NBA
I’m not entirely sure I want to write this. On the other hand, I can’t resist. (On the other hand, you should have seen the
stuff I deleted after two editing passes.)
There was breaking news last weekend that would affect the sports world
that I ignored in my previous update last week. I was done with what I meant to write about
and didn’t want to hold it back to wait on a developing story. I was also hoping it would just go away. No such luck. I’m not commenting on the news event (the
shooting), just the sporting reaction.
Before the NBA post season started, a WNBA player announced her retirement to dedicate her time to social
justice. She was roundly applauded. However, when an NBA player said he wouldn’t
play and didn’t think it was appropriate that the league play at all, ESPN couldn’t stutter out a
counter-argument fast enough. “No, no,
no! You must play! (We need the content!)” So,
they played. (No, I’m not going to the
trouble of naming the players mentioned.
Who cares who they are?)
A couple of days after the shooting, the NBA players suddenly
heard about it and decided to do something (or were, more likely, told
to). Two teams decided they wouldn’t
play their scheduled game. Then in a
player meeting, Lebron James and his
Lakers, along with the Clippers (and
maybe the Bucks), voted to end the
season. (Lebron just didn’t want to keep
playing and lose in the finals again as usual.)
The other teams wanted to play and overruled them.
To save Lebron’s face, they negotiated to take a couple of
days off instead and then resume play, but only if racism was ended in this
country. Thankfully that happened, so
they started playing again. If electing
a black president twice didn’t solve racism, I’m not sure how a bunch of
basketball players quitting the NBA playoffs was going to do it either. I’m sure the WNBA players wearing shirts with
fake bullet holes didn’t help. (That was
real sign of good taste ladies.)
The NBA had just had a racist incident right before all this
happened. A black player had racially
insulted a white player on court. Yeah,
I’m shocked too. I didn’t know there
were any white players in the league either.
He’s European of course. This led
to the black player apologizing to the white player on court before the next
game and the white player being forced to accept it. The white player also scored over 40 points,
had a triple double, and hit the game winning shot. (No, I’m still looking up who the players
are. I don’t know them and I don’t
care.) If he’d used a gay slur, the
black player would have had to have apologized for that too (it’s happened), so
that’s sort of consistent?
ESPN
Radio
Just last week, I was crowing about a couple of flaming
liberals being replaced by a hard sports guy over the air. Well, that small victory didn’t last long. ESPN Radio was curiously rooting on the
cessation of the NBA season. (So was
I.) Perhaps their poor ratings for the
post season to this point were motivating them.
Maybe they wanted the season to end before it became more
embarrassing.
The new guy was hyperbolically calling this break,
“Historic,” and comparing it to other noteworthy sporting events with black
athletes like Jackie Robinson, Jessie Owens, and Mohamed Ali. ESPN figured
the news story was worth more than the teams actually playing. We’ll never know. Most of the players just wanted to get
paid. The Disney executives wanted content for ESPN. I guess China wanted them to keep playing
too. They pretty much set policy for the
NBA. As big a sports fan as I am, I’ve
definitively been able to put them and everyone involved in perspective
now. That said, I can’t wait to see what
new protests they’ll come up with next.
NHL
Of course, hockey had to get back into the social justice
act. They went from their slogan being,
“We skate for black lives,” to “We skate for victory (and other stuff)” last
week, back to black lives. I don’t know
if any games were postponed, but at least they stood for the Anthems (American
and Canadian). The game I watched on
Saturday between the Bruins and the Lightning was pretty good. It was game that best exemplified the old
maxim, “I was watching a fight when a hockey match broke out.” (I don’t have any commentary for the game. I’m just so happy I finally found an occasion
to use that line.)
On Sunday during a game, the NHL announced the winner of
their Hockeyville competition. It’s $150,000 given to a minor league hockey
facility along with a preseason exhibition NHL game. I’d heard that El Paso was one of the four
finalists. At work, an e-mail went out
on Friday asking people to vote. I admit
that I was sort of expecting El Paso to win, since their pitch video referenced
the Wal-Mart shooting. Still, there was
some natural tension as the commissioner took the winner out of the envelope to
give it to El Paso. Having been there
for a game, I can say that no other fans were more deserving and no other
facility was more in need. The arena
owners will apparently first allocate the money to fixing the hole in the roof.
NFL
Just a little note, on a Mexican station on Sunday I ran
across a Dallas Cowboys training
camp broadcast. The Cowboys are training
at AT&T Cowboy Stadium right
now. The Mexican network had their own
announcers there dressed in rather natty sponsored Cowboy polo shirts. I’ve heard someone else say that the Cowboys
are Mexico’s team. There might be some
agreement there right up until they start kneeling for the Mexican national
anthem.
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