By Bill Bumerton
It occurs to me, Big Dawg, that the NBA All-Star and the NFL Pro Bowl contests are a big waste of time. They are only held to squeeze as much more money out of us unlucky consumers as possible and to collect the huge amount of TV revenue that continues to line owners’ pockets.
Am I not wrong, Big Dawg?
It’s just a big rip off. Consider this: Defenses in these games is only visible when a fan tries to protect his beer from being spilled when another fan unexpectedly gestures with his near-by arm to a beer vendor for another beer.
Sunday’s game almost produced 200 points for the West team. At this rate, in a few years the 300-point mark will be in danger of being exceeded. C’mon, that is not basketball it’s the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals.
The NFL pro game is the same thing, but with pads.
I understand, Big Dawg that with today’s players making so much money – millions – there is a need for them to protect themselves. So they don’t play defense as a means of self-protection. But that makes a mockery of the games. That isn’t basketball. It’s you – well, not you – shooting around at the YMCA with nobody else in sight. Or you tossing a football around to yourself in your backyard.
At least Major League Baseball gives a pretense of being an All-Star game by giving the winning team – American League or National League ‑ home field advantage in the World Series. That gives some meaning to the game.
Actually, Big Dawg, this argument leads to other conclusions. One, the basket in NBA games should be lifted to 11 feet. It’s becoming too much of a dunk show with modern players spending most of their time on court flying above the rim.
Two, modern pro football players have outgrown the game. Players are bigger, stronger, faster and quicker than they once were and the physical and mental toll that it takes on them, especially in later retirement years, is too costly.
Rule-makers within the league have tried – and continue trying – to make the game safer, but I think, Big Dawg, that parents are waking up to the dangers the game poses to their kids and are not allowing them to play it. This will eventually have an impact on the game at the higher levels and I believe that sometime in the future the game will die, probably replaced by gladiators battling lions in large outdoor coliseums.
Oh wait, that has already been tried.
