Comments on: NFL Preseason Underscores NBA’s Foolishness

By: taggart4800

taggart4800 — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 13:09:39 +0000

You briefly touch on the success of soccer in the article. That is my second passion behind NBA, my team is blackburn rovers the equivalent of the Charlotte Bobcats. Whilst following the coverage of the EPL offseason I was disappointed to realise that there is an inherent laziness in Sports Journalism. The MO for most Premiership sides is to spend spend spend in the offseason which in truth is only half the problem as the 50% Tax on all players earnings means that English Clubs have to pay exorbitant salaries which they cannot sustain.
Blackburn have recently been purchased by new owners who have also bought the £15 million debt ($24.5 mill). Rather than waasting money on the equivalent of Al Buckets that many sides do they have set about clearing out all uneccesary contracts and replacing them with young developing players with more importantly, lower salaries and more potential for return. They have done this whilst only losing one starting 11 player for a healthy £16 million. Yet the media have written Blackburn off and condemned them to relegation, all the while ridiculing the very astute new indian ownership for their more considered approach by adding a backroom staff comprised of names from top clubs in the EPL.
Anyway, I thought that I would share with you the evidence that poor sports journalism is not confined to the states. Furthermore if you want to follow a young developing team that seems to making sensible decisions then Rovers are the way to go! Proof will be in the pudding at 10 am ET.
I am now off my soap box and normal basketball service can be resumed!

By: Jim Cavan (@JPCavan)

Jim Cavan (@JPCavan) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:01:49 +0000

*BRI

By: Jim Cavan (@JPCavan)

Jim Cavan (@JPCavan) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:01:21 +0000

These owners suck. Players would be more than willing to take closer to 50% of BPI, as long as there was some revenue sharing. I think these two things alone would go a looooong way in helping the three hemorrhaging teams tighten things up. Meanwhile, “other expenses” for every team has gone through the roof in the last decade. Owners need to take a look in the mirror and understand that, while player guaranteed contracts certainly need to be tweaked and reconsidered, so do their in-house decisions and hirings.

By: Mike Kurylo

Mike Kurylo — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:56:46 +0000

BigBlueAL: This is a much better article on baseball attendance written earlier this year: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/05/03/bud.selig.attendance/index.html I am someone who absolutely LOVES both sports and wished that baseball and basketball were the top 2 sports in this country but I know that will never happen lol.

I don't know for sure that baseball will fall off the map. When I was a kid that's the one sport everyone played. Now I look around at it seems to be basketball, skate boarding/bikes. Little league fields seem to be filled with just as many soccer teams as baseball teams. It makes sense from an economic standpoint. For soccer, you don't need gloves, bats, hats, or multiple balls. Just one ball & a couple of cones to mark the goal (or as we used to use in my day - extra tshirts). Maybe that's just my little pov - although some of the evidence supports that. (Declining little league attendance). On the other hand trending something 20-80 years out is near impossible. For all I know, 50 years from now video games and robot olympics might replace sports as we know it.

By: klownboy

klownboy — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:53:05 +0000

I refuse to believe that the NBA is stupid enough to cancel the upcoming season…

By: misterma

misterma — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:48:36 +0000

Mike Kurylo for commish!

By: BigBlueAL

BigBlueAL — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:09:28 +0000

This is a much better article on baseball attendance written earlier this year:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/05/03/bud.selig.attendance/index.html

I am someone who absolutely LOVES both sports and wished that baseball and basketball were the top 2 sports in this country but I know that will never happen lol.

By: latke

latke — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 06:16:29 +0000

interesting stuff. This is definitely a more big picture take. Most people have been focusing on the NBA resurgence as simply a case of the fact that it’s very talent rich right now, but if this is an upward trend that represents a more long term cultural shift towards basketball, that’s even more motivation for owners, who even if they lose money on a yearly basis, could make it back in the increase in value of their franchise.