Pro basketball is a job.
A timely, well-written article by Lee Jenkins of SI.com, with an anecdote from former player Matt Bullard.
The lesson learned here is that, well, pro basketball is simply a job for these athletes. An occupation. A means of employment. Not only first and foremost, but also last and least. Nothing more, nothing less.
And that's O.K.
5 months ago
AK1984
33 comments
0 recs |
Email
PrintComments
AK84, you might be young, and full of realism, but
some of us old fogies just want to believe. We want to believe, I tell you.
Is that so wrong?
Nothing wrong with that. Having hope is sometimes part of being a fan.
Even so, I’m pleased Gerald Wallace treats playing pro basketball as a job.
Those trade rumors linking Wallace to Orlando didn’t adversely affect him, which is the sign of a true pro.
"I Am Mine"
by AK1984 on Dec 31, 2011 5:00 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I'm all for being a passionate fan
but that reminds me of one of my favorite Mitchell & Webb sketches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1WN0YMWZU
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." - Aaron Levenstein
Hmm...yeah
“The trade messed me up that whole year,” Bullard said. “It hurt my heart. I was not in good shape mentally. I was part of the team, but I never completely felt like a Rocket.”
..
He fell out of the NBA the following season and signed with PAOK Thessaloniki in Greece, where the rivalries were so intense that riot police had to work every game. Bullard, an American who barely knew the teams, could not muster the same level of hatred. “I was just there to do a job,” he said.
He learned how to be a mercenary …by going to another country to play …and then …and only then…. was he able to live up to your quote here….
The lesson learned here is that, well, pro basketball is simply a job for these athletes
This article, in my opinion , doesn’t support the conclusion you say it does …at all. I would say that many ..or even most NBA players..have yet to learn this “skill” and are impacted emotionally in some manner or other when traded. Foreign born players lack this to a certain degree because they are not emotionally invested in the NBA to begin with
"What began as a credible protest against bank bailouts, crony capitalism and the like has, in large measure, been hijacked by crazies and criminals,"
by 92wastheyear on Dec 31, 2011 7:34 AM PST reply actions 6 recs
Isn't reading fundamental?
"How you gonna fire a ninja Paul?" - Rich Cho
by Sexual Tyrannosaurus on Jan 1, 2012 1:17 PM PST up reply actions
"He learned how to be a mercenary"
And Matt Bullard became a better man for it. That was my point.
Luckily for Portland, Gerald Wallace already has learned that lesson.
"I Am Mine"
"Foreign born players lack this to a certain degree because they are not emotionally invested in the NBA to begin with"
For that, they deserve credit. Non-native NBA players treat the league for what it is, with that being a job.
If that stereotype is indeed true, then domestic players could learn a thing or two from their foreign-born counterparts.
"I Am Mine"
From the story re: Gerald Wallace
And he was blunt last February after he was traded that it was tough for him to move from Charlotte, N.C., and the South (he’s an Alabama native). ……….. Courtney, his 32-year-old brother, said Wallace no longer views Portland as a foreign country.
“He loves it here,” Courtney said. “It was pretty tough at first, but now it’s like home. He likes the fans the most. The fans pump him up and make him better.”
In another positive sign, Wallace moved his wife and four kids to Portland in August so his kids could enroll in school.
“We’ve been able to get comfortable,” Wallace said. “We know our way around the city, we have been able to meet people, get out and do things. And we have a home. And once you get that feeling, things open up for you.”
"What began as a credible protest against bank bailouts, crony capitalism and the like has, in large measure, been hijacked by crazies and criminals,"
by 92wastheyear on Dec 31, 2011 9:33 PM PST up reply actions
I think as fans
We underestimate the impact to having to move and the impact on the family, etc. When Andre got here he was criticized for his detachment / professional view of his job. I feel if the guys give 100% while in PDX that’s all we can ask for.
okay
yet, time after time we hear and see these players riding their emotions. I’m not saying for the journeymen players it isn’t a profession. For someone like Adonal Foyle, who goes out there and does a job, that may be right. For a player like Brandon Roy, this NBA isn’t just a job. It’s a dream that they have had for their entire lives, they’ve put everything they have into being the best. I would call that a passion rather than a profession.
"Sasha? That's a sissy name." -Mike Rice
by koyote on Dec 31, 2011 10:57 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
You chose the wrong dude in Adonal Foyle.
By all accounts his teams never treated him like just a hired hand, and instead kept paying him and resigning him and keeping him around way past his limits of usefulness because he was so well liked and respected.
Someone like Foye would be a better example.
dinasour type of guys choir boys
Let's face it, when it comes to our careers, most of us are more likely to
approach them the way a protagonist from Ayn Rand novel would, where there is some form of identity relationship between what we do and who we are, rather than approaching them as some homo economicus automaton. And I say that as someone who identifies with the latter category in most parts of my life.
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
Or, someone like me would choose to work in the not for profit sector of the world. But you're right in that I'm not most people.
Ayn Rand fiction is for 50 year olds who never grew emotionally older than 12.
dinasour type of guys choir boys
Well, I'm sure you are paid for what you do
and it seems, from your disparagement of Rand novel’s, that you do feel a sense of moral superiority (or a satisfaction, or a part of your identity, etc.) as a result of your choice to earn your living doing something that helps people in a sector that directs the profit towards employees and, to a far lesser extent, people in some form of need.
