In 1982 I was on a luxury bus taking me from a top-flight hotel to the NBA All-Star Game at the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands in New Jersey.
Sitting next to me was this little Jewish guy with bad glasses and a very cute wife in a short skirt sitting on his lap. His wife asked, "Where do I go when we get there again?"
He snapped at her; "To the party. Go to the big party."
The man was David Stern, who was the legal counsel for the NBA at the time. He was the force behind creating an All-Star weekend that featured, indeed, a big party.
Just two years after that bus ride, the little guy from New Jersey became commissioner of the National Basketball Association. It was a league that generated little interest and little respect. Television networks showed some games, but many on a tape-delayed basis.
The year Stern took over the league also welcomed a rookie named Michael Jordan. Together they took a league that was an afterthought and turned it into a marketing superstar. They took a sport that didn't have much appeal for white folks and turned its stars into the biggest in the universe.
The year after Stern became commissioner Herb Kohl, a Milwaukee businessman, bought the Milwaukee Bucks. The influence of both men has had a significant impact on our city.
Kohl, of course, has been a loyal steward, trying year after year to build a winning team and battling against all offers to buy the team and move it to another city.
Stern, however, has not been a leading advocate for the Bucks. An argument could be made that he has a group of allies, younger big market owners, who are interested primarily in protecting their own interests.
While Stern will get credit for the globalization of the game of basketball, we in Milwaukee can look at the kind of things that would have helped our franchise over the decades.
The Bucks, indeed the entire league, would have been better served with some kind of meaningful revenue sharing. The NFL is the gold standard by which competitive balance has been achieved with strict revenue sharing. The Bucks could certainly have used some of that.
A hard salary cap that might have put a lid on some of these ridiculous salaries would certainly have helped make Milwaukee more competitive.
What we in Milwaukee can hope for when Adam Silver takes over as commissioner in 18 months, is for someone who understands that the strength of the league depends on the strength of all franchises, not just the big boys.
Kohl is likely to sell the team in the near future and he has said that his only condition is that the team stays in Milwaukee. He needs a commissioner who will back him up and help create a climate where a new owner can succeed in Milwaukee.
That's something that Stern has not done and we in this town aren't going to miss him when he finally goes away.
With a history in Milwaukee stretching back decades, Dave tries to bring a unique perspective to his writing, whether it's sports, politics, theater or any other issue.
He's seen Milwaukee grow, suffer pangs of growth, strive for success and has been involved in many efforts to both shape and re-shape the city. He's a happy man, now that he's quit playing golf, and enjoys music, his children and grandchildren and the myriad of sports in this state. He loves great food and hates bullies and people who think they are smarter than everyone else.
This whole Internet thing continues to baffle him, but he's willing to play the game as long as OnMilwaukee.com keeps lending him a helping hand. He is constantly amazed that just a few dedicated people can provide so much news and information to a hungry public.
Despite some opinions to the contrary, Dave likes most stuff. But he is a skeptic who constantly wonders about the world around him. So many questions, so few answers.
