"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
18 December 2006Knuckles and Nuggets and KnicksPresumably you've already heard the story. (It's hard to conceal things that happen in Madison Square Garden, after all.) Henry Abbott of True Hoop says it best:
What went wrong here was a series of really stupid overly aggressive mistakes on the part of players who should have known better.
This incident will probably pass without damaging the league too much, but it's not just an "oops." It's the kind of thing the league and players certainly can't afford to have happen very often. It really does hurt ticket sales, TV ratings, and the ability of most people to look up to these players. And every now and again, after something like that, I'll hear some racist crack. Racists are always waiting for an opportunity to paint the NBA as a bunch of out-of-control black players. It kills me to have these highlights all over the TV, knowing racist idiots in sports bars somewhere are seeing them and feeling vindicated. Amen to that. This is a case of Men Behaving Badly, period. And the Commissioner did what he had to do. (I thought of one additional penalty — requiring the Knicks and the Nuggets to use the new-soon-to-be-old ball the next time they play — but they don't meet again this season.) As the pragmatist here, I note that the Nuggets have five games between today and their visit to the Ford Center on the 29th, which means that Denver will be without both Carmelo Anthony and J. R. Smith. (I was actually looking forward to J. R.'s first tangle with his former teammates.) The Hornets won't be playing the Knicks during the suspension period. Posted at 2:00 PM to Net Proceeds"... the ability of most people to look up to these players." Why is this a bad thing? Enjoy the game, sure, but look up to them? They're freakish genetic mutations capable of playing a child's game well enough to draw a paying audience, not Dr. Albert Bloody Schweitzer. Posted by: Bill Peschel at 4:08 PM on 18 December 2006I have no trouble looking up to them. Then again, most of them are way taller than I am (6'0"). |