Just check out the thread in the GARM discussing whether the league is fixed......1 in 8 posters on the poll are not sure that the league is fully legit
This. Plus, the refrees, David Stern bites my a$$, NBA marketing, & the players aren't what they used to be.
my biggest NBA complaint: season is too long for a league that lets so many teams in the playoffs. hockey has this problem too. if you're going to have a long season, then put a premium on playoff spots. or...play a shorter season and keep letting in 8 teams from each conference. but playing 82 games to still let in more teams to the playoffs than you exclude is stupid to me. and then...given all that... i find the prices they charge for tickets to those 82 games to be insane. love the rox, though!!!!
worst officiating of any major league sport..in the USA. not a racial thing, NFL got a ton of black players and an image problem with idiots doing r****ded stuff, but at least they have a lot better officiating, no wonder its growing.
Oddly enough, the lockout year was perfect. The season started in February (right after the Superbowl) and went until June. 5 months is the perfect length for an NBA season. I don't usually get into bball until football season is over anway.
I work in corporate America...surrounded by white males between 30-50 years of age...and ALL of them hate the NBA. Because I am such a die-hard NBA fan (Btw I am a 32 year old honkey), I always ask them what their problem with the NBA is, seeing how they love MLB, NFL and NCAA hoops. They say that they can't stand all the tattoos and cornrowws and trash talking that goes on in the NBA. They think that the game is all about flash and not about team play. They dislike the flashiness, drug use and arrests of NBA players today (not like this isn't rampant in the NFL, which they have no problem with) Basically, I think that part of it is probably racism, part of it is not identifying with players that have the tats/cornrows look, and part of it is the fact that the NBA is now full of showboaters that agitate team-sports fans. I disagree with them completely...but it doesn't change their opinions EDIT: that said, a lot of the younger guys in the office (below 30) are big NBA fans
Seems to be an issue culturalism, not racism. (Some may not feel there is a difference, but I do... hell, my spell checker doesn't even recognize the word.)
My brother and dad seemed to lose interest when the championship players started going. After Olajuwon, Cassell, Horry, Drexler, Elie, and others were gone they quit watching. The lockout in 1999 certainly didn't help matter any. I think Hip Hop culture has hurt the sport among white fans. Tattoos, everyone has them now. Almost nobody had them before. Many people think they look like thugs, and that opinion has only been enhanced by the likes of Artest, Iverson, Kobe, Rasheed Wallace, & many other stars having legal issues. I realize this hasn't damaged the NFL really, but I think it has the NBA. One thing I hate about the NBA is the lack of all the star centers that dominated the league. The league has become very guard oriented, and there is a sharp increase in touch fouls, flopping, and one on one guard play.
I think everyone is right, and all these things play a factor. I think subtle racism is certainly present in all sports. White quarterbacks are praised for their leadership, black ones for their athleticism. The NBA doesn't put helmets on their players so maybe some white people are a little subconciously intimidated to see all that tattoo and cornrow sporting ridiculously strong, giant black men who could probably tear their heads from their necks do these amazing things on the basketball court. Especially when most teams don't have an American born white man on the team who is a key part of the teams success. The refereeing is atrocious, iso basketball is borderline unwatchable, and the seed of doubt about the legitimacy of NBA outcomes (which takes away gamblers which are part of what quiety drives the bus in the NFL)...all these things combined hurt the NBA.
that was a fantastic season. much more premium on the value of those games when there's only around 50. it was perfect. (aside from the fact the spurs won!!)
Although I think it is more so about the hip hop culture than actual racism, the NFL focuses on their white players. Though they've done a better job promoting their black players during actual commercials for the NFL, white players are still the face of the league despite being the minority. Peyton & Brady are the face of the NFL. They are clearly want Jay Cutler and Eli to get to that level too. McNabb is on the backpage, and I don't think they want Russell to ever become a star in this league.
You took the words right out of my mouth. The perfect NBA season is 58 games long. You play each team once at home and once away. No team has a scheduling advantage that way and you get to play a good number of games.
In all other sports people root for the Jersey not the player. In the NBA with it's marketing, people just went for the players to put up huge numbers. Jordan started this by his marketing campaign that was identical to someone in an individual sport. The NBA saw how much money he made and got behind it full force.
I don't understand how you CAN'T love the NBA. Of course Football is always #1, but baseball sucks. There are only a couple of things I can't stand about the NBA -too many whistles (Refs decide the outcome, not players). -the game has gone so far away from a team sport. It's all individual play. -I have to pay $100 to get a mid-level lower bowl seat Every point has basically been brought up in this thread. The subtle racism factor is pretty interesting.
I think the fact that the black male is so dominant and prevalent in the NBA to the point that he is showcased in shorts and a tank top with tats and cornrows or dreads makes a lot of middle-aged white men jealous and disinterested whether they want to admit it or not. I've loved the NBA since I was 9, and I grew up California where things are a bit different. Basketball is much bigger in Southern California because of the success of the Lakers I suppose. There are things that I dislike about the league. I hate the flopping, and the whining to the officials by the superstars. I hate how Lebron is glorified by everything on the planet. But who knows, maybe I'll stop watching if it keeps pissing me off, but thats unlikely.
why do they like the NFL so much? NFL has much larger problems with criminals and most everyone in the NFL has tats. Look at andre johnson. The problem is marketing and officiating.
baseball is a great game if you're patient. I prefer to watch a game where the ball is in play more than 3 minutes over the course of 3 hours.
The helmets and the pads that cover everyone up of course. Plus the whole "white man is the QB who commands the team" thing usually. But mostly because NFL football is the greatest sport there is.
