Loved my Sonics, but...

[Michael K.]

do we really even want the NBA here? The two favorites out of LA last night voted to end the season now! Millions go to work every day, and these guys can’t bring themselves to play a game?

[auroraave]

do we really even want the NBA here? The two favorites out of LA last night voted to end the season now! Millions go to work every day, and these guys can’t bring themselves to play a game?

There's also a group that are trying to push the season forward. They will win that battle because it's all about the $$$. I totally get the want for the Sonics back - but the league is not the same. Even dismissing the political nonsense of late - the games just suck. I've been to games here, both Lakers and Clipps, and they go ON AND ON AND ON. Every 30 seconds is a stoppage of play - usually for a foul or a convenient commercial. When you are at the game it is hard to sit through. A quarter can take 45 minutes to play. The athletes are superior and can shoot form 40 feet away, but there is little rivalry in the games. They're all pals off the court. It's more like the WWE - it's just for show. An entertainment source used to sell you stuff you don't really need - like $150 shoes and jerseys made in sweatshops in China. The NBA has lost it's way - they better hope they can build on their international footprint - because there will be repercussions for the BLM stuff. Major repercussions. All this will blow over - but the fans will remember this stuff - and it's going to leave a bad taste in many mouths. There are other options for people's time and money - the NBA is about to find out that the average fan has zero interest in their sloganeering to improve their 'personal brands'. Their ratings are already down.

[Michael K.]

do we really even want the NBA here? The two favorites out of LA last night voted to end the season now! Millions go to work every day, and these guys can’t bring themselves to play a game?

There's also a group that are trying to push the season forward. They will win that battle because it's all about the $$$. I totally get the want for the Sonics back - but the league is not the same. Even dismissing the political nonsense of late - the games just suck. I've been to games here, both Lakers and Clipps, and they go ON AND ON AND ON. Every 30 seconds is a stoppage of play - usually for a foul or a convenient commercial. When you are at the game it is hard to sit through. A quarter can take 45 minutes to play. The athletes are superior and can shoot form 40 feet away, but there is little rivalry in the games. They're all pals off the court. It's more like the WWE - it's just for show. An entertainment source used to sell you stuff you don't really need - like $150 shoes and jerseys made in sweatshops in China. The NBA has lost it's way - they better hope they can build on their international footprint - because there will be repercussions for the BLM stuff. Major repercussions. All this will blow over - but the fans will remember this stuff - and it's going to leave a bad taste in many mouths. There are other options for people's time and money - the NBA is about to find out that the average fan has zero interest in their sloganeering to improve their 'personal brands'. Their ratings are already down.

I agree with you, but I also think this is similar to my complaint about baseball not evolving. I don't think the NBA cares what I think, nor do they need to. They are growing in viewership, and I have hardly watched any since the Sonics left. This protest they made last night might actually IMPROVE their rating. That is the viewership they are after anyway.

[DavidGee24]

It's just staggering that these players would boycott because once every two to three months a random cop shoots a random unarmed black guy, especially when it's far from that simple. Not only is it ineffective, but utterly retarded.

Meanwhile, black-on-black violence continues to run rampant and the players just shrug and say it's okay because we're doing it to ourselves.

[Michael K.]

I found it fitting that LeBron and Kawai were leading the charge to cancel the season. My first thought was, “Goat my Ass...if MJ thought he had a chance to compete and win he wouldn’t cancel a game of horse,”. My second thought? How thoughtful of two of the highest paid athletes in the world to volunteer for not only their bosses to lose money, but their coworkers too!

[auroraave]

do we really even want the NBA here? The two favorites out of LA last night voted to end the season now! Millions go to work every day, and these guys can’t bring themselves to play a game?

There's also a group that are trying to push the season forward. They will win that battle because it's all about the $$$. I totally get the want for the Sonics back - but the league is not the same. Even dismissing the political nonsense of late - the games just suck. I've been to games here, both Lakers and Clipps, and they go ON AND ON AND ON. Every 30 seconds is a stoppage of play - usually for a foul or a convenient commercial. When you are at the game it is hard to sit through. A quarter can take 45 minutes to play. The athletes are superior and can shoot form 40 feet away, but there is little rivalry in the games. They're all pals off the court. It's more like the WWE - it's just for show. An entertainment source used to sell you stuff you don't really need - like $150 shoes and jerseys made in sweatshops in China. The NBA has lost it's way - they better hope they can build on their international footprint - because there will be repercussions for the BLM stuff. Major repercussions. All this will blow over - but the fans will remember this stuff - and it's going to leave a bad taste in many mouths. There are other options for people's time and money - the NBA is about to find out that the average fan has zero interest in their sloganeering to improve their 'personal brands'. Their ratings are already down.

