Five months. Five months of torture. Five months spent posturing, sniping, manipulating, and leading the basketball watching public on a roller coaster of deception.
On two separate occasions we were all but assured a deal was in place, a few remaining issues had to be hammered out, and basketball would be back. Both those times the talks fell through and we were left with a bitter, bitter taste in our mouths. Actually, that's sugar coating it; I felt like David Stern was hammering a nine inch nail through my sternum. Professional basketball is important to me, and without it there is a void within me that can't be filled by college basketball or any other sport.
And now? It's back...
To catch you up on what's going on I've gathered some links from folks on the front lines reporting the new deal. It's a busy time for me right now, but look for some in-depth NBA writing in the coming weeks. After the "Year of Lockouts" I'm looking forward to writing about actual sports and all that entails. I'm a sports writer, not a lawyer.
Here's the folks over at Pro Basketball Talk with some great stuff on how and why the deal was done now...
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/26/why-a-deal-now-pressure-from-the-calendar-mostly/
A useful compilation of what we know about the new deal by Royce Young over at CBS Sports' Basketball Blog, Eye on Basketball...
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/33505522
Ken Berger, perhaps the best reporter covering the lockout, writes about the settlement here...
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/16244293/nba-saves-season-to-have-66game-schedule
Adrian Wojnarowski with another good summation of what took place Friday Night while most of us were still recovering from a Thanksgiving eating frenzy...
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_nba_lockout_ends-112611
SOME UPDATES...
Salary Cap Maestro Larry Coon analyzing what we know about the new deal...
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/lockout-111126/analyzing-new-nba-labor-agreement
The Heat benefit from the new labor deal perhaps more than anyone. Read it here...
http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/story/_/id/7283642/nba-owners-concessions-benefit-miami-heat-mike-miller
Henry Abbott on the winners and losers of the new deal...
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/32302/the-winners-and-losers-of-a-new-cba
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