In conversations this afternoon about possible Super Bowl teams, a comment from one respondent caught my attention when he called Seattle a "...wet, soggy loser" of a sports town; followed by general denigrations of the pro teams in Seattle. I absolutely HAD to defend my hometown, so I wrote up the following response...
"(Respondent), You need to get your history straight. Seattle had a hugely successful minor league club for decades called the Rainiers who played at Sicks Stadium. They were replaced by the Seattle Pilots, a MLB club whose owners moved them after one and a half seasons to become the Milwaukee Brewers. The Mariners came to be from the litigation that followed the sudden departure of the Pilots. The Mariners struggled, to be sure. But they fostered future HoFers Griffey, Jr, Randy Johnson, Ichiro Suzuki, HoF Deserving Edgar Martinez and possibly, depending on steroid use, Alex Rodriguez.
In 2001 the Mariners won 116 games to tie the record for most wins in a season. For three years they led the leauge in attendance, topping three million each year.
Sure the team has struggled. So what? They are far from losers, as you claim.
The Seattle Supersonics played for the NBA Championship in back to back years in the late 70's , winning the league title in 1978. They were coached for years by Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkins. They competed at the top of the league for years, and their last attempt at the NBA title was stopped by Chicago. Then, Clay Bennett, the college buddy of Commish Stern came riding into town with grandiose promises of winning, all while secretly working to move the team from the then 13th largest market to the dead-last smallest market in ALL of pro sports. So tell me just how the Sonics are "losers."
The Seattle Seahawks, like every other NFL team in existence, has had their ups and downs. For a "loser" of a team, they sure have passionate, loud and emphatic fans. They came within a few bad officiating calls of winning the Super Bowl--calls which league officials would later admit shouldn't have been made. They consistently are amongst the league leaders in attendance, and have one of the most exciting young QB's in the NFL. As for Hofers, let's only start with Steve Largent and Cortez Kennedy.
And you forgot their other teams... the Seattle Sounders, league leaders in attendance for every year they've existed as a pro-level team, and who played in a bygone era for the NASL Cup twice in the early 80's. No, they haven't won the MLS Cup...yet. But hey, they've only existed in their current form for four seasons.
Then, there's the Seattle Storm of the WNBA. They are consistently amongst the top teams in the league and have won the WNBA title in 2004 and 2010 and have fostered Hofers Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird. But...they're losers, too...right?
Finally, time for a history lesson. In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first US-based team to win the Holy Grail of hockey, Lord Stanley's Cup. But they were also losers, weren't they?
You never know which team from any sports league will win the championship. So please, get off your rocking horse and give the fans--and their teams--in Seattle a little respect. Have an awesome day!"
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Why I Won't Watch The NBA Anymore
Well, the NBA Finals are here once again, and it is yet another year I won't be watching. Why? First, because the Lakers are in it...again...(BORING!). Second, because I don't feel that NBA stands for National Basketball Association any more. Nope. I think the more appropriate name would be the National Basket-BRAWL Association.
You see, there was a time not so long ago (i.e. pre-Detroit Pistons of the late 80's/early 90's) when the NBA maketed a game based on actual skill...not on how brutal a player can be against another before getting called for a fowl.
I know that some of you out there are going to whine and say the game has changed; blah, blah, blah. As far as I am aware, the rules are still the same; it's the enforcement of the rules that has changed.
It used to be on free throws that no player could step into the lane prior to the ball leaving the hands of the shooter. If they did, it was a lane violation--usually a team foul. In today's game, as soon the shooter begins a shooting motion of any kind, we are seeing players crowding the lane, jockeying for the best rebounding position.
How many steps are involved in a traveling violation? Well todays players would have you believe it to be at least 4 or 5 steps. In actuality, the rules stipulate two steps (while holding the ball) are legal. A third constitutes a Traveling violation.
Lastly (or at least, the last of what I'm highlighting), placing your hand/arm on an opposing player's back used to be an automatic defensive foul. In order to defend, you relied on footspeed, non-contact arm waving, and mental anticipation of what to expect of the player you were defending against. In today's basket-brawl, we see players leaning into opponents, placing whole forearms on a back, and simply pushing an offensive player around. No skill is required...just brute strength/force, and the officials not caring that fouls are being committed all over the court.
