I tried to get excited about the Kevin Garnett trade. But when I considered how few NBA games I actually watched last season (not counting the Suns, who are essentially playing a different sport from all the other teams), it made me feel like an impostor to be even contemplating its ramifications. I'm simply not an NBA fan anymore; the league officially jumped the shark in 2006 finals, but momentum for the jump had been building for years. What happened?
The referee took over the game. Forget the obvious, about how at least one referee is *actually* corrupt. I mean referees in general took over the game. It's reached the point where ball-handlers dive headlong into a crowd in the key and expect the ref to bail them out with a foul call. There's a sense of entitlement there, and it rubs me the wrong way. Sure, I was always the guy who like to play sports a little bit rough. Ask anyone; I was the guy who would plant a flying shoulder into your spine if you were about to catch a long pass in a game of touch football. So some might say I just like the game rough and raw.
But it's more than that. The ref controls the pace and outcome of a game, indirectly, by blowing the whistle every time a fast athletic guy comes into contact with a slower, less athletic guy. It's not clear why this is done, although it probably helps shoe and jersey sales for the fast guy, his endorsers, and the league. Well, I'm the slower, less athletic guy, and I bet you are, too. So let us play some defense. Until the NBA fixes this problem, I've officially moved on to a sport where the ref doesn't control the game: MMA. Stay tuned.
