NEW YORK -- Behind closed doors, David Stern and Billy Hunter curse at each other like sailors. Their lawyers lash out like longshoremen.
You wouldn't know it from the composure everyone shows at the post-negotiation news conferences, but the behind-the-scenes battles during the NBA lockout are more fierce and foul-mouthed than either side would like to admit."It's more prevalent than people realize, but that's what people do in these negotiations" said Jim McIlvaine, a member of the union's bargaining committee. "It's a competitive business and people become vocal. But I learned in college that the four-letter words come in one ear and go out the other. You listen to the message in between."
McIlvaine had to do a lot of filtering last Thursday during a 10 1/2-hour negotiation that was marked by a particularly heated confrontation between Stern and Hunter in the union's caucus room.
According to several participants, the commissioner and the union director engaged in an extremely heated, expletive-laden screaming match that ended with Hunter springing from his chair and Stern storming out of the room.
As they always do, both men soon shrugged it off and continued the negotiating session.
But if the exchange demonstrated anything, it's that the two adversaries at the center of the most divisive labor battle in the league's history have forged a combative relationship that is a mix of mutual respect and mutual mistrust.
Their fight Thursday was one of many spiteful exchanges the two have had during the lockout, which has dragged on for more than 22 weeks. More than two months of the 1998-99 season have already been lost.
Last summer, during the guaranteed contracts hearing before arbitrator John Feerick, the confrontations were the most heated of all, fueled by the interrogation-like nature of the proceeding.
Union lawyers went after Stern, who testified that Shaquille O'Neal, like all players with guaranteed contracts, was technically a free agent during the lockout.
League lawyers went equally hard after Hunter, getting him to testify that he had not read the entire collective bargaining agreement.
McIlvaine, who was present for some of the hearing, said it was a good thing "Feerick was sitting between us in the room."
There have been other heated moments between Stern and Hunter, one accusing the other of being a liar; one accusing the other of insulting him.
Attorneys for both sides have had more than their share of explosive exchanges, too, and David Checketts of the Knicks' ownership group had several particularly hostile exchanges in Thursday's meeting.
The sides know each other so well that Karl Malone even warned that Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller, a member of the league's negotiating committee, would give a speech and cry.
"That's how he got me to sign my last contract," Malone told the players.
Sure enough, Miller gave a tearful plea.