Eff' A NBA Lockout!!! The Season's Being Simulated.

By the time ya'll read this, the NBA's lockout will either be lifted, or the entire season will probably be scrapped. David Stern's hardline "take it or leave it" negotiating tactic probably isn't the best approach, but given the shortage of $5M/year jobs, if I'm the players, I'd prolly take it. I mean, seriously, we're talking a 1% difference between the two sides here. Don't these dumb dumbs realize they games they've already forfeited probably add up to the missing 1%? Or maybe they don't teach basic math when you're a physical education major.

Anyways, it's amazing to me that the players don't realize they're the ultimate losers here. When games resume, sure, attendance is going to be lighter because casual fans have been turned off by this millionaire vs billionaire pissing match. And guess who'll bear the brunt of the cascading boos when they blow a defensive rotation in the 4th quarter of a game? The players, of course. They'll be heckled worse than ever before. Half of them are probably going to show up out of shape, which just adds to the fire.

The owners? Well, they're gonna be fine. Even if attendance dips, most teams make their money of luxury suites, TV revenue, and corporate sponsorships, not run of the mill gate receipts. And few owners are exactly household names/faces. Can you name the owner of the New York Knicks? Would you recognize him if he walked up and slapped you right now? Probably not. Carmelo Anthony, on the other hand? Well, there's a good chance it's going to report to camp about 25 pounds overweight. You think The Garden crowd is gonna go easy on him when he has his first 5-23 shooting night in a loss to the Bobcats? Not so much.

So here's to hoping common sense prevails and the players take the d*mn deal. There's only so much NHL hockey I can watch before I snap.

On a related topic, if you wanna see something really, really cool, go peep this.

With the 2011-12 Pro Basketball Season currently locked out, Strat-O-Matic has teamed up with Basketball Prospectus to simulate all of the cancelled games. Check back here for daily box scores, game summaries, player statistics, standings and more! There may not be a real basketball season going on right now, but you can still get your daily fix of pro hoops- only through the magic of Strat-O-Matic!

For locked out basketball nerds like me, this site is awesome. They are simulating each game, as scheduled, and putting up a game summary and box score the next day. It's almost like the real thing, complete with injuries, power rankings, the whole nine. Before you NFL fans, clown me for this, imagine how desperate you'd be for anything gridiron action if that league hadn't wisely ended its labor impasse. See, doesn't sound so corny now, does it?

Let Us Play!!!

Question: Will the NBA lockout ever end? Do you even care anymore?