Is it just me or have foreign players ruined the once fun game of basketball? I remember watching playoff games in the mid 80's to the early 90's and watching hard fouls and good strong defense being played. Slowly, slowly, in crept a weakness and a bunch of floppers that now flail their arms and flop on the ground like fish out of water. Did this just start with foreign players, or did it always go on?Now it seems everyone has picked up the art of flopping. I mean don't get me wrong... some of the fouls on Michael Jordan were vicious, but you know what? He survived, and he actually stayed in the game. Now, if someone gets knocked to the ground, they curl up in to the fetal position and pound the floor like they just had their balls cut off or something. It reminds me a lot of soccer where you have to flop to sell the foul. Some of the players do not belong in the NBA, but are constantly compared to greats like Larry Bird, MJ and Magic. Sure Kobe Bryant can throw down 81 in a game, but imagine if Larry Bird played under today's rules where hand checking is illegal. That would have been his career average, not a one time deal. He would have shot more free throws in a year than Kobe will shoot over the course of his career.
Sadly, Kobe is now one of the tougher players in the league. I can not stand to watch games where every time the guard drives to the basket and gets bumped he falls to the ground, slides into the first row of seats and the ref blows the whistle... Essentially that means once two teams I can not stand are eliminated, the Pistons and the Jazz, I will have to turn the NBA playoffs off. I guess this is what a progressive culture does though... we become more and more like what our ancestors left.... meanwhile, what our ancestors left becomes more and more like what our forefathers started (yes, Europe is swinging right again, finally, while the US looks more and more like Europe). I guess our sports will do the same as the rest of the culture. Thank God for football... the one thing in entertainment that will always have its fair share of physicality....
Prayers,
Pisio
2 comments:
It's almost ironic that you lament the lack of physicality in the NBA today, thanks to flop artists such as Manu Ginobili of the Spurs, yet you despise the Pistons and Jazz.
Those two teams are two of the most physical in the league, contest every shot, and make teams earn their points, instead of playing soft defense such as teams like the Nuggets or Golden State.
Ask Tracy McGrady how physical Utah can be, after he was rendered pretty much useless in the fourth quarter of any game in the opening round. You could even ask Bryant, who in game four was 2 of 13 from the floor during the fourth quarter and overtime.
Chris,
You are exactly right. It is ironic. However my dislike of the Jazz comes from the Stockton Malone days... they were two of the first American players to develop and effectively use the flop ala Vlade Divac...
The Pistons and the "Bad Boys" ruined that team for me forever. There is a difference between wanting to send someone a message and ending their career. They were just dirty, and I can not root for a franchise with that history.
T-Mac, in my mind is one of the modern day manufactured superstars, as is Bryant. Take away the modern rules that favor the offensive player, and they are both useless, although Kobe because he is a manufactured superstar gets the benefit of the doubt on defense as well... if only T-mac would learn that...
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