David Stern Knows Where "The Bodies Are Buried"

Last week, Yahoo! Sports columnist Adrian Wojnarowski wrote a scathing critique of NBA commissioner David Stern, painting him as a bully who is beginning to lose support amongst a new crop of league owners.

On Monday, Wojnarowski gave readers an even more chilling vision of Stern by reporting on a pair of speeches given to players during All-Star Weekend by union chief Billy Hunter and the commish himself. After Hunter reportedly used his address to the players as a chance to prepare his most high-profile constituents for the expected lockout to come, the normally unflappable Stern responded a little like Lee J. Cobb at the end of "On The Waterfront".

Via Yahoo! Sports:

Stern told the room he knows where “the bodies are buried” in the NBA, witnesses recounted, because he had buried some of them himself.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Say what you want about how Roger Goodell has handled his league's labor struggle, he's at least publicly shown respect to the men he's dealing with. If Stern is already turning to threats and intimidation, it doesn't bode well for the negotiations, the league or his tenure as the commissioner.

By contrast, Hunter's words resonated with the players and combined with the obviously rattled Stern's retort it could be the first real shot across the bow in a labor battle that is likely to be even uglier than what we've seen so far from the NFL.