Opinions On Eveything

Sorry for the delay on this last part. I think I got all NBA'ed out. LOL!


Tonight i'm going to focus on the Bulls dynasty and the ill affects it has had on the league. I will also touch on the tragic over reliance of Michael Jordan. I have a feeling that this installment might see a lot of criticism but oh well.

The problem with dynasties in sports except the NFL (maybe i'll talk about that sometime) is that a dynasty creates a vacuum once said dynasty is over. You see, the pro leagues and the media tend to market the stars on the dynastic team or cover said team to the exclusion of others. It didn't help the NBA's cause that the Bulls dynasty had arguably the greatest player of all time running the show.

So here lies the problem, the league and the media hypes up the dynasty team to such an extent that they become bigger then the league itself. What do you expect to happen when that dynasty is over?

The casual fans who only watched the sport to see that team, whether it be to win or lose will no longer have any real interest and stop watching. Of course some will become geniune fans of the game and stick with it but not enough to make the whole hoopla worth it.

The other thing that happens is that everyone will be looking for that new "super team". This is why everyone sings the praises of parity which in effect really means mediocrity. Since there are no clear dominant teams the league has to sell the individuals even more then necessary.

Which leads us right to Michael Jordan. Ah, Michael Jordan; the man should be pictured next to the term "double edged sword" because that what he was to the NBA.

On the positive side he was and is the most media savvy and business savvy athlete to ever lace up a pair of basketball shoes. The man's wealth was 95% based on endorsement deals and comercials rather then his actual playing contract for the majority of his career. He was arguably the greatest player to ever play game. He took a league that was still somewhat reeling from the coke head perception that it got from fans and the media alike. (remember Michael Ray Richardson was given a lifetime suspension in the '86 season!)

The good has led to many problems which still plague the league to this day.

1. The prolific nature of Michael Jordan's play: Yes he was fun to look at. He did things no one had done before and yes he had contemporaries but everyone points to "His Airness" as the inspiration to their careers in the NBA. Jordan's high flying antics has led to the ESPN-ization of the game where the players today only really want to make it on the highlight clips and concentrate more on the fabulous rather then the more mundane fundamentals (something I mentioned in my last installment)

1. Crass Comercialism: Yeah you had Magic Johnson and the Lakers as well as the Celtics to a lesser extent ruling the roost with jersey sales but with Jordan came the explosion of the sports merchandizing market. You had TONS of people walking around with Bulls paraphanelia and MJ related items. This eventually spread to other teams and now the NBA has become the standard for the hip hop culture with the fashion jerseys and the way players dress before and after games etc etc.

1. "The Jordan Rules": Originally this was the defensive strategy used by Pistons coach Chuck Daly against Michael Jordan and his Bulls. However, it has morphed to mean something completely different. In effect, The Jordan Rules has come to be known as the Superstar Treatment. Ever since the Bulls beat the Pistons in the '89 playoffs Jordan was treated differently then almost every superstar out there. He was given the benefit on defensive calls, he was given favourable calls against the defense. At times he couldn't even be touched without a foul being called against him. This treatment of Michael Jordan has migrated to be the standard for almost every elite superstar in the NBA today. Role players will get the shaft because of "the code" and how stars have to be coddled and taken care of. It has become one of the things that have turned off a lot of long time basketball fans and it's something that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon. (witness the Dwayne Wade foul in the Finals this past season)

1. The Next Michael Jordan: The over-reliance on Michael Jordan was something unique in North American sports. Yes, Wayne Gretzsky had that kind of prominence in hockey but since the game isn't as huge in the US as it is in Canada it just doesn't have the same impact. Michael Jordan became BIGGER then the game itself. I can think of only one other time in sports where a player had that kind of dominance on every level and it goes so far back when the connection between sports, media and culture wasn't as strong as it is now. That person was Babe Ruth who, if he was playing today would have a connection with the fans like no other player in pro sports today. The thing with Jordan is, the NBA hyped him up as the greatest thing since sliced bread. By the time Jordan's career was in full steam the PR people HAD to look for an "Air Apparent". Do you people remember the hype that Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, (oh he does still get hype just ask some of the nutbars on the OS baskeball forum j/k y'all!) Vince Carter and Harold Minor?!?! got. None of those guys lived up to the pressure that the media placed on their platter. I think the NBA has finally cooled down on the MJ comparisons stuff now. Yes early in Lebron James short career he was given that moniker but now it looks like they're going for a Bird/Magic dynamic between he and Wade which I think is a great way to grow the sport by having REAL rivalries.

So as you can see Michael Jordan directly or indirectly can be linked to what the NBA has become today. I know it's a huge counter-argument against the accepted view of MJ and it doesn't come with any malice. It's just some thoughts that have occured to me in the last 8 years since the end of the Bulls dynasty.


* I know the numbering on my list is screwed. Blame me not blogger.