Why No One Likes The NBA: Excuses Abound

[duncan228]

Why no one likes the NBA: Excuses abound
By Anthony Olivieri

This isn’t what you think. Trust me, it’s not.

I’m not going to try to convince you to watch the NBA and tell you that it should be your favorite league.

In fact, I know that you aren’t going to flood the local sports bar to cheer during the next Atlanta Hawks-Charlotte Bobcats matchup.

But after some recent conversations with dedicated sports fans, I’m still unable to pinpoint why so much hate is directed toward professional basketball.

Granted, I’m a white male who likes to watch a league made up mostly of black men. Does that leave me in the minority?

Yes, but not for the reasons one may think. If there is racism, it is not overt - at least, in my experience.

So why don’t the same sports nuts who fawn over the NFL, college basketball and baseball find the same joy with the NBA? I’m still not sure.

What I am sure of, however, is that there are a whole bunch of bogus excuses. Here’s some that I’ve heard ad nauseam.

WAKE ME UP WITH TWO MINUTES LEFT

It is true that no lead is safe in an NBA game, allowing for major swings in the action. The final two minutes of the game normally decides the outcome.

Unfortunately, most onlookers don’t see that as a good thing.

Truthfully, that type of unpredictability can be found in most sports. The 3-point line in college basketball, baseball’s watered-down bullpens and the parity in the NFL allow for the same dynamic.

The NBA - mostly because of the level of offensive talent - is rife with late-game comebacks, when one team is hitting its shots while the other is not. Simple as that.

The perception? Laziness until when it matters most. The reality? These guys are good.

JUST PLAY ALREADY

This is one of the all-time garbage excuses, a claim that the NBA has too many timeouts - especially in the final minutes of the game. It’s true, but also not a reason to exile a sport.

It’s not even as bad as the country’s most popular sport - professional football.

If you have attended an NFL game recently, you know the feeling. Three plays. Punt. Timeout. Two plays. Injury. Timeout. Touchdown. Timeout. Kickoff. Timeout.

Baseball, for its part, long has been trying to speed up the game by cutting down on the length of mound visits and hitters’ down time outside of the box.

But the NBA - a game with almost constant action - is the one deemed as boring. Go figure.

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

While the pick-and-roll is the Utah Jazz’s best friend, it doesn’t seem to resonate with some basketball fans - even though John Stockton and Karl Malone would run the play over and over again with sparkling results.

Other like-minded NBA teams have run a similar offenses - highlighting a superstar or a pair of extraordinary performers and riding them into the ground.

Does this sound familiar football aficionados? The NFL is the ultimate copycat league, just look at this year’s flavor of the week offense - “The Wildcat.”

The NBA critics, apparently, want more unpredictability. They hate the isolation that bogs down what should be a free-wheeling game. No argument there.

But this isn’t 1999. The league’s detractors would be singing a different tune if they had paid attention for the last few seasons.

The current NBA game - without hand-checking rules - has allowed for more free-flowing offenses centered around exciting point guards like New Orleans’ Chris Paul, Deron Williams of Utah and Phoenix’s Steve Nash.

Nash, for his part, won two MVP Awards as the centerpiece of former coach Mike D’Antoni’s high-octane offense, which forced players to shoot within the first seven seconds of the shot clock.

There’s also the high-flying exploits of Cleveland’s LeBron James and Miami’s Dwyane Wade - two of the most unselfish players in the league.

The point? Eight players wrestling each other for rebounding position while two play 1-on-1 on the wing - that’s a thing of the past.

THUG LIFE

Here’s the the most prevalent turn-off for NBA haters, the appearance of the players, including their multiple tattoos, cornrows and baggy shorts.

I know what you are going to say … I claimed that racism wasn’t a factor. And I still don’t think it is.

But here’s the truth - the middle-aged white consumer, who makes up a target group for advertisers and the bulk of a season-ticket base, does not identify with NBA players.

That doesn’t mean that guy is a racist. He may feel the same way about white players who ink themselves up and have a hip-hop style.

In fact, not being able to identify with something and, thus, failing to be as engaged a fan is not the definition of racism. It’s simply being out of touch.

Unfortunately, the appearance of some players fails to give off the true image of the league, something commissioner David Stern has tried to combat with the implementation of league-wide dress code.

The NBA doesn’t have the benefit of the helmets which disguise NFL players or the low-riding brims that help baseball caps mask its sport’s players.

NBA superstars are, in a sense, naked out there, exposing their flaws for all to see.

It makes it ironic then that anyone would bring up the character of the league, when - without the aforementioned nightly exposure - baseball and football has managed to harbor even bigger groups of malcontents.

Steroids have left baseball in a haze of scandal and mistrust, while the NFL’s players have dominated the police blotters in a way that needn’t be rehashed.

Why, then, is NBA basketball so unwatchable to so many?

Coming off one of its most compe ive regular seasons in recent memory, perception - from years past - continues to be reality.

It’s unfortunate for the league, which puts forth some of the finest athletes playing a popular game at the highest level.

So, ignore Stern when he tells you that ratings are good, attendance is up and NBA.com continues to receive millions of hits and provide just as many digital downloads.

We know that there is a market for the league, and that includes an increasingly growing worldwide audience. But it’s also clear that there is a large group that resents the NBA as a whole.

Why?

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

[monosylab1k]

Basketball is a great sport and anybody could enjoy watching it. Unfortunately, David Stern has ruined the best basketball league in the world.

[Matchman]

basketball is the 2nd most popular sport in the world and the NBA is THE best league of basketball.
Amerikkan Football and Baseball? who gives a ?