NBA gets set, while MLB still has no clue

At least one sport will be playing in July

The National Basketball Association's Board of Governors voted 29-1 Thursday to approve commissioner Adam Silver's plan to restart the NBA regular season.

The league will resume play on July 31, which on baseball's calendar is when the trade deadline should be in a normal schedule. There is nothing normal about this year, with the exception of seeing baseball owners and players, once again, fight in public.

Tony Clark of the Player's Union released a statement Thursday. Let me interpret it for you. He pretty much told the owners to piss off.

So, how what? How in the world are these two sides going to lock themselves in a room, six feet apart, of course, and figure this damn thing out?

Well, it's disgustingly negative right now in baseball circles. There is no forward momentum at all for a quick agreement. And, it's June 4, so the clock is ticking.

What will it look like as NBA players get back on the court to prepare for their July 31 resumption of the season and the baseball owners and players are still disputing how to resume their season?

It will look awful. The long-term health of this sport is in jeopardy.

Okay, so the owners want fewer games, so they won't have to pay the players more than they have to with no fans in the stands. And the players want to play as many games as possible so they can get paid for as many games as possible.

Good luck trying to find a middle ground in that situation.

But they have to. The sport's long-term viability is at stake. Casual fans won't give a damn about baseball if this keeps up. And as more sports get back preparing for their season, while these two sides are going at it on social media...

Well, again, we seem to almost say it everyday. Baseball is in trouble. And only the people who seemingly don't act like they care to have to figure it out.

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.