What does NBA stand for, really??
After the "basketbrawl" in Detroit this past Friday evening, perhaps the meaning of the acronym NBA needs changing.
You've heard the jokes. The National Football League, better known as the NFL referred to as the National Felony League, due to the proliferation of criminals among its player ranks. A Los Angeles area sportscaster on radio makes reference to his "Athlete Arrest of the Day" during his afternoon drive-time sportscasts and we all chuckle at hearing which overpaid professional athlete has screwed the pooch this time and gotten himself or herself arrested. But with the actions of Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson going into the stands to chase fans who definitely crossed over a line, professional athletes have sunk to a new low. A low that can be found somewhere beneath the belly of a pregnant slimeworm.
Until last Friday, my joke about NBA was that it stood for National Babymaking Association, referring to the proclivity of a number of NBA players to find time to father children out of wedlock, often to more than one woman. An April 29, 1998 issue of Sports Illustrated took an in-depth look at this problem, pointing out that then New York Knick Larry Johnson was supporting five children by four women, including two he had with his wife. The same article made reference to Shawn Kemp who at that time had fathered seven children although he was not married. Patrick Ewing, Jason Kidd, Juwan Howard, Scottie Pippen, Stephan Marbury, Hakeem Olajuwan, Gary Payton, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas are all NBA stars, and all were mentioned in that article as having been the subject of paternity lawsuits. Not much has changed with the passage of time. The league's newest star, LeBron James is only 19 years old and he already has fathered one child.
But the plethora of paternity suits will no longer be at the forefront of the media's mind after what happened Friday. Instead we will all wonder what in the world went wrong that sent Ron Artest into the stands to chase after a fan who had doused him with a beverage. Imagine the temerity of that horrible, awful Detroit fan. Ron Artest, star player of the Indiana Pacers had just backed down from a confrontation with Detroit Piston star Ben Wallace and had chosen to lay down on the scorer's table and this fan chose to throw his beverage at Artest.
The real problem here is that the NBA's response isn't going to solve a thing. The league has suspended Artest for 73 games, and others involved for lesser amounts of games. This will probably ruin the Indiana team's chances of reaching the post-season. It will cost Ron Artest some $5 million in salary. Oh, the Players Union will appeal and an arbitrator may reduce the suspensions, but the damage is done to the season of the Pacers.
Worse yet, the overreaction of the NBA reached an even lower point last night. In Detroit security was tightened and a fan who was voicing his displeasure was told by a security guard that doing this was a "no-no." Now I can understand that it was wrong for fans to dump their beverages onto the players. Totally wrong. But that doesn't change the fact that the purchase of a ticket doesn't mean that the fan has abrogated his right to freedom of speech. He or she has every right to shout at the players, criticize the players and even insult the players and David Stern and the rest of the NBA have no basis on which to try to restrict or reduce that right.
When all is said and done, Artest and the others will be back. The fan who was punched will sue and win some kind of cash settlement. But the game of basketball, and the real fans are the losers here, as we watch the game we love sink lower and lower into the sunset of its declining years.
You've heard the jokes. The National Football League, better known as the NFL referred to as the National Felony League, due to the proliferation of criminals among its player ranks. A Los Angeles area sportscaster on radio makes reference to his "Athlete Arrest of the Day" during his afternoon drive-time sportscasts and we all chuckle at hearing which overpaid professional athlete has screwed the pooch this time and gotten himself or herself arrested. But with the actions of Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson going into the stands to chase fans who definitely crossed over a line, professional athletes have sunk to a new low. A low that can be found somewhere beneath the belly of a pregnant slimeworm.
Until last Friday, my joke about NBA was that it stood for National Babymaking Association, referring to the proclivity of a number of NBA players to find time to father children out of wedlock, often to more than one woman. An April 29, 1998 issue of Sports Illustrated took an in-depth look at this problem, pointing out that then New York Knick Larry Johnson was supporting five children by four women, including two he had with his wife. The same article made reference to Shawn Kemp who at that time had fathered seven children although he was not married. Patrick Ewing, Jason Kidd, Juwan Howard, Scottie Pippen, Stephan Marbury, Hakeem Olajuwan, Gary Payton, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas are all NBA stars, and all were mentioned in that article as having been the subject of paternity lawsuits. Not much has changed with the passage of time. The league's newest star, LeBron James is only 19 years old and he already has fathered one child.
But the plethora of paternity suits will no longer be at the forefront of the media's mind after what happened Friday. Instead we will all wonder what in the world went wrong that sent Ron Artest into the stands to chase after a fan who had doused him with a beverage. Imagine the temerity of that horrible, awful Detroit fan. Ron Artest, star player of the Indiana Pacers had just backed down from a confrontation with Detroit Piston star Ben Wallace and had chosen to lay down on the scorer's table and this fan chose to throw his beverage at Artest.
The real problem here is that the NBA's response isn't going to solve a thing. The league has suspended Artest for 73 games, and others involved for lesser amounts of games. This will probably ruin the Indiana team's chances of reaching the post-season. It will cost Ron Artest some $5 million in salary. Oh, the Players Union will appeal and an arbitrator may reduce the suspensions, but the damage is done to the season of the Pacers.
Worse yet, the overreaction of the NBA reached an even lower point last night. In Detroit security was tightened and a fan who was voicing his displeasure was told by a security guard that doing this was a "no-no." Now I can understand that it was wrong for fans to dump their beverages onto the players. Totally wrong. But that doesn't change the fact that the purchase of a ticket doesn't mean that the fan has abrogated his right to freedom of speech. He or she has every right to shout at the players, criticize the players and even insult the players and David Stern and the rest of the NBA have no basis on which to try to restrict or reduce that right.
When all is said and done, Artest and the others will be back. The fan who was punched will sue and win some kind of cash settlement. But the game of basketball, and the real fans are the losers here, as we watch the game we love sink lower and lower into the sunset of its declining years.
posted by me at 1:20 PM
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