Selling The
Game: An Outsider's Look At The NBA
by Ed McNiggler
The NBA is a setup. I am a diehard
basketball fan. I love everything about
the game. I love to watch, to play,
to read stats and stories about it. I am
one of the few remaining people
who still adamantly adhere to the NBA motto,
"I Love This Game." But the game
of basketball and the state of the modern
NBA are two completely different
things.
Once, the NBA was a haven for sports-lovers.
Magnificent athletes came
onto the court, five to a side,
and battled for the right to be the called
the victor. Whichever team put out
more effort, and displayed more skill,
won the game. That was when the
NBA was a showcase for the game of
basketball, rather than the individuals
who play it. The modern NBA is more
akin to the WWF or the WCW than
the NFL or MLB.
I love the game, and have for many
years. When the 99-00 season began, I
had my doubts about how the new
rule changes would affect the way the game
was played. In the end, my doubts
proved to well founded.
These rule changes I am referring
to are not real changes, they are only
modifications of the originals.
Officials were told to keep a tighter reign
on contact between players. Any
physical contact was to be considered a foul
on the defender. This would open
up the court for the offensive players, and
lead to more scoring. Great, I thought,
more scoring, less contact. Exactly
what the NBA needs. It's just too
bad that this isn't what the new rules led
to.
At first, the new rules were applied.
Sparingly and sporadically, but
applied nonetheless. I thought the
same thing as everybody else, that it was
just taking time for the players
and officials to get used to the new rules.
That once things calmed down, there
would again be a steady rhythm to the
calls, and the game could be admired
in all of it's glory. The season
progressed, and the calls remained
the same. There were less of them, but
they were still horrible. Gradually,
it became apparent to me that the new
rules were only a marketing ploy.
They weren't meant to make the game more
open, but rather to promote those
players and teams that got the most
ratings.
The Lakers, namely Kobe and Shaq,
were the most obvious benefactors of
this. It was just too good a chance
to pass up: the league MVP, arguably the
most exciting player in the game,
and Jordan's ex-coach the Zen Master all
on the same team. A topflight team
that everybody wants to watch. They are
the best team in the league. But
not by far. Yet nobody stood a chance
against them. Since the beginning
of the season everybody knew that they
would win the championship. Why?
Because every call went their way.
Through eighty-two games, there
were almost none in which the Lakers didn't
get the majority of the calls. They
breezed through the season, carried by a
combination of their superb skill
and the fact that the games were handed to
them on a silver platter. Speculation
began to grow amongst the basketball
loving community about midway through
the season about a possible NBA
conspiracy. I, like most people,
dismissed these theories. But I continued
to watch the games, and it ate at
me. The conspiracy theory just seemed too
plausible to ignore. I agonized
over every game I watched, and whether my
team lost or won, I almost always
left the game feeling as if the referees
decided who won more than the players.
As I am writing this, the LA Lakers
are celebrating their first NBA
championship. In the final two minutes
of the game, the Lakers were awarded
three questionable calls. On further
review, every one of them was a bad
call. Kobe is away from the play.
He is still somehow "fouled" and given two
free throws. Glen Rice lets a loose
ball slip out of his hands. Dale Davis
picks it up. Glen Rice gets to shoot
free throws. Austin Croshere cleanly
blocks Kobe. Kobe squirms around
in the air enough to convince the referees
to give him more free throws. The
Lakers win. Surprise, surprise. They could
have started celebrating months
ago.
But I guess the NBA was successful
in its plan. I watched the full 48. The
Lakers are amazing entertainment.
Very WWF- like: every player has a
persona, an image that they try
to convey to the media. They become an actor
rather than a person. Phil Jackson
has adopted this as readily as possible.
He is no longer Phil Jackson, but
is rather the Zen Master. Instead of
coaching a game, he is playing subtle
mind games, promoting mental health
among his players, and providing
spiritual harmony. That is all BS, of
course. He's won numerous championships
coaching the likes of Jordan and
Pippen, and is now reliving his
fame coaching Shaq and Kobe. Three of the 50
greatest ever and one that's soon
to be. But the NBA backed media promotes
it, and the viewers buy into it.
The season is over. Long months await
me where there will be no NBA to
watch. I need a replacement. Something
to watch instead that will have the
same entertainment value. The answer
is obvious: Wrestling. Matches that are
decided before they begin. Angry
characters yelling threats at each other
and struggling to back up their
word. Entertainment and money being stressed
more than skill. It will seem like
the season never ended.
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