You should cross the mountains like a brave man

Chapter 391 The Era of Player Empowerment
If the fans of the 50s and 60s traveled to the future, I’m afraid they can’t believe that the NBA will become more than [-] billionaires and a bunch of multi-millionaires. Whether it’s during the game or the off-season, they gather together like a troupe to support a mature media industry, journalists and countless trainers.

Excessive player power, God-like free agency signings.

Big contracts, sneaker endorsements, commercials, whether they like it or not, the NBA at that time was becoming a real business legend.

So what did that same alliance look like 50 years ago in 1964?

NBA players, in this era, are no different from coolies. Due to racial talent, the color of the league will inevitably turn black, so players have become a term that is discriminated against.White players are despised by white people because they dance with a group of simple-minded chimpanzees for the sake of stuttering.Black players are discriminated against, skin color is the original sin.

In this era, a team only needs one executive, one coach to do everything, and then find twelve players to compete in the league.

Disorganized schedule, merciless travel arrangements, unsafe training venues and hotels, and no logistical support and medical teams at all.Some teams still don't have a team doctor, and some teams have a team doctor who is a low-level bastard. If things go on like this, the tragedy of Maurice Stokes will only happen again and again.

No matter how many nonsensical methods the future media use to try to arouse people’s passion that has no place to vent in peaceful times, like stray dogs who urinate and defecate everywhere, they squeeze out the titles of "old enemy", "feud", "peak duel" and so on.

Few media outlets will tell you that half a century ago no one thought "grabbing the ball and holding it" or "walking across half court and throwing the ball to a center with thick glasses" was a sport worth loving.

For a long time, the salary of the players was fixed, and everyone had to find a second job to make ends meet.

When a player is injured on the field, the team does not bear their medical expenses. If you are as unlucky as Stokes, it is love to take care of you, and it is legal to not take care of you.After playing professional games for ten years and suffering from injuries, but without any retirement protection, how do those who have dedicated their entire youth to professional basketball make a living?

Livelihood is one side, and off-field problems are another.

While enjoying the glory brought by the Russells, Boston fans sneaked to his bed to defecate and pee, and poured chicken blood at their door. All kinds of surreal things happened frequently.Robertson helped the high school team win the state championship, and the coach changed the route of the championship parade to the ghetto, because he thought that winning the championship by a black person would only embarrass the school anyway.Even in more fraternal Los Angeles, the optimist Baylor still has more than half the restaurants that refuse to serve him.

See, even superstars are treated like this, but what about everyone else?
Without idols, half of the league is despised by idiots with their own prejudices; the NBA seems more like a place for those middle-class people who think they are noble to vent their negative emotions, and no one wants to spend too much money for them.

Players have no pensions, no meal supplements, no advertising endorsements, and no medical insurance.

There's only the reservation clause that makes all players like private property, and the unspoken rule of no more than two blacks per team -- until the Celtics break it.

There are many situations where Auerbach decides the fate of a team like the Celtics, causing players to gather at the training ground an hour before the game because they may be absent due to various accidents.

In 1954, Bob Cousy formed the Players Association to win over other stars by writing letters-the conditions at the time could only be letters-so Cousy began to unite with other players at that time, which allowed the players to have an organization that could have an equal dialogue with the NBA.From this perspective, Cousy is already an epoch-making figure.

The 1955 All-Star Game is of great significance in the history of NBA labor disputes, and it is also a major achievement of the players union in labor disputes, because Cousy negotiated directly with the then NBA commissioner Maurice Podoloff on behalf of the players union.They asked the teams to settle the arrears of wages and reduce those unnecessary exhibition games to less than 20 games to buy players rest time.At the same time, the players should be rewarded with dividends for exhibition games.

This dispute lasted for three full years. When the league office wanted to fight a protracted battle, Cousy angrily led the players to the office building to resolve the matter.After that, Tom Heinsohn, the second president of the Players Association, took office.

Cousy completed his historic mission, and now it's Heinsohn's turn.

On the night of January 1964, 1, Boston, Massachusetts.

From 1946 to the present, the three biggest problems that have plagued players: too little pay, too much travel, and lack of a pension plan.So far, it has not been resolved.

Three hours before the start of the game, the All-Stars of the East and West gathered in the locker room, in addition to the players, and their guiding attorney Larry Fleischer.

Fleischer has been advocating for player affirmative action.

Today, he solemnly told the players: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"The league just signed a broadcast deal with ABC. It's the first time ever, but they don't know if the public will like the NBA and you. But that's not what you need to care about. You just need to know that what you want to fight for can only be tonight, and it must be tonight!"

Bosses want to make money, and television broadcasts are a treasure waiting to be tapped.

For the first time in NBA history, it was televised. If it is messed up, which TV station will give them a chance in the future?

This is the owner's opportunity, but also the player's opportunity.

"Mr. Fleischer, I think you all heard it!" Tom Heinsohn, the chairman of the players' association, stood up. He was in the middle, usually smoking a cigarette. Few people knew how much power he had to speak, but today, his status was above everyone else. "Since the establishment of the league, countless players have thrown their heads and blood, in exchange for a meager salary and no guarantee for the rest of their lives. Because of the bad exploitation and exploitation of the bosses, we have to receive a pitiful salary and waste precious rest time to play stupid exhibition games for them! Fortunately, there is Kurtz, he has won us the rights we deserve!"

"Now, it's time for us to do something!"

Heinsohn's voice was rare and loud: "We need a better schedule, we want better means of transportation, we don't want to go to an airport every day and catch a train to get to the away game, and we don't want to risk our lives to play hard and not get a guarantee from the boss. We have participated in Maurice Stokes' charity games, but please ask yourself, do you want someone to play for you every day in order to raise medical expenses for you in the future? That is the responsibility of the boss, but they Abandon it!"

Heinsohn's words are mobilizing the players' emotions at an extremely fast speed, and everyone's anger is rising.

The things he said were not false illusions, but things that were closely related to them, and things they were going through.

"What are we desperately playing for? Honor? Go to fucking honor, we just want to live well! If we play for ten years and we cannot live after retirement, why did we choose this profession? We dedicated our youth for the league, but they refused to guarantee our old age. These eggs must have a result!" The highest point, "I want to resist the All -Star Game! Unless the alliance agrees to make changes, who are you willing to be with me?"

When the emotion reached that point, everyone roared and stood firmly by Heinsohn's side.

In this way, the audience of 20 All-Stars from the East and West reached an agreement and unified the camp.

This is the first time since the NBA was founded that exploited players have collectively, organized, and planned to challenge the authority of capitalists and force them to make compromises.If Bob Cousy founded the Players Association in 1954 and forced the management to bow their heads was the first attempt, then the story that happened in the locker room of Boston Garden on January 1 is a symbol of "the awakening of players' self-awareness".

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, Dr. J's dazzling contract endorsement, Magician's 25-year super contract of 2500 million US dollars that shocked the United States, Michael Jordan's 1-year 3000 million-dollar contract and groundbreaking one-year one-year signing to force the team to keep the championship lineup, and the emperor's decision in the summer of 2010, and then later, a series of seemingly ruinous operations and energy such as players voluntarily applying to leave the team in order to escape from small cities, appointing their next homes, and recruiting superstars during the contract period. The source of everything began in 1964.

Awakening of the players.

For the first time, they will discover just how powerful they are.

The moment when the players held the scepter came on the greatest All-Star night ever.

(End of this chapter)