Some Pro Sports thoughts...
February 25th 2011 03:58
The federal mediator today said in regards to the core issues facing the NFL and NFLPA that "issues remain." I am not reading much into that comment other than it being a master of the obvious one. And we can't read into it any further than that, because he did not say what kind of progress had been made. What if at the start of this process the two sides were as far apart as the Pacific, and now they are only as far apart as Hawaii from the lower 48. Would that not constitute progress, yet also be truthful in that they are still far apart? What's good is that obviously talks are still on-going. And, for reasons that may only be my personal forlorn hope, I get the sense that as long as the two sides are working together that 3/3 deadline may come and go with barely a whimper. Maybe the threats are there, but if the two sides continue to work then why break it? Or maybe that's wishful thinking.
On this, understand up front that I am not a basketball fan. Period. Of any age. I do not get all that excited about March Madness, nor do I follow the NBA at all. However, since I frequent sports websites like ESPN, the NBA is jammed down my throat whether I like it or not. So today, I was reading an article that for some reason appealed to me, and now I have comments. And the writer of this story, published on FoxSports.com, did say that the problems facing the NBA are the same that all pro sports face. However, the differences are magnified in the NBA.
The upshot of his article was that the players are killing the league. Their demands, actions, antics, behaviors and attitudes are destroying the fan following of the league. Well, not actively destroying, but entering the road to destruction. Now I have to ask myself, why do I not like basketball? Is it because I'm white and most of the players in the league are black? If that were the case, I would not like football or baseball either, considering the number of minorities that play in those sports. So race alone has nothing to do with it. But does the "aura" of the game? Now that, that does play a role. I don't relate. I don't! I don't like rap, or hip-hop, or whatever the hell they call it today. I don't like the swagger and attitude - yet recognize that it is an integral part often times of a black athlete's make up. I just don't like it. I don't like the "thug" anger that you see after many big plays. But here's another vital truth: do I dislike basketball primarily because Pittsburgh does not have a team? That's a very valid point. Anyway, I don't like it. And this next point I despise. I follow the team. Whether the team has nothing but scrubs, like my Pens did a few years ago, or whether they're stocked with elite talent (like the Pens or Steelers), I follow the team. Grudgingly, angrily, almost against my will and definitely against my better judgment, I follow the Pirates. I owe loyalty to the team. The black and gold.
And here is where the Foxsports.com writer and I agree completely. I become a fan of the player because he is someone who makes my team better. Yet if he goes elsewhere, especially for selfish reasons, and casts aspersions upon my team and my city, then I become an enemy of that player. Like LeBron James. "Taking his talents to South Beach" did not endear him at all to any Cleveland sports fan - whether he or she followed the Cavs or not. The arrogance of the whole (non) event, and the manner in which the message was delivered bespoke of an arrogance of untouchability. James was above it all - including most dangerously - the game. He wanted to selfishly play on a team composed of buddies. He didn't want to have to work with an owner and GM to build a team around him - he wanted a buddy on the court. James put himself above the team, the league and everyone else with that move. And in the process, not only alienated an entire city and region, but may have killed the franchise in the process. And what happens, when a player like James decides that he just wants to leave. That was happening in the NFL, and the owners responded with the franchise tag. A franchise tag would have stopped James cold. You hope. You don't know.
Baseball is that way, too. I wrote perhaps a week ago about my disgust with the assumption that Albert Pujols was going to leave St. Louis because he could. Because baseball has no leverage against the players. That leaves only one group really sucking wind, and that's the fans. Who is going to want to root for St. Louis this year, knowing that the best player the team has seen in maybe 50 years is just going to walk away at the end of the season? People are already being blamed, and yet, what's the point? The team will keep on player, and fans will keep on going to the game (it happens, even here in Pittsburgh) and yet what do the fans have to hold on to. A desperate hope against hope that Pujols will magically, wonderfully change his mind? Or will Pujols "take his talents" to LA or Anaheim or one of the other cities he's been linked to. It makes me sick because it betrays the fans who have rooted for him for so long. Shouldn't that mean something?