These examples are just the surface of a game that has almost entirely lost its identity as a performance of actual skill. Instead of strategy and finesse, we see pushing, shoving, throwing players to the floor, flopping, brutal elbows, slapping, whining, and the disgusting "I didn't do anything!" attitude now permeating nearly every professional sport.
The NBA admits that it has an image problem. It knows that gate receipts are down, merchandizing income is low, and owners are so hungry for a winning team that coaches are on a revolving platform as they get shuffled in and out faster than Mark Cuban can accrue fines.
(Did you know that in the 21 years Jerry Sloan has managed the Utah Jazz, there have been over 250 Head Coaching changes throughout the rest of the NBA?--an unbelieveable stat!)
Commisioner David Stern does nothing to solve the real issues that are damaging Professional Basketball. He looks at ratings, marketing, and the next big wave to further elevate the business. What would happen if actual skill was expected of players entering the league; or that the NBA employed refs that actually enforced the rules of the game; or players actually stopped whining about whatever babyish thing, and actually learned to play basket-BALL?
It would be a joy to watch the game once again. It would be fun! But I also think that the fans of today have gotten so used to the brutality of basket-BRAWL that a game of actual skill would be boring to most people. Too bad on that, because the truly great teams of years gone-by relied on skill--a concept now almost completely lost.
You see, there was a time not so long ago (i.e. pre-Detroit Pistons of the late 80's/early 90's) when the NBA maketed a game based on actual skill...not on how brutal a player can be against another before getting called for a fowl.
I know that some of you out there are going to whine and say the game has changed; blah, blah, blah. As far as I am aware, the rules are still the same; it's the enforcement of the rules that has changed.
It used to be on free throws that no player could step into the lane prior to the ball leaving the hands of the shooter. If they did, it was a lane violation--usually a team foul. In today's game, as soon the shooter begins a shooting motion of any kind, we are seeing players crowding the lane, jockeying for the best rebounding position.
How many steps are involved in a traveling violation? Well todays players would have you believe it to be at least 4 or 5 steps. In actuality, the rules stipulate two steps (while holding the ball) are legal. A third constitutes a Traveling violation.
Lastly (or at least, the last of what I'm highlighting), placing your hand/arm on an opposing player's back used to be an automatic defensive foul. In order to defend, you relied on footspeed, non-contact arm waving, and mental anticipation of what to expect of the player you were defending against. In today's basket-brawl, we see players leaning into opponents, placing whole forearms on a back, and simply pushing an offensive player around. No skill is required...just brute strength/force, and the officials not caring that fouls are being committed all over the court.
These examples are just the surface of a game that has almost entirely lost its identity as a performance of actual skill. Instead of strategy and finesse, we see pushing, shoving, throwing players to the floor, flopping, brutal elbows, slapping, whining, and the disgusting "I didn't do anything!" attitude now permeating nearly every professional sport.
The NBA admits that it has an image problem. It knows that gate receipts are down, merchandizing income is low, and owners are so hungry for a winning team that coaches are on a revolving platform as they get shuffled in and out faster than Mark Cuban can accrue fines.
(Did you know that in the 21 years Jerry Sloan has managed the Utah Jazz, there have been over 250 Head Coaching changes throughout the rest of the NBA?--an unbelieveable stat!)
Commisioner David Stern does nothing to solve the real issues that are damaging Professional Basketball. He looks at ratings, marketing, and the next big wave to further elevate the business. What would happen if actual skill was expected of players entering the league; or that the NBA employed refs that actually enforced the rules of the game; or players actually stopped whining about whatever babyish thing, and actually learned to play basket-BALL?
It would be a joy to watch the game once again. It would be fun! But I also think that the fans of today have gotten so used to the brutality of basket-BRAWL that a game of actual skill would be boring to most people. Too bad on that, because the truly great teams of years gone-by relied on skill--a concept now almost completely lost.
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