Wednesday, October 11, 2006

NBA talk

I love the NBA. Preseason started yesterday. I watched some of one of the games. There are a couple of preseason issues I like and I couple I don't like.

First, the Pacers. Stinking Stephen Jackson. You want to be a leader and you've got 3 other players out to 3 in the morning at a strip club? There's marijuana in the car. And you get in a fight. Man I wish the Pacers would get rid of this guy. Hint to Larry, you waited too long to get rid of Ron, learn from your mistake. Oh and if you didn't hear, Jackson didn't fulfill his probation requirements so he has another year. Stand up guy right there.

Speaking of Artest, I'll give you a couple of recent Ron quotes. "When the Pacers gave me $6 mil a year, I was grateful for the money and I thank (GM) Donnie Walsh, but I wasn't getting what I deserved. I should've been getting $14-15 million, so I never wanted to give them that extra $9 mil. That extra nine is my mind and leadership. Sometimes I felt I was giving too much. I mean, I was an All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year, but I never wanted to give them an MVP-type season because they didn't treat me like one." Forget the rest of the quotes. I can't stomach anymore.

Here's what I like. Sorry Pistons fans, the NBA is cracking down on the whining. You can no longer curse, throw your hands up, or make other gestures that show disgust. Everyone knows that this is aimed at Rasheed. But it's good for the game. These outbursts, from any player, are just disgusting and wrong. I wonder if this includes Sheed's "Ball don't lie" shouts after a missed free throw? I hope they encourage Prince to leave his wings down after a foul call.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"You can no longer curse, throw your hands up, or make other gestures that show disgust."

I would imagine pretty much every player is going to get hit by that one before too long. Either that or they won't enforce it very strictly. Reacting in disgust to calls is a huge part of the NBA culture (and really, the pro sports culture in general).

I'm glad they're trying to cut it down, but they have a serious uphill battle on their hands. And honestly, I give the culture a far better chance of victory than I do the new rule.

What's the penalty for reactions of disgust? A foul? A technical? Nothing in-game, but a fine from the league?

Paul said...

The penalty is a technical foul and the league will review violations and hand down fines.

Anonymous said...

Dang -- a technical? They might be handing out a lot of those for a little while. And they thought Mark Cuban's fines were a financial windfall for the league...