Yeah, this idea may very well destroy the NBA. If it flops, it won't just be like the WNBA where nobody cares. Stern would be integrating this experiment into the ACTUAL NBA and risks toppling the entire deck of cards.

30 teams is already way too many. Now you're upping it to 35 teams.

Players constantly try to force trades from \"bad\" cities like Memphis, it's only going to get worse if you start shipping them out of the US.

Travel will be a nightmare. Look at what long road trips and back to backs do to teams now. Start making teams cross the Atlantic and it's only going to get worse. Plus, imagine how horrible travel would be for the European teams. Every road trip would be a marathon.

Going to Europe could possibly net the league a decent amount of cash. But you have to ask yourself - 1. Does Europe want the NBA? I'm not so sure there's a huge market for it. 2. Do Americans want their league expanded to Europe? I certainly don't. It's hard enough to win a title without 5 extra teams to compete with, not to mention the mass chaos that would almost certainly ensue.

Why annoy your current fans to try and win new fans who don't really care about your product? This is just asking for trouble...

DeROK wrote:

That's pretty much my thoughts as well. Plus, I agree with everything else you said. Just a recipe for disaster.

The Daddy hasn't chimed in until now, mainly because this is ludicrous.
You all have hit the reasons dead on. There's no need to beat a dead horse, but I just am really baffled that Stern is considering this. If simple folk like us see the obvious futility of the move, why can't he?
My God this is a horrible idea.

BTW, My buddy just bought a plain old run-of-the-mill season ticket for a soccer game in Europe (don't ask me the details I less about soccer than CW does about Jack and Coke ) that cost him well over $300. He will be in a packed 80,000 person arena. Europe could give two flying f***s about basketball.

THE DaddyOK, I won't. But I would really like to know what kind of corporate suit's VIP ticket he bought. I know that in some countries (like Spain and England) the fans are crazy enough to pay higher prices than in central or northern Europe, but THAT is ridiculous.
That does raise my already high opinion of CW to a totally different level. Jack itself is an insult to an educated and civilized man's taste and longdrinks...longdrinks are for girls and wussies. If you want to drink alcohol, then make sure it tastes like alcohol, for hell's sake. If you don't like the taste of it, drink soft drinks, but leave alcohol to the men . But what can be expected from a country that sells beer that has less taste than the water from my faucet *sigh* ?

On another topic:

Just to keep you updated, the Cologne 99ers have been rescued at the very, very last second. All the papers laying down the team's abandonment of the current season were already signed and the next opponent was already on his way home...when a group of local investors came swooping in to save the day and the season. I guess when you are facing certain starvation, you take every bite that is offered to you, even when you know it's poisoned.

WHAT!!!! Any of the following are the Daddy's preferred drinks: Jack on the rocks, Gentlemen Jack on the Rocks, or Single Barrel Jack on the rocks.

Anything less would be uncivilized. Then again, I wouldn't enjoy a drink I couldn't handle either!
If you can't take the heat get the F*** out the kitchen! Get yourself a Miller High Life.

daddyfatsax wrote:

I like Jack... but prefer Henney.

I prefer expensive Single Malts, be it from Scotland ot Ireland. And a good red (but dry!) whine from italy or spain, from time to time.

There are only two versions of alcohol on this planet, those which pose an individual unique experience just out of themselves, which offer room for interpretation, which broadens your horizon just by tasting them. And the other ones are those which offer you nothing but the promise of getting drunk, which as a reason for drinking should be considered simply uncivilized. And mostly, they do that by trying to bypass the human security mechanisms and pretend to be sweet...

I concede that there are versions of Jack that deserve to be called a men's drink (I recently was offered a glass of Jack 1913), but I will stand my point that it still is too sweet for my taste, which is generally the case with Bourbon to me. The natural form of alcohol is dry, everything else is messed with in one way or the other.

In any case, if something belongs to the first species of drinks, than it should be enjoyed pure and in normal temperature - not watered down, not iced (ice in whiskey is a double crime) and especially not mixed with anything else. If it belongs to the second species...well it is not worth drinking.

Like I said: If I want the taste of a softdrink, then I'll drink one. If I want the taste of alcohol, then I'll drink something that tastes like it.

---

I have tasted every sort of Miller they had in store when I was in Milwaukee (and some other brands as well) and they all tasted in a way I would consider appropriate for girl scouts, not for men. Get yourself a German \"Jever Dark\" or \"Flensburger\" and we'll talk again...but I fear you woudl have to fo to Germany for that, because the stuff they sell as \"imported German Beer\" is just some weird sh!t brewed in some Canadian bathtub behind the border.

Sanyarin wrote:

Hennessey fits the above bolded description. Great analysis, btw.

I know I'm a fraggin' snob when it gets to drinking ...

Sanyarin wrote:
You win...Your knowledge of liquor is infinitely higher than mine. But I'm now confused as to why I enjoy it so much more than a drink like henney?

daddyfatsax wrote:

To each their own, my friend.

THE Daddy
Well thank you very much, I feel highly honored, but this wasn't about winning in the first place. Just a place to exchange opinions with interesting people...btw., can someone imagine a more interesting person as THE Daddy ??? I would have a hard time.

And just happens to be that \"liquor\" is some sort of a hobby to me and I spend far too much money on it . But there's so much craped that dares to name itself \"Scotch\" that you need to open your chequebook if you want something that fits my above mentioned description.

Sanyarin wrote:
Out of many, one - THE DADDY. The G.O.A.T

daddyfatsax wrote:

Lol.