Lately, it seems the best sport to watch these days is the battle of wits between professional athletes and team owners. First there was the football lockout, and now basketball is following suit with its own labor impasse.

Instead of building on the momentum of last season and learning from the mistakes of the past, players and owners have decided to fight over money like little children arguing over who gets the bigger bed.

As negotiations began early in the year, owners claimed they were losing $300 million a season and demanded a hard salary cap for players to cut costs. Unsurprisingly, the players refused.

The situation has become so bad that NBA players are actively seeking contracts to play in basketball leagues overseas, and some have already accepted deals.

Deron Williams signed with Besiktas of the Turkish Basketball League, and there are rumors that Kobe Bryant is ready to play in Italy.

Time is running out for a deal to be made. Training camp and all preseason games have been canceled.

There has been talk of the entire season being canned. What happened to the art of compromise? It is already bad enough that our politicians cannot agree on the simplest things to get our country moving in the right direction, but to have the same silliness going on in sports is disheartening.

People want sports. More importantly, people want basketball. There are stories to be told and questions left unanswered.

Will the Dallas Mavericks win it all again? Will the Big Three in Miami finally be able to combine their skills and turn them into a championship team? We won’t find out until there is a new labor agreement.