I led a university for nine years, and I can picture the first strike. Unionized players, certified bargaining unit, and a walkout threat the week of the Final Four or the playoff. That's what unions do. It's their leverage, and it's their right. But a labor stoppage in the middle of March Madness would be catastrophic for everyone: the players who lose their showcase, the schools, the fans, the networks. Add union dues skimmed off 19-year-olds' paychecks and a grievance process for playing time disputes, and you've imported every dysfunction of industrial labor relations into something that used to be, whatever its flaws, about education. Some genies don't go back in bottles.
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