Bass-Ackwards About The Fever

Bob Kravitz over at the Indianapolis Star can't even find anything nice to say on opening day. His article is titled "Enjoy what is probably the final Fever season.

Kravitz has his feet planted firmly in Yes-But-Land. After a few caveats - Kravitz provides plausible deniability with a few phrases about how its good for the Fever to exist - he gets to what he really wants to write about.

"If you're a decent businessman, and you're hemorrhaging money while your WNBA franchise is doing nothing to improve your bottom line, where do you cut yourbudget? For all of the franchise's good works on and off the court, the Fever is a Simon mall that can't draw shoppers. In the end, it's going to be about basic business arithmetic."

No point in clicking the link, because Kravitz clearly Didn't Do The Research. The decent businessman - Simon - is probably one of the wealthiest men in America. His screaming about the Fever is part of his extortion racket with Indianapolis - basically, he wants the same sweet deal for himself that the city granted the Colts. Simon is paying a cost of $1 a year to rent out Conseco Fieldhouse; clearly, poverty is not far from the multi-millionaire's door.

It's basically a game of "Give me want I want, or I'll show you how poor I am...I will make the horrible sacrifice of killing the Indiana Fever just to show that I mean business!" Maybe Simon should worry about the franchise that's hemorrhaging money before he worries about the one that's merely leaking it. Getting rid of the Fever to cure the Pacers is like a surgeon looking at a man stabbed in the stomach and shouting, "Nurse, I need a band aid to fix this man's paper cut stat!"

We can tell whose side the Indianapolis press is on. Poor Fever.

P. S.: Kravitz looks at the franchise sponsorships that Phoenix and Los Angeles have found. My prediction: the Fever will not find a franchise sponsor. It's not that they won't be able to find one; rather, it won't be allowed to happen because that way Simon can plead poverty more effectively.

P. P. S.: Kravitz asks with regard to suggesting a franchise sponsor for the Fever. "Can I suggest Victoria's Secret?" (My answer: "Sure, if you want to show the world you're a douchebag.") If you read the comments, the bulk of the commenters make the obvious cost-cutting suggestion - keep the Fever and get rid of Kravitz.