by K. Kozla
Players, coaches and fans alike are staring at the clock and even though it is not a shot clock or a period timer this one might be the most important clock of them all: the count down clock that clicks closer and closer to the imminent threat of Lockout. The owners and players union met this afternoon, but no decision has been reached as of yet so all eyes are falling onto the Commissioner to see what he does when the clock strikes 12.
This is not something the players or the owners want. For the players they will not have pay checks coming in. They will not have their medical benefits. Training facilities will be closed. Owners won’t have their teams after one of the most watched seasons in the sport’s history. On top of it all it will bring all talks to a screeching halt.
This will hurt the players and their families and it will also hurt the coaches, but we have to remember the unspoken casualties that also will be affected. In this troubled economy there is a silent party that will have their hours cut, if not completely unemployed, if this is not fixed and fast: all of the people who work at the stadiums where the teams played. If the games are not going on and the buildings are not in use no one needs people to watch in the parking, or security in the games, no referees, no vendors, no ticket counters, no mascots, no cleaning crews, no cooks. They are the people who do thankless jobs to support their families from paycheck to paycheck while the stars perform for owners of teams and they too will be hurt if this is not fixed. Hopefully it will not come to that, but it seems unlikely that there will be any other out come.
I wish Godspeed to the ones in control, may they remember each and every person it touches.