Protect Your House

Every team in every sport makes an emphasis on taking care of business at home first, then winning on the road. Most teams that follow a basic formula of winning a great majority of home games and then winning some on the road make the postseason. I think this practice also applies to several aspects of life in general: government, family life, career, school, etc. You have a priority to take care of your base before taking over the world. This is not happening in the NBA.

<-- If you want to see some fine overacting, rent the actual movie this picture is based on..."I swear it on your mother's graveTHAT'SRIGHTMADDY'SGRAVE!"


I began actively following basketball with the introduction of the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise. I had the privilege of watching the twilight years of Magic and Larry, growing my interest in the association with MJ's Bulls, and also having the misfortune of owning a Super Nintendo at launch and playing the Bill Laimbeer Combat Basketball game. In the years Jordan took a hiatus and in the post-Bulls/Jordan years, the NBA experienced a waning fanbase. The one constant in this league throughout that time (besides Cliff Robinson and Kevin Willis) is the commish, David Stern.

Overall, Commissioner Stern has been praised by several media sources as doing an excellent job marketing the league globally and taking the NBA from taped games showing at night-owl times reserved for soft-core porn to the NBA media machine that exists today. Stern had a combination of exciting personalities and increasing athletic ability at his disposal. However, I have taken issue with his steadfast pursuit of global expansion that past decade that has led to consideration of regular season games in Europe.

Ignoring the fact that this system absolutely jobs the teams, and that teams' fans, that have to play abroad out of home games, this global expansion on a regular-season level is flawed. I think it's great that the NBA is making training camp trips and playing exhibition games abroad. I also cannot deny the noticable increase in international interst and ability in the game of basketball. However, no one can deny that the NBA is losing its fanbase in its homeland. This goes far beyond the recent international failures in the FIBA world championships and Olympics**. The league probably expanded too much and definitely takes a marketing angle that promotes individuals in a team sport. Additionally, the NBA tried to expand out of country with the Canadian franchises and one went belly up.

I do not necessarily agree that there's an absolute dilution of talent in the league. I do think team basketball has declined in quality due to the method of NBA free agency. I understood the owner's fears of paying 19-year olds $100 million dollars as a draftee, but is that really worse than the guaranteed contracts that came out of the collective bargaining agreement? Isn't it a "shame on you" situation if you could have and would have paid Kwame Brown $100 million out of high school? I would much rather have rookies getting ludicrous contracts than seeing Allen Houston making $20 million dollars last year from the Knicks for being a network analyst. Nothing has made this league less competitive more than guaranteed contracts.

Another move I never understood was giving Charlotte an expansion franchise when their team moved due to lack of attendance and profit. I understand North Carolina is a great basketball state with UNC, NC State, Duke and Wake all right there, but you don't see Nebraska, Boise, West Virginia, getting an NFL team because they have rabid college fans. Last season, the Bobcats averaged 4th fewest fans per game (or 27th out of 30) in the league (down from 22 in 05-06, and a ridiculously pitiful 29th in its inaugural season of 04-05).

If this game fails to survive here, it's going to have a tough time expanding overseas. I had the privilege of travelling to several cities in Europe this summer, and it's still all soccer all the time. As a matter of fact, when the BBC did its sports segment on its equivalent of CNN Headline News, it went: Soccer, Cycling, Rugby, Tennis, Euro Tour Golf...and that was it. Not even a mention of the NBA playoffs and definitely no mention of any European teams.

I think this league needs some real attention to detail paid right here at home. It's unfortunate that the team that plays the right way (Spurs...man, I hate the Spurs, though), has about as much personality as Frank Grimes - Grimey as his friends like to call him. The Commish needs to wear some Under Armor and protect his house.

** I have a seperate rant reserved for International Basketball. It's just not the same game. At all. I really, really hate the topic, actually.

WOLVES AND NBA NEWS REACTIONS:

- Check out the new blog Timberwolves Today featuring the podcast Kissing Marney Gellnar (the Old Logo nominates Wolves media personality and frequent game host Natalie as his preferred Wolves media personality). I think they did a great job in their first podcast and it's good to see others using technology...because I won't. As the Old Logo, I will make a promise to my readers that this will be the least technologically advanced blog around. I will have one picture per day and the thoughts from my brain, but I fully encourage and appreciate the videos, and now podcasts, that appear on all of the better Timberwolves blogs that are linked to the right.

- I'm probably the last to report, but the new look Wolves beat a local Turkish team in an exhibition game. I actually find this amazing because, as related above, INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL IS A DIFFERENT GAME! I really hated how bad US players were beat on by the media because it's not the same game. OK, I'm going to get over this and save it for later. But I am pleased that a new team won. It shows some character.

- Almost all of the local papers have articles of coaches and players praising the team and their efforts, etc. I think this is common and I really won't be reacting much to this stuff. I will post an article on my reaction to all the power rankings and even offer some predictions later this year. I really do like this team and the franchise, but I've never been easy on them, so expect a lot of frustration as this team goes along. I think I better start a different blog for how much I'm going to rant on Mark Blount's effort. If I made a retroactive one, I might crash Blogger.com.

- Did anyone else get their season tickets and notice that they used an insanely large Fedex box for what came inside? Also, the little "season ticket holder's book" that came with it was about as weak and Robin Ventura charging Nolan Ryan at the mound. I think it was 3 14" x 8" sheets stapled in the middle. I would have preferred a scribbled drawing from one of Glen Taylor's grandkids. I'm also taking issue and bitching about my gift. Last year, I got a pair of nice Timberwolves basketball shorts and a black & white KG jersey. This year, I'm going to get two fleece blankets. Do you know how fast my blankets are going to become the property of my fiancee? What a crock. They might as well send the first season of Grey's Anatomy to season ticket holders. (Yes, I'm bitching about free stuff.)

OTHER STUFF:

Absolutely fascinating football game last night. I've never seen anything like it and I've watched a lot of pro football. It was the basketball equivalent to Reggie Miller's 8 points in 8.9 seconds in the 1995 Eastern Conference finals.

The Old Logo is a big fan of TMQ's writings, although they take forever to read. Check him out if you don't already.