I can’t pinpoint the moment it happened, in much the same way I can’t pinpoint the moment green summer leaves turn autumn brown. But happen it has. And long ago.
I’m guessing it began to loosen its grip on the NBA right around the time the tongue-wagging, trash-talking demigod we call his “His Airness” took flight in 1984.
The days of playing hard without trash-talking(and of course trash-talking means cursing and/or belittling) the opponent or an official have long been gone.
The days of raising one’s hand after fouling have long been replaced by raising one’s voice.
And the days of helping a fallen opponent off the deck have been replaced by walking away as if he hasn’t.
These things are now just a part of NBA culture, much like an MLB pitcher firing a revenge pitch at the shoulder of a batter who had the audacity to stand and gawk at his towering home run in his previous at-bat.
I suppose the increasing lack of sportsmanship in the NBA, as well as in other sports, isn’t so much indicative of the sport itself, but of our society as a whole.
Sportsmanship equals respect, so its converse is also true. Let’s face it, we live in an increasingly me-centered, me driven society-a society that defiantly screams, “I’ll do or say whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want!”
If you’ve ever stepped foot into a public school classroom, you know the discernible difference between how students talk to teachers today and how they talked to them in your day.
Respect isn’t on many’s radar. It’s been replaced, at least in the male gender, by this superseding desire to present a sense of bravado, which in reality is false bravado.
But today, unlike the days of old, when sportsmanship was the consistency and bad sportsmanship was an anomaly, a man is thought to be less of a man, or more specifically, less of a teammate, if he acts kindly toward his opponent.
The NBA, I believe more so than the NFL and MLB, is a player-driven league. Superstars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant hold much more sway than the league’s head coaches. That’s no secret.
And with this power and fame and obscene riches comes an enormous sense of entitlement. Entitlement simply means, “I deserve whatever I want and if I don’t receive it I am justified in being offended.” In other words, players, in their minds, can do no wrong.
So, will the sportsmanship of yesteryear ever return to the NBA? Is it possible for players to play their tails off without berating referees over a missed call? Is it possible for players to play their tails off without belittling their opponents?
Yes, yes, and yes. All of those things are possible. I think the NBA can return to an era where sportsmanship is more prevalent than the lack thereof. Not sure if it will, but it can.
What will it take? It may just take one player. It may just take one player who values others more than he values himself and the perceived inalienable rights of the players. It may just take one player who isn’t afraid of being ridiculed by his teammates and coaches.
I love the NBA. I love watching anyone perform at the highest level of their craft. But I have come to detest watching players not helping their opponent up simply because “that’s not the way we do things around here”. I have come to detest watching players undress officials because they didn’t get their way. I’ve come to detest this part of NBA culture.
Is there one player or one coach who is willing to say, “Enough is enough!?”
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