Kori Ellis
03-30-2005, 06:13 AM
This is an article submitted by the poster known as Rummpd.
One Fan's Opinion: “I Love this Game”, but ...
By Peter D. Rumm, MD, MPH
I have been a long time fan of the NBA who has watched the league grow and who has attended games in many cities. In my travels as a public health doctor I have also observed the first hand the growing international interest of the league and have had the privilege of watching NBA televised games in countries such as Lithuania, Russia, Panama, Germany and Australia. However today, despite this growth and my continued love for the game, I am greatly worried about the future of this great league for my seven year old son, Peter Jr. I hear media pundits and fans of other sports blast the NBA as a poorly played, thuggish league.
As someone who works in the area of mass communications, much of these perceptions seem to be not entirely fair. Yet, they need to be actively countered better by this great league and the media involved. What can be done to improve the image of the game and subsequently improve the product on the floor? I would like to suggest three strategies.
First, don’t exclusively promote large market teams and a few flashy superstars. Right now the league seemingly concentrates on promoting these teams and several superstars such as Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony at the expense of other individual and team oriented stories that need to be told. Who is to say that a Ben Gordon of the Bulls is not the real future of the NBA? Why don’t we see more on Shawn Marion, the backbone of the streaking Suns, who is also a great humanitarian? Such players and teams and many more are impacting the league, and we get little insight into such stories on a daily basis.
In reality and actual practice, the current ABC, ESPN, TNT package could and should be known as the Lakers/Cavaliers/Heat network and media relations. While in the short-run this strategy can capture audiences and may drive ratings, we are missing out on much of the great NBA action. We are not building interest in other rivalries.
Second, please get, find or develop some better informed analysts and announcers to do the televised games. How many times do I have to hear someone like a Brent Musburger re-state an obvious point repeatedly or show a perceived bias to anything relating to the past glories of the Knicks or Lakers? Why do we always have to listen to Bill Walton’s extremely slanted platitudes? Unless someone has some valued added insight, please tone it down.
Third, something serious has to be done about a seemingly valid perception by many fans of the terrible state of the NBA officiating. A good call should be a call period. There should be much more consistency between games on what is a foul and what is not. “Star calls”, “payback calls”, and greatly skewed foul totals between home and road teams and certain franchises should not be happening, but do all the time. Could we also see some palming and traveling calls occasionally just for old time’s sake? Most importantly, just because a player throws the ball up and touches, falls into or barrels over a defender, it should not always mean it is a foul on the defender.
Moreover, when stars are involved, such “Jordan Rules” are carried to an extreme, and simply put, compromise the true integrity of the game. Conversely, there are also certain officials that are commonly perceived to bring personal agendas toward certain players. Why should such an official’s bias, if it truly exists as it seems to, change key games? Many of us feel that at least a couple of championships in the last decade may have been affected by either transiently incompetent officiating or even worse -- biased officiating. At the very least, the NBA needs to work to counter such perceptions through at least some changes in its current officiating standards proactively.
Peter D. Rumm, MD, MPH is a public health doctor working in the area of health communications in the Philadelphia area. He greatly loves the NBA despite its flaws. He can be reached at [email protected].
One Fan's Opinion: “I Love this Game”, but ...
By Peter D. Rumm, MD, MPH
I have been a long time fan of the NBA who has watched the league grow and who has attended games in many cities. In my travels as a public health doctor I have also observed the first hand the growing international interest of the league and have had the privilege of watching NBA televised games in countries such as Lithuania, Russia, Panama, Germany and Australia. However today, despite this growth and my continued love for the game, I am greatly worried about the future of this great league for my seven year old son, Peter Jr. I hear media pundits and fans of other sports blast the NBA as a poorly played, thuggish league.
As someone who works in the area of mass communications, much of these perceptions seem to be not entirely fair. Yet, they need to be actively countered better by this great league and the media involved. What can be done to improve the image of the game and subsequently improve the product on the floor? I would like to suggest three strategies.
First, don’t exclusively promote large market teams and a few flashy superstars. Right now the league seemingly concentrates on promoting these teams and several superstars such as Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony at the expense of other individual and team oriented stories that need to be told. Who is to say that a Ben Gordon of the Bulls is not the real future of the NBA? Why don’t we see more on Shawn Marion, the backbone of the streaking Suns, who is also a great humanitarian? Such players and teams and many more are impacting the league, and we get little insight into such stories on a daily basis.
In reality and actual practice, the current ABC, ESPN, TNT package could and should be known as the Lakers/Cavaliers/Heat network and media relations. While in the short-run this strategy can capture audiences and may drive ratings, we are missing out on much of the great NBA action. We are not building interest in other rivalries.
Second, please get, find or develop some better informed analysts and announcers to do the televised games. How many times do I have to hear someone like a Brent Musburger re-state an obvious point repeatedly or show a perceived bias to anything relating to the past glories of the Knicks or Lakers? Why do we always have to listen to Bill Walton’s extremely slanted platitudes? Unless someone has some valued added insight, please tone it down.
Third, something serious has to be done about a seemingly valid perception by many fans of the terrible state of the NBA officiating. A good call should be a call period. There should be much more consistency between games on what is a foul and what is not. “Star calls”, “payback calls”, and greatly skewed foul totals between home and road teams and certain franchises should not be happening, but do all the time. Could we also see some palming and traveling calls occasionally just for old time’s sake? Most importantly, just because a player throws the ball up and touches, falls into or barrels over a defender, it should not always mean it is a foul on the defender.
Moreover, when stars are involved, such “Jordan Rules” are carried to an extreme, and simply put, compromise the true integrity of the game. Conversely, there are also certain officials that are commonly perceived to bring personal agendas toward certain players. Why should such an official’s bias, if it truly exists as it seems to, change key games? Many of us feel that at least a couple of championships in the last decade may have been affected by either transiently incompetent officiating or even worse -- biased officiating. At the very least, the NBA needs to work to counter such perceptions through at least some changes in its current officiating standards proactively.
Peter D. Rumm, MD, MPH is a public health doctor working in the area of health communications in the Philadelphia area. He greatly loves the NBA despite its flaws. He can be reached at [email protected].