2/19/07: The Week In Sports

February 19, 2007

The saying goes, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” and if that’s the case then the NBA should leave all memories of that All Star Weekend in Las Vegas.
The annual defensive battle that is the NBA All Star Game was in the Sin City this year, with the Western Conference easing past the Eastern Conference, 153-132. Now, I understand that this is an all-star game and people don’t pay to come watch defense; but, people should also recognize and not be shocked that children who are beginning to play the game don’t care about fundamentals. Kids see this game and want to imitate the passes and dunks, not the ball screens or back-door cuts.
That’s why I hate the all-star game. If you’re going to take out a significant part of the game, one-half of it being defense, then why the hell even play the game? And, then don’t turn around give some kid a hard time about making a pass around their back and wondering where they got it from. Sports Center pushes only the highlights at us everyday, not the steals or the extra pass for an easier shot.
But, as far as this game was concerned, this was far from a classic. It sorely lacked any suspense and only brief flashes of any kinds of showmanship. I say lack of suspense using the score entering the fourth quarter as evidence, 127-96. Where’s the drama in a game that has a 31 point lead entering the final quarter?
Kobe Bryant was selected the games MVP with 31 points on the evening, two better than Amare Stoudemire who managed to score 29 points in 21 minutes! I would think a stat like that would garner MVP honors, apparently not. But odd selections go hand-in-hand with the whole All-Star Weekend. It begins with the dunk contest which use to actually put the best dunkers in the league against each other. Now, the best dunkers can be found during the dunk on contest on the side of the court holding their cameras towards first or second year players who might average 10 minutes a game.
The players for the All Star Game are chosen not by fellow players, coaches, or owners of league, but by the fans. This is all well in good if you’re voting for the next President of the United States, but not for the all stars. The outcome is players who may have played only ten games all season, but have a shoe contract, beating out players with solid all star statistics.
The record going into this that the NBA All Star Game was played in a city that does not even have an NBA team, pretty much summed up the whole weekend.
Let us move onto the next annual event that gets to me, the 200 lapped, loud, and irritatingly long Daytona 500. Does anyone even watch this anymore? I might understand getting into on television, but in person I can only imagine the noise for four or more hours. After awhile would the fans not get bored or at least dizzy watching the cars go in circles? I suppose having Budweiser as a sponsor helps.
See my definition of a pro athlete is someone being paid to do something I can not. I think that I can get into a car and drive fast for 200 circles. There is nothing athletic about that to me. If you don’t believe me, there was a 72 year old man who missed qualifying for this year’s race by only four spots.
There was talking all week about some of the drivers cheating before the race. How is this even possible? Have we come so far down as a society that every sport now has cheating? First was baseball and steroids, then came cycling and steroids, now jet fuel in race cars? Give me a break. How are we as fans suppose to believe any feats or records again?
That leaves me with this week’s thought for you to think about. If you feel that there is still a sport out there safe from cheating, you must read this. Three years ago a proposal was made in Chess Life Magazine that all players competing in the National Tournament be tested for drugs before participating. Recently, at the U.S. Chess Federation Conference in Massachusetts, the proposal was passed.
Speculation that players began taking Ritalin to stimulate their brains and make them concentrate more, was giving an edge to these players. The International Chess Federation has now also made a similar proposal for worldwide play. I guess we all just become pawns, in the world of cheating.
For more of my negative and odd views into sports, please tune into Sports 101 on KEOL La Grande 91.7 FM every Friday at 1 P.M. (A plug never hurts)