When is perception no longer reality?
I became a trusting fan of NBA basketball in 1979 after watching Magic Johnson and Larry Bird compete for the NCAA title in what proved to be one of the most watched college championship games ever played. Prior to that game — although I enjoyed playing playground basketball, at least occasionally — baseball and football were my participatory sports of choice. Nevertheless, given the legitimate hype surrounding Bird and Magic, I was more than willing to sample the NBA product.
Coincidentally, one year after Bird and Magic joined the NBA an astute General Counsel named David Joel Stern became the league’s Executive President. Little did the NBA know Stern was on the precipice of leading a renaissance in the NBA product that would reshape pro sports marketing forever.
Things got even better when, five years later, after a standout career at North Carolina, Michael Jordan entered the league with the Chicago Bulls. And, coincidentally, during the same year, David Stern replaced Larry O’Brien as Commissioner of the NBA. With stars Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan leading the way, Stern soon resided over a league that soared to unprecedented popularity.
Over the next eight years, Commissioner Stern would wield his paradigm of great players on an odyssey the envy of all professional sports. Attendance and revenues skyrocketed against the backdrop of sports media darlings and Hollywood celebrities alike all proclaiming “The NBA is Fan-tastic!” What could be better?
It all came crashing down when …
In 1993, fresh on the heels of the Chicago Bulls first three-peat, Michael Jordan announced his retirement from basketball due to an alleged non-desire to play the game. However, unsubstantiated rumors credited Jordan’s boredom to something more deviant … Gambling.
Faced with losing his most omnipresent star, Stern needed to keep the league and the game thriving. It is here that I believe fate gave him an epiphany, whether he realizes it or not.
You see, two years earlier, on March 3, 1991, Rodney Glen King, led Los Angeles police on a high speed pursuit. Finally, after driving through several red lights and boulevard stops, he pulled over. King, who had a record of drunk driving and was believed to be under the influence of PCP, was severely beaten by four LAPD officers. The incident, minus the first few minutes, was captured on video and became an international media sensation around the world. However, on April 29, 1992, three of the officers involved in the beating were acquitted. The acquittals were based in part on a 13-second segment of the videotape that was edited out by television news stations in their broadcast. Many experts contended the ‘missing’ 13 seconds left the free-thinking world blind to the true facts of the case.
Legally speaking, and bear in mind Commissioner Stern is a lawyer, prior to the Rodney King incident, matters of dispute typically relied upon witness testimony, corroborating evidence, forensics, and a damn good lawyer to prove right from wrong, and guilt or innocence. However, after the three officers were acquitted, evidence — or proof if you will — would never be viewed the same.
For the first time in history, regardless of whatever side of the King beating you came down on, the modern world was told that even real-life videotape, i.e., what we see as real before our very eyes, is not to be believed. In the King case, law enforcement presented the scenario of a perp in full attack mode, refusing to relent when ordered to do so by police. Most of the public, however, after viewing the same videotape, saw police officers unnecessarily beat a man under the shroud of darkness. And despite the fact that both sides clearly saw what they thought they saw, to this day, there are still two dissenting views of the incident. Perhaps it was this singular incident that gave David Stern the epiphany to sell the league as a circus act, or magic show, to compensate for its aging superstars and less marketable spoiled brats?
Prior to Stern unveiling his newfound model, never had I witnessed a sport or league, save the Olympics and boxing, that found itself under more scrutiny and suspicion of fraud and bias (from ping-pong balls to fouls) than the NBA — not the NFL, not MLB, not the NHL.
Whereas the NBA had long been accused of uneven officiating, and shenanigans, e.g., the rims in Boston Garden were allegedly rigged so that opponents would shoot a poor percentage, an allegation I found laughable, the question that begs to be answered is, “why did the allegation ever hold water?” Precipitously, year after year, post season after post season, fans, sportswriters, and non-sports related media alike, mocked the NBA’s alleged bias in crowning its champion. In fact, since Stern’s reign as Commissioner, I honestly don’t recall one champion being crowned without some specter of fan sentient alleging preferential treatment and/or biased officiating. It’s embarrassing to my legacy as a former athlete. Today, worse than ever, Stern is again at the center of multiple controversies alleging impropriety, bias, and favoritism in NBA basketball.
Consider the following, in the 1980s and 90s, it was not uncustomary for in-game commentators to openly speculate about the NBA’s desire for a series to go the distance. It was alleged, from an advertising and revenues standpoint, if a 7-game series only went 4 games, the league lost money. If a series went five games, the league broke even. If it went six games, the league made a profit. But when it went seven, the league and its sponsors hit the mother lode! Whether true or false, how much did these sentiments, from NBA sanctioned personnel no less, destroy trust in the NBA product? Perhaps it is here, in the 7-game series scenario, that the adage “The best team always wins a 7-game series” originated? After all, it is also a widely held belief that refs swallow their whistles in the 7th game to ensure a fierce competition until the very end. And it is here that I take umbrage, for, the best team, by virtue of the product it puts on the court, should always win a series no matter how many games it goes. End of discussion.
Nonetheless, when you combine the reemergence of fan distrust, along with a decade’s long cacophony decrying sleight-of-hand officiating, it’s no wonder that in the post-Jordan era more and more fans tuned out the NBA product.
To be sure, I am still an avid sports fan. I prefer sports programming over all other forms of cookie-cutter programming because of its unpredictable, heart and soul nature. However, as a former athlete, I am losing both my patience and faith in professional sports, in particular the NBA product. I recognize that, unlike MLB’s K-zone, officiating is subject to human fallibility. In this regard, I am fully aware that refs cannot get every call right. However, given the tremendous amounts of taxpayer monies vested, as well as fan reliance on the unpredictable nature of sport, I fully expect referees to make every attempt to get every call right. In this regard, I do not expect to see blown calls that even the sight-challenged Stevie Wonder could get right.
Comparatively speaking, one of the most difficult marketing tactics in business is to switch a consumer from one product to another. Me, I’m a Colgate guy, but I grew up on Crest. I really couldn’t tell you when I switched. Likewise, I used to be an ESPN.com guy. I really couldn’t have cared less about Foxsports.com, or the competition. Then along came this thing called blogging, and the ease in which Foxsports made it. Plus, it gave me, the average sports fan a voice. Now, lo and behold, I rarely visit ESPN.com anymore, certainly not as my “first sports read of the morning” option. This honor belongs to FoxBlogs.
Classic bait and switch. Brilliantly done, Fox Sports. You got me.
Today, having given up on boxing because of decisions that defy my lying eyes; and having placed pro football on the backburner over a decade ago because I could no longer stomach four hour games and players who celebrated every big play as if they’d just won the Super Bowl; and having lost my die-hard passion for baseball after “the strike” and steroids — adopting NBA basketball with exclusivity occurred rather happenstance. Generally speaking, it has proven an entertaining and hotly contested outlet for vicarious living, but my patience has been wearing thin for about a decade now. It’s no wonder I now find myself glued to Tiger and the PGA’s commercial-free coverage of its biggest events. No refs, no umpires, no whiny brats, and no sleight of hand, just man versus man with winner-take-all believability. What a novel concept.
Long live the integrity of pro sports. Long live the NBA.
http://www.downloadmagic.com/basics/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Stern
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson
BEST DAMN GUARD © 2007. All Rights Reserved.
P.S. Be sure to tune in to Frank’s Fox Blogger’s Radio Show this Wednesday at 11 midnight EST, 10 p.m. Central time, and 8 p.m. on the West Coast. The_Dan, AK47, and yours truly will be guests: