Personification of Why I'm Not an NBA Fan
I think I've mentioned on here before that I am not a fan of professional basketball. I'd say I'm an above-average sports fan... but can't get into the NBA. I enjoy the game itself. I'll tune in to a college game every now and then and would probably enjoy attending high school games again.
Anyway, I landed on the last few minutes or so of the Cavs/Heat game last night and was reminded of my personal reasons. I'll try to order a few in priority of my distaste:
1) The arrogance and "Look at Me" attitude. I realize this is becoming more and more prevalent in other "team" sports. Even my beloved baseball is not immune. However, if you're playing a team sport, then put the team first. I'm sick of seeing chest poundings, howling, and jersey pulling. More often than not at the end of last night's game, a player would do that after something really small like drawing a foul. "Look at me Motherfucker! I drove to the hoop and somebody fouled me! I'm the best that ever lived!"
2) Only give each team two timeouts. Please! For the love of God!!! I tuned in around 10:00 PM EST and I think there was just over 4 minutes left in the game. It wasn't over until FIFTY minutes later. That's ridiculous! The last minute took about eight real minutes. It completely ruins the flow of the game. I guess it's just me, but this doesn't build suspense, it only dissipates it. The internets are telling me that last night's contest was good what with the Cavs losing a sizable lead, coming back with a chance to win, etc. I don't think my heartbeat ever changed.
3) Only Pretending to be a Team Sport. (I realize this is sorta related to #1, but not really.) Do they run offensive plays any more? I remember Mark Price coming down the court and setting shit up. I don't notice that nowadays, but maybe my sample size of teams and contests is too small to know for sure. I might see a simple high pick and roll or something, but I'm talking about actual plays that would require a clipboard and studying. I wonder if some of the problem with this is the shot clock. Maybe upping that to 35 seconds would help teams get something going, but I fear it would just lead to more dribbling and a few more passes before the supporting cast clears the floor and lets the star take a fadeaway or drive to the hoop. I am absolutely not exaggerating here, but Dwayne Wade had like the last 10 possessions all to himself at the end of the game. I realize he's a superstar, but that's not what I want to see. Lebron had the majority of the Cavs touches down the stretch as well. You don't see this in college as much. I enjoy individual sports like tennis... but not individual sports pretending to be team sports.
4) Flagrant Fouls. This is more of a question to my more NBA-knowledgeable readers...... What are they? I always defined it to myself as an "intentional" foul. But where's the line when a team just wants to stop the clock? Why is it different in the last 30 second of a game than the rest? Do a lot of problems come up with this seeming subjectivity? I say any foul that is deemed to be intentional should give the victim 10 free throws or something. 98% of the time it just extends the game unnecessarily (see #2). The other 2% of the time that it actually works, I feel badly for the team that loses as it seems to me they got screwed. Take last night. Due to intentional fouling, Lebron was able to throw up and sink a desperation 3-pointer in the closing seconds to give the Cavs a fighting chance. I'm sorta glad they didn't end up winning. I wouldn't want them to in that way.
(Hopefully you guys can help me figure out what I'm missing...)
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3 comments
3 Comments:
First off, which person is the "personification"?
I'll see what I can do to help. because basketball is a terrific sport and I think you're missing out.
1) Why is celebrating not putting the team first? You're excited because your team is doing well! These players are the best in part because they have that competitive drive, and asking them to stifle it is unreasonable. Individual celebration is not inconsistent with team play. My policy is, I love it when my team does it and hate it when the other team does it. Celebrate along with your favorite players! hate the opponent!
Personally, I think it's lame to complain about players being excited, but I couldn't talk you out of such an opinion, I know. If you prefer, root for the Spurs and Tim Duncan, who is a robot. There are countless other stars whose on-court behavior meets your standards: Nash, Nowitski, Allen, Brand, etc. Don't generalize so much, and don't be such an old man.
2) Teams can't use more than 2 TO's in the last 2 minutes of a game, and I think the NBA has shortened one to 20 seconds instead of 60. That's not so bad.
3) The weakest of your arguments. Basketball is the sport where a group playing well as a team has the best chance to beat a team with superior individual talent. Baseball is a collection of individual performances (and the pitcher, an individual, matters by far the most), hockey has a strong element of chance and the goaltender wildcard, while football rivals basketball in this respect (se: Patriots, New England).
Can a star player have a huge impact? Sure, because b-ball has fewer players at a given time than other games. You know why Wade got all those touches? Because the Cavs played poor TEAM defense. Basketball is the most team-oriented of our major sports. even MJ wasn't a champion until he started leading the Bulls as a team.
4) During those clock-stopping fouls, the player must make at least making some effort to get the ball, thus not making it intentional. Nice random 98% and 2% figures. Of course it's subjective. So are holding calls, balls and strikes, and obstruction calls. The officials do the best they can - LeBron's clothesline was clearly more than a garden-variety foul and was called properly.
In general, why worry about these little things? Compared to the game's athleticism, strategy, and skill, these points look rather small to me. Remember how much fun we had watching Cavs-Raptors? I dunno, maybe only I did.
