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It's not all bad Stop all the negativity, already. The NBA has its points
Posted: Friday May 12, 2000 12:59 PM
It gets a little bit old, truth be told, to hear people moan about the NBA all the time. Here in the midst of the league's showcase, the playoffs, it seems all we read about is declining attendance and sinking TV ratings, a stale game and Fred Hickman short-balloting MVP Shaquille O'Neal. Allen Iverson is a tattooed thug, in many people's minds, Latrell Sprewell probably is worse, nobody can shoot, everybody makes too much money. The games are only interesting in the last two minutes, there are too many guys standing around, too many TV timeouts, too much bumping, too much traveling, too much strutting. It's open season on the NBA, for cryin' out loud. Step right up and take your potshots. What's up with all that? Truth is, no one in a right way of thinking would suggest that the NBA doesn't have its problems. But how it has turned into the bad boy of the American professional sports scene -- two years after Michael Jordan had lifted it, arguably, to its zenith -- is a tad perplexing. Really now, when was the last time an NBA player, say, murdered someone? Or was accused of it, even? When was the last time you saw a particularly nasty fight on the court, as nasty as they get in hockey, where stick-assaults seem as if they're becoming part of the game and blood on the ice is commonplace? When was the last time an NBA player was found goofing off in the clubhouse -- say playing cards -- while his team was in the middle of a critical playoff game? Forget Dennis Rodman for a second. Think Rickey Henderson or Marty McSorley. Think Ray Lewis and Rae Carruth. Think about stupid three-hour long American League slugfests, or Enron Park's short fences, or idiotic brawls. Hockey fights and replay screwups, for heaven's sakes. Taking a knee in football. Think the Lightning, the Bengals and the Tigers. We could sit around for hours discussing the good points and bad about each sport. The point here, all you NBA naysayers, is that the league has its good points. With all the negative talk floating around, it seems easy to overlook that. The Lakers-Suns game the other night was as good as the Knicks-Heat one was bad. O'Neal is as exciting to watch as, well, as Greg Ostertag isn't. Even in the bad games -- take the Knicks-Heat -- there is good. You see Jamal Mashburn in the fourth quarter? On the other hand, even the unbelievably good Lakers-Suns game was somewhat marred by a last-second no-call on O'Neal. And what about the Trail Blazers, huh? Watch out for the Trail Blazers. And the old-guard Pacers, with big-mouthed Reggie Miller backing up his antics, may yet spoil New York's chance to get back to the Finals. If, of course, the Knicks can get past the Heat. It's there, for the watching, in this NBA postseason. The good and the bad. Still, if you'd rather see 165-pound shortstops hit 325-foot home runs, a nice 1-0 NHL thriller, or if you'd just as soon wait for an NFL season full of salary cap talk and police blotter results ...well, fine, go right ahead. Just quit badmouthing the NBA while you're at it. John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com. Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
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