I don't know why. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was a harsh statement. I think Duggan meant it because some of his players had begun to idolize professional players some years ago, and Duggan had little respect for what the pro game of basketball had become. In most of the early years of the NBA, the league had struggled with being able to sell enough tickets to make expenses, and rules were changed and officials looked the other way, to keep the game flowing and interesting for fans. One friend of mine who played for UConn and later for Red Auerbach told me he won't watch NBA games now. When I asked why, he replied, "They walk, they palm it, and they charge. It's not basketball." Great players like Oscar Robertson have said similar things about the game they once loved.south bender said:Why post this??SFCityBear said:
"Pros are punks." -- Brad Duggan, former CCSF coach and former color man on Cal broadcasts
Today, NBA players have bought into all of it, maybe because it has made them fabulously wealthy, all for being men playing a kids' game, and contributing nothing productive to society, unless they do something charitable or productive outside of basketball, which many do. Our athletes and our entertainers have become more popular than almost anyone else. All this while many productive members of society toil quietly producing and bringing food to our tables, designing and building our homes and all our buildings, protecting us from crime and natural disasters like fire and tornado or hurricane, fghting our wars and getting injured or killed doing it, bringing us our news, teaching our kids, healing our broken bones, curing our illnesses, cleaning up our waste, running our businesses, performing our jobs (many at below a living wage), taking care of our poor, and mentally ill. For me, making a crossover or popping a three pales in comparison, no matter how much of a thrill we get from it.
Many pro athletes, maybe most, are too immature to handle the wealth and some become so spoiled as to think they are special and can live outside of accepted social norms, and outside the law.
A sportscaster whose name I don't recall, pointed out that baseball used to own the summer. All the sports headlines were of baseball, and it was rare to hear conversation about anything else. Now the NFL has become a 12 month sport, and the NBA has become a reality show. Kevin Durant is a player who got seriously injured, has quit the team for greener pastures, left town, and will not be playing basketball again for at least a year. But if he sends out a Tweet, it will be all over the media, mainstream and social, and it will be discussed for two or three days, instead of baseball games which are currently underway every day. Fans today want to know who Kahwi's friends are, and they want to discuss who Kyrie is hanging out with. Endless discussion on whose fault it was that KD got hurt, how much salaries are now, how much we have to pay for this and that player. And why should we care about what any basketball player or any actor or singer thinks about the major issues of the day, or what he or thinks about the people who run for political office? Why should there opinions matter more than the average Joe who works for a living, when most of these superstars have never worked a day at producing anything for society in their lives? Our values have gotten out of whack, and it does not bode well for the future of this society.
SFCityBear