I agree with you, but I also think this is similar to my complaint about baseball not evolving. I don't think the NBA cares what I think, nor do they need to. They are growing in viewership, and I have hardly watched any since the Sonics left. This protest they made last night might actually IMPROVE their rating. That is the viewership they are after anyway.

I believe the numbers are down significantly. I also disagree about the viewership being inspired - I think just the opposite is true. I don't believe the average sports fan is 'woke.' I believe all of this knee bending by the leagues is to sate the players in the short term, in the hopes the long term health of the leagues won't be damaged. The players do it to hone their brand. Both sides I think lose in the long run., IMO, as fans will turn their noses up at it - because most can see it for the fakery that it is. BLM is not an organization that helps black people - everyone knows this. Pretending they do - is blatant pandering, I think fans see right through it. These protests, IMO, will damage the leagues for years to come. Long time fans will walk away. You cannot ignore the US market - it is the biggest consumer on the planet - insulting them will have consequences.

[auroraave]

I found it fitting that LeBron and Kawai were leading the charge to cancel the season. My first thought was, “Goat my Ass...if MJ thought he had a chance to compete and win he wouldn’t cancel a game of horse,”. My second thought? How thoughtful of two of the highest paid athletes in the world to volunteer for not only their bosses to lose money, but their coworkers too!

lol! nailed it. Ignoring all the circumstances surrounding each shooting - and lumping them all in as some kind of police vendetta against black people - and the Lebron's running with that - well, the real stories eventually come out - making guys like him look like complete idiots - and that time will come. All this pandering in the short term - will have consequences down the road. that's what's so crazy - the true story will unfold - despite the media bias - this is what ALWAYS happens. DO people not ever learn the lesson?

[Michael K.]

the real stories eventually come out - making guys like him look like complete idiots - and that time will come. All this pandering in the short term - will have consequences down the road. that's what's so crazy - the true story will unfold - despite the media bias - this is what ALWAYS happens. DO people not ever learn the lesson?

We may not agree on a lot anymore, but by God I can agree with that!

I said it somewhere earlier today...my rants are running together, so it could have been on facebook or this site, but think about this.

What has the world become where a man with arrest warrants, who had the police called on him, refused to comply with the police who showed up, resisted arrest even after tasered, had a knife, claimed to have a gun in his car, tried to enter said car with kids in it....and is the victim!

If he was shot once, people would have bitched and it would have been news, if he was jumped and beaten by multiple cops, it would have been headline news, if they tasered him again and again, it would have been headline news....and all these protests would have happened anyway. You know what wouldn't have been protested? If he got in the car and harmed or killed the kids. If he got in the car, grabbed the gun and killed cops.

[D-train]

It's just staggering that these players would boycott because once every two to three months a random cop shoots a random unarmed black guy, especially when it's far from that simple. Not only is it ineffective, but utterly retarded.

Meanwhile, black-on-black violence continues to run rampant and the players just shrug and say it's okay because we're doing it to ourselves.

Yep that's all good just like its fine for them to call each other the N word.

https://twitter.com/w_terrence/status/1 ... 9096461312

[ddraig]

In my mind, the NBA priced themselves out of the market a long time ago. The last game I went to a game was when Ernie DiGregorio was playing for the Lakers, the 1977/1978 season. They got too pricey and I turned to other things. I saw the writing on the wall and figured that eventually the only people that could afford the games would be former players and Jack Nicholson. This was prior to the tech revolution, which has allowed the NBA to stay afloat because of the salaries being paid to the tech babies. Good for them, but with politics entering into the game and millionaires complaining about the "systemic racism" they experience, give me a break.

In the 1980's, the league began to lionize the stars who had babies with women they barely knew, in every NBA city. Sure, they could afford them, but the players were no longer role models for kids. Funny, Charles Barkley was the first, I think, to state that he didn't want to be a role model for kids. Look at him now! Highly respected and can go against the grain because of the money and prestige he's garnered over the years.

Still, I walked away years ago because the game was becoming a LOT like WWE. And I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the games are "preplanned." As has been said, everybody is a friend of everyone else. There are no rivalries. No competition.