I played one year of college level basketball at GMU about 100 years ago.. I've played a lot since, coached many youth teams and also HS level. I know the game way better than most. And used to love the game. Magic. Jordan. Bird. Maravich. What an NBA era. You could love whole rosters, even opposing team rosters in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Or hate them. It was beautiful...
Then enter the Kaepernik BS. Poor, poor, pitiful Collin. The kneeling during the anthem. The disrespect for veterans. Piggy backing the Obama divisive racial insanity. And the NBA stepped right on up with their racist, ridiculous victim themed feeding frenzy. I found it personally offensive. Then the real liberal crazies in the league stepped into the sewage limelight. LeBron. Kerr. Curry. "I'm a racist" labeled shoes, jerseys, floor paint, hell, even the rafters. It was too much.
One play in particular disgusted me to the point of deciding that not only had the NBA become just another liberal political megaphone, it was corrupt as hell operationally. Too many bad plays at critical times. Too many no or bad calls deciding games. In the last few seconds of a playoff game LeBron literally picked Curry up and threw him to the floor right in front of at least one ref. Standing there. Whistle swallowed. Curry couldn't get the inbound. LeBron victorious. Disgusting. Someone was making bank. Under the table.
Where there is smoke, as they say. There's been Indian warpath levels of smoke broadcasting that something ain't quite right. Well, here we are. Sadly, I believe it will get worse. College basketball, pro and college football and baseball. Anything the online betting apps can touch you will find cheating, lying and mafia fingerprints.
Buckle up.
A personal and humorous note. I haven't been interested in any basketball for years, really. Enter Caitlin Clark and most of the Fever team. Mitchell, Boston, Hull and Cunningham. Talented. Likable. Womanly. Wow. Clark has the off the charts "it" factor and "it" infected the rest of the team. For the record, only one team. Only. Clark has Maravich skills. Jordan/Tiger level media and marketing impact. All that. So I became an Indiana Fever fan. The rest of the league bleh. Not remotely likable. The refs and league management need an intervention. They are so bad that there was an assumption that there was a corrupt, manipulative underbelly.
Long comment for this hilarious Babylon Bee joke.
Prediction. We will see a lot of duck and cover, lawyering up and more arrests in all sports at every level. It's about time.