Alright, time for me to chime in here. I meant to comment on this a couple of days ago, but Andy beat me to the punch, and I agree with him almost 100% here.
1) Hey, why don't you just come out and say it, you don't like that they act "black," right? Come on. Celebration is part of the game in any sport. Why don't you talk about elaborate end zone dances, soccer goal celebrations, etc.? Are you implying that college hoops is bereft of celebration? The frequent game-stoppages and the opportunity to score on every other possession make basketball conducive to celebrations. And let's not forget that basketball is a star-driven, up close and personal type of sport. No other sport puts you as close to the athlete with either camera angles, the floor seats, or the fact that there is no helmet, hat, headgear of any type to impede your view of the athletes.
And like Andy said, don't you want the athletes to at least be as excited as you, the fan, is? I sure as hell do.
2) The typical NBA game lasts about 2.5 hours. Almost every other sport is longer. Basketball is a sport with tons of short stoppages, it's just the nature of the beast. Personally, I find the long breaks between periods in hockey more aggrivating. And Andy's right about the new timeout rules.
3) I agree with Andy again. Basketball is way more of a team sport than every other sport. While having one good player can win you some games and awards, it certainly does not win you championships. Look at the Spurs. They have been the best team in the NBA over the last five years or so, and they play an incredibly team-oriented brand of basketball.
In hockey, a hot goalie can win a game. In baseball, an ace pitcher. Football is the only sport that you can argue is more team-oriented game than basketball, and primarily because there are so many more players on the field at one time.
4) Two types of flagrants. A flagrant 1 is for unnecessary contact, and a flagrant 2 is for unnecessary and excessive contact. The difference between the two is up to the referee's interpretation. It's usually pretty easy to determine between the two types of fouls. A wrap-up is not necessarily a flagrant foul.
If your problem is that too much is left up to interpretation, why do you want the refs interpreting every foul towards the end of a contest as intentional or unintentional? That's no solution. 98%-2%? For all the figures that you throw out for your gun-oriented posts, I'd think you'd avoid the pseudo-statistics.
And like Andy said, every sport is subjective in regards to the officials.
One more point here: "I feel bad for the team that loses as it seems to me they got screwed." Please, let's not have this argument. I don't have to tell you that sometimes, in sports, the team that plays the better game loses. Look at the NFL, it happens often. Lucky goals can definitely win games in hockey because there is usually very little scoring. And as for baseball, I can go on and on and on, but I'll leave you with one name: Buckner.
And as for "I wouldn't want them to [win] that way," well, this is another argument that I simply don't want to have in professional sports. We're not even talking about recruiting practices, or having a guy on your team who you know takes steroids, or anything or that nature. We're talking about winning fair and square, within the game. Nothing wrong with it. Wins via intentional fouling should be blamed on the loser, for playing lousy defense in the waning seconds and for failing to hit their free throws.
And one more time, I agree with Andy: you're making mountains out of molehills.
You guys make some good points and I fully realize this is a personal, emotional thing I have. I'll try to talk to a few things that jumped out at me to try and make myself clearer:
Hey, why don't you just come out and say it, you don't like that they act "black," right?
I certainly don't think that's what I'm saying. I've seen white guys act like they won MVP when an opponent travels, too.
There are countless other stars whose on-court behavior meets your standards:
While there are a few individuals that might not annoy me if I knew more about them... I think we have to admit that far and away the norm for this sport is for "individual chest-beating". Notice how I phrase that too, as Nick mentioned end zone dances and soccer pile-ons. It's not the fact that they're "celebrating", it's how they do it and how often they do it. I'm not the biggest fan of Chad Johnson antics, but they usually make me smile and are entertaining. They also are followed up with a few guys jumping into each others' arms and celebrating as a team. And that's how soccer or hockey celebrations are done, everyone piling on in jubilation. The basketball norm has neither of these points. It looks to me (again, subjective) that it's one individual howling at the rafters about his bad-assedness and pumping his chest while scowling and pushing away from his teammates like he's saying "Get off me!". You don't see these "celebrations" in other sports, and those that do elaborate individual end zone stuff are in the minority when compared to those that just drop the ball and head to the sidelines after scoring... let alone routine plays.
Teams can't use more than 2 TO's in the last 2 minutes of a game
That's excellent! I didn't know that and I guess I didn't notice during the game. I'll pay closer attention, as the clock still stopped a hell of a lot.
You know why Wade got all those touches? Because the Cavs played poor TEAM defense.
Maybe this was just an unfortunate specimen of a game for me to judge that particular gripe I've always had, but after the third time I was all "come on". After the tenth time, my attention was drifting to seeing if my carpet was growing..... even though it was working and Wade kept scoring.
And one more time, I agree with Andy: you're making mountains out of molehills.
I know I am... just letting you know what those molehills are that get me worked up. Some people don't like sushi and I could try to convince them why it's tasty...
Also, only caucasions should be allowed to play or be in attendance.
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