COMMENTARY | Basketball fans have been anxiously following the NBA labor talks since July wondering if there would be a 2011-12 season. NBA Commissioner David Stern announced this week that the first two weeks of the NBA season were canceled, stating that even after hours of meetings between representatives for both sides they remained “really, very, very far apart on virtually all issues.”
My husband, along with countless other basketball fans, has been watching the news with great interest and he was disappointed that NBA games scheduled for the first two weeks of the season had been canceled. However, as the wife of a dedicated basketball fan, I have also been waiting anxiously for news about the labor talks because even though I am a fan by relation only, the cancellation of the 2011-12 NBA season also affects me. If the NBA players and owners cannot come to an agreement, my life will be radically different – I will not be a basketball widow, I will have more money and the mood in my home will not be dependent upon a game.
I will still be married
Every fall when basketball begins, I become a basketball widow again. I leave my husband at home in front of the television or send him off to a game while I attend parties, go out with friends and attend our daughter’s school functions alone. Our friends offer their condolences at first and then support as I go through the stages of grief – disbelief that it has happened again, anger at the sight of a basketball or the mention of the NBA and then acceptance that there is nothing I can do but go on with my life.
I will have more money
If the NBA cancels the 2011-12 season, I will save money on bad “good-natured” bets. I will also save money because my husband will not have an excuse to hire someone else to do household chores like cleaning the gutters and raking the leaves. I will also save on the food and drinks that his friends consume when they come over to watch a game.
A game does not determine the mood in my home
I hate that the mood in my home can so easily go from elated to miserable within a few hours. I also hate depending on a group of tall, albeit athletic, men to make my husband happy during basketball season – that is usually my job. I can deal with a moody, brooding teenage daughter; however, dealing with a man whose favorite basketball team is losing is far worse.
Of course, the best thing for me would be if the 2011-12 NBA season was canceled because then I could focus my time on hockey and let my husband play the role of a basketball widow for a season.