"NBA players need to remove shackles"

"New York Times" columnist William C. Rhoden came out with a book this summer that brought great controversy with it.

The book, titled "Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete" details how the black athlete's plight hasn't really changed over the past 100 years - how "black athletes’ exercise of true power is as limited today as when masters forced their slaves to race and fight. The primary difference is, today’s shackles are often of their own making."

Well, I can't say I agree or disagree with Rhoden's argument – I won't be able to do that until after reading the book - but today in sports there is an obvious case of a powerful white man - NBA Commissioner David Stern - controlling a large group of athletes, mostly black.

I wrote a column a couple weeks ago about the effect the new microfiber ball and "zero-tolerance policy" is having on the league this season. Several of the NBA’s players have complained about the changes since the beginning of the season. Everyone from Shaquille O'Neal - one of the league's biggest players - to Steve Nash - one of its smallest players - has grumbled about the ball. Turnovers are up, it bounces weird off the rim - making traditionally strong rebounders average - and players simply don't like its feel.

I don't blame them. Especially the veterans. Here, they've been using one ball for 10 years, now all of a sudden it's gone? It's ludicrous.

Friday the players' association took a stand, filing two unfair labor practice charges against the NBA over issues with the new ball and the league's crackdown on player complaints. Union director Billy Hunter said that if changes aren't made, legal action could be the association’s next step.

Washington Wizard Antonio Daniels, in his 10th season, hit it right on the head when he said, in an ESPN.com article, "You never want to feel that the NBA's a dictatorship."

That must be what it feels like to the players right now. Stern is making changes that have an impact on every single game, and the players aren't allowed to fight back? That's a dictatorship, for you.

I don't care how much money these guys make. I don't care about how "easy" their lives are compared to ours. We know all that. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't get the same rights as any member of an organization to have input on important decisions made by that organization and to protest changes they disagree with.

Although officials have slightly improved during the season's first month, technical fouls are still up from last year. There were 175 T's through the first 225 games this season. Last year there were only 120 through 225 games. While it was ridiculous how much players argued with refs during the playoffs last season, the way officials have clamped down on even minor emotional outburst by players this season has been overzealous.

Players, naturally, are going to be upset if a foul is called on them that they disagree with. To not allow any sort of reaction is, well, shackling them.

This situation would be completely different if at least some of the league's players agreed with the new rule and the implementation of the new ball. But I haven't heard one good word spoken about either new measure. Even when Vince Carter received a friendly bounce from the new ball to save a game for the New Jersey Nets, he wasn't praising the ball. Instead, he said that what happened never would have occurred with the old leather ball.

Hopefully enough high-profile players will speak out against the new measures that Stern will be forced to make some changes. Not only would this benefit the players, but it would also prove that they are not slaves living under a dictatorship. It would prove that they have the power to influence the league's direction and that it's not just a one-man show.

And it would tell the fans that, no, players aren't just entertainers on your television screen. They are real people, just like you, who - regardless of the amount of money they're making - care about how their organization is run and won't let themselves be treated like insubordinates.