Recently Michael Jordan told ESPN that he could score 100 points in today's NBA. Pretending for a minute that he's right, which he isn't, who cares? Unless he borrowed Doc Emmit Brown's DeLorean, it's a pointless discussion.
I can't stand the "what if" sports debates. How many homers would Babe Ruth hit today? How many sacks would Deacon Jones rack up today? How many rebounds would Bill Russell pull down today? It's a huge waste of time.
And speaking of time, there's nothing worse than an aging athlete crying and complaining about the current state of his sport and bragging about how much better things were "in the good old days." Jordan's comments remind me of Jim Brown in the 1980s. In case you forgot, Brown was so angry about how certain running backs played that he attempted a comeback at age 48. Take a guess how well that worked out.
I don't mean to be a heartless bastard. I'm sure it's very difficult for superstar athletes to get old and become irrelevant. But trust me guys, patting yourself on the back every chance you get doesn't help. Take the high road and keep your mouth shut.
While I can see your point, a couple things to remember. 1) Jordan is now an NBA owner, which means his opinion on the current state of officiating (or lack thereof) carries more weight.
ReplyDelete2) Jordan was a huge defensive guy, he admitted on several occasions that he enjoyed playing defense as much as playing offense. I didn't take his comments as much as the "Jim Brown whining type", but more of a "the game is not being played the way it should be, and its future is in question" type of comment. There is a reason that the NBA regular season has been losing ratings to college basketball for the past few years, the quality of game being played is fading. It's an all offense, see how much you can score type of league right now where the slightest touch or flop is called a foul, and no one is allowed to actually defend. It's like watching Duke basketball every night, sure there is a lot of points scored, but the defenders look more like Roger Dorn fielding a groundball, than Gary "the glove" Payton
Personally, I think NBA and NCAA man-on-man defenders are better now because the athletes are better now. Just like they'll be better 15 years from now, and 15 years after that, etc. As far as an NBA ratings decline, I think there are many reasons for that. However, you raise many good points.
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