After midnight, we're all still hanging out...

The eleventh hour of staking out the CBA and all we know is that there is some progress, but not enough, according to emails from Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, and the sides are still huddled in a conference room here at this 44th Street hotel.

As Bruce Arthur of the National Post  said, "it feels like being in an airport, waiting for a plane that never comes."  Right, and then coming back the next day to wait some more. One group of journalists is talking about cereal brands, another talking NBA, another recounting Mike Francesa's rant about a dirty studio. There was this little back and forth on Twitter with Boomer Esiason and some followers. I just splashed some cold water on my face in the washroom again.

There is a sense however, that the sides, prodded by mediator Scot Beckenbaugh, are giving this endgame a serious shot, with the gap closing on the salary cap for 2013-14, for instance.

But with all the caution on each side, the language of any deal in principle will have to be carefully sifted and lawyered, which is why many of your humble observers have figured there would be no finality this evening.

So my story in tomorrow's Newsday will only give a partial glimpse of this long, lovely, frustrating denouement to collective bargaining,

Let my people go!