http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/11527378p-12429445c.html
Ailene Voisin: NBA must reach out to fans again
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, November 22, 2004
David Stern did the right thing. He punished the main culprits of Friday's fright night, or at least those over whom he maintains a modicum of control, by imposing the most effective sanctions available. He counterpunched with a velvet hammer. He benched them.Ron Artest is gone for the season. Stephen Jackson is suspended for 30 games. Jermaine O'Neal is sidelined for 25. Six other players have been disciplined for lesser involvement in the ugliest, most reprehensible incident in NBA history.
Yet, at this point, even lengthy suspensions and impassioned apologies are woefully inadequate. The image of the league has been decimated. NBA players en masse have been staggered by the blows of the few, and fighting back will require a massive public relations undertaking that entails drastic and perhaps even draconian directives.
You know. Do something extra for a change. Sign autographs. Accommodate the media. Engage the community. Act like the average fan is more than just a five-star meal ticket. In essence, require players, coaches and team executives - and all are culpable in the league's declining popularity - to behave less like strangers and more like someone worthy of home cooking.
The league is a victim of its own success. The warmth that existed between the players and their patrons during the halcyon days of Bird, Magic and Dr. J., and persisted until the corporate takeover of the mid-1990s, has been cool for a decade. Now comes the deep freeze.
Fans today demand more for their money, yet are increasingly alienated by outrageous ticket prices, franchise forum-shopping and a free-agency system that shuttles players between teams with the frequency of airliners between New York and Boston, depriving their favorite teams of lasting identities and the fan base of any justification for long-term commitment.
But let me digress for a moment and speak about the despicable behavior of those fans at the Palace of Auburn Hills: The local authorities should file charges against every miscreant who threw a punch, a bottle or a chair, and all those who showered the opposing players and coaches as they walked the gantlet on their way to the locker room should be barred from the building.
"We must redefine the bounds of acceptable conduct for fans attending our games," Stern said.
And while much can be learned from our European allies as the game continues its global expansion, proper etiquette at sports events is not on the list. Hooliganism is common at English soccer matches. Monica Seles was stabbed in Germany. A crazed fan assaulted marathoner Vanderlei de Lima only three months ago in Athens.
In cities throughout Greece, in fact, clear plastic shields are attached behind each seat on the bench, protecting basketball players from the coins, lighters, bottles and assorted projectiles routinely aimed in their direction. Some arenas severely restrict fan movement by cordoning off every section of seats with bars and railings.
Should it come to that here? No.
Could it? Yes.
While it should be noted that fighting within the league has declined since Stern began meting out stiffer punishment several years ago, any serious discussion of the root causes of fan reaction that has grown increasingly mean-spirited should examine what role - if any - is played by the phenomenon of bombastic talk radio. Fans have fallen in love with their own voices, love to battle it out on the airwaves. Is there not a transference into the arena? Is the decline of civility and tempered conversation not a factor here?
Yet raising barricades and reducing what little intimacy remains risks pushing fans farther out the door. League executives have conveniently forgotten that there was a method to the wild popularity of the '80s.
The NBA superstars were not only older, better educated and more mature, they were also more entertaining. The daily anecdotes provided after games and practices filled notebooks and tapes. The banter was playful, the rivalries no less intense. Almost without exception, players and coaches alike grasped the importance of keeping their followers close by word and by deed.
So while Stern's swift and decisive response is to be applauded, he should seize the opportunity to finally address the complex issues that have long been simmering. He needs to reconnect his players with his fans, and if that means adopting an age limit, hiring individual team counselors or simply demanding a more appreciative and aggressive response from all his employees, then now is the time.
This blow was as low as it gets.
Ailene Voisin: NBA must reach out to fans again
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Monday, November 22, 2004
David Stern did the right thing. He punished the main culprits of Friday's fright night, or at least those over whom he maintains a modicum of control, by imposing the most effective sanctions available. He counterpunched with a velvet hammer. He benched them.Ron Artest is gone for the season. Stephen Jackson is suspended for 30 games. Jermaine O'Neal is sidelined for 25. Six other players have been disciplined for lesser involvement in the ugliest, most reprehensible incident in NBA history.
Yet, at this point, even lengthy suspensions and impassioned apologies are woefully inadequate. The image of the league has been decimated. NBA players en masse have been staggered by the blows of the few, and fighting back will require a massive public relations undertaking that entails drastic and perhaps even draconian directives.
You know. Do something extra for a change. Sign autographs. Accommodate the media. Engage the community. Act like the average fan is more than just a five-star meal ticket. In essence, require players, coaches and team executives - and all are culpable in the league's declining popularity - to behave less like strangers and more like someone worthy of home cooking.
The league is a victim of its own success. The warmth that existed between the players and their patrons during the halcyon days of Bird, Magic and Dr. J., and persisted until the corporate takeover of the mid-1990s, has been cool for a decade. Now comes the deep freeze.
Fans today demand more for their money, yet are increasingly alienated by outrageous ticket prices, franchise forum-shopping and a free-agency system that shuttles players between teams with the frequency of airliners between New York and Boston, depriving their favorite teams of lasting identities and the fan base of any justification for long-term commitment.
But let me digress for a moment and speak about the despicable behavior of those fans at the Palace of Auburn Hills: The local authorities should file charges against every miscreant who threw a punch, a bottle or a chair, and all those who showered the opposing players and coaches as they walked the gantlet on their way to the locker room should be barred from the building.
"We must redefine the bounds of acceptable conduct for fans attending our games," Stern said.
And while much can be learned from our European allies as the game continues its global expansion, proper etiquette at sports events is not on the list. Hooliganism is common at English soccer matches. Monica Seles was stabbed in Germany. A crazed fan assaulted marathoner Vanderlei de Lima only three months ago in Athens.
In cities throughout Greece, in fact, clear plastic shields are attached behind each seat on the bench, protecting basketball players from the coins, lighters, bottles and assorted projectiles routinely aimed in their direction. Some arenas severely restrict fan movement by cordoning off every section of seats with bars and railings.
Should it come to that here? No.
Could it? Yes.
While it should be noted that fighting within the league has declined since Stern began meting out stiffer punishment several years ago, any serious discussion of the root causes of fan reaction that has grown increasingly mean-spirited should examine what role - if any - is played by the phenomenon of bombastic talk radio. Fans have fallen in love with their own voices, love to battle it out on the airwaves. Is there not a transference into the arena? Is the decline of civility and tempered conversation not a factor here?
Yet raising barricades and reducing what little intimacy remains risks pushing fans farther out the door. League executives have conveniently forgotten that there was a method to the wild popularity of the '80s.
The NBA superstars were not only older, better educated and more mature, they were also more entertaining. The daily anecdotes provided after games and practices filled notebooks and tapes. The banter was playful, the rivalries no less intense. Almost without exception, players and coaches alike grasped the importance of keeping their followers close by word and by deed.
So while Stern's swift and decisive response is to be applauded, he should seize the opportunity to finally address the complex issues that have long been simmering. He needs to reconnect his players with his fans, and if that means adopting an age limit, hiring individual team counselors or simply demanding a more appreciative and aggressive response from all his employees, then now is the time.
This blow was as low as it gets.
