Is there any way we can just fast-forward to Jan. 7–D-day for the NBA–the day Commissioner David Stern is supposed to recommend cancellation of the 1998-99 season because he can’t get a new collective-bargaining contract with the National Basketball Players Association? . . . I no longer want to see a shot snap the net an instant before the final second ticks away. I want to see Armageddon. Why? Well, it’s like that scene from the movie “Dirty Harry.” When Harry challenges a wounded crook who’s thinking about reaching for his gun to remember if Harry had used up all his bullets. The guy refused to call Harry’s bluff. But the crook looked him in the eye and said–“I gots to know.” Well, I gots to know. After a half-year of watching these self-serving, money-obsessed, golden-goose-slaying maniacs stroke their egos at the expense of the game I love, I want to see what will happen next. Threats have been made. A gauntlet laid down.
