Allen Iverson in search of The Answer....

The leagues can handle it but like the players, not making any money last only so long. The question is would thy be dumb enough to use scabs?

 

Forgive me for being dumb, but since I don't venture into casinos, unless I have to pull my aunt out of the local joint, can someone tell me what is a "marker"? Is it a loan of some sort?

 

Are you a Cold Case fan?

 

The operating profit margin of most major league sports franchises has taken a huge dive in recent years. For franchises losing money, you're better off not playing. If you have a chance to chop your payrolls in half, and KEEP them chopped, you're WAY better off not playing.

As far as whether the owners would be dumb enough to use scabs -- of course they would.

They wouldn't bring them in in the middle of a season, since that would make it glaringly obvious they were scabs.

They'll shut down for a full season, put the franchises in hibernation mode to minimize carryover costs, stonewall on the negotiations, then announce that "despite our best efforts the union has refused to accept our reasonable and generous contract offer, so we have decided to open our camps to those players willing to accept it."

And you'll see:

-- 50% cut in salaries, probably more

-- Iron-hard salary caps

-- Severe reining-in of free agency

-- Strict slotting of rookie salaries, sharp limitations on "early entry" draftees

-- Severe limitations on guaranteed contracts -- a couple of seasons max

-- Dramatically increased ability for teams/leagues to suspend players for substance abuse or disciplinary/criminal behavior, with dramatically limited avenues of appeal

Since 95% of the public think that 95% of the players in all three sports are greedy lazy uppity thugs, 95% of the public won't care, or more likely, will cheer wildly at all of this.

The players will piss and moan, but what are they gonna do? The average professional athlete retains the ability to play at "major-league level" only three or four years. How many of those seasons can they afford to flush down the toilet forever?



In actual fact, very few "major-league" franchises are actually losing money, but most are making much less than they did a few years ago. And whatever their bottom line is, it'll be a hell of a lot better if they can whack their payroll costs by 50% or more.

 

ESPN's Player X blogs NBA players are pissed at SAS for this column and they can't wait for him to show up in the locker room so they can tell him about it ...

http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/blog?name=player_x&id=4986264

 

A marker is casino credit. Casinos let certain people withdraw money as long as they know they are good for it.

 

They'll let even average Joes get a credit line. I've done that a couple of times, rather than traveling with roll of hundreds.

But the high-rollers and celebrities get true markers, which are basically interest-free loans that must be spent on the casino floor. In other words, if they give you a $100k marker, you've got to make $100k worth of bets during your stay.

 

When you betray trust, this is what happens.

 

So what's the verdict? Human? Dancer?