TR Forums

paulWTAMU wrote:

I don't see the point of banning tatts and funny hair, or requiring degrees...but I'd like to see (across the sports leagues) a crack down on actual criminal activity--no glossing over it, no trying to help players get off. let 'em back in after they serve their time sure.

Maybe this is why I like college athletics much more than pro. Coaches generally do a good job of disciplining their players for violating rules. If it's an NCAA rule that is broken, you can usually count on the NCAA going overboard with punishment. At the pro level, the only "punishment" that exists is fines. The fines are always miniscule amounts for somebody who makes millions per year. I think pro teams should punish their players for violating rules in ways that actually sting.

paulWTAMU wrote:

Personally I'd just like to see a return to good solid basketball with less showboat ****

QFT. Along the same lines, all the flopping is ridiculous. They've gotta do something to get rid of that part of the game. I like the idea of flopping being a personal foul.

dextrous wrote:

QFT. Along the same lines, all the flopping is ridiculous. They've gotta do something to get rid of that part of the game. I like the idea of flopping being a personal foul.

Flopping in the NBA pales in comparison to Soccer, but I totally agree with what you're saying.

leor wrote:

Heh I wonder how the responses would change if we changed the topic to hockey....

I just had a thought. I'm pretty sure that if the NHL went on strike right now the people of Manitoba would declare war....not sure against who though....Gary Bettman?

The NBA regular season stinks - especially those inter-conference games between the Clippers and the Bucs on Wednesday night, where the players look like they couldn't care less whether or not they're on the court.

Have 'em play a 20-ish game regular season schedule. The playoffs will still be a month long.

Flopping is totally lame but way too hard to officiate, unless you let the refs go to replay and attempt to determine who's doin' the flopping. Maybe you could get them some Minority-Report equipment for them to figure it out.

The league either needs to institute a proper hard salary cap (and salary floor), with revenue sharing, or contract down to 24-ish teams. The disparity in competitive play is disturbing, and in some ways, even worse than baseball.

Millionaires fighting over our money. I hope they cancel the entire season.

Better yet, turn it into a a game where dollar bills float down from the the ceiling and the players compete to grab them. They can work on their rebounding skills.

I think I'm probably something of an odd man out here (I stand 6-4 1/2" with 38" arms and am possessed of a reasonable level of basketball talent), at least in the sense that I've played the game decently over the years (although just "pickup") and have been matched up against several of those who were, back then "future NBA pros" in years past (and a couple ex NFL starting super bowl defensive players also)...but...?

So what?

The fact is, I ALSO don't care if they cancel the whole thing, or simply dissolve that whole da**ed league. Haven't cared about or followed the NBA for years now.

For me it all ended with one of those players strikes...and I can't even tell you what year exactly (late 80's?), except that I know Patrick Ewing was still playing for the NY Knicks. At some point during the verbal back-and-forth then I heard this from one of those 100+ million dollar strikers (and I can't remember who): "It's not about money--it's about respect. They (the owners) don't respect us."

"Really," I thought? Somehow the 100+ million that clown was being paid was screaming pretty loudly otherwise, but it was clear the overpaid moron still just wasn't getting it. And something finally went <click>...and I gladly stopped paying attention to most of those overpaid prima-donnas...and most of Hollywood too...both in the same instant.

Yes, for me THAT was the last straw. I said to myself: "F**k 'em, all those fools" and have had a life much the better for it ever since.

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This isn't to say that there aren't sports and athletes who are worth following--there are many of them. Still many, even today. But you must "pick-and-choose" carefully too. Just because a given so-and-so is part of a "league" or even a "medium" doesn't make him...or even her (no matter how good looking she is) worth wasting any of your own precious time. And it IS precious--it's YOURS. So don't spend it or give it away cheaply.

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The man we lost just this last weekend (2-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon (33), killed at a race in Las Vegas) was probably one of those worth following--he kept it all in perspective I think. He knew he was fortunate (and not simply "entitled")...and moreover, he seemed to be a man who seemed to truly VALUE his wife and family. In the world of sports and entertainment, that's all too rare, IMO.

He was the kind of sportsman I could admire (and he is--and now was--one who I will miss).

In contrast to that? If the NBA resumes sometime later this year? I won't be able to tell you who their eventual champion is even the day after they win it all.

Like most of you I, also, won't care.

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Today: I wouldn't go to a NBA game seven final these days if you gave me a limo, 20 tickets and box seats. Or front row seats. I'd rather watch paint dry...or maybe--if was REALLY, REALLY bored--I could turn on cable...and watch all their tattoes dry.

Or, on second thought? Nah!

simracer wrote:

tattoes

Toe tats, for when you don't really want to show off your ink in public.

Yeah, I whiffed the spelling, sho' 'nuf.

But the beer tasted good, too...so it was all a wash from where I sit. :

You know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBP5pDVGFpg

I can't bring myself to watch basketball after the repeat of the three-peat (of the Jordan era Chicago Bulls). I've seen the pinnacle of the game, why ruin it?