Flagrant Fouls

Marvin Williams just rocked Rajon Rondo. In mid-flight, Rondo got clotheslined. It looked like a mid-air impact between an NFL safety and a WR. Marvin did get a pretty solid piece of the ball, but then got an even bigger piece of Rondo, slamming him into the ground. Stupid play but the Hawks have to be incredibly frustrated. They can't hit the back side of a barn. They had 18 points with just under 10 minutes in the 2nd quarter. With 3:36, the Hawks are down 68-34. Rondo stayed in the game and hit his free throws and is still playing well. Respect.

There have been some other hard fouls in the NBA playoffs like Brendan Haywood's foul (which wasn't that bad) on LeBron and Jason Kidd's flagrant on Jannero Pargo.





As I'm writing this Kevin Garnett just knocked Zaza Pachulia on his ass. It looked a lot like a crack back block in football. I can't believe the commentators were saying it was a clean play. Garnett lined him up, lowered his shoulder, and put his weight behind it. A little retaliation from the Celtics.

I don't have a problem with a rough, physical basketball game, but taking out defenseless players going up for a dunk or layup definitely crosses the line. Hard fouls aren't the biggest problem in the NBA today, nor is letting players (all-stars especially) to travel up and down the court. The worst part of the NBA today is flopping, which is also the worst part of soccer. Floppers take the game out of the players' hands and put it into the often incompetent hands of the referees. For example, in game 4 of the San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker takes a big dive over Stoudemire's leg, throws the ball out of bounds, and he gets two shots. Are you serious? In the 1500s, the conquistadores brought smallpox and other diseases to the new world, infecting the entire Aztec empire. Foreigners like Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, and others have brought the worst aspect of the great game of soccer to the NBA. Foreign players aren't bad for the game. Actually, several of them are better than American players. But flopping ruins the game. Here's another video to an already media-rich post:

Image Problem?

The NFL Player seen showboating his way into the endzone is Jerome Mathis. According to Profootballtalk.com, Mr. Mathis was just arrested for choking is pregnant girlfriend. Classy.


This is Dwight Howard. He has never choked his pregnant girlfriend. And he is far better at what he does than Mr. Mathis. For the most part, few NBA Players have gotten in trouble for off the court mischief, while countless NFL players have committed crimes. Jared Allen, Jerramy Stevens, Leonard Little, Mike Vick, and Pacman Jones are among the most severe examples of NFL players who have misbehaved off the field. Najeh Davenport once Shat in someone's laundry basket. I am compelled to ask, why is it that according to a Harris Poll, the NBA is the league with the image problem?
Bill Simmons, the espn.com writer whose homerism even I find egregious, insinuated in his column yesterday that the reason for this discrepancy is race. Sure the faces of the NBA are black, while the faces of the NFL are, as ridiculous as this may be, The Manning Brothers, Tom Brady, and LaDainian. However, anyone with two eyes can see that most teams in the NFL, with the exception of New England, are predominantly NOT Caucasian. Simply put, playing the race card is a cop out excuse.
The NBA has an image problem because most people do not watch the NBA. The NFL has at most 20 games in a season for a team (GO BIG BLUE). This makes it pretty simple to watch games. Moreover, the games are entertaining to watch, and watching the product on the field makes people put the off the field nonsense on the backburner.
People should watch the NBA. The athletes are incredible, and it is a quality product. However, 82 games a year, plus playoff, is a lot of basketball to watch. Additionally, ESPN and TNT seemingly have decided that the only teams worth watching are the Spurs, Lakers, Pistons, Mavs, Suns, and Rockets. The Celtics have recently joined this list. Before the recent trade flurry, These teams were, with the exception of the Suns, fairly boring to watch. A repetitive and boring product is not going to draw viewers, so casual observers instead focus on the occasional non-basketball related problem that the league runs into.
There is hope, however. The recent trading explosion, coupled with the emergence of young, well behaved talent like Dwight Howard, Brandon Roy, Kevin Durant, etc., makes Professional Basketball intriguing once again. Now it is up to the programmers to vary the games that they show. Show me Hawks- Blazers once in a while, Dammit!
The image problems with the NBA are not caused by Race, they are caused by lazy television executives. For the first time since the Melee in Detroit, things are looking bright for the NBA. Sadly, it is the NFL that must now clean up after itself.