I realize that there was no news of the odd and unusual for this past weekend. There are to main reasons for that, the first being that there was no humorous and/or quirky information of once in a great while. At least not by my standards. The second thing is that with the end of year quickly approaching I am working on annual activities for 6+ websites. Part of the pitfalls of having a diversified business. Of course you might have noticed my letter, the first of several to be sent to various politicians, that I sent to Senator Clinton. But there were 2 things I did want to speak about.
The first is the NBA basketball game between the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets. This is ridiculous. There is no excuse for it. This was supposed to be a basketball game, not a boxing match. These are supposed to be professionals, and they are paid exorbitantly well to be professionals. Yet there seems to be a trend growing of basketball player fighting in the middle of a game.
There is no reason for this. The foul was unnecessary. The reaction to the foul can’t be tolerated. All because one team kept its first string players in at the end of a game that was all but won. I don’t get it. The Knicks had lost, does it matter who was on the floor? How does it change anything? The knocks had the option to keep the first-string on the court, and chose not to. Deal with it. It’s part of being a professional and playing a sport. Sometimes you lose and sometimes that loss is embarrassing. In the same way that children would be punished for being a bad sport in a similar situation, these players seem to need to be scolded.
From what I understand several players will not be allowed to play for multiple games (ranging from 15 to 1) from both teams. It’s been said that this will affect the incomes these players will receive. At the 15 game penalty end it’s said that it equates to about $750,000. Now considering that this is for the top scorer of the NBA, whom I guess makes about 20-30 million over 5 years, it’s a slap but on the wrists. I don’t follow basketball, it’s not my game – reminding me of tennis with way too many people, but assuming I’m right that means the penalty will reduce the pay for this year to 3.25 million dollars. Sounds bad at first glance except it doesn’t take into account that I’m using the low end numbers for my guess. It also doesn’t factor in the advertising deals that this player has, which probably generate 2x his NBA paycheck.
In essence the money may prevent him from getting a new car or wasting it on a party, but beyond giving him a tax break, and a mini-vacation, it has no real affect. The more that these players get for individual performance, and advertising contracts on that same basis, the less they are team players and just businessmen for hire. So the effect on the team is not a priority. Were it up to me I’d make sure he lost half his pay for the year, banned from playing any games for half the year, and if he had any sponsorship deals something special. And company that ran an ad for the player in question would be banned by the NBA for one year (of course they would have a one week grace period to pull the ads), this would be in effect while the player was ineligible to play. That penalty applies to every player involved in a fight, no matter who starts it. If a player gets hit, they have to back off and not get into a fight [an exception for preventing being beaten to a pulp and merely defending yourself from repeated blows is allowed].
Sound harsh? Well I think its multi-million dollar responsibility harsh. They took the job, the pay, and the responsibility goes with it. I never heard of Mr. Michael Jordan in a fight, or Mr. Kareem Abdul Jabbar, or Mr. Larry Bird. The game is the same as then, only the players and their egos have changed. And how much money they make. There is no excuse.
And yes I left out the players names; I’m disgusted with their actions and chose not to speak of them by name.
I’ll mention the second item from the weekend in a little bit.
This is what I think, what do you think?
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