Reflections: July 1998
The Last Basketball Word
03:18:32 EDT
I'M JUST RECOVERING FROM THE LAKERS' YEAR-ENDING COLLAPSE.
Blame and retribution is plentiful and more than enough to go around. Nick van Exel got to go to Denver, the NBA's version on purgatory, where fans don't care, management gave up and the players don't give a hoot.
DEL HARRIS got a vote of confidence from management to return next year and win 60 games of regular season drudgery only to lose in the playoffs because he misses an all-important fact: THAT PLAYOFFS ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE REGULAR SEASON! The seven game format forces one coach (the loser of one game) to change his approach (commonly called making adjustments). Delmer, as he is affectionately called, hereabout refused to alter his "winning formula" while getting swept by the Jazz, a team that adjusted to the Lakers having beaten them 3 out of four times during the regular season.
HERE'S TO ADJUSTMENTS AND MEN WITH THE GUTS TO MAKE THEM WHEN NECESSARY.
SPEAKING OF UTAH: Why is it always Karl Malone's fault (fans and media in Salt Lake City) when the Jazz lose, but itâs Stockton to Malone when they win. John Stockton struggled all throughout the playoffs but was never ostracized by fans and obnoxious press types.
RACISM is the answer boys and girls! Benign and festering in the subconscious until we perceive a good excuse to vent.
One good thing about sports is that it provides a cross-section of our culture. The astute among us can use the common gestures and protestations of the society to gauge its readiness to cope with itself. We in America are again "Not Ready." Racism is often confused with prejudices and hate which is merely a reflection of one's ignorance. Racism, on the other hand, is when we lack tolerance of another cultural group or are lacking in affinity to one or more of a group. (A winning Karl Malone is colorless, but becomes a "Nigger" as soon as he falls below his scoring average, while John Stockton is "merely human" and is tolerated as such if he doesn't score the winning shot with a three-pointer leaving less than a second on the clock). A lot of well meaning folk in Salt Lake City are guilty of allowing racism to cloud their disappointment and embarrassment at losing Game Three in Chicago by over 50 points. Karl became the whipping boy, BY VIRTUE OF HIS COLOR!
MICHAEL JORDAN IS BASKETBALL! What a fairy-tale ending to this season of craziness that emanated out of the windy city. However, it's his agent David Falk and guys like him who I feel are the enemies of basketball and pro sports as we know them. I've never sided with ownership in a player strike before but in this case, I agree with David Stern. Who else but Michael Jordan is worth what he's paid? The problem is that agents and players determine their worth on the open market by using game statistics. Well there's no statistic for Magic's smile, Bird's determination, or Jordan's will to win. Those guys are stars in the fullest sense of the word. We are drawn to them, NOT BY THEIR BASKETBALL SKILLS BUT BY INTANGIBLES THAT SET THEM APART FROM OTHER, SOMETIMES MORE TALENTED, PLAYERS. Player's statistics don't necessarily affect the bottom line (TV ratings or box office). Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning, even Shaq have salaries inflated beyond their real worth, their teams and the game itself. Under the present system, their inflated salaries serve to be a negative force on the earning power of their teammates, price the game out of the range of the average fan, and create an apathy among fans which cannot be good for the game over the long term.
I HOPE THE PLAYERS GET THEIR HEADS OUT OF THE CLOUDS in time for us to enjoy Michael's final campaign!
I'm signing off for now.
LOVE AND LIGHT
Next time, let's talk about MUSIC!
Reflections is Carl Anderson's Internet-based commentary column. ©Copyright 1999-2009, Abu Khalil Productions. All Rights Reserved.
