and fight like a bunch of cats. Sports was hijacked a long time ago by business and it’s turned into nothing but greed.
Sure, Jarrett, because NBA players are historically so excellent at unity and sacrificing paychecks for the greater good.
As Patrick Ewing famously tried to explain to resentful fans during their longest attempted work stoppage, “People say we make a lot of money, but we have a lot of expenses.” But, ok, at least we know Jack means well here.