Leave My Dad Alone

Most stories about the NBA lockout and its competing parties have portrayed Commissioner David Stern as lugubrious, dishonest, cruel, all three, or something similar. A lot of good reporting has built this case. Beloved truth teller Nate Silver famously scrutinized league revenues while arguing that the NBA has exaggerated the supposed plight of floundering owners. That same week, Deadspin published an expose about the New Jersey Nets' accounting practices. And with meticulous rigor that should be a model for all journalists on any beat, the SB Nation team has captured every twist and turn. (If you scroll down, that link has all of the coverage from stalwarts like Tom Ziller and Andrew Sharp.) Common to these reports and a majority of the coverage is the sense of disappointment: that basketball may go on a prolonged hiatus; that sports is again marred by legal wrangling; that NBA teams and their agents are being dishonest. Stern, as a representative for the owners and a face of...