IT'S been nearly three weeks since player choked coach, but the general public seems to be in no hurry to move the case of the Golden State Strangler off the front burner. Sprewell’s just a symptom
of troubled NBARadio talk show callers, folks makin' copies, and hairdressers (love those cornrows) all have an opinion. Even some basketball fans are interested.
Can Oprah be far behind?
I'd promised myself to keep this column a Latrell Sprewell Free Zone (and it's definitely not going to be a Free Latrell Sprewell Zone). But, especially since Johnnie Cochran cockroached his way into the mix, race has become part of the issue.
Not race as in black and white, mind you, but race as in who can line up their team of litigators and file their lawsuits the fastest.
The only color involved here is the hue of money. This is just one example of how the NBA is self-destructing what not too long ago was the best professional sports league in the world.
When third-string centers started getting multi-million dollar contracts a couple years ago, everything began going awry. Suddenly, you had inflation worse than between-war Germany, when you needed a shopping cart of marks to buy a loaf of bread. And we all know what happened then.
OF course, the NBA owners forgetting that the money in their monopoly game is real dough isn't a threat to world peace. And there's always the argument that the players deserve whatever they get due to the law of supply and demand.
But don't the fans supply NBA superstars with adulation and good chunks of their hard-earned money? And aren't they allowed to demand a good product with a lot less violence, whining and other assorted B.S.?
Your typical fans don't resent the mega-money that the players bring down. But it does bother them when the guys their kids idolize participate in anti-social behavior time after time.
There's an old theory in sports that a team can cover for one head case and still be a winner. (The Bulls have proven this true in recent years.)
View the NBA as a team in itself. It created the best win-win-win situation for players, management and fans during the 1980s of any sports league. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird led the way on the court, and commissioner David Stern orchestrated it to perfection with savvy leadership, marketing, and innovations like the 3-point shot.
But in the '80s, the "team" did cover for a lone "head case" -- illegal drug use among players was a major concern.
Today, drugs are still a thorn in the league's side; there is a proposal on the table that would not allow testing for marijuana, which seems to be many a player's drug of choice.
There's no indication that illegal drug use is down -- it's just not news anymore. There's so much other fun stuff to watch.
THERE'S whining about money: Get Pippen some Scotties; he's quickly becoming one of the biggest crybabies ever in sports, as he holds out for more millions.
There's gratuitous violence: Innocent Charles Bar-fight was charged yesterday for throwing a guy through a plate-glass window. A little guy from what I hear.
And for general boorishness you've always got Dennis Rodman.
What about the bottom-line, the product itself? Well, because of selfish play, nobody seems to be able to run an offense anymore, and there are lots of lousy teams. Defense? Forget about it.
Before the incident that made him infamous, Latrell Sprewell was a spectacular scorer, but he did little to help his team win (which it rarely did).
Stern did the right thing in living up to his name and suspending Sprewell from the NBA for a year. Those who love this game should just hope it wasn't too late.
Sure, Latrell Sprewell may be paying for the sins of the Rodmans and Barkleys before him, but that doesn't make him a martyr.
Just a jerk with bad timing.
Dave Reardon is a magazine editor and freelance
writer who has covered Hawaii sports since 1977.
He can be reached via the Star-Bulletin or
by email at dreardon@hmsa.com.
