Fite Nite
- Basketball -
I understand that David Stern wants to clean up his league’s image. I understand that he does not want to lose the corporate audience by having fights, bling-bling, guns and corn rolls take over his league. But this time he has gone too far.
Stern and the American people must understand that these players are fierce competitors. Simply put, they are men. No self-respecting man wants to have the score run up on him in front of his family. Professional athletes contend with a great amount of pride and passion. Sometimes it may get the better of them, but it is part of the game. I would be more upset if there were no fights. I am not condoning violence, but at least you know the players care about the game and want to win. The NBA’s biggest complaint from the fans is that players do not care in the regular season. Players such as Shaq and other stars cruise through the season turning it on only in the playoffs. Meanwhile, college basketball teams give 110% every game.
This melee proves that notion wrong. Even the worst team in the NBA cares about getting blown out by twenty at home in a “meaningless� regular season game.
To understand what happened Saturday evening you have put yourself in the shoes of the players. Whether competing in high school, college, pro, recreation league, or Playstation, most athletes are sore losers. NBA players did not make it to where they are by not competing at a superior level. After playing hard and still being down by nineteen can turn your competitiveness into anger. Again, I am not saying this is acceptable, but I do understand.
I remember playing in many high school, college and recreation league games being up or down by twenty and the game getting physical. The losing team tends to play more aggressive.
Running through picks instead of calling, “switch,â€? elbows get thrown harder on box outs, and of course, fouls get harder, anything to regain or prove your manhood. An athlete’s manhood or pride is taken when you lose in such a manner, so players tend to overcompensate in other areas of the game to prove that they are not a loser.
Athletes do not like to get blown out by twenty at home. Forget the national audience, if you can honestly say that you would not be angered being down by twenty at home, in front of your wife, girlfriend, and/or children, you are lying to yourself. The play before the melee, J.R. Smith had a nice reverse dunk. That is embarrassing. Mardy Collins gave him a hard foul and I do not blame him for it. I would not want my loved ones to see me get embarrassed either. It is a part of the game. When I was in high school, we had a “no dunk rule� at our gym. It was unacceptable to let someone come into my gym and showboat in front of my fans, girlfriend and mother. I never tried to hurt anyone, but I did give hard fouls in order to send a message. That is what Mardy Collins was trying to do, send a message. He was not trying to fight anyone (that was Nate Robinson), he was informing J.R. Smith that he was not allowed to come into Madison Square Garden and have a dunk contest at his expense, and I respect that.
Remember Mardy Collins was drafted out of Temple? The same John Chaney coached, Nehemiah “goonâ€? Ingram, Temple team. For those who do not remember, Chaney ordered Ingram to give some hard fouls in a game and Ingram ended up breaking St. Joe’s co-captain John Bryant’s forearm. Although I do not think Mardy Collins was trying to hurt anyone, he is well trained in the art of proving manhood on the court, thanks Coach Chaney.
Which brings me to the real question that needs to be asked: Why did George Karl still have Carmelo, Camby, and J.R. in the game? Having your starters in the game up twenty with ninety seconds left is unacceptable. That was not only unsportsmanlike by Karl but also negligent. The Nuggets lost there two leading scores for ten and fifteen games. Overlooking the fight, what if Carmelo got hurt? That is the real issue that I have. Was standing up for your boy Larry Brown worth risking your entire season? What if Carmelo had to sit out the rest of the season with injury so you could get even with Isaiah in a blow out? Carmelo was playing the best basketball of his career, he was the NBA’s leading scorer, and on the way to his first All-Star appearance. J.R. Smith was also playing the best basketball of his young career. Basketball is a game of runs. Momentum is more important in the NBA than in college or high school because the games and season are so long. Carmelo and the Nuggets were in a groove and George Karl ruined it. I know Jerry Sloan was sitting at home with a smile on his face when he heard that his Utah Jazz’s division rival lost their two leading scorers for an extended period of time. At least Isaiah Thomas was smart enough to use Collins instead of Curry to incite his will on the basketball court.
On the cultural side, it bothers me that NBA melees are held at a higher standard than other sports. Could it be because the majority of NBA players come from inner-city urban centers, while the majority of MLB players come from middle class backyards? Stern is so worried that his cooperate audience will confuse his league with HBO’s The Wire, he
forgets that when you have strong willed men batting in a physical sport at such a high level there are bound to fights every now and then. The NBA has come along since the 1970’s when fights were a regular occurrence in the NBA, but to think that fights will never happen is ridiculous.
For Stern, ESPN, and the rest of the media to blow these fights out of proportion is not fair to these players. Why are words like “thug� and “sociopath� acquainted with Carmelo Anthony for sticking up his teammate, while Jason Varitek can punch A-Rod in the face in a famous Yankees/Red Sox brawl and be viewed as nothing more than a baseball player protecting his pitcher? MLB dugouts and bullpens clear on a regular basis and “thug� is never used to describe anyone involved. White baseball players are never accused of not respecting and ruining the game whenever they fight. Varitek and A-Rod each were suspended four games for their fight. That is only two percent of their season, compared to Carmelo’s eighteen percent season suspension. Is what happened Saturday evening nine times worse than when fights happen in baseball?
Are words like thug, ignorant, sociopath and other derogatory statements thrown around when fights happen in America’s great past time?
We could make the same argument for hockey. If you do not see a good fight at a live hockey game you leave feeling cheated, not that you are lucky you escaped with your life. What makes the NBA players so much different than MLB or NHL players? Why do NBA players have to dress business casual to be accepted while a pitcher can do a press conference in a ripped up t-shirt covered in sweat and ice packs?
Could it be that not many players in MLB or the NHL look like Carmelo or Iverson? I sure hope not…
