Orlando arena workers seek help from local non-profits
Posted on | Tuesday, November 8, 2011 | No Comments
At least one player has realized what these workers have lost, but one nice dinner does little to assuage months of financial pain. They need more help, and some have reached out to charity. From Josh Robbins for the Orlando Sentinel (via EOB):
In addition to some concerts and a few other events, about 1,000 people worked inside the arena on Orlando Magic game days and game nights. Those folks were employed as security guards, ushers, ticket-takers, vendors, cashiers, parking-lot attendants and waitresses and waiters. Some jobs paid minimum wage, but that income often supplemented the money people earned at their day jobs.
But the ongoing NBA lockout is taking its toll.
"These are the people that greet us with a smile," said Pastor Scott George, who runs�the Community Food & Outreach Center, a nonprofit that is offering help to game-night workers.
"They hand us our ticket. They hand us our hot dog and Coke. They clean up after we leave. And, now, they are the forgotten people that no one is talking about."
George estimated that between 40 and 75 game-night workers have used the Community Food & Outreach Center's services over the last few weeks. He said he's unsure of the exact number because some game-night workers are afraid that if they say something, they might not be able to go back to their jobs�when the lockout ends.
The article has no information on similar programs in other cities, but it's a good idea that will hopefully spread soon. Arena workers don't have a say in collective bargaining talks and have no effective methods of voicing their displeasures. They're innocent bystanders and deserve some help.
On the other hand, there are many people in their situation in cities across the country. Lots of workers struggle to make ends meet, and they'll need help after the lockout ends. Hopefully the story of arena workers won't bring attention just to their plight, but to those of people who remain in need in perpetuity.
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Days of NBA Lives: Wherein Kevin Durant is finally bad at something
At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.
Josh Childress: I'm sitting next to someone eating jack in the box tacos. Quite possibly the nastiest, greasiest food I've ever seen
Steve Francis: Verdict in Conrad Murray. Hopefully it's the right one. He in my "hood" hope my security rate don't go up. Smgdh
Nazr Mohammed: In business ur never suppose to make it personal or make an emotional decision but I think it's going that way.
Evan Turner: Listening to some Adele..that lwts you know that I'm really out here in these streets #thuglife
Spencer Hawes: @KDTrey5 needs to refine his booray skills.
You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric.
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'No deal' Saturday; Stern sets Wednesday deadline
Posted by Ben Golliver.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association resumed negotiations on a new collective bargaining on Saturday afternoon in New York City -- the first time the sides had met face-to-face in more than a week -- with federal mediator George Cohen once again presiding over the talks. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported that talks concluded after more than eight hours with "no deal" being reached. There are currently no further negotiating sessions scheduled between the two sides.Saturday's session began at roughly 2 p.m. and stretched past 1 a.m. and included all the major players: NBA commissioner David Stern, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver, NBPA executive director Billy Hunter and NBPA president Derek Fisher.
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Authorities say Globetrotters trainer found dead
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Raptors fan sues the team for making his front row seat a second row seat
A Toronto Raptors fan is suing the Raptors' ownership group for $1.6 million because�it constructed a new row of front-row seats directly in front of what used to be his front-row seats in 2007.
The Raptors? They claim that Mark Michalkoff isn't so much a "Raptors fan" as he is a "Raptors season-ticket holder." The team hasn't responded to Michalkoff's complaints personally, while contending that he essentially purchased the ducats to re-sell through his ticket brokering business.
The Toronto Star, via SB J.E. Skeets, has the story:
After a flurry of court filings, unsuccessful mediation and a lengthy discovery process over the past four years, Toronto businessman Mark Michalkoff's complaint against MLSE is heading to a courtroom.
A trial over the dispute is scheduled to start Nov. 15 in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto and is expected to last a week.
"All we were looking for was for MLSE to say they were sorry, but they didn't even answer us," said Michalkoff, who is suing MLSE for $1.6 million.
"Then they insult us by calling us scalpers in a counterclaim," he told the Star. "I'm ready to go to court and have it out. I don't think there's anything they can do to stop it now."
Rajani Kamath, an MLSE spokesperson, declined to comment."
Both sides, apparently, are going to have their work cut out for them.
