Now that the NBA finals are over and I have had my fill of gloating over the humiliation and comeuppance of Lebron James and Dwyane Wade, let me proceed to two NBA-related issues that I feel quite strongly about.
First the flop. Basketball is not exactly a sport that proceeds on a straight and narrow path. But then ethics was also never meant to be a game. And I believe basketball as a whole, give or take a few frayed edges, is an honorable game, meant to be played by gentlemen.
For why else would we acknowledge opponents before the tap, or hug them after every game, win or lose. And for every foul we commit, we are required to acknowledge the deed with a raised hand, the mea culpa of sport.
As with any other sport, nothing is more exhilarating than winning. If it were not for winning, why else would there be tournaments when playing the game for the sake of playing is just as fun and entertaining.
But we came up with tournaments, very competitive ones like the NBA, because we love to win. Not only that, winning is good capital. Some of the wildest dreams have come true on account of winning.
To a certain extent this has forced major sporting events, including basketball, to be results-oriented, to be victory-driven. Nothing is more bankable and marketable than a winning team or a champion personality.
But the dark underside to all this is the emergence of precisely such personalities as Lebron James. James was plucked right out of high school and repackaged as what some American sportswriters have derisively called the basketball version of “The Truman Show.”
In increasing numbers and with increasing frequency, there are now basketball players who play the game overly focused on winning and would therefore have no qualms getting to the podium by whatever means, fair or foul. To them, winning is the only thing.
With this mindset firmly entrenched, it became inevitable for players so obsessed with winning to devise ways that can ultimately lead to the goal of victory. But of all such devices ever contrived, the one I most abhor is the flop.
The flop is outright cheating. Okay, just like shit, cheating also happens. But in the NBA today, flops are being executed without the slightest hint of subtlety or guile. Many players now just do the flop blatantly. And worse, referees are buying almost gleefully into the ploy.
To me, I single out the flop as the one biggest blemish in the honorable sport of basketball. And if the NBA continues to allow it and refuses to deal with it now, and in a manner that it richly deserves, I fear the day when it can become too huge a problem to contain.
TV monitors that provide instant replays are now regular fixtures in NBA games, allowing referees to review actions in order for them to make more enlightened and fair calls. Sadly flops do not seem to be in the list of actions that referees tend to review.
Then there is another issue I have against NBA games, though more on a personal note. But then again, cannot something be done about players playing with their mouthpieces with their teeth in front of the cameras?
Watching NBA games is always more fun if you have some food or drink in hand. But the sight of, say, Lebron James, munching and chewing on his saliva-dripping mouthpiece, or sliding the darn contraption in and out of his mouth, is enough to drive an eating TV spectator nuts.
If no NBA rule can be made against this habit of some players, couldn’t at least the TV networks covering the games instruct their cameramen not to focus on the faces of players who do this ghastly thing? The sight spoils appetites, not just for food, but for the games as well.