The Last Pure Sport
Steroids in baseball. Cheating in football. It's time to rethink which sport we call America's pasttime.
2008-01-17
By Patrice Evans

The NBA gets a bum rap from the media.  This article by hipster-columnist Chuck Klosterman declaring " The NBA is flawed" is a perfect example of this.

When you think about some of the dominant storylines associated with the NBA: The New York Knicks, a flagship franchise in the media center of the world in the midst of one of its darkest eras both on-court and off; a long time refereree revealed as a gambler and game-fixer; the last championship Finals  between the dynastic Spurs and the Lebron-led Cavaliers securing the worst television ratings ever; nightclub incidents galore. It's no wonder that the perception of the league is one of "being troubled."

But here's the thing: it's all wrong, the NBA is a booming business.

This article by Forbes on the "business of basketball" also notes the gap between perception and reality in revealing that the average profit of NBA teams is the highest it has ever been. Teams are making money (most shocking, the New York Knicks remain the league's most valuable franchise), and even in the wake of The Brawlageddon the NBA has set ticket attendance records three years running.

Those horrible TV ratings?  Followed up two weeks later with a new 7 billion dollar Despite the aforementioned horrible ratings from the Finals last year, the NBA two weeks later announced a 7+ billion dollar television deal with ESPN, ABC and TNT. Turns out you don't need television ratings when more and more people are streaming games and you have digital rights to offer.

But the internet buzz around the Klosterman article was palpable when the NBA tipped off the season this year, prompting discussions around the blogosphere.

In contrast the Forbest article barely caused a stir.Granted a generic report from Forbes lacks the cachet of ESPN and a"name" columnist for Esquire and Spin magazines; but when the boringreport completely contradicts the premise of the anecdotal column, it begs the question.  Why do we find it so difficult to give the NBA its just due?

It strikes me that between the three major American sports only the NBA does not have to deal with this issue of steroids and performance-enhancers corrupting both the history a sport and our view of the current on-field competition.  Baseball is just now trying to come to terms with an era that will forever change the perspective on the game, and cast a pall on every achievement for a decade, at least. The greatest hitter, Bonds, and pitcher, Clemens, of our generation are now forever stained.  The day after even the NY Times wondered if the Yankees should be stripped of their Subway Series title since at least a third of their winning roster was listed in the report.

Of course in the NFL steroids are more "acceptable," such that known users can still grace the cover of a popular video game but last season an ethics debate  was sparked when Shawn Merriman was voted to the Pro Bowl after also being suspended for steroid use.  So while it doesn't cause the furor it does in baseball, the questions and controversy is out there and can presumably get more intense at any point.

These sorts of questions on competitive ethics never enter the realm of NBA conversation.  We can embrace the anomalous hulking force that is Shaq without reservation.  We might debate the merits of certain members of the NBA All-Star team, like they do in all sports; but we can always feel secure that regardless of who's benefiting from being on a winning team, everyone has gotten there using nothing but their own talent and work ethic. This transparency and competitive purity, as the waters in the other sports gets murkier and murkier, is an underrated joy of the NBA game.  Lebron may on occasion make us wonder if he was created in a lab somewhere; but that just make him all the more something to marvel as he rumbles to the basket and leaps over three players.  The morals and spirit that give sports its meaning in the first place are corrupted in the NFL and MLB, but remain untainted in the NBA.

So as the NBA announced its plans to enter China, continuing to expand its global impact; why is it the sport that's "flawed"?  Soccer's popularity in America continues to flatline, and the NBA still comes in third place,  but the ease and purity of both games, along with their popularity on an international level suggests that perhaps the NBA is the American sport most like soccer. The NBA lacks the same American history as the other two sports, but it might have the greater global future.

The NBA is the sport of black people.  It's getting more international and diverse in its way, but certainly more than MLB or NFL it is the one most associated with the sensibility and general plight of the contemporary negro.  And I resent any harping on it – or us – as being "flawed."  We all have flaws, and all the sports leagues are endowed with their own set of imperfections to wrestle with. And when you have to write a story, but you don't understand, maybe "trouble" is an easy fall back option.

The NBA could certainly consider shortening its schedule, tinkering with some options on how they present the game. But shootings at the nightclub, while certainly a problem, are a reflection of the cultural tapestry as much as Brett Favre, sportsman of the year, being a former pill-popper.  Perception is reality in our media saturated culture, and so maybe the biggest problem to fix is a white media and a white advertising industry that doesn't "get" the hip hop/cultural engine that is a big part of what makes the NBA a burgeoning economic force, a consistent ticket seller, and ultimately a sport with as much upside as any other in this country.

Patrice Evans (aka The Assimilated Negro) is a writer, blogger and EbonyJet.com contributor whose work has appeared in Gawker, Time Out New York and The New York Times. His blog is www.theassimilatednegro.blogspot.com.