by Ron Murphy

Do you really get excited watching Shaq take 3 or 4 steps, lower his shoulder
into a smaller player and bull his way to a rim-jarring slam?  Are the next
3 minutes as exciting as he tries to figure out how to make a free throw
because he drew a foul on a play that was a charge a few years ago?

I didn't go to a lot of games in the 60's, but even as a teenager back then I
learned to appreciate a Wilt finger roll, a Jabbar sky hook, or a Russell
block.  They were as regular and dependable as clockwork.  Now I'm cheering
for a team to sign a 40% shooter who may hit 77% of his free throws and only
wants $6 million per year for his efforts.  How about some performance
incentives?  Why not work on making 50% of your shots and 85% of your free
throws? Play a little defense?  Maybe work at getting better at your
profession, not just paid more.

Am I bitter?  Not about what players get nowadays, but that the owners don't
seem to expect more effort and improvement.  We don't blink when a baseball
player fails to reach base 65% of the time and commands a $6 million plus
salary.  Now we're watching basketball delete shot-making and free throws, and even defense from the prerequisites for getting paid to play. 

What I do resent is players who don't think that their salaries include any contract with the public to be role models for kids.  What I do resent is
that we are lowering the bar of achievement vs. reward to fit the efforts of
todays player, rather than telling them, "You're going to get paid what
you're worth."

Overpaying a Mo Taylor or a Brad Miller only takes more out of the pocket of
the average fan, the guy who loves the game and respects hard effort.  No
wonder the WWF and the new XFL are looking like box office winners.  They
may be working harder than the "real sports" athletes today.

Don't put a luxury tax on the teams, put it on the players for getting to go
to a "prime" living environment.  Reward a player who will go to Vancouver
and put it on the line for the fans up there.  Reward a player for being in
the top fve or ten in steals, assists and other working-class stats. Don't
make me pay $40-50  to watch a 22-year old whine about a foul or pout about
playing time.  Show me the guy who knows it's a privilege to get paid
millions to play a game he loves and let's us in on that special
relationship he has with the game.  Let me see them dive for the ball, not
take a dive over an "in the area" foul.

If you're going to give up in the third quarter because you couldn't hit a
bunch of ill-advised shots earlier in the game, are you going to give me
back 3/4ths of the price of admission, Mr. NBA owner?  If you aren't willing
to do that, then start expecting out of your teams what you expect out of
your fans.  If all I wanted to see was a couple highlight plays mixed
between a lot of bad defense and poor shooting, I'll watch ESPN.  And save
the price of admission.  I think I have their attention now! 

8/12/2000
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