Self defence. Hey, no ones's perfect. Especially Van Persie he belongs in prison.
Looks like I opened up a can of worms here. You missed the point where I said the play is terrible. Games are ending in 70-65 scores because all the guys with headbands and cornrolls just want to dunk or shoot a three.
Does this ever happen in the NFL? A supposed superstar of the league sucker punches another guy in the middle of a game. Carmelo Anthony symbolizes everything that is wrong with the NBA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAygvjLQt3g
Or this? Have any NFL players ever rushed the stands and started throwing haymakers at random fans?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXCw1bLm6UA
The NBA is losing fans fast. The ratings for the playoffs are abysmal compared to years past. Stern has admitted there is a huge problem hence the dress code and heavy handed suspensions. I heard on the radio one day that they're thinking about abandoning suburban and rural America all together in favour of Europe.
Yes the NBA has an image problem, and I think its because the majority of their players are black. So Stern has to be concsious of the white middle America audiance. You don't see what an NFL Player looks like, because he is wearing padding and a uniform, a NBA player is in shorts and tank top, so yu see every tat and every scar. Football players out of uniform have many more tats and have cornrolls, and everything else.
Scoing is not down. Very few games end 80-75 anymore, the handcheck rules, and other changes has opened up the NBA for scoring.
NFL players constantly throw cheap shots and punches at eachother. But they were pads so its not as big a deal. You are right no NFL player has run into the stands, because sidelines are so far back, the NBA stands are on top of the players. MLB has had several incidents of players going into the stand, I remember a Texas pitcher throwing a bullpen chair at fan in a melee.
Also the ratings are down, but the ratings are down in every sport except football. No one watched the World Series. In fact no one watches any baseball unless the teams are the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs. No one watched the WS the year before either. That is a sport being carried by 2 teams.
The NBA is arguably the 2nd most popular sport in the US behind football, there are several indications that it is more popular than Basbeall nationwide, where when you leave NY or Boston, no one cares or watches. You have to remember the Celtics stink, so no one in Boston cares about the NBA, but if you leave Boston it is a very visable sport. the reverse is true for baseball, I travel a lot for work, and you never hear people talk about, watch or care about baseball anywhere else in the country except NY and Boston.
The bottom line is the NBA is less of a thug league than MLB and the NFL. yet you have no problems watching ether of those, or for some reason you don't consider them thug leagues also.
