Today, alt-weekly employees at The Village Voice narrowly averted calling a strike after reaching a deal with their parent company on health care benefits. Sadly, last night at midnight the NBA lockout officially began: unionized players and team owners couldn't come to an agreement on how to divide the spoils of the sport. In response, our commenter PerfectCircles has a simple question:

If the Village Voice can reach a deal, why can't the NFL and NBA?

Good question. And that's the Comment of the Day. If you're inclined, browse Open Wire, where you can share tips and links to the stories you think we should be covering.

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Erik Hayden