We opened our most recent lockout item with a very good-natured jab at the new report from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter, which a cynic could regard as an effort to claim eventual credit for first reporting the end to the lockout even though also avoiding any criticism for becoming wrong if a deal isn’t struck and ratified on July 21.
A cynic would now wonder no matter whether Schefter and Mort opted to make their secure harbor a lot safer with the addition of two new paragraphs that remind the world that the procedure is far from a accomplished deal.
“[O]ne member of the players’ negotiating team who has been a constant presence at the table said that players really feel they have made considerable concessions and overtures ‘that have not been reciprocated,’” the story now reads.
“He stated that negotiations Wednesday and Thursday will be the most telling days on whether an agreement indeed will be finalized inside the July 21 time frame simply because ‘we’ve basically reached the limits of compromise.’”
In fact, that’s much more than a safe harbor. Mort and Schefty are now totally covered on both sides of the story. If the deal get completed on July 21, you heard it there very first.
And if it does not, you heard it there very first, too.
