Quote: (10-06-2015 10:47 PM)blacknwhitespade Wrote:
Actually, this is becoming a bit of a story. I stumbled onto an article about this not long ago. It could be the next big race hustling shit storm in major league sports.
Personally, I like how Latin players (and certain white and black players) sometimes bring some heated passion to the game. That said, I don't want to see Baseball devolve the way the NFL was for many years and the NBA still is with the influx of black players turning those games into classless displays of narcissism and a total lack of respect. Football was getting pretty unwatchable back in the 90s with players shaking around like spazzy goons in the end zone and taunting their opponents on TD breakaways. Basketball has become a highly ego-centric, star-centric sport (does anyone really care about the *teams* anymore?).
Baseball is refreshing in that it's still mostly a sport where team comes before individual ego, a sport that for the most part has held close to it's 100+ year old roots. I've seen the acts like Jose Fernandez's home run, a 21 year old spitting on third base as he trotted by. Carlos Zambrano was one of the biggest douches I can remember from the past 10 years, his mental instability hurt himself more than anyone, as it prevented him from becoming a truly great pitcher. First move Theo Epstein made in turning the Chicago Cubs into contenders: dump Zambrano!
The game did not pander when black players were integrated. Latin players are no exception. What about the growing number of Japanese players in baseball? Should the MLB also pander to Asian players and their roots to have even more conservative/honor-based rules in the game a la the Japanese league? This is the inherent flaw in "multiculturalism". You can't make everyone happy. Americanize, and follow the rules of the road, or else go back to the Dominican league.
Several inaccuracies in this post.
Two teams in the NBA semifinals, the Hawks and the Warriors, showcased the zenith of "team play" throughout the regular season and the playoffs. The hawks would sometimes pass the ball up to 17 times before a shot was attempted. Their coach, Mike Budenholzer, was assistant to Coach Pops of the Spurs who won the championship in 2014 - their team clearly focused on team play and Kawhi Leonard was absolutely *not* a household name until he shut out Lebron in the finals.
The Warriors ended up winning the championship. Their superstar, Steph Curry, had 1-2 games in the finals out of their 4 wins where he had as many or more assisted points than points. Andre Iguodala ended up getting the Finals MVP (over Curry). As did Leonard in 2014 (over Duncan). Thats two years in a row of team ball winning a championship, and two years in a row of beating a superstar-dependent team.
By the way, Larry Byrd / MJ / the "greats" of the older days talked significantly more shit than the new generation. Only Jimmy Butler is even close to the amount of "total lack of respect" shown by these players. Look up Michael Jordan + Muggsy Bogues for a classic example.
Another thing that has changed drastically since "the good old days" is the media. You didn't mention that at all - we now live in an age where every single little booboo players like Lebron get are widely publicized, and every garish ridiculous designer outfit the other sideshow characters walk out into the game are completely played up and played out by the media. This has been going on in many sports for decades - now , it's become a fashion show of its own. Don't fall victim to the wide-scale clickbait scheme pervasive across all sports today. (edit: I actually think the "TMZ-ification" of sports has been a greater detriment than *any* cultural change in sports in the past two decades)
The MLB is obviously not pandering to the KBO / NPB - where the NPB actually values teams tying as much as a win (https://www.reddit.com/r/NPB/wiki/differences) , which is a stark contrast to what Americans from *any* other cultural background values. The KBO features more bat flips than a circus sideshow - they'll even flip on a shanked foul ball, as depicted in the video above.
And I personally loved the throat-slashing (now heavily fined) celebrations in the 90s NFL. NCAA football players can't even celebrate a touchdown or good play. Who is enforcing your "rules of the road?" Aside from very few teams like The Braves, most organizations don't really care about the showboating when the star is on THIER team. Ironically, "you can't make everyone happy" applies as well to both mine and your own beliefs of the "unwritten rules" of each sport.