HoopsHype.com Columns

Why we don't watch
by Jon Finkel / August 28, 2002

The end result of a competition dubbed the ‘World Championships’ is the naming of an undisputed World Champion. World, meaning the whole Earth, and Champion, meaning the best. So, the World Champion of a World Championships should be the best on Earth. It doesn’t even matter what the competition is. If there was a World Championships of Belching, you would assume that the best Burpers in the world would be there. If there was a World Championships of giving Wedgies, you would assume that the best Wedgie givers in the world would be there. So, at the World Championships of Basketball, can you assume that the best players in the world would be there? Nope. Some of the best. But none of the best of the best.

At the World Basketball Championships, the extended 1st team of the best basketball league in the world, the NBA, does not play. No Shaq. No Kobe. No Duncan. No Kidd. No McGrady. No Webber. No Garnett. No Vince. Why? No tournament respect. Why? No tournament competition. The result? No tournament viewers. Why? Because the best basketball players in the world already played each other a few months ago in a different game under a different name. The NBA All-Star Game.

The NBA All-Star game, despite its lackluster play and lack of defense, is the greatest collection of basketball talent in the world. I know, the NBA All-Star Game has a few players from other countries besides the U.S., but so what? A vast majority of the best players are Americans and those that aren’t are usually from countries scattered around the world. So, unless you put together a team called the World Not Including the United States, and had them play the American players (with guys like Shaq and Kobe playing), you aren’t going to have a case for a true World Championship. Yet, the failure of the tournament to lived up to its name as a legit World Championship is probably only a minor reason why the average American sports fan could care less. The major reasons are much more fundamental, involving not just basketball, but sports in general.

A poll about why people love sports would almost definitely list ‘competition’ as a top reason. Competition being that for the most part, on any given day, any team can win or lose. Not so for Americans and our team in the World Basketball Championships (WBC). We won’t lose. And even if we do, it would be under the asterisk that our greatest players were not even available. So, there is no competition. And speaking of our team, despite the fact that they are all Americans, the teams that represent us are never the same. Not a single player from the U.S. squad in the 2000 Olympics is on the current team competing in the WBC’s. It’s basically the same reason people knock free agency. You can’t follow your favorite players for too long or they’re gone. Of course, in this case, you can follow your favorite players because they are probably already on your favorite basketball team. A team that you value much higher because they represent a more personal part of the world that you are from. Of course, I’m talking about your NBA team in your specific part of the world, your home town and nearest big city.

One of the best things about having a favorite NBA team is rooting against their heated rivals. In the WBC’s, there are no rivalries. It’s not like hockey, where there is truly a wealth of talent in other countries, albeit, a select few. In basketball, as previously discussed, we rule. End of discussion. Rivalries take years, even decades to build. A rivalry is also a rivalry if the outcome of the games are close and fairly evenly distributed between the teams. I don’t know if it would be possible for the U.S. to do enough losing in world competition to make up for 50 or so years of dominance. Don’t tell me about the Russians. They were grown men playing against our college kids and they weren’t even our best college kids. Dr. J and Walton and other All Americans weren’t there. Not to mention that we really won the game.

So, without competition and rivalries, what else is there? It’s still basketball. We should be comfortable with that, right? Nah. It’s not comfortable watching our players play on weird teams. Sure, Dirk, Finley and LaFrentz will be on the court together, but Finley and LaFrentz have guys like Pierce and Brand to help them out. Dirk has Ademola Okulaja. It’s unsettling to see your favorite players wearing a new number and a new uniform, but it’s just plain frustrating watching them play without any talent around them. It’s equally as frustrating watching your favorite players against a bunch of stiffs. For example, the United States’ first game is against Algeria. My dog could be one of the starting five and we would still be favored. Maybe not my dog, but the dog from Touchdown: The Golden Retriever. Algeria? I’d like to see a spread on whether Paul Pierce scores more points than there are people in the crowd who could tell you the capital of Algeria. It might be easier to remember than the capital of the host state of Indiana. Algeria?

This is why nobody cares about the WBC’s. Do people honestly expect viewers to turn in to watch our boys whip up on a team whose best player is a guy named Mourad Boughedir, who plays with Associative Sportive Golbey-Epinal, in the offseason. I’d only watch this game if there were handicaps involved: Pierce has to play with his head band over his eyes, Andre Miller and Reggie Miller have to squeeze under one big ‘Miller’ jersey and play as one guy, ditto for Antonio Davis and Baron Davis. Maybe at some points they could have a coach play instead of a player. George Karl and Gregg Popovich may actually be even comp for the feisty Algerians. What if all the Americans had to play with their sneakers on their hands? I’d watch that.

The bottom line is that there aren’t any real stakes in the WBC’s and this leads to an absence of drama and excitement. At least not enough to pull us away from baseball or football or golf or tennis or any of the solid summer movies that come out. With what audiences are watching now, I bet a reality show on the players’ lives surrounding the games would rate higher than the games themselves. By the way, you can decide which is easier. Algeria - Algiers or Indiana - Indianapolis.

Jon Finkel is a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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