Tag Archives: basketball

The state of basketball in 2020.

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With the recent death of former NBA commissioner David Stern, the Cynic made the ad-hoc decision to produce a brief treatise on the state of basketball in 2020.

It should first be pointed out that commissioner Stern took over an NBA that had just started a rebound from a state of almost complete public apathy. He left it a healthy, wealthy and growing sports league, with a product that was much different than it was his first day on the job.

The state of basketball is representative of the state of sports in general in 2020. All sports, college and professional, have the same concerns. They can all be summed up in one word: money. Probably the correct concern for the professional ranks since, after all, they are businesses. Colleges, on the other hand, are not. Nevertheless, colleges have bartered their athletic souls to the highest bidders, and the bidders could care less about anything but money.

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September observations (and an apology).

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The Cynic sees it has now been over two months since his last post. Accordingly, he apologizes for the radio silence, and promises to try and do better about the frequency of his posting from here on out.

A few random observations on recent events:

  • It seems to the Cynic that by allowing hearsay as a “whistleblower” complaint, the Federal Government is actually encouraging leaking by Federal Employees.
  • The NCAA has, in the past few years, changed the game of NCAA basketball to the point that it has become virtually indistinguishable from the NBA. Now, it appears that the state of California will force the issue of paying college athletes (over and above full-ride scholarships) onto the college governing board. The lawsuits, Title IX consequences and, in all probability, outside money can’t help but have a deletery effect on college sports. But it will be fun to watch the consequences play out. Speaking of which…
  • Many of the Cynic’s friends and relatives are now certain that Trump has finally crossed the proverbial line and will be removed from office for his latest “crimes.” They watch MSNBC, CNN, and the major networks (as they always have). Any bets on whether these networks, which have been hopelessly and notoriously wrong since the 2016 election, will be right in this case?