How DeMaurice Smith Saved the Season

To be completely honest, I've just been waiting on a reason to use that picture of DeMaurice Smith ever since I saw it over at Yahoo. When you look like you're trying to dress as smooth as he is, you really need to have a good reason for it or otherwise you're going to come off looking a little over the top. But DeMaurice Smith knew something that we didn't and that ace up his sleeve that probably gave him the confidence to put that fedora on is more then likely the same ace that is going to save the start of this NFL season.

We went from things be quoted as “not looking good” one night to a massive jump in progress the next. As that started to sink in, word got out about a secret insurance policy that Smith had taken out on behalf of the players. The insurance boiled down to that if no football was played this year, every NFL player would be cashing a check worth almost $200,000 for their troubles. Add that to the fact that it is looking like the owners are going to have to pony up to the players because of the $4.3 billion clause for their TV rights in case of no football this year being ruled against their agreement with the players and the owners saw their biggest leverage vanish. The players weren't going to be missing those paychecks nearly as badly as the owners thought they would and because of that, it kick-started negotiations.

Now I know that the season hasn't been saved yet as there still isn't a CBA agreement in place, but the news has been so much more positive since this story broke that for the first time in a month, I actually don't think we're going to miss hardly any of the preseason. And the reason for that is because DeMaurice Smith knew what everyone else did; that the owners leverage would come from their deep pockets . With that knowledge Smith had the foresight to take the owners biggest advantage and turn it into a disadvantage by having that ace and waiting until just the right time to play it.

I was only 10 when the NBA had their lockout in 1999 so I don't remember it really at all but from what I can tell, David Stern grew a sweet beard and the players folded once they ran out of money. Smith prevented that and insured that the players would stand together against the owners even after their paychecks stopped coming and because of that, we're more then likely going to be getting football very, very soon.