The idea is that the human ego is the “fountainhead” of human creativity and productivity, which probably to applies to the average not-for-profit employee just as well as it does to those of us in the for-profit sector. Including basketball players.
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
by HailOden! on Dec 31, 2011 5:49 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs
Rand is far too simplistic for my taste
Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin
Fair enough. I'm not even a big fan, I just felt her characters/concept illustrated what I was trying to get across.
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
Ego is an important part of creativity
but it isn’t the only factor. Necessity is an important part of it too, would there have been the pressure to invent to printing press without the necessity for it caused by the depopulation of Europe due to the Plague, which reduced the number of scribes available. Would the Romans have been even advanced with out their over reliance on slave labor?
Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin
Any theory on creativity, including (and perhaps especially) Rand's, is non-falsifiable
But the point is that there is deep emotional and psychological satisfaction in work, creativity, and accomplishment that exceeds mere physical satisfaction and necessity (otherwise, humans would have never moved beyond subsistence farming, which meets all of our basic physical needs). I think we can all agree to that.
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
I won't
stone age subsistence farmers were worse off than their hunting-gathering nomadic counterparts.
Why humans began farming isn’t known but I would guess necessity. The first farmers being forced into it because of a lack of game. It was only after a few thousand years of farming that humans built up enough collective knowledge for farming to surpass hunting and gathering as a means of providing food.. That success allowed for the basis of wealth and civilization, extra food. The eventual success of farming meant not every person in a group need focus most of their efforts on providing food.
Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin
I'm not arguing anthropology
What I’m interested in (and what I believe the OP is also interested in) is the here and now.
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
Yes
there is deep emotional and psychological satisfaction in work, creativity, and accomplishment that exceeds mere physical satisfaction and necessity but that is not why humans moved beyond subsistence farming.
Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin
I think the Euros benefit from the whole set up of pro sports over there
Guys are pro at 16 with regularity and have probably been traded a few times before ever reaching 20.
Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin
Likewise, the American education system could take a thing or two from how Europe structures theirs.
"I Am Mine"
I don't think it would work as well in America
My knowledge is pretty much limited to the British system, which often, shall we say, “guides” kids into technical or vocational training before they’ve really determined what they want to do.
From what I understand, neither students nor parents in the U.S. would feel comfortable giving institutions the authority (or perhaps influence is a better word?) to direct a child’s career path that can be seen in Europe.
The advantage is that people like Brandon and Ed Roy would probably not have to miss out, or potentially miss out, on an opportunity to be pro-athletes because of academics. The downside is that those of us with different talents would have less control over our own fates.
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
Eh
My knowledge is pretty much limited to the British system, which often, shall we say, "guides" kids into technical or vocational training before they’ve really determined what they want to do.
From what I understand, neither students nor parents in the U.S. would feel comfortable giving institutions the authority (or perhaps influence is a better word?) to direct a child’s career path that can be seen in Europe.
Most people would be better off with a skill they can use through their life(Electrician, plumber, contractor etc) then the system they have in place where many people go to college, end up with a huge pile of debt & eventually go work a minimum wage job anyways because most of the great jobs are already occupied.
Paul Allen, the 2011 Trail Blazers Owner/GM
Aha, but the question is:
whom do we trust to make the determination that we would be better off as electricians and plumbers? Ourselves, or a government bureaucrat who likely attained their position through patronage or nepotism?
Many Europeans are comfortable with the latter, because they have a greater trust in their institutions. I’m not so sure that Americans have that same trust. In the case of an underprivileged athlete, the European model may actually produce a better result. You’ll have a hard time convincing most people that they are better off letting someone else make decisions for them, though.
Phase 1: Collect underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!
European Vocational schools cover a pretty wide swath
including many vocations that people in the U.S. go to college for like nursing and computer programming. I know in Germany the kids would typically graduate at 16 then go into an apprenticeship from 16-18.
Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothin
Rookies have honeymoons, which ends with the
first trade, which drives home the reality that the NBA is in fact a business. After that first trade, the reality sets in. In the military, the reality is that you don’t die for your country, you die for the men in the trenches next to you. Which, I suspect, is relevant to pro athletes, who after that first trade, will die for the team-mates they go to war with every night, but not for the owners and management, and not so much for the fans. I suspect we saw some of this last year with Wallace. When he was first traded, his stats suffered as he seemed a little shell shocked and uncertain. He’d always been the key man in Charlotte who brought it every night, and was thrown away for little more than spare change. The rumor this year of his being offered up for another trade couldn’t have helped all that much. Athletes, after all, are also humans, and want to feel wanted and to have some stability. Right now, all one has to do is read the blogs to know that Wallace may be fitting in better on the team whose players also had to adjust to his skill set, but rest assured, he isn’t yet entirely comfortable that he will be around. So, his loyalty right now is to his team-mates, because he can’t be certain about the management, or even the fans. Granted, he likes the sell-out crowds and the enthusiasm of Blazers fans – something lacking in Charlotte, but he can’t yet afford to form any great attachments to this city. For that to happen, he’ll need a new contract and an acceptance by management and the fans that he will be a core piece mentioned along with Aldridge for the next 3 to 5 years.
by ebenc on Jan 1, 2012 7:01 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- Behind the Box Score, where the Boston Celtics are moving on to the conference finals
- NBA Playoffs Fan Fiction: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
- The Indiana Pacers? Gone till November
- Shaquille O’Neal is in a Chinese beer commercial, too (VIDEO)
- ‘Deep Thoughts’ and Cheap Thoughts: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