Oh. Wait. I forgot. I'm only dreaming about how things *should* be. How they are? Fans get raped by everyone - tv, teams, players - and keep coming back. So I guess the real question is how stupid are we fans? The players - they know. Stupid enough to keep coming back.
On this, understand up front that I am not a basketball fan. Period. Of any age. I do not get all that excited about March Madness, nor do I follow the NBA at all. However, since I frequent sports websites like ESPN, the NBA is jammed down my throat whether I like it or not. So today, I was reading an article that for some reason appealed to me, and now I have comments. And the writer of this story, published on FoxSports.com, did say that the problems facing the NBA are the same that all pro sports face. However, the differences are magnified in the NBA.
The upshot of his article was that the players are killing the league. Their demands, actions, antics, behaviors and attitudes are destroying the fan following of the league. Well, not actively destroying, but entering the road to destruction. Now I have to ask myself, why do I not like basketball? Is it because I'm white and most of the players in the league are black? If that were the case, I would not like football or baseball either, considering the number of minorities that play in those sports. So race alone has nothing to do with it. But does the "aura" of the game? Now that, that does play a role. I don't relate. I don't! I don't like rap, or hip-hop, or whatever the hell they call it today. I don't like the swagger and attitude - yet recognize that it is an integral part often times of a black athlete's make up. I just don't like it. I don't like the "thug" anger that you see after many big plays. But here's another vital truth: do I dislike basketball primarily because Pittsburgh does not have a team? That's a very valid point. Anyway, I don't like it. And this next point I despise. I follow the team. Whether the team has nothing but scrubs, like my Pens did a few years ago, or whether they're stocked with elite talent (like the Pens or Steelers), I follow the team. Grudgingly, angrily, almost against my will and definitely against my better judgment, I follow the Pirates. I owe loyalty to the team. The black and gold.
And here is where the Foxsports.com writer and I agree completely. I become a fan of the player because he is someone who makes my team better. Yet if he goes elsewhere, especially for selfish reasons, and casts aspersions upon my team and my city, then I become an enemy of that player. Like LeBron James. "Taking his talents to South Beach" did not endear him at all to any Cleveland sports fan - whether he or she followed the Cavs or not. The arrogance of the whole (non) event, and the manner in which the message was delivered bespoke of an arrogance of untouchability. James was above it all - including most dangerously - the game. He wanted to selfishly play on a team composed of buddies. He didn't want to have to work with an owner and GM to build a team around him - he wanted a buddy on the court. James put himself above the team, the league and everyone else with that move. And in the process, not only alienated an entire city and region, but may have killed the franchise in the process. And what happens, when a player like James decides that he just wants to leave. That was happening in the NFL, and the owners responded with the franchise tag. A franchise tag would have stopped James cold. You hope. You don't know.
Baseball is that way, too. I wrote perhaps a week ago about my disgust with the assumption that Albert Pujols was going to leave St. Louis because he could. Because baseball has no leverage against the players. That leaves only one group really sucking wind, and that's the fans. Who is going to want to root for St. Louis this year, knowing that the best player the team has seen in maybe 50 years is just going to walk away at the end of the season? People are already being blamed, and yet, what's the point? The team will keep on player, and fans will keep on going to the game (it happens, even here in Pittsburgh) and yet what do the fans have to hold on to. A desperate hope against hope that Pujols will magically, wonderfully change his mind? Or will Pujols "take his talents" to LA or Anaheim or one of the other cities he's been linked to. It makes me sick because it betrays the fans who have rooted for him for so long. Shouldn't that mean something?
Oh. Wait. I forgot. I'm only dreaming about how things *should* be. How they are? Fans get raped by everyone - tv, teams, players - and keep coming back. So I guess the real question is how stupid are we fans? The players - they know. Stupid enough to keep coming back.
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