The Lame Sports World

For the past week or so, sports fans have been inundated with events such as the Women's World Cup, The British Open, and MLB's All-Star Game.  I have news for a lot of people.

We don't really care.

There are two lockouts going on at this moment.

"But baseball is America's pasttime..."

Don't give me that ish.  Baseball is past its time.

"But the World Cup is once every four years..."

And you'll hate soccer next week after we're done analyzing every moment of it.

Even with all of that, this is the slowest time of the year in sports.  I remember the day after the All-Star Game, there was nothing to talk about...not a thing.

Well, there was one (out of a grand total of two) thing to talk about, and we've been talking about it for over 120 days.  The NFL lockout.  You can hate if you want, but it seems pretty obvious to me that football is America's number one sport.  We have turned 20 weeks of actual playing into a year long media event.  We talk about it all the time.  The draft was a big deal.  As the lockout comes to a close (hopefully this week), we will talk about free agency and begin to don our jerseys again and Hank Williams Jr will begin to prepare his voice to yell out those words we can't wait to hear:

"Are you ready for some football?"

Yes Hank, we are ready for some football.

Football is exciting, it's action-packed and dangerous.  Things that we as Americans love.  So we need this lockout to end soon.  There's been a lot of evil that we call crime (oh Ray Lewis) that's been going on since the lockout started...all by NFL players, so we need them to come on back to the field.  And that's just the players, what will happen if we don't have a season.



"There's nothing else to do Sal" Classic words from Ray Lewis.

But anyway, we are in a boring sports state right now.  ESPN is gearing up to show poker, and that is my tipping point.  I can't watch poker...I don't even play poker.  There is nothing exciting, there is nothing YouTube worthy in poker.  There just isn't.

Speaking of YouTube worthy things, the other thing (number two of two) that we can be talking about is the NBA lockout. We're about 20 days into that, and there's absolutely no sign of that ending soon.  We may miss part of the season, if not the whole season.  I honestly think that we won't see much improvement on this lockout situation because the two sides are so far apart.  It's come to the point now that some players will play in other countries until the lockout ends.

And with that said, the commish, David Stern will have his dream of globalizing the game of basketball bite him in the arse.  I don't really know what else to say about this lockout situation because I have absolutely no faith in this being worked out anytime soon.  It's all about money and there isn't a surplus of it, like the NFL has.  The NBA just laid off over a hundred workers and the owners want a system placed in order to save them from themselves, but they've already set such a precedent that it would be hard to reverse their steps.

In other words, how are you going to overpay over-hyped players one year, then expect everyone else to be okay with not being paid as much?

Anyway, I'm done with this.

Stay tuned though.

The AABA

So if you don't know about this, there may be a new basketball league coming up. The AABA (the All-American Basketball Alliance), a 12 team league.

I love basketball, it's entertaining. It's a sport where skill meets athleticism much of the time. With that said, I must scoff at the AABA and its prerequisite for players and coaches. All players and coaches must be born in the U.S. to White American parents.

Shwhat????????????

That's right kiddo. My head rotated 360 degrees. Here's a quote from Don "Moose" Lewis (why "Moose" Don?)

It has come to the attention of the principals of the (All-American Basketball Alliance) that [W]hite basketball players are essentially ’shut out’ of conventional professional basketball due to the proliferation of non-organized play on the court. With players on other professional teams carrying guns, attacking fans in the stands, and going through the motions of playing the game, fundamentally sound [W]hite players are a vanishing species. --Source newsone.com

That's rich. Here's another one.

There's nothing hatred about what we're doing. I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like. --Source: chronicle.augusta.com

This is a league that wants to get back to the fundamentals of the sport, with White players (whose tattoos must be kept to a minimum). I'm all for fundamentals, but I'm sensing a few problems with this.

Number 1: doesn't this just sound racist to you? It does to me. It's really laughable and unAmerican since all Americans can't play (don't call it the All-American Basketball Alliance).

Number 2: fundamentals aren't dead, but when it comes to selling tickets, being flashy certainly pays off. David Stern, commissioner of the NBA knows this very well. We are in a world where everyone tries to get bigger, stronger, faster, and jump higher. In this type of world, we like to see a player break toward the basket faster than everyone and jump over everyone. In the 1970s, the ABA sold a lot of seats and it was thought to be the premiere league until the NBA/ABA merger.

none of this in the AABA

On top of that, players today don't really know their history as much as we would like. They'll first think of flashy players. Let's also keep in mind that Celtic great Bob Cousy was a little flashy, Pete Maravich was even more flashy...two Whte players with flashy styles. But anyway, flashy play is such a part of our society (on the basketball court) that it would be almost impossible to call any game fundamentally sound. One of the great point guards of this era (who happens to be flashy at times), Steve Nash is white...but he's Canadian, so he can't play in the league either. There has to be some improvisation to the sport, without it...you don't have much of a sport and you definitely don't have butts in the seats.

As basketball fans, we like explosive plays, and you simply don't get that from fundamental basketball. Fundamental basketball features well executed plays that have at least 4 chest and/or bounce passes; there are lay-ups and mid range jumpshots. You will not see alley oops and behind the back passes in fundamental basketball.

Number 3: this isn't going to get rid of violence and/or lewd content in the game. You would have to seriously change the entire culture of the sport. That's only because athletes are trained to be assassins, enforcers, and bullies at times. The game becomes personal to many because it's their livelihood. The better you are at your job, the better the consequences typically and if someone stands in the way of that, you must use your skill and intellect to outplay them; if you can't, it becomes frustrating and not the smartest decisions are made.

Plus you put thousands of people in an arena where they can say whatever they want to the athlete. Fans are allowed to heckle, and that can be the worst thing. A fan can say worse things than an opposing player...they can even throw beer or whatever. You're simply asking for trouble that way.

The culture would have to change dramatically.

The thing that I find interesting about this is that nonWhites can't play or coach, but they can be an owner of a team. Do you realize what would happen? If I owned a basketball team that was all White and no Blacks could even try out, I would be called a sellout and the NAACP would sue me without fail. I'm sure of it.

Number 4 (perhaps that strongest point altogether): saying White people like fundamental basketball is like saying all Black people like chicken. Is is a stereotype? Yes. Is it funny? At times yes, but it's still a stereotype.

This league is no good for anybody. It would last not quite as long as the XFL, (remember that football league?)guaranteed.