NBA Moratorium: Fully Justified

I didn't say anything about this yesterday, but MJD's flawless take on the situation got me fired up.  Release the Crazy Jeff tag!

I tuned in for just a minute or two of the end of Game 4 in Utah... just long enough to catch the unconscionable flop by Manu Ginobili that led to the first of Derek Fisher's two technicals.

At that moment, I knew that my decision to abandon the NBA playoffs was correct.

When I say that the NBA is dead... that its legitimacy is fast plummeting towards the depths occupied by boxing, wrestling, and international soccer... and that David Stern needs to start handing out Ron Artest suspensions for generally unsportsmanlike play (not just isolated incidents, but for a player's body of work)... Ginobili's acting performance is exactly what I'm talking about.

Every bonehead who talks about what a fierce competitor Ginobili is, what a tough guy he is, should be forced to watch that shameless, gutless flop on a loop for an hour.  There's competitiveness, and there's sportsmanship.  Nobody can question Ginobili's competitiveness, but there isn't a drop of sportsmanship in his game.  Not one.  If you respect that piece of shit, even a little bit, you're a real sap, because he sure doesn't respect you very much.

It's well beyond Code Red time for Ginobili.  If it were 1984, that androgynous bald fuck would've gotten his teeth smashed in.  Larry Bird would have done it himself.  Of course, Ginobili would know better than pull that crap on the Celtics or Lakers, because those teams would fight back!

But we all know what would happen if Derek Fisher had delivered the curb-stomping that Ginobili so desperately deserves.  Long suspension for Fisher, nominal fine for Ginobili, Ginobili wins.

And that's not going to change.  Neither the NBA nor its players will fight back, because there's no money in it.  The players keep looking to the league to do something, since vigilantism incurs all kinds of fines and suspensions.  The league, meanwhile, knows that neither the outcome of past games nor income from future games will be affected by the kind of retroactive action I'm calling for.  Improving the quality of the on-court product doesn't affect the TV contract, the attendance figures, the merchandising, the endorsements, or anything else.  Why would they change anything?

And that's how the NBA became a joke.  They don't care, so why should I?

The Utah crowd spent the last four minutes of the game pelting the court (read: the Spurs and referees) with garbage.  I wish I could have joined them.