Michalkoff may run a sort of ticket brokering program, but it seems pretty legal under his claims (which are more than likely bogus) that the�5 percent charge he takes from the companies that buy his Raptor tickets is just in place to cover the cost of shipping the tickets to the new buyers within the company gift cards his business creates. To the dollar, he claims, which makes this exercise (on paper, at least) a non-profit venture.
If this can be documented, and you've got to be pretty sure it can be (there�is a reason these ticket brokers, illegal on some levels, stay in business for decades), then this can be explained away in court and the Raptors won't have much to support their claim that Michalkoff's reselling of Raptor tickets "was deliberate, intentional and done in blatant disregard for MLSE's rights."
Then again, there is no way that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment put any sort of language into its contract with Michalkoff that guaranteed that these seats would stay in the front row and/or unobstructed for the length of their deal.
The hack-y sports writer take would be to ask an Ontario judge to review the 41 home games a year the Raptors played during Michalkoff's time as a season-ticket holder. If he's present for, say, 21 of those? Then he makes the cut as a fan. Anything less and he's a broker. Also, this is a terrible idea.
Michalkoff is probably going to be on the outside (or second row) looking-in with this case, especially after he predated his demand for $1.6 million with a vague demand for "justice and a public apology" from MLSE.
You can't blame the Raptors or any other team from attempting to shoehorn more profits into their massive arenas. After all, even with the fans so close to the action and high-definition cameras at every turn, how many regulars do you see time and time again in front row seats at NBA games? Every night, there are new faces, even if the owners of those seats stay the same.
Which is why it isn't difficult to understand why the Raptors put the new front row in. They weren't really screwing over Raptor fans. They were screwing over the people that bought Raptor tickets as an investment.
(Note, the above picture does not include an image of Michalkoff. In fact, we're pretty sure that's Steve Schirripa, flanked by a person Steve probably thinks is Tom Arnold, Charlie Sheen in his "Iron Chef" costume, a young Justin Bieber, an old Mark-Paul Gosslear wondering how mobile phones got so small, and obviously Mike D'Antoni. Also seated in the front row is author J.D. Salinger, in a photo taken before his death in January of 2010, wearing some sort of felt dinosaur costume in order to preserve his anonymity.)
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Video: Nike says ?Basketball Never Stops,? makes ad to prove it
Posted on | Monday, November 7, 2011 | No Comments
There's no NBA right now, but the lockout hasn't exactly lacked for basketball. If anything, the various summer league and exhibition contests around the country have provided fans more glimpses at the best players in the world than they'd get during the summer prior to the Olympics. Basketball has not stopped.
Shoe companies, however, tend to base their ad campaigns around basketball played at the highest level. They usually need players in NBA uniforms, or at least in a setting where hard work and determination matters. Without the NBA infrastructure, their usual commercials don't make a lot of sense.
Nike still wants to sell shoes, of course, and thereby acknowledged that a change was needed. What it ended up with, a new 90-second spot called "Basketball Never Stops," debuted over the weekend via the company's YouTube page. It has quickly amassed more than 500,000 views. If you missed it, you can check it out above. If you want an opinion on it, read after the jump.
What's notable about the commercial, in addition to the stellar lighting and general craft, is its lack of reliance on the NBA. There are clips of people playing pop-a-shot, Dirk Nowitzki working out in an otherwise empty gym, Kevin Durant playing in a rec-league game, and all manner of other basketball that's not played in front of 20,000 people who paid high prices for their tickets. Like a recent Jordan Brand ad, it's about love of basketball.
It's also probably more effective than a spot about Durant beating NBA defenses in an important moment. Everyone can aspire to be a great basketball player, but they can't necessarily identify with their situations on the court. Yet everyone who buys Nike basketball shoes knows what it's like to play on a city blacktop or in a small gym. It's a setting everyone understands.
Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
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Video: Watch Michael Jordan soar and bang his head on the backboard in 1983
We love hoops, in any form, at any level. Boy or girl, man or woman. And we are, sincerely, looking forward to this year's 2011-12 NCAA hoops season, even if the NBA's lockout decides to resolve itself by the end of the working day on Thursday.
And then we see this clip, via TBJ, of Michael Jordan soaring to swoop in and block a shot during a 28-year-old North Carolina/Duke game in 1983, and immediately ... well, watch:
Hurry back, NBA. Jerks.
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