NBA Gives Sports Card Contract to Panini

The NBA gave the new sports card contract to Panini an Italian company rather than keep it in the United States and give it to Topps or Upper Deck.

Now I have to admit I'm not happy with some of the products Topps or Upper Deck have produced but the commissioner of the NBA should have gone out of his way to give the contract to them since the United States is in such financial trouble. Will there now be layoffs at both companies that they will no longer be producing basketball cards only increasing the unemployment lines?

Wouldn't it have been better to have given all 3 a piece of the pie so that everyone could make money rather than just giving it to one company creating a monopoly?

Major League baseball cut Donruss out of the picture in sports cards and now they are out of business as the same Italian company Panini has purchased them.

Will we reach the point where not even sports cards are made in America because of greed leading to more unemployment?

Rooting for Sports Teams or Corporations?

I've begun to wonder why we root for sports teams. There was a time when it was about the game and hero worship. Now its all about money and corporations. When you root for the New York Yankees or the Pittsburgh Pirates you are rooting for a company. The players even the ones that play poorly are paid 6 - 7 figure salaries. I read an article today that said Manny Ramirez is getting ONLY 42 million a year instead of 45 million. People are going hungry around the country and Manny is only getting 42 million. Poor guy. How much do the owners make per year? What no one discusses is how over paid Bud Selig the commissioner of baseball who makes in the millions per year. Under his watch we have witnessed the steroid boom.
Why do we stay fans when the people who run sports are abusing us?
Another example would be the NBA giving the contract for basketball card to Pannini and Italian company rather than an American company. Its a game created in the US. The commissioner of basketball David Stern can only think of the European market and the money that draws rather than the fan who comes to the games in the US. Something is very wrong with the picture.
The prices for tickets to a game are out of reach for most people now as are the concessions. The only ones going to games now are the wealthy. Less and less kids are fans of sports everyday and the reason is they don't get to see any games in person anymore. They can't afford a pack of cards anymore either. The system is money driven now and not for the fan.
Even the players make you sad to be a fan. Pedro Martinez said, that he would not play for $1 million a year. He would rather go fishing. Pedro says he has enough money to be happy. Then why play for a million or more? He doesn't care about playing but about money.
The system is broken.