AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > September > 12
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Legalese anyone?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All the closet (and real) attorneys are sure to chime in on the latest salvo in the Atlanta Spirit ownership proceedings, but since I stopped a few credits shy of my law degree (try three years shy) I’m going to travel down a different path on this one.
Now that we’re back to square one in this whole process, back to the day in August 2005 after Steve Belkin filed the original lawsuit, let me pose the same question I did then: How long do Hawks fans have to wait for whichever ownership group will run the team forthwith to resume regular operations?
And by regular operations I mean the folks in basketball operations being allowed to proceed without restriction and to assemble a team equipped to compete immediately for a playoff berth.
The optimistic answer, of course, would be as soon as humanly possible - perhaps even in time for the start of this season. But that would be dreaming big dreams in a place where we know those dreams get dashed with seemingly every court ruling.
Chop it up any way you’d like, but know this, the major hurdle for the Hawks the past two years has been the looming presence of this ownership feud and how it would impact whatever potential moves were made.
The proof of just how fortunate this ruling was for the Spirit group will be told by how fast they buy Belkin out, fix this team and get a playoff caliber squad on the floor at Philips Arena.
I know that’s simplified a bit, but we’re dealing in a sports world that doesn’t have the patience the Maryland Court of Appeals does when it comes to handling business (we spent two years waiting for them to tell everyone to start over from the beginning?).
Feel free to argue the other side, if there is one, starting now.
