There really is no Santa Claus. And in the end professional sports aren’t really sports. They’re big businesses that are based on sports. In a game that had been tainted before the tip-off with hints and allegations of referees “slanting” their calls against Yao Ming, the Rockets lost what may have been the most heart-breaking game of this series to mistakes – their own AND the referees. But are they mistakes? I recently acquainted myself with Hunter S. Thompson, the sports writer who committed suicide a few months back. Not knowing who he was but being piqued by the report of his suicide I read enough about him to want to read some of his writings. I found a book in the library entitled, “Hey Rube”. It is a collection of sports columns he wrote over a period of roughly two years. He was a heavy gambler on sports and his columns center around this aspect of the “sports” world. He also made direct comparisons between the world of “sports” and politics; how money really controls them both. It is a subject that we, as fans, do not like to talk about much because the luster of one of our favorite pastimes runs the risk of getting badly tarnished. But after games like Game 5 last night in Dallas, the subject was there from the beginning, albeit using the antiseptic and civil words that characterize our society’s desire to not call a spade a spade. Or, maybe not our society, but those with money and power. On one side you have coach Van Gundy trying to figure out how to deal with Dallas’ small ball … and with the referees, who have final say as to how games are played. On the other side you have David Stern, sitting in the stands like “Lord Toad”… reveling and almost gloating in the power he holds over the “sport” of basketball. There may be hell to pay, he says into a microphone, for such serious allegations as those made by Van Gundy. And then something magical happens. With the magic of instant replay we and millions of others around the country get to see a demonstration of the cloud hanging over this game from the get-go. In a society where people, literally, no longer have jobs because of the marvels of technological innovation it is absurd for those who are watching the game through the lens of this technology to be able to see the glaring “mistakes” that are made by referees in calling games, with announcers having no choice but to call a spade a spade along with the rest of the audience. Meanwhile, down on the court, three people who do not have “official” access to such means for deciding crucial plays in games, but who DO ultimately control the game, bull their way ahead like a bull in a china shop, wrecking the hopes of fans and teams. And all the while Lord Toad is sitting in the stands beholding his work and saying “what a wonderful thing I’ve helped create.” It made me think of the movie, “The Natural”. It wasn’t just a literary device for the main character to be tested with being “bought off” to influence the outcome of an important game, it’s based on the ugly reality of big money which translates to big power. There are people dying around the world for want of basic needs and here we have a Mark Cuban; a self-admitted immature owner who thinks nothing of throwing away $500,000 dollars to shoot his mouth off in an effort to use any means possible to win an NBA title. While the subject here isn’t about X’s and O’s it IS germane to discussion of basketball, professional sports AND politics, as Hunter Thompson pointed out in his writing. When Yao was drafted by the Rockets we all sensed that in some ways this transcended basketball in it’s repercussions. The same can be said for the debacle we witnessed last night. It was the very demonstration of the controversial statements surrounding the contest. And I don’t know if, we as fans, have the organization or the means to effect a change. But if we want professional “sports” to have the emphasis on the word SPORTS, we need to find a way to have a bright light shown in dark corners. A first step would be to let technology play a rightful part in making crucial calls in games by using instant replay. But in an age when, the proverbial “Big Brother“ has unprecedented powers to spy on any one of us, it’s time we, as citizens turned the cameras around on the people and institutions that affect our lives. Let the games begin.
From the broad perspective that money influences the sport, yes. I think only someone very naieve would say it has no bearing.
