There are many reasons people don’t like watching professional basketball – the NBA. If you were to summarize what the major objections are, it often comes down to how the game is no longer pure in terms of passing and cutting to the basket, but instead deteriorates into one-on-one confrontations that turn into the offensive player jacking up a shot.
Compared to high school or college basketball, where the skills, strength and athleticism haven’t coalesced quite as much, it seems like the NBA is a bunch of big bodies POUNDING the holy crap out of each other until one player succumbs. Dribble, slam your body into your opponent, dribble, shoulder your opponent, dribble, shove your elbow into your opponent, go up for the shot and the defender jumps into the vacated space and rams his body into the shooter.
If you are the official (referee), when do you blow the whistle? As a basketball official myself, I repeatedly state to others when they ask me about this, “I don’t know. I don’t ref in the NBA and they apply different techniques and look for different things than is the case at the high school level.”
That being said, there’s one issue that bugs the heck out of me: whining. With the playoffs currently on, I’ve caught a few minutes here or there of multiple games the past few weeks. I don’t think it would be much of an exaggeration to say that after most shots, one of the players whines about a foul. They throw up their arms in a massive gesture as if to say, “How could you miss that?” Or, “Where’s the foul?”
This goes on and on and on. What are the effects of this?
First, this turns the fans off to the players. When you keep whining, you have to wonder, “Why don’t you just play basketball? The officials are part of the game. Quit whining and go to the other end of the court and play defense.” Constant whining turns us off.
Another concern is role modeling. When you see the pros complaining repeatedly, what happens to those of us who watch? We think it’s okay. Kids get the impression that demonstrably objecting is okay. If no one enforces against the complaining, what’s the result? The whining continues.
Which is exactly the case of what’s going on in the NBA. Nothing is done about it, so the behavior continues.
This is like not punishing your son for stealing his brother’s cookie after you’ve just told him to stop. If you don’t establish and enforce the penalty (“Go to your room.” Or, “Put your chair in the corner and stare at the wall for the next 15 minutes.”), then the child will keep trying to get away with the bad action.
Whining in general is aggravating to begin with. Seeing grown men over and over and over after almost every play gesture at officials and complain is a turnoff and sets a pathetic example for others.
The players themselves need to get some maturity. And the NBA needs to set some basic parameters to ensure that type of behavior stops. It hurts the game. A lot of people are already turned off and it will only get worse without major steps being taken. I think they can figure this out. Someone in charge needs to step up.
Compared to high school or college basketball, where the skills, strength and athleticism haven’t coalesced quite as much, it seems like the NBA is a bunch of big bodies POUNDING the holy crap out of each other until one player succumbs. Dribble, slam your body into your opponent, dribble, shoulder your opponent, dribble, shove your elbow into your opponent, go up for the shot and the defender jumps into the vacated space and rams his body into the shooter.
If you are the official (referee), when do you blow the whistle? As a basketball official myself, I repeatedly state to others when they ask me about this, “I don’t know. I don’t ref in the NBA and they apply different techniques and look for different things than is the case at the high school level.”
That being said, there’s one issue that bugs the heck out of me: whining. With the playoffs currently on, I’ve caught a few minutes here or there of multiple games the past few weeks. I don’t think it would be much of an exaggeration to say that after most shots, one of the players whines about a foul. They throw up their arms in a massive gesture as if to say, “How could you miss that?” Or, “Where’s the foul?”
This goes on and on and on. What are the effects of this?
First, this turns the fans off to the players. When you keep whining, you have to wonder, “Why don’t you just play basketball? The officials are part of the game. Quit whining and go to the other end of the court and play defense.” Constant whining turns us off.
Another concern is role modeling. When you see the pros complaining repeatedly, what happens to those of us who watch? We think it’s okay. Kids get the impression that demonstrably objecting is okay. If no one enforces against the complaining, what’s the result? The whining continues.
Which is exactly the case of what’s going on in the NBA. Nothing is done about it, so the behavior continues.
This is like not punishing your son for stealing his brother’s cookie after you’ve just told him to stop. If you don’t establish and enforce the penalty (“Go to your room.” Or, “Put your chair in the corner and stare at the wall for the next 15 minutes.”), then the child will keep trying to get away with the bad action.
Whining in general is aggravating to begin with. Seeing grown men over and over and over after almost every play gesture at officials and complain is a turnoff and sets a pathetic example for others.
The players themselves need to get some maturity. And the NBA needs to set some basic parameters to ensure that type of behavior stops. It hurts the game. A lot of people are already turned off and it will only get worse without major steps being taken. I think they can figure this out. Someone in charge needs to step up.