After catching the second half of Saturday’s WNBA showdown between the Detroit Shock and the Indiana Fever, I watched as the teams lined up to shake hands after a well-played competitive game. The ‘good game’, good will gestures that happen at organized basketball leagues everywhere, from NCAA Basketball all the way down to leagues such as CYO, no longer occur regularly in the NBA. After end-of-game fights such as the Malice at the Palace Brawl in 2004 and the playoff skirmish between the Heat and Knicks in 1998, the NBA has phased out end-of-game handshakes. Sure, numerous opposing players in the league are friends and greet each other before the game. However, within the past couple of seasons or so, it has become quite rare to see more than three or four opposing players shake hands before quickly marching off the court to their own locker rooms. In the presence of a league with non-high school draftees that are supposed to be more mature, and who must now observe a much stricter dress code, post-game sportsmanship should be second nature. Yet, the display of good sportsmanship after games may be a concept for which Commissioner Stern quietly wishes and prays. Although Major League Baseball, for example, has baseball games that end with only the winning team trading high-fives, even the NFL, a league supposedly full of cold-blooded, brutal athletes, ends every game with complete teams—players and coaches together—meeting at midfield to say ‘good game’ and, for the most part, wish each other the best. In the NFL, the handshakes and embraces occur amidst the good and the bad, including games that have just ended with disappointing turnovers or questionable officiating. While I do understand that ugly incidents have transpired in the closing minutes of basketball games throughout the past few years, I would like to see the NBA’s players overcome their callous, sometimes childish and selfish competitiveness and realize that sportsmanship and competitiveness do mix. For the time being, though, the younger high school and college players actually have a leg up over the NBA professionals in this area, and this should not be a good thing in the eyes of the NBA. That is, the pros are supposed to set the standard for everyone else, not the other way around.
In accordance with the release of the new NBA 2K11 basketball video game, legendary Chicago Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan has returned to the media's spotlight. That is, Michael Jordan has caught the sports world's attention by saying that today's NBA rules would have allowed him to score 100 points in a game. No one is questioning Michael Jordan's uncanny ability to make plays, create shots, and score points. Michael Jordan is right in saying that, overall, today's rules favor offensive players, particularly guards. Much less contact is allowed in defensive play; some of what was legal when Jordan played (such as forearms and handchecking) is now deemed personal foul-worthy. Furthermore, with a 30-team league, talent is spread out more than it used to be, and players--while on average are more athletic today--come into the league much less fundamentally sound. However, Michael Jordan has forgotten about the re-emergence of zone defense in the NBA. True,