...then why haven't the Rockets advanced in the playoffs? We're the sixth largest domestic media market. (Bigger than Boston, Miami, Cleveland, San Antonio, etc) We have the key to the world's largest media market. Yao, anyone? A Regular season games against Yi netted almost 200 million Chinese viewers. Yao's first game against Shaq was similarly rated. For those of you playing the home game, that's more than double people than watched the super bowl...just in china...for a regular season game A deep playoff run would invest an entire nation deeeeply in the NBA. Wouldn't illuminati conspiracy Stern want that? His executives seem to like it:""The numbers are just extraordinary," said Heidi Ueberroth, the NBA's president of global marketing partnerships and international business operations. "It's very significant. It's showing how much the globalization of the league is on the rise." Lets continue down the checklist: Marketable superstars: T-mac and Yao. Feel good story: is there any better than Mutombo? And you honestly telling me that Stern would rather have the Jazz or the Mark-Cuban Mavs in the next round? Really? Because honestly, I don't think that argument is tenable. Is officiating bad sometimes? Hell yes. Does the home crowd influence calls? Hell yes once again, that's why its called home court advantage. Do refs favor superstars? Yes again, it's natural to allow more from transcendent players. Is the NBA refereeing system as a whole deeply flawed? yes. But does the league have an intentional hand in it? No, no, and no. Stop looking for the simple, sweeping theory--you're only distracting yourself from the real problem: cold, inevitable, human error. Start pushing for more nuanced solutions, like referee media availability, disclosure of playoff ref criteria, and an effort to call a more balanced game. /rant over Nick
Some of the games are fixed. It isn't just human error. I don't know how far up the NBA chain this thing goes but there are games (not every game or every playoff game) that are fixed.
True. I was basing it off metropolitan area. My mistake. Still, 10th biggest market + china vastly outweighs any other market
An argument consists of a claim and a warrant, and perhaps data to support that warrant. You have a claim, which does not itself make an argument. Do you have any evidence? I would love to think it was this simple.
Dallas/Ft Worth market is larger than Houston Media Market as defined by Nielsen Media Research. As for all the hype about China, most of the NBA revenue is coming from America not China. Mavericks and Spurs are ranked in the top 1/3 in merchandise sales, while the Rockets are in the bottom 2/3 of team merchandise sales. http://www.nba.com/news/jersey_list_080613.html The bestsellers are Celtics and Lakers.
On the national level, the San Antonio Spurs have highest cable and over the air ratings. http://probasketball.about.com/od/southwestdivision/a/wklyrprt032608_5.htm
Dont think all games are fixed but one thing for sure, NBA wanted certain series to prolong! Example Game 6 of 2002 Lakers vs Kings, definitely is rigged. But Game 7 of the same series, was fair and square! Sames goes to our 2005 series against the Mavs. 0-2 down, the NBA wanted to make the series interesting thus tried to influence the results of the next few games. But game 7, Mavs beat us fair and square! Stern doesnt have a favor team to win the games but personally i think he does wish to prolong certain to gain viewership and get more stories! This just my 2 cents!
I didn't know this was debate class, Professor. Common sense and actually watching the games tells you some of them are fixed. Do you live in a vacuum where you are oblivious to the facts regarding one official being convicted of fixing games and fingering other refs who made some really, really suspect calls in other key games? All you did was (incorrectly) rate Houston as the 6th biggest media market and then mention that a lot of Chinese people like Yao and Yi. The rest of your post was your opinion in which you created a caricature out of the position some of us have regarding refs fixing games. Way to put an intellectual beat down on that straw man big guy.
Sorry for the debate jargonizing...I was in fact involved in competitive debate for a long time...and i'm taking the LSAT tomorrow...and i'm overcafinated..so i'm sorta in the mode. So sorry for being a dick . I realize upon seeing more evidence and reading further a major flaw in my own argument: It only relates to the NBA rigging a SERIES, wheras the prime claim of donaghy was that they rig individual games, other than game seven, to extend a series and make more money that way. So even if stern wanted the rockets to beat the jazz, he was only willing to interfere so far. I''ll admit to being biased. I guess i just want to know that the game i love isn't soiled. It's frustrating. Glad we could have a productive discussion. nick
I keep hearing people mistaking what the allegations are. No one is saying that refs are intentionally fixing games to make sure a certain advances in the series. That's not at all what Donaghy has said. He's said that they've worked to make a series go longer...to bring in more revenue...to bring about more games. Not that they picked a team and wanted them to advance through the playoffs.
I don't think they are explicitly fixed but they are not doing everything they can to make sure all the games are called consistently. When I see college games called better than the pros, I know there is a problem.
I actually do. But I keep hearing people make this argument about how the league wanted make teams advance through the playoffs. That's not the allegation from Donaghy.
I think people are getting a little carried away. It looks like Donaghy worked to beat the point spread (in total points scored) by calling the game tightly. There's no evidence that the game in 2002 was fixed, other than a claim from Donaghy, who's about to go to prison for lacking integrity. As for the Rockets series in '05, Donaghy hasn't told us anything new. We knew that the league asked its officials to watch for illegal screens. There's nothing strange about that. That's why teams send tapes highlighting issues they have with the officials. It's frustrating because Yao always seems to be the one who gets the short end of the stick, and it was silly for the league to fine JVG for not revealing his source, but there was no "fix" in that series either.
It's not about money, it's about fandom and favors. The NBA will keep rolling along as the cronies do their dirty deeds have their fun and pack up and escape. Same with the Bush administration Don't take the economist's foolish view that it's always about money. Consider the more fundamental aspect of economics: What has more value?
And if the Lakers Celtics were rigged, it is a good ploy to increase the ratings, as with the Kings Lakers 2002. You talk on and on about China and Houston but what about the 50 United States?
The reason Celtics Lakers might get a pass but not Yao Shaq, besides of course the teams having to have some ability to actually get to the Finals, is that with Yao v Shaq, there is a very real possibility, then as now, that Yao will outplay Shaq. Yeah the series would attract media attention, Chinese fans, but what about American fans? There is undoubtedly more than a little residual resistance to the idea of Chinese dominating the NBA, an American league, especially a few years ago when Yao was more of a novelty. Just because ratings increase one Finals, Houston is a happy city and Stern and co. make some money from China, what about the long term health of the United States fanbase? The talk about the Chinese market is mostly just lip service. There are the numbers but not the money, in the future it is hoped to gradually grow into a nice money maker and great expansion of the NBA's market, but they do not need to throw their efforts into China willy nilly while neglecting their own domestic concerns.
