There are any number of aspects of the typical NBA broadcast which get under the skin of the average viewer: timeouts in the final minutes that pour water over what should be the hottest part of the game, ads for shows that you have no interest in watching but are forced to endure ad nauseum, Reggie Miller … the list is endless.
But today I’ll nominate another candidate for the Stop It Already Museum: NBA Cares.
Is it me or does the league have a serious case of self-congratulationitis? I’ll grant you that the NFL and its similar United Way spots are a bit gratuitous, but those are 1) humorous and 2) paid ads, unlike the NBA Care spots which are 1) boring and 2) apparently gratis, as they show up as segues into live action.
Further, I can see the logic behind the NFL’s spots, in that they promote a charity – the United Way – which everyone can agree provides a service.
But what is the logic to promoting NBA Cares, other than to show how wonderful the league is? As far as I can tell from my limited viewing this spring, the majority of the spots show individual players painting graffitoed walls, reading books to second-graders, and making chit-chat with people in soup-kitchen lines. There is no specific action the ads – and, let’s face it, that’s what these are – command the viewer to take; no charity name, no organization, no website.
Hey, NBA, we get it. You care about “the community,” whatever that ambiguous phrase means. Good for you.
Granted, I’m a bitter Seattlite with a Paul Bunyon-sized axe to grind with the league, but this sort self-adoration stuff irks me to no end. What is the point, other than to flaunt the league’s bloated self-image? I suppose there is some merit to these bits of fluff, but I’ll be damned if I can see what it is.
I guess the seeds of disgust were planted for me when the NBA went to New Orleans for the All-Star Game, gave David Stern a paintbrush to show how much the league “cared” about helping the city … then watched the local team attempt to extort the same city to build a new practice facility to the tune of $20 million, or risk watching the team leave.
What does the NBA care about? Well, I can think of one thing.
Friday, May 15
Wednesday, May 13
Sonic Links
What do beat writers for deceased basketball teams writing for deceased newspapers do when it all goes sideways?
Apparently, they go to work forblogs AOL.
Gary Washburn, erstwhile reporter for the Seattle PI, is now with AOL Fanhouse, and checks in with a story about the government's inability to seal the deal on SB 6116.
Elsewhere, Spencer Haywood made sure USA Today represented the past - by mentioning him. For nothing else, it's worth reading the story for a chance to see this photo of Haywood bringing the funk over a crouching Bob Lanier.
Apparently, they go to work for
Gary Washburn, erstwhile reporter for the Seattle PI, is now with AOL Fanhouse, and checks in with a story about the government's inability to seal the deal on SB 6116.
Elsewhere, Spencer Haywood made sure USA Today represented the past - by mentioning him. For nothing else, it's worth reading the story for a chance to see this photo of Haywood bringing the funk over a crouching Bob Lanier.
Monday, May 11
Scoring At 30
If, like me, your #1 reason for watching the NBA playoffs this year is to root against Kobe Bryant, then you'll appreciate reading Mike Kurylo's piece at KnickerBlogger about Kobe vs MJ (via TrueHoop), if only because it gave me some validation for your hatred for #24.
Mike's points are valid - even a Kobe-lover would concede that - and they got me to wondering: How does Bryant stack up on a year-to-year basis with some of the other top scorers in NBA history?
Bryant is currently 30 years old, so, to be fair, we should only count stats for players in the same time frame. Shown below is a chart listing what I believe to be the top nine scorers at age 30, plus two youngsters who merit mentioning:
A few quick notes to take away from this graphic:
1. Michael Jordan gave Bryant a three season head start, took off two seasons (one for injury, one for baseball), and still ranks within a half-season of scoring of Kobe. Amazing.
2. Wilt Chamberlain gave Bryant a five-year head start, and managed to catch Bryant by age 30. And that's in spite of having a tired groin.
3. As far as I can tell, only one player has outscored Bryant through age 25. That player? Tracy McGrady.
4. Both LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are ahead of Bryant at their respective ages, Melo by a small margin and LBJ by a significant one (12,993 to 10,658, a difference of 21%).
If you found that first graphic a little too cluttered, you might want to view this one instead, which just includes the three greatest scorers in league history to date: Bryant, Jordan and Chamberlain. Yes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone are 1-2 in scoring, but they never dominated the league to the extent those aforementioned gentlemen did.
What's most interesting to me is that from ages 26 to 29, the three were almost identical in career scoring. Were it not for MJ's decision to give up basketball, that might have continued for the rest of their careers.
Mike's points are valid - even a Kobe-lover would concede that - and they got me to wondering: How does Bryant stack up on a year-to-year basis with some of the other top scorers in NBA history?
Bryant is currently 30 years old, so, to be fair, we should only count stats for players in the same time frame. Shown below is a chart listing what I believe to be the top nine scorers at age 30, plus two youngsters who merit mentioning:
A few quick notes to take away from this graphic:
1. Michael Jordan gave Bryant a three season head start, took off two seasons (one for injury, one for baseball), and still ranks within a half-season of scoring of Kobe. Amazing.
2. Wilt Chamberlain gave Bryant a five-year head start, and managed to catch Bryant by age 30. And that's in spite of having a tired groin.
3. As far as I can tell, only one player has outscored Bryant through age 25. That player? Tracy McGrady.
4. Both LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are ahead of Bryant at their respective ages, Melo by a small margin and LBJ by a significant one (12,993 to 10,658, a difference of 21%).
If you found that first graphic a little too cluttered, you might want to view this one instead, which just includes the three greatest scorers in league history to date: Bryant, Jordan and Chamberlain. Yes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone are 1-2 in scoring, but they never dominated the league to the extent those aforementioned gentlemen did.
What's most interesting to me is that from ages 26 to 29, the three were almost identical in career scoring. Were it not for MJ's decision to give up basketball, that might have continued for the rest of their careers.
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